If you are reading this you are probably being lured in or have been lured in by an ad on the internet or the Thrifty Nickel saying something like "OTR drivers needed, NO EXPERIENCE REQ, must have valid license and clean record, earn 35-40k your first year". These people promise the world to people desperate and foolish enough to think there's a massive shortage of truck drivers even in a bad economy. The truth is there is absolutely no shortage of truck drivers especially in the four trucking companies that work through driver solutions. The math is simple to calculate because there are so many students going in and out of the training school each month that all four of these companies combined don't have enough trucks to put them in.

The four companies that run the training facility P.A.M. Transport, USA, Decker, and Star make money by setting up students for failure and then collecting outrageous loan balances by any means possible including suing them and harassing their family members. The loans through these companies are not dischargeable on chapter 7 bankruptcy since they are considered a "student loan" despite the fact that the school only trains each student for maybe 30 minutes to an hour behind the wheel each day during the 4-6 week course, therefore it's no wonder why they are so willing to issue loans to people who have no credit. They are loans sharks using false advertising to commit student loan fraud.

They charge 6000 dollars plus 9-18% interest (not considering 8 weeks out of work) for a service that somebody can get elsewhere for under $1000 if they look hard enough. They also charge 500 dollars during the course to share an apartment with 3 other drivers in one of the worst neighborhoods in Indianapolis. The living conditions there are terrible, not to mention dangerous. People who use this service usually know it's overpriced, but through false advertising they are lead to believe they have guaranteed positions that pay well and really need their employment so they are given a false sense of security that the loan will be paid back.

They explain the contract very vaguely before having students sign on the dotted line without taking the health screening first (although they do perform the drug test before handing it out). The instructors are friendly to everyone at least during the first week when they are still trying to sell the course. After all signatures are down it's pretty much every man for himself to get as much time behind the wheel as they can possibly get before they are told by the instructor their time is up. If they are on the backing range they might get two chances per day to practice getting the truck in between the cones. If they are on the "road course" they might get about 30-45 minutes to drive through a bunch of school zones at 35 miles an hour through downtown Indianapolis if they get a chance to drive at all that day.

The CDL exam is relatively easy to pass, but if a student doesn't get it within 4 tries they send them home packing with no job, no CDL, and the 6500 dollar bill. The instructors state during the course (of course after all the names are signed) that at least half of the drivers there don't make it in trucking and that the course is designed to get them their CDL and get them out of there as quickly as possible so they can be trained over the road. The problem with this is there is no over the road training once a student gets the CDL. After usually two or three weeks of waiting they are forced to drive non stop with the "trainer" or go home. The "trainer" has to sleep eventually so a student driver with maybe 5 hours of experience has to drive a 52' trailer with nobody there to coach them in case they are about to kill themselves. The trainer usually after learning the driver has zero experience behind the wheel will want them off the truck anyway and wherever the truck happens to be at is usually where they get sent packing like garbage tossed over on the side of the road (personally, my "trainer" screamed at me every time I let the gas pedal off the floor, even an inch). And just like any job in the area they can fire whoever they want for any reason without repercussion so they have no problem doing that and collecting on the student loan.

Usually drivers who make it through this are used for the crap loads other drivers won't take like sending trucks for repairs, driving short runs to wait on slow receivers, etc. etc., usually in poor condition trucks, for very little pay (some weeks next to nothing). And if they end up in the hospital sick they are forced to either drive or walk. If they get sent over the road for a year straight and want a day home, it's drive or walk. If they are tired and swerving all over the road and need to rest, it's drive or walk.

It might sound good that they pay for your training in advance without checking credit history and perhaps you are considering it because you are desperate, perhaps homeless, and don't have the money up front. The truth is it's better to just get a minimum wage job or sign up for a government help now then to sign yourself over to slavery. Remember you cannot even go bankrupt on that loan. They can mistreat you as much as they want to get you to quit that job and owe the loan and they want that because the trucking company and loan company are owned by the same people. And even if you put of with all that crap and work for nothing for a year, they consider it a bonus because you paid them back by taking all their crap loads and working for free.

If you go into trucking go in the right way, not like I did. Work a job and go to college like just about everybody else has to do and get this get well off quick bs out of your head before you end up owing this loan for years and years over some crap you found under a "work-at-home for $2000 a week" ad in the paper. Get some real experience before you attempt to go behind the wheel. Forget about over-the-road because the pay and work conditions suck. And if you must pay your dues, work up the ladder slowly, start with company that won't run you tired, and get a dedicated or regional route where you are not running around cross country like a chicken with your head cut off in the ice and snow.

Personally, after my experience with driver solutions I got a job driving a straight truck that I could of got easily with no experience, only required a chauffeur's license, and got me the experience I need to get a decent job driving locally. I am waiting on more opportunities because of the recession, but I at least got the experience I need now when the job market picks back up.

Take this as a lesson people that you might not have to go through all this nutty bs to get a driving job. There are places that hire new drivers, granted they might not be semi driving jobs or they may be semi driving jobs where you work in a warehouse and just back trailers in a dock, but you can get experience with these jobs and you can get it without signing yourself into slavery for a year or being rolled over in a ditch somewhere dead.