TRUCKHEADS GUIDE TO PROFESSIONAL CDL DRIVERS

The Truckheads being the data and discussion surrounding CDL mills, Bribes, and how to fix the supply of new and retention of the current professional drivers!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:11

Truckheads.

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Hey, what's going on, everybody? What is up, everybody?

SPEAKER_01 0:30

It's custom music, bro. That is it's the truck which is ready for us. Tommy, Joey, Amy, Tina.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Oh, hey, what's up, guys? How are you?

SPEAKER_01 0:42

Mrs. Javier. Mom's not there today.

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Oh I am so glad she made it.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Mrs. Javier.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Good to see you. Guys, uh, I am Hob Tastic, Captain Hobtastic, and this is the dude, and welcome to another episode of Truckers. Truckers.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

Thank you, everybody, for joining us today. Is that one of those like shoe polish things that you carry with you, you know, to buff your shoes or something? I don't know what you're talking about. You buffing your face when I was starting to do it. I don't know what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

I didn't have anything with me today.

SPEAKER_01 1:11

Do you use uh uh teeth whiteners? I do. You do? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Um the little strips. That's right. It's called cotton. That turns your teeth um a nice, beautiful cocka brown. Kaka brown.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Kaka brown? Is that what it is?

unknown 1:27

Kaka brown.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

Is today Monday? Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

Should we not be saying dates on what uh what the date is today? Or what day it is since we're posting on a different day.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

We yeah, because we usually we post on Wednesdays, but we record it. Well, we record it whenever we can. We record it whenever we want, right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:49

Whenever I want, gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:52

A freaking 12 gauge, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:55

Hey, uh speaking of that. I want to go get some thoughts. I want to go get some tots after this. Give me your thoughts. Because I'm really hungry, but we gotta we gotta do this show and then we're gonna go get a line.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Did you know that a license? Gun license? A CDL license. Oh, a CDL license, okay. It is a license to drive, but it doesn't mean you can.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

No truer words have been spoken. Well, that goes for any license. I guess normal driver's license. There's people out there who do not belong on the road, who have a valid driver's license. How they got that is beyond me.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

I don't know. I mean, you know, we're kind of talking about just because you can doesn't mean you necessarily should. Right. Or if you want to, just getting the license or piece of paper that says you're you you're now certified to do it doesn't mean you really know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

No. Right? No, it doesn't. I mean, I guess it also depends on who's doing the certifying.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Well, uh a hundred percent it does, right? And and right. But I mean, as individuals, we are called by a higher power, Christ, God. You know what I'm saying? To actually be prudent. Well, yeah, prudent, but also do it with excellence, right? Everything that you do. Well, that brings us to our point. Which we have a point.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

There is a point to this show. I'm waiting for the crowd to go, yay, we're getting to the point. So this is the point. This is the point. We're getting to the point. There it is. Proverbs, Proverbs 18, 15. The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. Right? Right. So you gotta get it, and you need to understand it.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Right. Right? So the people will give you the knowledge. Well, give you the information. I don't know about so what's the difference between knowledge and information? Because knowing something, right, and understanding it are two different things, correct? Like you can agree.

SPEAKER_01 4:04

Well, understanding it and having the intelligence to apply it.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Right, well, because you're wisdom, it's the wisdom of it.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

So be able to apply it.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Right, because you can go to school and learn all the things, right? But if you don't know how to apply that, then it's completely useless.

SPEAKER_01 4:16

100% right. And some of that is learning the, you know, you have the intellectual part of the courses, the CDL courses, you go to these schools, and you you you so you learn these things and you can regurgitate it. But do you really understand what it means? Right? Right. And you understand that when you're backing, if you do this and the cab does that, then the trailer goes this way and that way. But now you got to get the physical and drive it. Right. Right? So Which comes with experience also.

SPEAKER_00 4:40

Yeah. Because you have to, like, okay, for example, my son, you know, we're teaching him to drive right now. Yeah. And he's doing all his classes and his coursework, all the desk stuff. Yeah. But then you have to sit, you know, send him out and and and apply what he's learned out in the real world. Or else, if you can learn all this stuff in school, great. But once you get behind the wheel, that's a whole different ballgame. That's a hundred percent. That's just learning the feel of of what it the feel of it of driving. That's a hundred percent right. And that's just a like you said, that's just a car. Yeah. That's just four wheels and it weighs, you know, six thousand pounds, five thousand pounds.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

So here's and and everybody, you know, the other part of this is is is is speed, right? They want to get that knowledge, right? Just the CDL is the beginning. It's not, it's not the end, right? Right. And you get these these courses out there, these the 10,000 that are be have already been removed, and there's many, many more that need to be removed that the FMCSA caused to be there at the beginning.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yikes, that's a lot. Yeah. Aren't they the ones that are accredited or certified in the schools at the game?

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Yeah, so were the ELDs. They were self- they were self-certified, and now they're pulling all those off of the shelf, too, because they're complete BS.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

They're cleaning up.

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, they're cleaning up. I mean, they're you know, the CDLs were actually, you know, there's that whole scam, which we can get into later. Or not CDLs, the uh the ELDs. Right. The EDLDs and that whole scam. But CDLs is the same thing, right? Let you get your get your uh your certification in in in four weeks. Four weeks, you won't understand shit, but we'll sign off this thing, right? And then we're gonna pay off the the actual CDL certifiers five grand, so you can get your CDL, whether you know anything or not, and go out there and and hopefully make some money before.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

So that was the fraud that they were doing. Yeah. So okay, so the so the FMCA, FMSCA came in, FMCSA. FMCSA came in and they were okay, we oh we accredited all these schools, yeah, we approved them, yeah, but then we realized okay, this is all a bunch of baloney. Well, they set the standards. Cut them. Pretty much.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

So they they had to admit that they had to admit, hey, we messed up. No, they didn't do that. They're just taking credit for going in and taking up stuff up.

SPEAKER_00 6:49

So they're cleaning up the mistake they made from the in the beginning.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah, yeah, that they caused. But that's I mean, that's not the point of this, anyways. The point of this really is is is drivers out there and carriers out there. It is your responsibility as godly people and what we're called to do, to do things with excellence and be responsible for what you're doing. Do everything with excellence, do everything with excellence. And this is one of those things where holy crap, I'm not talking about just how do I, you know, put in a screen porch, which I'm screening in like two walls of that porch, right? It's pretty cheap, but you got to learn how to do it right. Right. You don't want it to look janky and like crap, right? Right? So you learn how to do it. Well, this is not not only being a poor driver that people around you are gonna go, man, where'd you get your driver? This guy can't, and honking at you, like, hey, dude, do you know how to merge that type of stuff? No, you kill people with 80,000 pounds driving down the road.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

Yeah, yeah, it's a mistake that you can't afford. No, well, you know, it's the thing here, like every driver, like I'm sure you you agree with this, you know, because we've talked about this before, is like people get their driver's license that should not be on the road. You know, um, they get their driver's license. I don't know how they get they pass. I I seriously, like when I see these people drive, like, how did you even get a driver's license?

SPEAKER_01 8:06

Maybe there's some of this going on. Maybe there's a driver's license.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

I mean, I'm talking like, dude, what are you doing? You can't do that. They drive terrible. And also, not only that, but then you get into like the age, okay. This is another thing, a gripe, and I might catch some flack for this. But once you get to a certain age up in the years, there needs to be, I think, in my opinion, like a re-up type of thing where you got to pass a test. A re-up. Because I'm like, because you got to know, are you competent still to operate a motor vehicle? Now, you have people who are in their you know, older ages, they're elderly, their reaction times are slower and hard to think. No, you're not wrong. I mean, you're not wrong. Think about an 18-wheeler. Like, you're getting a driver's license to this, you know, I know this guy, 21-year-old kid, and you know, his brain isn't fully developed still, you know, or I knew this guy in Florida, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:51

He was an engineer, electrical engineer, very, very smart guy. And uh, he was had this intellectual curiosity, and he did the math, and he was like, Do you realize that if you take all the stats on on you know dementia and all that kind of thing, and the average age of the driver in Florida, that at any given time, like 33% of the drivers in Florida don't even know where they're at or what their name is. Where am I? Who am I?

SPEAKER_02 9:19

What am I doing here?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

The point, the point is this, dude, and and I'm not blaming drivers. Because again, it's just like the illegal immigrants, right? Most of them that came over are not coming over to for nefarious reasons, right? Right. They're trying to better themselves. Sure. It's a land of milk and honey. I mean, it's boom, yeah, it's America. And then we shortchanged them by allowing them to circumvent the the systems and get in here illegal. And then and then we go, okay, look, hey, look, you can drive a truck in four weeks.

unknown 9:52

What?

SPEAKER_01 9:53

We didn't do them any service, and we sure as hell didn't do ourselves any service. No, and we didn't do any service for the drivers out there doing it right every day. God bless you, and and may God bless every mile you drive. They're the ones telling you and I when we go out and talk, here's how you do it. Get the people off the streets that can't drive and fix the CDL schools, right? And this portion of this that I want to impart that we're trying to impart is look, the CDL is the beginning. You want to provide for your family. You want to get that out there as fast as you can, right? I get it, man. And so do I, right? I didn't want to go to school. I didn't want to do this, but you got to do it right. And God calls us to do it right. Right. And you gotta find a CDL school that's gonna say, look, you're gonna give us the money and invest in us. We take that seriously. We're going to teach you how to do this.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Well, there's these schemes all over the place, man. They take their money, okay. You know, it's it's in a lot of different industries. They, you know, they advertise four weeks, like you said, $25, get $2,500, start making $2,500 in four weeks, you know, with CDL, they take their money, they do the bare minimum, and then they churn these out because to that school, they see a class of, let's say, six people at $2,500 a pop. Yeah. Or whatever the no, what do they charge? Like $2,500 for a student, whatever. Let's say five grand a pop. Let's say five grand a pop. Five grand a pop for you know, you get your CDL. You know, you got five, five people. That's $25,000 in those four weeks in a month, right? Yeah. So you're turning these people out. Hey, the more I can turn these people out, the more profit they're making. I don't know. Are they competent? Yeah, sure, sure. We we know we covered the bare minimum. Well, here's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

They're not doing the CDL school is never held for any of that stuff. Exactly. If the people went and they failed their next test, it wasn't the school's fault. Right. Nobody reparted back and said, hey, the school only graduates at a 60% success rate when they actually go for their certification, right? They don't do that stuff. None of that's there. There wasn't any liability coming back to the school.

SPEAKER_00 11:47

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:48

And that's not the case with like, let's say, for example, you universities, right? When your kid's going to college and he's applying to different schools, it's based off of merit, it's based off of um history of that school, right? Everybody wants to go to an Ivy League school because they have a history that they graduate a certain type of people there, the accreditation. Accreditation means something. That that degree means something when you go to Harvard, when you go to Princeton, Brown, Cornell, MIT, whatever. Yeah. You know, because you know, oh, that's a good school. Yeah. You know, that's a great school. It's expensive, but it's a good school. Versus schools that are maybe not as well known or don't have a high graduating rate, whatever. It's the same thing here. You know, people want to go to a people just see the lucrative amount of like, oh, I can make this much money, and they think, I guess every CDL school is the same. I guess yeah, CDL school is a CDL school, but it's not. You have to do your research as well. You gotta do your research.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Are they not? Are they gonna teach you how to drive in different types of weather? Are they gonna teach you trip planning, your hours of service, securing a load properly? Are they gonna teach you that your stopping distances aren't correct? I mean, in real world doing these things, right? Can you parallel park the soccer? Because you're gonna have to do far worse than that.

SPEAKER_00 13:00

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:00

I had a parallel park a uh a Buick Roadmaster station wire. Oh my gosh. With the wood panels on the side? Yeah, that's probably a little harder than an actual 53-footer. Sure, sure. I mean, no, it's not, obviously. But I mean, you gotta understand it. Can you do uh uh alleyway delivery or uh yeah, deliveries and docking and that type of stuff, blind side type of stuff? How good are you at doing these things? These are the things that are coming out of there. And if you really want to be a driver and an effective driver, you can make a lot of money and you can have a great career doing it, but you got to make sure you got the skills, right? You gotta have the skills, bro. Yeah, are you are you are you gonna go out there and feel confident that I can go out there and I can I can handle it?

SPEAKER_00 13:42

Not in four weeks, you're not. Well, you know, like look at the high school, right? So high school level. So I know I hear this a lot from the older generation because I grew up, I think when I grew up or when I went to high school, they were offering metal shop. They had like a home edge, wood shop, metal shop, where they teach you like teach you actually skills. Yeah, and a lot of I think a lot of schools, like over the over the last, you know, because I I graduated in the year 2000, you know, it's 26, 2026, you know, they've changed where they don't offer a lot of that stuff. Where I think they should be teaching children how to the simplest of things, how to balance a checkbook, how to how to invest in you know, a portfolio, how to do all these things, right? So, but they're still getting an education. They go and they get a diploma, they graduated high school. Now, the quality of the education, that's that's the difference. So that's what we're saying here with CDL schools, you know, is to do your due diligence for the the place that you're getting your accreditation from or you're getting your license from is, you know, let me look at the reviews, let me look at who went to school there, let me talk to some people that went to school there, and they'll tell you, yeah, you know what, they really didn't cover all that. And I had I went out into the real world really not knowing a whole lot, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:49

And you so you got to do that, right? But then you also have to realize that getting your CDL, going to a school and getting certified means, okay, I've got the base knowledge to learn in this profession. Right. Right. Yeah, well, yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 15:02

And that comes with time. And that comes with time. That comes with time.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

And that comes with training and all that kind of stuff. So you need the strongest base that you possibly can.

SPEAKER_00 15:11

So, how much fraud is going on with that?

SPEAKER_01 15:12

There is a ton of fraud. Because you touched on it, but we're talking about 10,000 schools so far in the last like what you want to. I want to circle back to that. That are being that are being removed.

SPEAKER_00 15:22

Uh you mean remove us and like shut down?

SPEAKER_01 15:25

Yeah, like shut down, 9,819 so far. That's a lot. Have been shut down. You got 423 more under review.

SPEAKER_00 15:33

So those might be shut down too. They find to be lacking.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

And when they're reviewing them, they're uncovering not only that they suck, but but and that they're just spitting you out to because it's a numbers game, but they're also um bribing people. Which for the license. Yeah, which they're having people that are completely unqualified to. Yeah, but I mean, see, then's that's where you now you got people that are coming here that are struggling and they want to get a good job and stuff like that, and then they're faced with a choice, right? Okay, I take the long right way and really learn this profession and do it. But man, I gotta make money now. I could give them the same amount of money and I can just get it today. Right. But isn't that scary? It's incredibly scary, and the rest of us should be like, yes, it's scary even for the person.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Like, I would be happy.

SPEAKER_01 16:26

Yeah, but it's it's desperation, bro. Desperation. It's I'm not saying they're right. I'm just saying that's the motivation.

SPEAKER_00 16:31

This is crazy to me because like can like can you in full faith, if watchers out there, you're not a truck driver, can you in full faith have faith in yourself to be like, yeah, how hard can it be to drive this 18-wheeler, 80,000-pound truck? How hard can it be? I'm gonna pay five grand for the CDL and call myself a truck or get on the road and just learn along the way. It's not one of those things that you can kind of like skirt along the way and I'll just learn on the road. Like you know what I mean? Like you're driving an 80,000-pound vehicle and like, dude, come on. Like, I would be terrified. I'd be like, look, I'd get behind the wheel and just be like, uh, okay, how do I do this? And let me ask, you know, Chat GPT, how do you start this truck? How do you shift gears? Like, yeah, but see, that's just knowledge.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

That's not wisdom, that's just knowledge, right? That's not intelligence, that's not how to do it. Like you said, right? You got these really smart people, but they can't open a door.

SPEAKER_00 17:18

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 17:19

It says pour push. Yeah, and I get that, but I've never done it before. And that's what it, and that's part, and people think, oh, it's how hard can it be, right? Well, I've I've had to drive them. Jeez, yeah, I had to learn, I had to get to do all that stuff when I was in training and getting into LTL. I had to hook up uh pups, you know, the 28 footers and stuff like that, get use the giflocks and do all that other kind of stuff, uh, and learn it. And it is very, very I don't, I was a grown-ass man when I did it. It's still scary shit, right? Yeah. What I likened it to, telling other people, was look, you can I can sit you at the base of a mountain and go, see that ski slope up there? It doesn't look that bad. When you're watching like uh downhill on the Olympics, oh yeah, it looks like they're on this nice slope, they're just cruising. But from up there, it looks like you go up there and look at it, you're like, holy crap.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

Yeah, I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

If I trip, I'm gonna fall all the way to the bottom. It's that steep, right? Right? That that's what it is like in a truck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

It's a huge I mean, I've been inside them, I've done some photo shoots of them, taking some video stuff you know for the Spartan guys. And you get in that truck and it's intimidating. It's massive. I mean, it's a huge I mean, it's it's it's massive. You're in there, it's like you can live, people live in there. You know, there's a bed in the back, you know. So now you gotta operate that. I would be terrified without knowing and going to a school to really learn what I'm doing. So these people, like you know, the like you said, the fraud, you know, are these people that just keep failing the course and like ah, you know what, just pay me the money and I'll give you the CDL anyway because they just they're not passing their class. Is that kind of like the fraud that we're talking about here? Or are they literally just giving these licenses to whoever Joe Schmoe comes up from, you know, Nicaragua or whoever, South America, they need a new, they need a job, they need something. Here's your CDL. I mean, is that how it is that the kind of fraud you think they're that they're uncovering here? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

All kinds of fraud like that. Here's the other things you gotta go. Look, if you're a driver and you go out there or you're a carrier and you're looking for drivers, you should hook up with a a a specific school, is what you really should do. Investigate that school and go, oh, these schools here are good. I know what their program is. They're gonna train these people the way I want them trained, or the way that we need them trained. Right. And that's what you should do, right? Right. That's what I would do.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

Well, you vouch for them.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Yeah, that's what I would do. And and really understand where those things are coming from. But they don't. You know, you go to a school and the school says, Look, hey, we're on the uh we're on the national registry. We're we're a training provider register, we're registered. That means nothing. It doesn't mean anything. It means nothing. That means nothing now. It doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 19:47

You know what I heard? Okay, here's the thing. And oh man, I don't know if I'll get in trouble for this, but the Better Business Bureau. The BBB. People have told me that it's a scam. It used to mean something. It used to mean something where you're like, hey, you have that little BBB accreditation on your business, like on the door. That means that, hey, you know wow, they're a they're a good business. But now it's become where you pay your dues, you pay it, they give you this. It stopped again. No, good. Oh, um, you pay your dues, you you get that little sticker, and as long as you pay up and you're in good standing, then you're a BBB certified business. So it really doesn't, it's lost its meaning of what it is now. Well, look at this. And so it's the same thing with being accredited.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Yeah, this is what we're getting to. The FMCSA is going out there and cleaning up these schools. Okay, great. Did they ever certify them to begin with? No, they don't. The FMCSI does not, FMCSA does not certify trucking schools. It says itself, we do not approve or certify training providers. We they they'd say, here's the curriculum. They just have to register through them. Yeah. You they have the curriculum. They go to the state and say, hey, we've got the curriculum. They go, Yep, you got the curriculum that the FMCSA is. Go. Nobody comes out and says you got the proper teachers or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 21:00

Well, no one comes and says, No, so no, they don't do like an inspection of the schools.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Yes. And it's very important that you understand it. And it's so you and I can do that.

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Let's go, you know, what we can do, we can go through paying for the FMCAs.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Well, not here, we can't.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

Oh, we can't.

SPEAKER_01 21:14

No. Spartan CDL training's got real people, they're doing it the right way.

SPEAKER_00 21:18

Well, I'm talking about like, oh, yeah, obviously. I'm talking about like you and I as a person, like we're gonna start our own, you know, the dude. Maybe Captain Hof Task and the Dude Incorporated, where we teach you how to drive. Like, you as long as you pay for the curriculum, like we can start a little rinky dink school. That's terrifying if that's true.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

Yep. And that brings us to Proverbs 14, 15, which basically, dude. It what it what it's I'm gonna tell you my terms, what it says, check it out. Don't believe what you see or read. Right. Go get the knowledge, get the wisdom, understand. When somebody says, Hey, look, we're certified by the FMCSA, oh wow, I've heard of them I'm gonna be a CDL driver they're the ones that that make sure everything is cool and then they take you did you just yeah then then you're screwed because guess what they don't they don't certify them you got to understand what's going on it's the fraud stuff basically that scripture says do your do your due diligence that's right and the new driver you're the target you're the they need you you're the dollar sign you're the dollar sign the ching you can make a hundred thousand dollars a year you don't need much training you're gonna have it in in four weeks we guarantee that you're gonna get a job most of the stuff is BS did you research that just signal are you so desperate to get a job which I freaking get you know you want to go do it but just a little bit of research and understanding who these people are and researching that school right is gonna be so much better for you than just going out there and saying look I need to get a job and this is the fastest way I can provide for my family and it looks fantastic and go out there.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

That's fine. Just do it right. Just gotta do it. Do your due diligence and be aware. And you know it's so funny the Bible has the Bible if like people say oh it's just a book it's just history it's just a bunch of stories but you read stuff like this in Proverbs and and it's like a guideline for your life because that application came you know 2,000 years ago you know or more and you can apply that now in 2026 and it and people have been applied those those kinds of proverbs to their lives so that they can better their life and you know go through life with these kinds of you know lessons. So the Bible is full of things like that where it teaches you hey you know what maybe I should you know read this verse and apply that to my life because it applies to you right now.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

A hundred percent in business and personal and spiritual life it's who are these people everybody does it this way. Right? These are BS meter light ups right just sign here.

SPEAKER_00 23:50

Oh that's my favorite one my that's my favorite just sign here just pay the fee we'll take care of everything it's gonna be great we guarantee you a job if you sign right here your wildest dreams will come true vote for summer um vote for paying so you you gotta do because some of these people are are under review.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

I mean that's part of the thing with like hiring drivers or or three pls to hey I use a driver they're could couldn't they're conditionally qualified. What does that mean? Right it means they're qualified but if you use them and they make a mistake you're gonna lose a nuclear verdict. Right. No they should be qualified or not yeah that's it it's qualification year do you do it right or you don't yeah it it's it's really now look owner operators small fleets they got the same problem freaking problem if you're an owner operator and recruiter and so on and so forth you've got to understand what is going on the FMCSA who are we recruiting where do these drivers come from what school did they come from is it a qualified school right what kind of changes well what kind of changes need to happen like is there the you know what kind of changes need to happen to better that industry or this that side of the industry well first of all in your opinion in my opinion there needs to be certification there needs to be there a real certification yes and accreditation and they need to be inspected. Yeah there needs to be more so more strict rules government barriers to entry I scream about it all the time barriers to entry there's barriers to entry in a lot of different professions architecture real estate stuff like that right got to pass the bar yeah that you got to pass the bar all that type of stuff and in many of them it's only there as a barrier to entry so that money is exchanges hands period this is one where we actually have to have it yeah well what does a doctor have to do right they go to they go to a four-year medical school and they don't practice right away right don't they have to go have an intern they have to have residency residency fellowship they I mean they have to do a lot before they actually you know I mean they become a real doctor but I'm saying they they still there's still a lot of education and practical applications that they have to go through in order to be a good doctor you know to actually know what you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

With CDL drivers you know you go to school and afterwards like I feel like there's also you know it it's also an accreditation but there's also like a continuing education that I think you know it would behoove them to invest in your refreshers. Yeah I mean invest in yourself that comes with you know like Michael for example like you you want to invest in others and invest in things that's great but for your success you want to invest in yourself and that doesn't just mean money it means knowledge and and learning how how can I better myself and make myself better in this profession.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

100% and and and so there's personal responsibility right and and understanding those things and many as you very well and eloquently stated you can find all those things in the Bible right they've been taught to us for thousands of years. Correct if we pay attention to those things and quit arguing over stupidity. Well that's the reason why Jesus had parables yeah exactly life lessons yeah life lessons actual things that actually work they're they're for real um and you'll find a lot of blessings there but it also then is barrier to entries and one of those barriers to entry isn't looking to uh our parents or the government to for more regulation right because I mean be careful of what you ask for right I mean you you talk about the Israelites going hey man we want kings not the wisest move on the planet right you go back and read we all know how that term I'm not going over it because there's a whole two episodes there's some long long reading there but suffice it to say be careful what you wish for and take responsibility for yourself. The industry as a whole is what I'm talking about, right? You said one of what are some of the things barriers to entries right so we can set up some of those legislations. Okay but if the trucking companies the carriers that are coming out and hiring right and those that are putting the money up for owner operators right that are that are giving them that investment to start their own companies etc did some investigation and said okay what school did you go to is this a good school yeah they understand the curriculum they know what they were was it one of those four week give me three thousand bucks and we'll bribe somebody for the other two did you see it on Channel 4 News Judge Judy.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Exactly have you gone to that Judy hour have you have you established a relationship with that school have you done these these type of things as carriers the big carriers and the small carriers right that's your help fix this well even job placement like when you see you start building a reputation like all these drivers have been all these drivers are getting you know job placement in some of these more in the lucrative positions in the industry yeah and that's when you kind of start seeing okay where'd you go to school like oh I want to school to this driver's school okay you know and that's how these um these schools build reputation on the kind of quality program that they're running right yeah and um until a school really does that or establish you know that kind of authority in the industry you know it's it's up to you to to question well let me see how good they are you know what I mean let's see how good that school is and the instructors look at the instructors you know what's your what's your background what's your education how long have you been in the industry oh I I just I've only been driving for you know three years but now I'm not now I'm an instructor well that kind of raises a red flag so you're saying you've only been in the industry for three years but now you're an instructor at the CDL school maybe this isn't the right school for me I don't know you know I guess everybody deserves a chance but I don't know I that's where I would draw the line I mean I would do my research if I'm gonna pay all the things you got to do I want to know hey like is does this guy who's the instructor so and so is the instructor okay cool man let me ask you like how long have you been doing this? Yeah this is my third year. Okay cool how long did you drive trucks before that? Oh I only drove trucks one year and then they made me an instructor like yeah I'm out I'm out I was so good as a student that they just made me instructor right off the right right off the bat. Those are the red flags that you should look for. There's a lot of red because that's on you. Like seriously if if that stuff gets by you there's no excuse for that man then you should have caught that I'm 100% with you as a driver.

SPEAKER_01 30:14

Listen we got uh this thing called a um the Truckhead's guide we're gonna do it right here. I like that it's the it's the it's the new thing are you ready for it? I'm ready for it. Truckhead's guide for those looking to be a new CDL driver. Are you ready for it? I'm ready. Where's the button?

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Hit the button not that button the other one there it is audience for joining us you're about to hear it. You're about to hear it.

SPEAKER_01 30:46

It's also like you hit the button and the band starts playing right because you hit like band button no the other button the button button who's got the button will ever question our production value. Am I buying training or am I buying credentials? That's important right that's very important as a driver because you want to buy the training you want to know what's going on right don't get duped into this crap that I can get certified within a week that's four weeks or what it happens to be right now.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

Four weeks for only five thousand dollars you can be start earning money now.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

That's right. So test. Because they're gonna put $1,000 in their pocket and bribe somebody else for grand.

SPEAKER_00 31:25

Yep. Right? Yep so if they pitch how quickly they can get you through this program and make you money you might want to you might want to uh step back a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Exactly so you're starting to you're starting to look how do I what can I do with my life and you come to the situation oh I'm gonna be a CDL direct so you start searching where are the CDL schools right Google. And you're Googling and it starts whoever paid the most money for SEO they go to the top right exactly right man some of the best ones aren't doing that crap right they're not the shysters out there trying to just advertise and get your stuff out there.

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Independently check the providers have you did you check more than one or two did you just look at the things that went 8,000 3000 7000 six thousand four weeks three weeks two weeks one week seven I can get a CDL for 500 bucks in the next half hour that's me how about you start with just the basics of check the FMCSA you know check to see if they've been removed have they been removed from the registry list at least start there and if they have you probably should not go to school there.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

You shouldn't because if they're been removed you're you're you're guaranteed you're screwed right or if they're not registered they're removed for a reason. They're removed yeah they're removed for but here's the other thing if even if they're on a registry still there's a good chance you're gonna get screwed anyway. Yeah yeah if you don't do your due diligence. If you don't do your due diligence you got to look at it right number three am I learning why or only learning what so what do you mean by that?

SPEAKER_00 32:56

Well um you might learn all the procedures and you memorize them but do you know what happens if there is a problem with one of the procedures how do you fix it? How do you rectify it? So you might learn oh okay well now what what do I do with that information? How do I fix it? If you don't learn that part then you've only learned half of the information.

SPEAKER_01 33:16

Yeah 100% well I did a pre-trip yesterday why is it so important to do it again? Oh there's a little bit of an air leak but it's just a little one it's just an air leak who cares or there is an air leak what do I do? Yeah what do I do now and why why should I do it why should I be worried about that what kind of things can actually make that happen my brakes aren't working uh they'll rectify themselves I just have to push the pedal harder do these people keep calling you back and offering you shortcuts we can get that done in two weeks yeah we can get that done and I can name that tune in one note.

SPEAKER_00 33:49

Yep nope shortcuts bad stuff I mean that come on guys you've learned this since you were in high school middle school elementary school you know taking a shortcut isn't always the best route actually most of the time that's gonna give you more grief.

SPEAKER_01 34:02

You love your son right I love my boys love your boys would you be comfortable sending them to that school yes that's a great question that's a great question it's a great question and if you're running that school do you wish every driver came out of your school because then they'd be driving around your family your family'd be safe exactly you're on the road with these people and you're putting them out there on the road that's a pretty deep philosophical question for yourself. It really is and we can wrap this up for the for the carriers and those that are going to be hiring these guys right are they gonna make you money or cost you money have you done your diligence from the school that they're coming from maybe you should have an affiliation with the school or at least maybe it's not an official one that you want to start put your reputation on because of insurance reasons and money reasons and all those earthly reasons but are they doing the right thing are they respecting the the the laws of of ethics and responsibility and morality are they actually producing people or are they just a mill trying to make a ton of money and therefore you can keep up with your 120% tuner of a rate because you don't care about your driver.

SPEAKER_00 35:15

Change your ways back to what you said that that really should be the standard y'all is um what did you feel comfortable putting my family next to that truck on the road that's that's the standard you should probably put that in your truck um 100% I have that on my in my in my truck in my corner I told you oh you do wait a minute what does this say so I have two of them I have on my headliner I have a bunch of patches and on both sides it says remember you still have to drive this truck home stupid basically saying I like to go off roading with my car we go camping we go on trails but yeah don't put yourself in a situation where you can break your vehicle or mess it up or jack it up because you still got to drive home it's the same thing. You know would I be safe enough to put this huge 8000 pound truck in the driver in the truck next to my family going to where I need to be if the answer is no then you've got a problem.

SPEAKER_01 36:07

Yeah you're not doing it right. You got a big problem. Yeah if you're out on the weekend by yourself and you're gonna go out and you're gonna do some jet skiing and stuff like that, you make sure your jet ski's ready to go. Yep. Right? If you're taking your boat out you make sure your boat's ready to go. Right because you're putting your family in it. 100% if you're gonna get in your car and go on a family trip you just ignore that tire pressure signal right oil pressure light.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

You don't ignore it because it's gonna bite you in the butt in the long run. Sooner or later it will catch up.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

100% CDL potential CDL people look do your due diligence. You you got to because you could be in the middle of a school right now and it'll get shut down when you're only one week into your two week course. Yeah it's not that you're really screwed then you then you're really screwed. Look into it look let me get back to it here. Let me get back to the very very beginning of what we're talking about here friends. Okay? Proverbs 1815 The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge. Proverbs 1415 the simple believeth every word but the prudent man looketh well to his going.

SPEAKER_00 37:24

So in layman's terms is you either get the you get the information and it's your job to decipher that information and to make your judgment call on what you do with that knowledge. Basically it's don't believe everything you see or read or hear. It's your job and your responsibility to determine what is correct and what is not correct. That's what it comes down to because ultimately like I told Michael earlier is your job is to make that discernment. No one's gonna walk you through it no one's gonna hold your hand you have to advocate for yourself because you're not a child anymore. So you can play the blame game all you want but ultimately it falls on your shoulders no one's gonna walk you through it.

SPEAKER_01 38:07

Yeah your choices your choice your choices are gonna make this happen they're gonna make it better or not and those professional drivers that are already out there and the people driving on the road they're counting on you to make the right choices. Yep learn get wisdom get knowledge don't take the shortcuts they're never good.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

A lot of people you if you get scammed or you get you someone scams you on an email everything I mean that sucks and sometimes they'll catch you sleeping but ultimately it's your it's kind of your fault. It is if I click if I get this really weird email and says click here blah blah blah and I'm like oh okay I'm gonna click there and all of a sudden now I have malware on my computer or a virus or they stole all my information yes shame on them for doing that but ultimately I clicked that link and I should know better at this point which is 2026. I know better than to click on links from an unknown sender an email. Again that comes down to like it was my responsibility to do my diligence and to make a discernment of what that information was in front of me.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Amen that's truckheads bro truckheads that's truck heads drivers I want to hear from you guys about what you think about what we're talking about here. Because I mean I go out there and we we go out there and we talk to you guys and we're about to go out there and hit hit the roads and see who we can talk to here really quickly about these subjects but let us know what you think man because I'm hearing it from you all the time. Yep and I love it. Get the unqualified off the roads make sure they're being taught correctly in the schools once again thank you for joining us on Truckheads I am Captain Hoptastic and this is the dude we'll see you guys next time peace and love everybody peace and love hit the hit the applause hey there afternoon see you next week's truckheads