So you want to drive for Schneider?

I thought I knew this country pretty good, but I'm drawing a blank

 

Maybe, last I knew, i85 went from about Montgomery Al to Petersburg Va? But I'm not as young as I once was, so maybe I'm a little out dated

 

I-85 does junction with I-73 , I-74 & I-77 but does not with I-70 ( Maryland to Utah )

 

I don't understand why the original poster can't state his opinion without being jumped on about paragraph spacing and interstate interchanges.

If someone does their job but then has to jump through hoops to get the operations dept to stop playing solitaire long enough to get the information required for pick up it can be frustrating.

That is not only Schnieder but a lot of places.

But let's make fun of the guy till you want us to boo hoo for you.

 

Relax, just playing around, this isn't the industry for thin skinned, if anyone can't take it, maybe try something else

 

I'm just saying I see some of the same people posting here with 100 page threads crying about not getting payed to find an m/t or whatever else then they come here and talk about paragraph spacing.

 

I wanted to address this post when I had more time to answer each claim. Piece by piece I will look at the poster claimed to answer fact from BS.

1. Hotels at orientation are just that and if you've ever spent anytime in a company paid hotel you know what to expect. You usually end up rooming with a total stranger but that's not bad because you can both walk to the restaurants and stores together.

2. Your Truck Driving school is reimbursed at $150 a month starting the first month after completing orientation. It isn't much but your recruiter tells you the amount before you start. I would recommend asking your recruiter what schools they recommend before signing up for anything. We had students show up to orientation that went to community colleges that couldn't double clutch or back to save their lives. About half of those couldn't pass orientation.

3. Pay is discussed in your Conditional offer and shouldn't be a secret. I had four offers when I signed up. CR England offered .26 which I would split with my co-driver. The Orientation was months of making $300 a week. May Trucking offered 28 cpm and said I would have to be out at least 3 weeks at a time before they would even try to get me home. Werner offered 28 cpm and when I talked to a Werner driver he stated it was almost impossible for them to find him a dispatch home and he had been out six weeks. Schneider was straight forward...14 days out 2 days at home. 21 days out 3 days at home. After talking with several current Schneider drivers I confirmed what they had said...did the math and figured I could make a pretty solid living. I discussed it with my youngest son and we decided we would team. We received a conditional offer from the recruiter for 35 cpm to start with sign on bonuses every quarter. 21 days out with 4 days sometime. I'll talk about this more later. Understand this was for the position we applied for in our region that we found on Schneiderjobs.com

4. After Orientation we received a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia with 125k miles on it. Two of my classmates received what we call pig trucks with 400k miles and two of our classmates received good trucks with less than 250k miles. One of those I attended orientation with had nothing but problems with his truck and quit after two weeks.

5. The GPS routes you the most economical way for Schneider. You can take different routes but be smart about it. You can actually find more economical routes than what Jill comes up with. Any doubt call your DBL and they can give you the other route.

6. Overspeed....never been an issue for anyone I know and it has never effected our bonus. I have been told to keep it below 10% or someone will talk to you about it.

7. I know my DBL's and they know me. I made it a point to introduce myself to all those on the other end of the phone. I want to be a person not a number. I learned techniques as a leader in the Army about how to be humanized to others. "No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care." And you are correct most of them have never sat in the seat you are in but they can help you get out of a jam. And you are correct you can wait for 20 minutes to even speak to someone. And 2nd and 3rd shift can be useless. Won't argue with you on those remarks however if you are on your game you won't need to talk to a DBL. I have no idea what you are talking about when you mention the 90 day board. I have several teams that are new that I gave them my number so if they ran into an issue they could call me instead of their DBL. Most of the problems can be handled by a more experienced driver.

8. Per Diem is only for the first 90 days and you can opt out of it. It's related to taxes and I couldn't find one person that could explain it to me. I waited 90 days and opted out. It was discussed to me by my recruiter before i started.

I will address Pay and Bonuses on the next post

 

Schneider Pay and Bonuses: No one ever discusses pay and I'm not quite sure why. My son and I were offered .62 cpm running for a company that hauls sensitive Military items OTR. We already agreed we would stick with Schneider one year good or bad. Nice to know our skills will be needed after our year.

I will reference another poster on here, Softail ,that does the "My life with Orange" blog. He was in my orientation, is a retired postman and runs Solo West Coast Regional. His blog is an excellent source for drivers considering life with Schneider as a Company Driver.

Teams run at different levels.

Tier one-The entry level gets assignments that requires them to run less than 800 miles a day. This is so they can get their feet wet and learn how to handle different problems. This means sometimes Live load/unload and a lot of time between assignments. We started at this level and averaged 5200 miles a week. I was not happy at this level and talked with my DBL 45 days after starting.

Tier two-This is the level most teams are running at least that I know of. This level assigns loads that allow the team up to 1100 miles a day. Less time sitting at the docks and more time running. At this level we were averaging 5500-6200 miles a week. We did have a 8000 mile week at this level in October. I asked my DBL for more miles and he moved us to the next level.

Tier three-This level can handle up to 1400 miles a day and rarely sits at a dock. Almost all of the loads are drop and hook. You will average over 6500 miles a week and have to be real conscious of trip planning and your hours. Some of the loads that are assigned are so time sensitive that if you are late than Schneider carried the load for free. We have averaged 7200 miles a week and rarely sit longer than three hours at this level. My goal is 1000 miles a day for every day we run in the month. We are at 13000 miles and it's the 13th of the month...right on track.

Elite status- I have no idea what the cap is on this level but I know it's more than 1600 miles a day. We have had assignments that were at this level but every time we do it wrecks our hours with a quickness.

The level run depends on the type of driver you are and how well you are at your job. It's also related to what you can handle comfortably. We can handle elite level but I don't like it.....not enjoyable and quick burnout.

Next post....Bonuses and how they are computed.

 

Bonuses are based on 5 different areas and I'll discuss each one. They are paid out quarterly by the end of the month following that quarter.

Criteria for Bonus-
1. Compliant Fuel Stops- Schneider will assign you were to get fuel and if you stop there you are compliant...simple enough-"Get fuel where we tell you" Usually it's a Pilot/Flying J

2. Days Worked- If you work 80% of the days in the month you are eligible for full credit for Bonus. 80% is equal to 24 of 30 days a month. That's easy enough.

3. ETA final delivery- When you receive an assignment you tell them when you can have it delivered safely. You set the ETA and if you can't deliver it within the window assigned you can call and have the assignment moved to someone who can. You set the ETA so if you are late it's your fault!!! You only have to be on-time 85% of the time to receive full credit for the bonus. Easy enough!

4. MPG standard- Every truck is assigned a goal MPG standard and it changes each month. For my truck it's 7.62 mpg. That is the goal to get credit for the bonus. It's not that difficult just watch your idle time and don't stomp the gas all the time.

5. Safety- Don't hit anything for the quarter and you qualify for this one.

Each area accounts for 20% of the score and you have to have over 85% to receive the bonus. You can still miss one of the metrics and get your bonus! An example- My team member(son) had to go home for the birth of his son and did not run 80% of the time. Because he was higher on other metrics (Fuel Stops, ETA and MPG) those numbers pushed him over 85% so he received $900 bonus the end of October.

Any questions???

 

So the final pay computation and why I pulled my son into teaming with me.

October- 23,485 miles x .37= $8689.45 for the month divide by 2= $4344.72
Safety Bonus $869.28
School Reimbursement $150.00
Total $5264.00

Oh....We are both ex-military and using Military Apprenticeship $1184.00 (his is higher)
Sign on Bonus 500.00

Total for myself for October 2014 $7048.00

Now I understand some that read this will say this isn't realistic but do the math as a solo with 2750 miles a week x .31 and see what you come up with. I can tell you that if you hustle you can make a good honest living. I am enjoying my time with my son and our wives are enjoying spending all the money we make while we "pee in a bottle".

Have to run for now. Got a load that needs to be in Columbus, Ohio and one waiting there headed for Tacoma WA that need to be there by Tuesday Night. Hope this helps answer some of the fallacies the original poster said. I can't speak for him but I'm satisfied.