Apparently I talk too much........ like never heard that one before!

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Are there just as many recruiters visiting your training location today as in the past?

The bottom feeders are alive and well.
My school even tried to tell me I was "required" to attend their sessions........ yeah.......
My school also has a tight connection to Stevens Transportation and US Xpress....... we also had Fed Ex in recently..........

Overall it doesn't seem to be an issue......... I know a lot of the students go with one of the trolling companies but I haven't heard anything about students not being able to find SOME kind of job. The school is pretty diligent about making sure everyone has a job by the time they graduate........

I personally cause them no end of confusion and grief because I will not participate in their normal pattern of business......

You might want to read this old thread I started …. I thought IROC’s comment was hilarious!!!
[LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

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I guess it would be very understandable if they choose not to share this information.

Lets see........ former truck drivers who instruct/train at private schools for horrible wages ....... hmmmmmm...... let's just say I have not found them to be the quiet, reserved and/or lacking in opinion/information type of individuals....

I have my settings turned on for PM.... did it tell you I didn't?

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The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. — Albert Einstein

thestoryteller ....

Thanks for taking the time to respond . I opted to jump in with the questions for you because I expected both a well thought out and detailed response. You did not let me down.

Regarding your PM settings , as far as I know they are fine .... but, at my present average of about 1 post per day I will not be sending Private Messages to anyone but Forum staff for another 6 weeks ..........................

[quote=IGM 462;432880]IMG,
For our area it seems only the worst r readily available to us! The more I read about Swift the worse it gets. I may have to move back to Ca to get with Schneider. Drivers here say going to and paying for a school is better, but no one's saying how to get with that better company. Since most good companies want 1 or 2 years of experiance, I'm at a loss. I guess I will just have to hang out here until I get it.

What it all basically comes down to is that if you are just starting out in this industry, it is best to go with a bigger company for at least a year, to get the experience first. Schneider has one of the best training, but who ever you go with, stick it out for at least a year.

For the most amount of money that you can ever make will be teaming, and with experience. 3 years experience and you got it made.

Be very careful with companies that seem to offer you the most, it is actually too good to be true, it usually is not. When you find the right company, which should come down to: Can they get me home when I want to be home; How many miles will they get me a week, which leads to what type of contracts do they have to keep you running (they run on brokers or find their own freight), and you should also be looking at how safety conscience are they. DOT is already coming down on ALL the companies on how drivers are not logging their fuel on Line 4.

I have worked for smaller, medium, larger, bigger,.... etc etc type of companies, I know how to listen between the lines in "truck stop stories"..... (I don't listen at all now),... it all depends on each individual and what he/she wants....

Sorry, forgot to say something about Swift:

They are not a bad company, but their training is way off. It just seems they are putting through drivers just to get them through. The drivers (new and old) are really making them look bad. Honestly, they are the worst company out there. They are actually in one of the highest law suits ever against a trucking company in Arizona right now.

I only mentioned Swift due to the problem of not being able to get in with Schneider. But if you do go through Swift, please let us know how well you are doing, would love to know how their training practices are.

I have an open mind, and do realize that everyone makes mistakes, but Swift drivers, new and old take it way beyond the extreme. I always say, about Swift, I thought I saw it all, and then they always seem to prove me wrong..... hee hee

I learned how to drive through schneider, their training was good but working for them sucked. This was back in 1999 however so things may have changed. I got home about every two weeks for two days. I would argue with them that I was not getting home time. I might roll in around 8 am sat. morning and they want me back on the road by sunday night early monday. I told them that was not two days off. I asked the dispatch if they worked from midnight to 8 am would they consider that to be off, hell no. Then around thanksgiving I was told by my dispatcher I would be home he said he makes sure all his drivers get home, at first I told him it was cool I would rather be home at Christmas and new years, and I was told I would be home for that also. Well needless to say I was sent to main the day before thanksgiving, my dispatcher was off for the holiday and I was told by another that they dont gaureentee any one to be home for the holidays, so I missed thanksgiving. Then not to long before christmas my truck broke down, luckly it was not far from where my parents lived and I was able to stay there, for a couple of days. Then I got a call from dispatch saying my truck was ready and I had to leave right then to deliver the load, this was about 6pm already dark been up all day and had about a few hour ride to get to delivery spot, I told her I was tired and she told me I should have been resting. So I hit the road only to find when I got there that they were about to close he said he wasnt expecting me till morning. I told him dispatch said you needed this asap. It was a load of tea and he laughed and said look at all this tea here I dont think we would be hurting if your truck wasnt here. So that was about it I decided I was done with them. I got routed home Christmas eve and the day after christmas I told them I quit and parked my truck. Also it took a long time for toll reimbursement, I only made $0.22 a mile, and there are many other things I could say like my cab over sucked but I'm about out of room, I would not recommend them to my worst enemy, well maybe I would.

I have been working for Schneider for almost 8 months now. They have a lot of good things about them and a lot of bad things. Hometime is a big issue with me. Rarely do I ever get home when I want to be. They have you schedule your time at home atleast 4 weeks in advanced and basically all it is, is a rough estimate of when you're going to be home. My DBL is great for getting me miles but sucks when it comes to dealing with issues. She is very good for passing the buck and then nothing gets resolved. Schneider is a great option for new drivers. Their training is top notch and I do not regret starting out with them. One thing you cannot count on is ANYTHING the recruiter tells you. I was told during my phone interview that I would need to commit to atleast 2200 - 2500 miles a week. HA! What a joke. In 7 months of driving I have had one week that was 2700 miles other than that my average miles for the week are 1800 - 2000. If you are looking for a company that gives you miles you better look past Schneider. Right now freight is horrible all around and I have sat for a few days here and there waiting for my next load. Also the time restraints are rediculous on some loads and its the fault of the Dispatchers not the driver. For instance I got a load to pickup in Montreal on a tuesday afternoon. The load was 1393 actual miles. It needed to be in Olive Branch, MS by thursday at midnight. When I picked the load up on tuesday I only had 3 hours left to run. The trucks are governed at 60 mph now which enables me to only do 660 miles/day. I could have made it and delivered just at the end of my day on thursday. Needless to say the load was ready on monday at 11:00am and they didn't have another driver pick it up. No problem it would be 2 long busy days but I could have done it. I get to the customer to pickup the trailer and it has a flat tire and a blown brake chamber. It took SEM and the roadside assistance a total of 3 and a half hours to get somebody out to me and get the trailer fixed. By then I had just enough time to get to a truck stop for my 10 DOT break. I sent in a MAC 29 explaining that i wouldn't be able to deliver the load until Friday morning because the customer loaded a TBO trailer. On wednesday morning when I got up to start my day I had a message on the qualcomm asking me where I was going to be sleeping that night and what time would I get there so they could have somebody meet me to take the load the rest of the way because Schneider couldn't afford to have this freight late. I told them I would be at the Detroit OC around 2000. That wasn't good enough for them, my dbl wanted me to meet another Schneider driver at the next truck stop. I got into a heated arguement with my dbl over the qualcomm about how this wasn't my fault that the load was going to be late and why should I be punished because of it. After going above my DBL I was able to take the load the whole way and got the load to the customer at 0700 Friday morning and again like I've read in previous posts the customer had me drop the trailer in their yard because they had enough of the product in the warehouse already. I was so pissed off. Also another issue I have in the maintenence department at a certain OC. Some OC's have great mechanics while others have lazy *%#$&#$^ ! I had an air leak under the cab that I took in to get fixed. Long story short they said they fixed it when they actually didn't. I got put OOS in a little town in New York for an AUDIBLE air leak. There was no pressure drop on my gauges during the pump down in my pre-trip but because it was audible the DOT put my truck OOS. I got a citation from the local Police. The citation had a court date for the following Friday to be in court at 0800. I called Schneider's Citation Department to find out what I was supposed to do. They told me to send them the citation through the OC shuttle in Carlisle, PA and they would take care of it. On the wednesday before the court date I called the citation dept. again because I could not get ahold of the court to see if they received anything because it was a small town and the courthouse was only open 2 friday mornings a month. The lady in the Citation department wasn't vey helpful as she didn't seem to care. I had spoken with a lawyer who had told me if the court house did not receive the citation with a guilty or not guilty plea before the court date and I wasn't able to get an extension, that I would have a warrant out for my arrest for failing to appear in court which is a misdemeanor which is punishable by 15 days to a max of 1 yr in a county jail. Also being a Canadian Citizen this could mean possible denial of entry into the US in the future which I cannot have as my job depends on me being able to cross into the US. To sum up the story I had to fight tooth and nail to get home to be able to go to court so I could keep a clean record. Some of the B/S they pull is not worth the money they pay. I can't wait until I get enough experience so I can get on with a local company in my area that has a dedicated account.

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I hate to tell you this, but other companies are even WORST than they are.... this is what trucking is all about,... if you are not in to the wanting to be home EXACTLY when you want to be,... than you need to find another profession... There is absolutely NO guarantees on Home Time with any company out there,.... UNLESS you are in a dedicated run, and even then,.... you will NEVER be exact.

I am not coming down on you for this,... but just stating the facts that there is never a guarantee to get you home exactly when you want....

I have to admit,... every company out there tries to do the best that they can to get the driver home on time,... but the facts come down to that the business comes first,... and money talks!

Sorry,.... just telling it the way it is,... I am one that never needs to be home,.... I am 41, female,... and never blessed with any children,.... and the holiday's are depressing,... so I would rather drive to let others have their home time on the holiday's with thier kids,... but there is not many out here like me,... Too many baby Daddy's and not much thinking about the consequences,....

Really need to find another profession!

May I please respectfully request that you hit the enter key occassionally on these posts?

A little seperation of sentences, paragraphs, thoughts.... would be really helpful for those of us trying to read.

Thank you

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The definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. — Albert Einstein

Electra, did you mean to type "ARE" (in to) instead of "not" (in to wanting to be home EXACTLY ....... )?
If it's as I suspect, you meant ARE, and I'd agree. I think that's an accurate assessment.
Yet, there are some companies who might TELL you that.
For the most part, don't believe it. That's correct.
And the more y'all EXPECT it, the more y'all
will be disappointed.

I'm not so sure EVERY company cares about getting their drivers home, ...... but Schneider always got me home every two weeks for two days off, ---- but I prefer to stay out longer, ..... like 6 to 9 weeks at a time. So, for ME, every two weeks was too often.

Same here, Electra --- except I'm a guy.
Not married and no strings attached. And I LOVE to drive, ....... for the right company. I'm happy on the highways.

After taking days off, it took me 5 to 7 days to get back in the OTR groove, --- then it was downhill for the next 6 to 8 weeks before coming home for 7 to 10 days off in a row. Or, until I got the urge to go again -- which usually came sooner.

I agree 100% with Electra, and I'm not sorry to tell y'all that. What she is sayin' is true. And I don't apologize for tellin' the truth.

And the TRUTH is ---- if ya'll can't or won't accept that you WON'T be home for ALL the holidays, or EXACTLY when y'all wanna be -- at LEAST for the first year to 18 months, don't even get into the Big truck truckin' industry.

Those who can't or won't accept that they're going to be required to PAY THEIR DUES, and, instead, bail out early, are known as "quitters".
And if they complain about what they find the Big truck truckin' industry REALLY is, AFTER they get into it, they're known as "whiners".
And, it seems there ARE many.

RESEARCH folks ---- RESEARCH!!
Then, if y'all don't like what'cha learn FIRST -----

Do yourself a favor ---- find another
job, ........... dare I say lifestyle.
It's highly unlikely the industry is going to
change any time soon. It is what it is.

**Side BaR to Electra -------
Did you find running over the holidays to be
a different change of pace, and enjoyable?
I sure did.

And, as an added bonus, the drivers who got time at home with their families because I "volunteered" to take their loads, ---
thought THEY owed ME.
Imagine that.
I call it Win/Win.

Then again, ...... I ain't "normal".