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September 9, 2024
MARINETTE – For the first time since opening in 2016, the Veriha Driving School – the CDL training arm of Marinette-headquarered Veriha Trucking, Inc. – is open to the general public.
Though the goal, of course, is to have students drive for Veriha upon completion of the program, Tricia Sloan, director of corporate development at Veriha Driving Academy, said it is no longer a requirement of the training program.
“Right now, we are getting the word out, letting people know we are here and that you don’t have to work for Veriha to participate,” she said.
With a truck driver shortage estimated to reach 160,000 by 2030 (U.S. Department of Labor Statistics) and state regulations requiring drivers to attend an approved Class A CDL (commercial driver’s license) training program before obtaining their license, Solan said Veriha is doing its part in helping support the industry and the Greater Marinette community.
“In 2022, the FMCSA had a federal mandate that transitioned to the ELDT (Entry-Level Driver Training) program – which means you have to go to an approved program to get your CDL,” she said. “Looking at the schools available, there wasn’t one in the Marinette area that was open to the general public.”
Witnessing some of the struggles local companies have faced regarding finding licensed CDL drivers, Sloan said, is part of the reason Veriha decided to open its training academy to the general public.
“We also don’t think there was a lot of communication about the ELDT program,” she said. “With the entire model changing, some companies might be unaware of it.”
Community proud
Veriha Trucking, Inc. was started in 1978 by John Veriha in neighboring Porterfield.
The business grew, adding drivers – now up to more than 200 – and relocating to Marinette (1982).
As of 2013, Karen Smerchek – John’s daughter – owns and operates the trucking company that hauls everything from paper products, groceries and produce to pet food, auto parts and touring show stage equipment.
Being located in Northeast Wisconsin, Sloan said, is an important aspect of what makes Veriha Trucking, Inc. unique.
“People who call the area home, work really hard,” she said. “We have a lot of farmers in the community, and we have a lot of people with a manufacturing background. We’re pretty proud of where we live.”
Though attracting folks from other states to attend driving school in Northeast Wisconsin really isn’t realistic, Sloan said it’s important to be a resource for the people “who work hard here already.”
Part of that, she said, has to do with being a woman-owned business.
“Karen has worked really hard to be a part of the different worlds communities within the trucking industry,” she said. “She works very hard to make sure Veriha understands what is coming up within the transportation industry and making sure we are ahead of them.”
Continuous improvement
As the daughter of the founder, Sloan said Smerchek is deeply rooted in the company’s history and values – and is focused on continuing the core values her father instilled: safety, personal development, people first, go the extra mile and sustainable results.
“She is passionate about safety – our No. 1 value – and is dedicated to bringing new technologies and initiatives into our organization,” she said.
This, Sloan said, included the Veriha Driving Academy.
Veriha opened its company-owned and -operated driving school in 2016, followed by its apprenticeship program in 2018.
Launching these two programs, Sloan said, followed suit with the company’s core values – particularly safety and people first.
Deciding to open the driving school to the general public, she said, followed the same principles.
“Because we’ve done this for so many years, we have those skills to help people to be able to get their Class A CDL,” she said. “Otherwise, people in our local area were having to drive to Green Bay or Escanaba, Michigan – at least an hour’s drive – to get their CDL. I know two Green Bay schools currently have anywhere between a three-month to a year waitlist.”
More on the driving school
The comprehensive six-week program, Sloan said, is designed to equip aspiring drivers with the essential skills needed to obtain their Class A CDL.
The first three weeks, she said, are mostly spent in a classroom setting learning the theory and regulations of the truck driving industry.
“They are doing some driving locally, but the first three weeks are spent learning the nuts and bolts of the industry,” she said.
Sloan said the next three weeks, students are working with an instructor on the road.
“They are helping haul regular freight, learning how to fuel up the truck – they are learning the basics and building up their skills day to day so when they go to test following week six, they will be successful,” she said.
Though there is no requirement for program graduates to work for Veriha following the training, Sloan said the company does plan to share the positives of doing so with students.
“During training, we want to show them how much we care about them, how we are very people-oriented – though we have more than 200 drivers, we are still a relatively small company,” she said. “We want to showcase the kind of atmosphere they would have driving for us.”
At the same time, Sloan said Veriha will look at whether students meet its hiring criteria – “how are they showing up? Are they learning things quickly? Do they care about safety as much as we do?”
“It is a two-way street – do they like us and do we like them?” she said. “If they do meet our hiring criteria and they choose to come on board with us and they drive for us for 12 months (and drive 120,000 miles), we reimburse driving school tuition.”
Sloan said Veriha provides a variety of CDL driving opportunities.
“We have home-daily routes,” she said. “We have regional, where drivers are out five and a half days, then home for 48 hours. We have over-the-road routes where they are out longer, and then we have an entertainment division where drivers are out for the length of the tour – hauling sound equipment, lights and anything else artists need.”
Sloan said the company’s entertainment division is a unique aspect of Veriha Trucking.
“We have some drivers who do that for one to three weeks and others do it permanently,” she said. “We had about 35 drivers out traveling for the summer and they are just starting to return home.”
Sloan said Veriha is a very technologically driven trucking company – which stems partially from its focus on safety.
“We have inward-facing cameras – with coaching opportunities that go along with them,” she said. “They have a scoreboard and do competitions based on which fleet was the safest for the month. Safety is not just words to us – it is our No. 1 value.”
For more on Veriha Trucking, Inc., visit veriha.com.
For additional information on the Veriha Driving School, visit verihadrivingacademy.com.
