New to Schneider

My name is Robert, my brother and I have just finished our first week of orientation with SNI. I started a blog elsewhere an got to thinking I should put something here also, so everything you see on this post, is everything leading up to today.

Its definately the hardest I've ever worked just to get a job! We have been in the wrecker business together for the better part of 20 years. Our boss/father figure died 2 years ago in Sept, and basically the business has went to crap with all the family stepping in wanting their piece of what they've never been a part of! We are certainly not new to running big trucks, after all, we been towing 18 wheelers for years! just dont have any verifiable experiance.

So now we have to go to CDL school to be takin seriously by ANY company. After all our research, we have decided SNI should be a good home for us, and really hope to finish our careers out here!

Well, we passed our truck driver school with the highest grades they can ever recall. No im not trying to brag, remember, we're not NEW to all this! I will definately say that school on the weekends, and work minimum of 80 hours during the week, it took its toll on us! Glad thats over!

Not a cheap thing to get into also! School was $3100, spent approx. $200 on license fee's. My sleep study, luckily on wife's insurance! CPAP machine rental from SNI will be right at $50 a week for the first 12 weeks, then will be $13/week after that as long as i use theirs. Will definately be looking into buying my own!
Also, for those that dont know, with sleep apnea you will only get a 3 month med card, untill you can verify proper usage of the machine. After that, I found out my med card will have to be done yearly. Sni however, is doing everything in their power to get us on the road quickly, i have to say i'm very impressed with them so far.

My brother got his physical and drug screen done last week. I got slowed down as i had to perform a sleep study for mild apnea. I have been sweating an stressing for past couple of weeks hoping to get all this done in time for orientation, and today, Nov 8, I am done!! CDL, hazmat, tanker endorsements, physical, drug screen, sleep study, all in hand and complete. according to my recruter, today was the last day for me to get finished before the 13th, or i would have to wait till next month!! THANK GAWD IM DONE!!

Told my wife ive never worked soooo hard to get a job before in my life! My wife is absolutely incredible, I cant say enough about her the way she supports and stands with me with everything! She's not dig'n the 4 week out thing, but, we both are ready an gonna make it work! Luckily, all kids are grown--high school or better, and no grand kids for the time being! May at that time be ready to slow down and get more local, but for now, we gonna run our butt's off OTR and lookin forward to it!

Well, first day today. All about the paperwork! more book testing in the "trucker bible", of course the IRS paperwork, the prehire physical stuff which by the way, is a breeze, if you can handle ANYTHING physical. Got a new pair of boots today that SNI offers VERY CHEAP and i must say they are quite comfy! Took in ALOT of great info from several instructors. sni is all about safety from what they are stressing to us which i like.

Then we separated into groups and took a short ride through the "tight trailer" course, then a short road trip, all with the instructor driving. I gotta say, MUCH more thourough then what we learned in our CDL school!!

So far, LOVE IT

well just an update, finished with first week of orientation. we have this week off for thanksgiving, then on the rode next week with a trainer, then one last week. everything been pretty smooth and great thus far, nothing more to really say for now. Well, thats my introduction, and I will keep posting as much as possible for new people to read later. Always see questions about miles etc. so i will be happy to post all that as well!