The Ticking of Time.

Last night I pushed forward with my CDL school/training search and applied at 2 more company sponsored schools. Rohel Transport and Stevens Transport. They both have their good points and their not so good points for me. Rohel Transport is a good company from everything I have read, however they have 1 downside as far as I am concerned. That is that they only run east of I-35 for 95% of their loads. Now that is not tooo bad but I would rather run the full 48 states myself. Stevens Transport, again another very highly recommended company, has 2 downsides. First they primarily run refer units (refrigerated trailers used for food products and such). And again it is not tooo bad but I would rather start out simple and get more complicated later, as the refer units need just as much attention as the tractors do. It just means extra pressure. The second downside is they are a "True" forced dispatch company. This means you can not refuse a load, period. That could be a bad thing, and easily puts a "green" driver in a very vulnerable position, that could find him/herself in a tough situation if they get a bad or pushy dispatch manager.

Now, granted the fact that they come highly recommended usually means problems of these sorts are not as much an issue as they are elsewhere. But that still doesn't mean it don't happen.

I also applied with my "last ditch" company if everything else fails, Swift Transport. Swift has allot of baggage compared to the other 2 companies, and would be considered only as a last resort. Lots of negatives about them out there on the web. However I have to at least consider them as looking over my budget plan is not promising.

I also talked with Crete Carriers today, my dream company to work for. They however do not offer company sponsored training which leaves me at a disadvantage. The only way I can work for them is if I get my CDL through Fox Valley Tech. And that is going to be a real challenge.

The Fox Valley Tech Paradigm

Well here is the deal with Fox Valley Tech that is causing the "challenge". There course is $1800 there abouts. Now I can also use my GI Bill (provided my application gets processed in time) to pay for it. The problem is in the timing of things. You see, school starts on May 2nd and I have to pony up about $750 to cover the first 3 weeks, that is not a problem. After that I have to pay out about $1100 for the remaining 7 weeks. That is a BIG problem!, as I don't get my GI Bill reimbursement till the END of May. This leaves me with a 1 week period in the red. I am going to talk to Fox Valley Tech and see if there is any way that I can postpone the second payment until I get my GI Bill money. However I doubt they will so accommodating.

If I can't get the financing "arrangements" to work out with Fox Valley Tech, my only other possible prayer is to barrow money from someone, or somewhere. I am very uncomfortable borrowing money from ANYONE, although I now that sometimes there is just no options and if it solves the problem it is better to swallow your pride and admit you need help than to keep "falling down the rabbit hole" like I am now.
It also doesn't help when you do work for someone and don't get paid for it. Right now I am owed $200 for a consulting job I did last month. I am not sure I will see that paycheck.

But if anyone out there would like to help you can use the Donations link in the sidebar. However if you want to "loan" me money please make sure that you state that with your mailing address and a telephone number that you can be reached at. But just know, you won't get paid back till I get a paycheck, but you WILL get paid back. Karma is a b!t&h I won't mess with.

Well I saw a post from my email test yesterday here this morning. I sent another one earlier today to see how long it takes from the time I send it till it actually posts to my blog. So far it has been 3 hrs, it will be interesting to see just how long it really takes.

Quick update, Stevens Transport just called and I talked with them, no real new info however I did learn 2 new things. First is that I was wrong about them being a "true" forced dispatch so that makes them a bit better from that stand point, unfortunately I also found out that most of their loads run into or out of the dreaded northeast (ie: New York, Manhattan, etc.) much like Roehl. That was discouraging. But if push comes to shove I think I could deal with it for a year. Might not be so bad, I am sure it would be better than everything I hear about Swift Transport.