when it gets cold there is a bunk heater which is diesel powered and keeps the cab nice and warm so no need to idle when it gets realy cold (engine wont start cold) then you just leave the truck run. as far as hot weather goes you call your dbl, not sure how easy they are to get though.

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Pumpkin Driver - we got problems but so does every one else
Army Driver
"Wars come and go, but my soldiers stay eternal." tupac

The idling thing just effects your .02 bonus. To me -- i will pay the .02 because i am not gonna suffer while i am trying to sleep. But that is just me! LOL I will too be starting schneider within a week or so--if i make it throught the "exercise tests". I am not worried--had to take a few with another company as well. As long as i dont have to lift 100 pounds over my head i am good--of course that would be a site to see--115 pound lady liftin 100 pounds! LOL I cant really give no one any insight on their starting pay for new drivers--for i have some experience so my pay will be a bit different. I do believe schneider is one of the better bigger companys. I been around a few years and haven't really hear a lot bad about them which would not be ordinary for any company. I guess we will soon see! Good luck to All and Be Safe out there.

This thread (among others) has some great info about Schneider and I just wanted to thank you all for it. We're starting up the training school in a couple of weeks and have just a multitude of n00bie questions to ask.

One thing we are curious about is the actual "day-to-day" of their in-house training school. Can anyone point us to a good thread about it, or does anyone have personal, recent experience at the Schneider CDL training program?

Thanks again for all the great info. We're hoping that joining up with SNI wasn't the dumbest decision we ever made

Idling your truck should never affect your .02 bonus if the company is using good software. Where we worked, it was solely based on miles per gallon and idling didn't affect the bonus whatsoever.

Ya i think in most companys it goes by a percentage of something--i forget what the word is--but usually if its under 6.25% i think you still get it. Either way--im not gonna freeze and im not gonna sweat! LOL I haven't started with them yet--but will be goin on with them this weekend as long as i make it through the pre-screen--what a joke! LOL They did offer me a decent pay startin out though.

with the new pay increase, new drivers wont get any kind of a bonus for the first year.

i always tried to keep my idle percentage where they wanted it, but when my webasto bunk heater quit working i basically told them i was going to be idling every night to keep warm and they could kiss my ### if they thought i cared the slightest bit about the fuel consumption...
and my idle percentage shot up to 60-70%.. but simply put, when its 15 degrees outside and i have no way to keep warm, nobody is going to try and tell me i cant keep myself warm because they are concerned about the cost to idle at the current diesel prices, i simply dont care, my comfort and my safety and my health are FAR more important than the cost of idling... on my 10hr breaks i intend to get a good nights sleep, and i will regardless if they like it or not.

I so agree with you there--my heat will be goin in the winter and the air will be pumpin in the summer--they can have the .02 for my comforts--thats my choice though! Good luck and be safe out there!

Schneider Drivers:

How do I opt out of per diem? I'm in the orientation for drivers with less than 6 months experience right now. I want to opt out before they sign me and say "you have to wait until next quarter." Were all of you automatically enrolled? Was anyone able to get out? I really need that two cents extra a mile....

The orientation leader told me that instead of us choosing we would be automatically enrolled. I'm really disappointed with this sneaky backhand treatment, especially when the information my recruiter sent me said I would be making .30 cents per mile, not .28, and that per diem is an OPTION. I just want a fair pay, but I don't want to cause a fuss either and get sent home.

Take a deep breath and repeat after me. It will all be ok. You have nothing to worry about. If you don't want to do the per diem you don't have to. Your last day of training someone(Laura Wiley if you're at Carlisle) will come in and along with a bunch of other paperwork give you a DVD all about Per Diem. And if you don't want to partake in the program then you have plenty of time to opt of it after you graduate. I believe they give you 30 days from graduation to notify your DBL if you want to opt out. As a matter of fact, if you really want to see it now you can go onto Crossroads and there is a copy on there, under which category I'm not sure. I'm also not positive whether you can view it off of a student account or not. In case nobody told you, as a student you have access to the Crossroads Intranet system. Your ID is the number on that name badge they should have given you the first day of training. Your password is the last four digits of your social security number repeated twice. ie, if your social ends with 1234 then your password is 12341234. Hope this helps.

What does DAC stand for?