CDl schools

[LugNut]

stay away from these 'CDL mills'!!!!
I saw this posted under another topic and did not wish to change the subject.

What exactly is a "CDL Mill"? I noted in the other topic the student trainee was attending a 4 week school. It is only 1/3rd of a semester at a Junior College not a whole semester. Some JR college's do require up to 2-3 months for CDL training. The school I attended was 8 weeks long as required to be a part of the federal training financial aid program. The length of time was more than needed to obtain a CDL and train in that setting. My real training, as I would guess it is for most, came during OTR on the job as a driver trainee. School only taught the basics. Those can be taught in short order as in a 4 week school.

For more insight instead of a broad statement as above. What is and how can a newbie truly identify a CDL mill from any other school. I do not think it will be apparent when searching schools and in correspondance with them. I know some claims have been made that PTDI schools are better but it is not always true.

The question and subject is how can they tell the difference. I hold the opinion it is better to start with a company school and avoid all other hastles and possibilities.

First you know you have a job and no worries about the illusional pre-hire nonsense. You have already been thoroughly checked or training would not be provided in most cases.

Second because the majority of companies new drivers will choose as their first have a school. It would to me appear to be a waste to obtain loans or spend needless amounts of money to end up hireing on at a company where the cost could be close to nothing by attending their training. New drivers starting companies are limited to a point and most either train or pay for it through an authorised school.

Third, you must stay at your first company atleast one year to be fully reimbursed for training and in some cases longer. With company training there is also a one year commitment but little out of pocket.

Fourth, to obtain the best possible work history and references on your resume it is strongly advised to stay at your first driving job for one year regardless if you like it or not. Since most training companies are similar in their treatment of new drivers changing jobs early would probably be fruitless anyway. If you are going to stay at your first company atleast one year it would seem advantageous to choose that company wisely and allow them to train you.

[Big_Dave]

It would to me appear to be a waste to obtain loans or spend needless amounts of money to end up hireing on at a company where the cost could be close to nothing by attending their training. New drivers starting companies are limited to a point and most either train or pay for it through an authorised school.
I totally agree.

The phrase CDL mill comes from an assembly line point of view. These schools take as many students (and their money), as they can and rush them through the class as fast as they can. Kinda like bing, bang, boom, you're a truck driver now. :wtf:

The 'training companies' offer training at no cost to the newbie (unless you do not fulfil your 1 year contract). WHY would someone want to drop $3000-$7000 for some slick thief......er.......school to give them kinda the same training? :wtf:

Prospective drivers do NOT have to go deep into debt to learn how to drive a truck.

That's what 'we' are trying to steer these people away from.

[LugNut]

It would be impossible for a newbie to tell the difference between a legitimate 4 week school and a CDL Mill type 4 week school. There is little difference from the outside looking in. Also most schools get as many students as they possibly can and get them out with in their alloted time frame. That is to be expected because they are a business. Being able to tell the difference with who is pushing and who is actually training is another story. School recruiters are much like trucking company recruiters. They are in it for the numbers and the money.

Another reason why company paid or backed training is a good idea.

There are also some JR colleges that provide training at a reasonable cost. I do not personally see an advantage in 2-3 months of schooling having done that myself except for the cost factor. It doesn't take most students that long to get the basics. The real skill has more to do with time management and personal adaptation to OTR. That and honing driving skills will be done an d taught with a trainer.

[Preacher]

Unfortunately I don't have time to adequately respond to this thread, but I will say that PTDI schools MUST adhere to certain standards. Also I would recommend visiting each school you are looking at before you make a decision. Central Tech in Drumright, OK came highly recommended to me. I went and visited it months before making my decision. I also went to another school that was 2 1/2 times more expensive and it was nothing but a CDL mill. No professionalism. They acted and sounded like a bunch of used car salesmen. Also look at the equipment the school has. Central Tech has over 50 late model rigs that are well maintained. The expensive school had 2 old `93 Volvos. The other thing is teacher-student ratio.

[daytrader]

Most of your "mills" will still land you at a carrier school. Were you have to give 1+ years service and they will pay your schooling.

I say cut the middle man. Go right to the carrier training.

Also, some one like Schneider with the billions of dollars in biz they do. Can afford the best in the way of education.

The local CDL mill running week to week. Begs for driver trainers for 10 bucks a hour and has no Doctors to help study, no Enginers to design a gret training program. No Phy Docs to help weight the change a new person has with this career change.


I had my CDL before I went to Scneiders school for OTR training. I was in a class with folks that had never seen the inside of a truck, million milers with plenty of years and folk that had a permit.

We all got great training.

I sent my Wife to MTC driver school in St Louis mo.

She had a pre hire from JB Hunt and I was to train her. JB was looking for schools to start pulling new drivers out of.

Lets just say this place was a joke and I think they will be out of biz before to long.

Wife went in with cdl permit with all endorsments. She had about 5k in driveing over the road so she was pretty good. She did ALL the backing for about 4 weeks.

The two weeks school held her over for 4 weeks charging a extra 3200 bucks in housing. Instead of fast tracking her they made her give up her Il permit and get a Mo permit. Put her at the bottom of the class. Gave state sponsered welfair to work drivers more drive time and fast tracked them.

Then they told her if she didn't sign on with PAM she would never get a CDL test. She was hired on at JB Hunt. These dumb azzes had no clue what they were cutting.

I let her get a pre hire from PAM. She got her CDL. I picked her up in my JB Hunt truck and away we went. They charged us a extra 3k for missing a hire date. To bad sucker.

First day with her CDL she was earning .41 a mile on a team truck with her husband.

PAM called us 5 or 6 times over a 4 week time. No trainer available. No problem I am not working there I have a job now. They were real nice at PAM. They even offered to pay her for the 4 weeks she waited. No thanks.

They were nice. I asked about this 3k the school said PAM said we owed. PAM said they told the school they could not take more students till they had more trainers. So it would not have to be paid.

Over all to say the least. This 3k school cost us 10k.

[truckermanitoba]

I live in canada. I tried the private school first, i paid threethousand dollars out of my pocket, two weeks in to the course school got shut down, why because the students could not pass the class one test. I was able to write off on taxes the cost of school as was still reconized as a school..I seen a add in paper for training, It is reconized canada wide i go to class for five weeks for theroy four weeks in cab training, three weeks with a sponser who will give you a job at the end of three weeks if you get a good report from the driverwho who are with.I am getting a student loan for half,half by unemployment, who gives me benifits for going to school.cost is seven thousand dollars. Starting week three, so far so good, pretrip and airbrake comming along. THis week is defensive driving, spacemanagement, mountain driving, fatique management,. so far high nintys in the tests.

[Uturn2001]

Here is my 4 cents worth on this subject.

Many of the company sponsored schools are some of the worst of the mills there are. Most of them will rush you through with 20 or 30 other new hires in 2 or 3 weeks at most and give you the excuse that your OTJ "trainer" will teach you what you need to know.

Another "drawback" of the company sponsored schools are that if you fail to complete the employment contract you may very well owe 100% for the cost of the school, even if you completed 11 months in a 12 month agreement.

While there are many CDL mills out there, both company sponsored as well as private, there are also many good schools available and all it takes it a little research.

When trying to find a school the really big question to ask is: How much hands on experience will I recieve?" If the school can not or will not give you a definate answer or it is less than 10 hours of driving on the road, look somewhere else. 10 hours, IMHO, is the absolute minimum of behind the wheel driving a student should get while in school. Please note this is in addition to any and all range work.

[daytrader]

Most of the schools are just there to get you yoru CDL. The carriers will then send you to wich they call "over the road training".

[allikat]

EVERY truck training school in the UK would qualify as a CDL mill.... Train you to pass the test. With almost nothing in load securement training, or paperwork skills, or anything.
It's a disgrace, really it is.

[another newbie]

I just graduated from Roadmaster truck driving school this past friday.It cost me 4500 and I have a cdl.Well,I guess thats what I went for but there was alot of whining between trainers about each other and I had a 96 Volvo cut out on us as we left the yard because it had no coolant!!I don't know if this school is always like this but I don't know that I really got what I paid for.Sure I learned the basics but I had hoped for way more driving time than I got and I was only in a class of 10,I dont know how much less time I would have received if I'd been in a class of 20 or so.I know I can't tell the difference between mill schools and good schools but I can tell you to shop around and talk to as many truckers as you can before you drop a boat load of money at a school.

[truckermanitoba]

well i got my licience and if it was not for the work the school did with me one on one i do not think i would have passed.I now go for my training in cab so i will see what i can build on what i learned.Here in manitoba no free training but most componys have hired drivers from the school so will give you a chance.