Shipper's Choice (Virginia) and Amazon

I work for Amazon in their Chester, VA distribution warehouse. Amazon has a program available to any Amazon employee with at least one year under their belt in which they will pay for some/all of your tuition to take college classes and/or trade school classes. As part of this program, they also offer on-site CDL training.

The class runs eight weeks, and you go to class every Saturday and Sunday. If you normally work on Saturday or Sunday, Amazon will excuse you from having to work that day.

I signed up for the class. The paperwork said that Amazon would pay for 95% of the tuition for the class, and the remainder (around $250) would have to be paid by us. But on the first day of class, the instructor said we didn't owe anything; the $250 was to cover DMV testing. I was a little confused on that bit, because I thought that meant they normally set up the DMV testing themselves on your behalf. But they said they don't. Anyhow, bottom line, Amazon paid my tuition and I didn't have to pay anything else to the school.

The Amazon facility in Chester has a very large parking lot, and the instructors would drive two or three trucks from their school (which was just three miles or so down the road) to the Amazon parking lot and park them down at the empty end way out in the overflow parking we normally only use during the Christmas season.

Amazon built a classroom in the building, and that's where we meet for anything paperwork related. Any tests we have to take, we take there. The usual schedule we've been following for most of the class is to meet in the classroom at 8:00am, when class starts, and talk about any tests or paperwork we needed to talk about. First day, we watched a pre-trip video showing us how to pre-trip in detail. Then we all went out to look at the trucks and get familiar with 'em.

One guy already had his learner's permit on the first day of class, so the rest of us got shuttled back into the classroom after lunch while he got to go drive one of the trucks.

We have three instructors, and they are all pretty good. The instructor that's running the show is called Bean, and he does a real good job. The other two are Paul and Hank, and they're also pretty good, and easy to talk to and joke with. Hank is one of those instructors that's constantly giving you instructions over the tiniest thing. That was pretty useful when I started and didn't know anything, but I've reached the point now where I need to make my own mistakes and figure out how to correct them, instead of having someone constantly telling me how to do it their way. Paul is just the opposite: He won't say anything to you until after you screw up, but then he'll tell you you screwed up and ask you how you're going to fix it. That wasn't so great for me when I was brand new, but it's perfect for me now. I can nail the offset back and parallel park first try 3 times out of 4, and the 4th time I can get it on the second try after one pull-up.

Every Saturday, Bean would tell all the people who didn't have their permits yet to run down the street to the nearest DMV and get it. He was trying to get everybody in the class as much road time as possible.

Not sure why I'm typing all this out, except that I have just read a couple of nightmare posts from folks who had terrible experiences with their school. Shipper's Choice seems to be a pretty decent bunch, even if you don't work for Amazon (though if you don't work for Amazon, you'll have to go to their site to take the classes). I know that they'll let you come back to the school three times after you graduate to brush up on your driving and backing skills before you take the CDL test, but they've also said that those of us in the weekend class can come in during the week on our day off and practice then, too, if we want, even though our class still has three more weeks to go.

You'll also get recruiters coming in to class. We've had Schneider, PTL, and Werner all pay us a visit. (I didn't like the Werner guy. He was too much of a slick salesman. I liked PTL and Schneider, and will probably go with one of those two.)

Anyhow, Shipper's Choice: They seem pretty good. I'd recommend 'em. And if you're looking for a low-cost way to pay your tuition, maybe get a job at Amazon for a year and let them foot the bill. (Mind you, there's a reason I'm in CDL training, and that's to get out of Amazon. I've been there over 2 years, and I've had enough. It's an okay job, but not a great job. And it can be brutal if you wind up in the wrong job (like Pick). But, having said all that, the hours are regular and you get three day weekends every week, so...)

 

Might wanna talk to someone else, like Kendall or Kiara. I've had a permanent restriction since November for my ankle, and had no problem signing up for the class or getting the tuition paid by their tuition group.

Might have something to do with the fact that you're on a medical leave. I never took a medical leave for my ankle, just went to my doctor and got a medical restriction.

 

Just an update on this, Shipper's Choice did set up my DMV test, and I didn't have to pay out of pocket. I know they would normally do this for their regular students, but there was some confusion about whether or not they'd do it for us Amazonians. (Or maybe I was the only one confused, and nobody else was. )

 

Nah, looking to do OTR. I'm going to apply at Abilene here in a few weeks when I get closer to my end date at Amazon. Thanks for the offer, though. If they don't take me for whatever reason, I may hit you up.