Dedicated or Tanker????

Two drastically different divisions and each dedicated customer has it's own unique pay scale, because you may be required to something specific, or the miles may be low, or there may be live loads, ect. I honestly would start with Bullk. With experience, tanker guys usually make quite a bit more than Van drivers do. The customers are quite different than the warehouse personell that a Dryvan has to deal with. I'm in no way saying that it's easier. It isn't, there are such challenges that you will never face hauling a dryvan, but the rewards are better IMO. A few years hauling chemicals and then you can move to hauling fuel or work for a Chemical plant with a private fleet and made good money hauling your own product. And Both Dryvan and Bulk have entirely different load/unloading practices. Your customers treat you different and expect different experiences and attitudes from you. Most warehouse could give hoot about a driver. "Give me the paperwork and go sit in your truck until we call you" With Plants it may be the same or you may be required to unload it yourself or there may be other stipulations for you to adhere to.

With pay though, the best best is to ask a recruiter. They will have access to the info for those accounts and be able to give you hard numbers so you can write them down side by side and see where you want your new career to go.

Either way, welcome to Big Orange! I think regardless of which you choose, you'll be happy. We all complain about Schneider at some point or another, but if you compare forums here, We have one of the most active and positive company threads here at TTR.

 

I pulled tanks for 10 years.... I wish I had Strated sooner.... I never ran into a bad customer.... always glad to get their product either loaded or received.... You will have times things go wrong and you may wait... but at the two companies ( LTC & Girton Propane ) I got paid to wait and payed well... It takes at little time getting used to the slosh in the trailers but slow and easy shifting will serve you well.. and once you stop DON'T take your foot off the breaks... The slosh can shove your rig into the middle of a intersection or a vehicle in front of you... Leave extra room when stopping behind a vehicle.... Most place will be unloaded by you and your equipment... Not all unloads are that way just most... Most shippers will do the loading.... Most but not all... The main thing is to remember is if you are loading or unloading YOU have to do it the way you are trained by the carrier ... Don't let the shipper / receiver push you into some thing unsafe... get your experience at big orange and after a year or more look for tanker only outfits... the pay will be better and the big boys in tanking have better rates to pay you from... I hope you aren't afraid of heights... You will have to climb on top of the trailer an average of 3 times a trip.. Hope I didn't scare you out of tanking... I enjoyed it .... Good luck either way...

 

Nothing really to watch out for. Schneider will give you the training you need for either division. Just make sure if you have questions, ask them. Thats what the Instructors are for. The only stupid question is the one that is not asked

 

What account for dedicated?

All of this depends on your short range and long range goals.
Answer that to some degree and we might be able to offer better advice.

Dedicated driver in a daycab. Looking at 50k gross this year. I'm content for now. Til 401k co match becomes vested then........we'll see where I am at then.

 

I'm on the Aurora account. If you're running non-west coast, it's home every weekend. West coast is every 2 weeks. Non west averages 1700-1800 miles a week but they are all multi stop loads. I've had as many as 15 on a run and you get bonus pay for each extra stop. You deliver to some company terminals but mostly independent repair shops. It's a little more work than regular van but not too bad. Any other questions message me.

 

Driver unload pay. Helps make the check fat. I'd ask a recruiter what rate unload pay is and what exactly are you unloading?