I got screwed over for a promotion in my current job(I work in a bowling alley as a manager) and i want out.
im just debating wether to go allstate and waste 6 months of my life or go to one of schneider or swift's or pam or usa truck's school and be on my own in 6 months. I have heard england is the worst im not even going to consider them.
another thing i was considering was etread.com its a study at home course then you go to a "test site" for 12 days and they do road skills and all that for 12 days straight and then you take ur cdl test. Then go get a job somewhere.

What u guys think?

all input is greatly appreciated!

 

You will be wasting much more than 6 months of your life if you do any of the above. :lol: I would go with Schneider since at the very least they have the better of training programs. STAY AWAY from Pam,Swift,and especially Usa truck. Those companies have a lot of northeast weekend layovers and their trainers are questionable.

 

so u think schneiders program is better than allstate?

 

I don't know that I would choose trucking as a good way out. If you have management experience I would think there are better ways out of the bowling alley business. I know a little bit about that business, my stepfather owned a 30 lane bowling alley that I grew up in. Managers would come and go and they always came from another bowling alley or the ones leaving were always going to another bowling alley. I worked for him through high school working the evening shift leagues fixing pin jambs or setting up pins as needed (you knowing the bowling alley business you would know I did nothing) but it was an easy job and had plenty of time to do homework and make a couple extra dollars and had plenty of flexibility. My Dad had a car lot and I liked cars much better so chose that path instead of working in a bowling alley. Should have chosen the bowling alley.

Are there no other places to work or just tired of it or just never got into it? Your first couple years in trucking your not going to make much money and if you have management experience the trucking business is going to drive you crazy because managers in trucking make some stupid decisions.

BOL in what you decide though and plenty of people here to help you.

 

Are you in PA? All State has a school out here also, and its like 8500. Thats a lot of money.

 

I've read that Allstate charges $8500. I would NOT pay that much for school. There are much better programs out there for much less money. Schneider would be your best choice out of the schools you mentioned. Swift would be second. Both Schneider and Swift's school is PTDI certified.

PAM and USA Truck are bottom feeders with CR England. Avoid them if at all possible. Their equipment and pay are crap.

 

a friend of mine graduated from allstate, he swears its the best school out there, and that its worth the money, but its 8290 for the tuition, most of which they put on student loans and you still end up paying about 1500 out of pocket while in school.

He says dont go to anything except all state. but if I am gonna quit my job and what not I would ratehr take a company sponsored training and get a signon bonus Schneider, USA truck and pam offer signon bonuses. 1000 bucks is a decent signon bonus.

i think 24 weeks is a little long and drawn out.

 

8290.00 for a Cdl? :shock:

 

ur right about managers coming and going. Try working at AMF they own a shit load of bowling centers and they are more concerned about having a manager that can flip a burger and selling food before worrying about filling the bowling center with bowlers. Trust me dude AMF is not one of the companies to work for they dont want to pay anyone :dung: except management and they put so much bull :dung: paper work on their managers. the managers dont have time to be managers and interact with the bowlers. I shoudl have never went back to AMF its not the same now as it was when i worked for them 6 or 7 years ago.
(sorry for going off on a tangent, but I wanted to paint a small picture of what its really like)

anyways im thinking about taking out a loan and goin to a company sponsored school for the time being so i can get out of AMF while I can.
I rather drive around all day listening to sirius nascar radio all day than list my dm who looks and sounds like Apu from the simpsons bitch about every little thing

 

If you really want to get training and a Cdl you might as well try Schneider. Their school costs a lot less than 8290.00 and if you stay with them for a year or two you will not owe them anything for school. If you leave before that you will still owe less than 8k.