Schneider Question...Tanker SW Regional or Walmart overnight?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by TexasTrucker83, Apr 18, 2021.

  1. TexasTrucker83

    TexasTrucker83 Light Load Member

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    Can any of the forums Schneider drivers answer a couple questions for me?

    I've been doing a lot of research on starter companies and thought I'd decided to go with Schneider, mainly because I like their stated dedication to safety and the fact that they have regional and dedicated positions for new drivers.

    I applied for two positions with them (because I hadn't made up my mind) one was for a dedicated overnight Walmart position and the other was for a Southwest regional tanker position. The Walmart position listed an average yearly salary of $59k-$72k and the Tanker position has a posted average yearly salary of $57k-$70k.

    I just got off the phone with one of their recruiters in Green Bay that told me that the Walmart position pays $.61cpm and averages 1,300 miles a week. The Tanker position pays $.44cpm and averages 1,500-2,000 miles per week.

    Did anyone in this group work for Schneider as a regional driver? If so, what did you make your first year?

    With the numbers the recruiter gave me, it's looking like the Walmart position pays about $800/wk before taxes and the Tanker position pays about the same, which is about $17k less than the bottom number posted in the job description by Schneider...

    Can anyone verify? $800/wk before taxes doesn't really seem to be worth spending so much time away from home.
     
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  3. Texas_hwy_287

    Texas_hwy_287 Road Train Member

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    I know you looking info about scheneider but you should consider averitt express as a starter company.

    Good luck.
     
  4. Chinatown

    Chinatown Road Train Member

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    Look at YRC freight; can make about $80K your first year after training, then start looking at over $90K afterwards.
    ~
    Yellow CDL Driving Academy
    ~
     
  5. meechyaboy

    meechyaboy Heavy Load Member

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    Long post but don’t want to leave nothing out.

    Depends on where you want to go with your career. I knew I wanted to be local pulling a tanker. I went Schneider tanker regional and was more than well prepared to do any tanker job. I now haul fuel and my experience at Schneider made that transition smooth. I was regional out of the Midwest 2018-2019. I signed a year contract for them paying for my cdl.
    During that year I made 30k
    You start out at .44cpm you get a .02 cpm boost every few months till you get up to .52 then a .01 cent raise every year. I made more money in my 1st solo month in the winter month of December than I did any other month. There was a running theory in the company that the higher cpm drivers were being stiffed cause the lower cpm drivers were getting all the miles. Had a really nasty quarterly call about it. I lived in mi and my home terminal was Gary.. and they had a lot of freight that was for a local hourly payscale. They pay zip code to zip code for miles and anything under 100 miles is 15$ flat. You get 25 for live load and 35 for live unload whether you do the work or not both typically take 2 hours.. So say you get a chicago to chicago load which they have a lot of. 25 to load 35 to unload 55$ You got an 2 hour drive to travel 30 miles in chicago then you got another 3 drive back in rush hour. So you spent 4hours loading unloading+5 hours in traffic plus an hour at the tankwash pre/post tripping your trailer Cause nobody else does So 10 hour day for 55+15= 70$.
    So say you see that the preassignment is trash and you don’t accept it.. fine they pay 65$ a day for overlay (no assignment for 24 hours while you in the truck which you have to tell them to put on cause they’ll act like they don’t know)pay a full 15 dollars less than the 80$ for training pay. On top of that they will nag you as to why you don’t want to work a full day for 70$ cause the load needs to go but more importantly “It’ll keep your wheels turning”. They tend to act real funny when a bad load needs to go.
    You don’t need hazmat to pull tanker for them in fact. I’d get hazmat after hired on and not tell them I have it. They try to say the more “qualifications” you have the more they can keep you moving. (Sidebar- if you ever get sent northeast on a Thursday/Friday you’re over layed for the weekend) Which hazmat for me translated to me in coraopolis on Memorial Day weekend after sitting every other weekend conveniently being told I was the only driver available to pull the load despite me sitting in the driver lounge eating barbecue with the 30 other drivers layed over, which I’m sure had hazmat. The assignment was for 60 miles there and back. They don’t pay extra for hazmat. So let’s do some math. 60 miles x .50=30 but we’re paying 15. The trailer was preloaded so only 35 for the unload. Plus you now have the responsibility of the hazmat load. Schneider also has the hazmat hotline which is completely staffed with nothing but the thickest of accents from various regions that you must communicate with everytime you pull a hazmat load. Now my only advice on that would be to not get hazmat immediately and if you do get it don’t tell them unless you want one of the dedicated accounts.. which is where the money is made as far as tanker in concerned.
    Tanker division is also supposed to be 100%clean shaven every day and wear long sleeves, and pants with steel toed boots even in 90degree weather and they are absolutely the Cia, and your co drivers are confidential informants.

    I say that to say only go tanker if you really want tanker experience for your next gig. I have a thread full of nightmare stories if you want to keep reading.
    Now dry van dedicated seem like it would be much more stable income wise for a new driver

    Any questions feel free to reply or dm
     
  6. TexasTrucker83

    TexasTrucker83 Light Load Member

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    I actually did submit an application to Averitt but never heard back from them. I'd heard that US Xpress had a Walmart dedicated account out of New Caney, TX that they were desperately hiring for. I submitted my application with them as well, on their page it says "we'll get you hired and into orientation in three days!" but I still haven't heard back from them either.

    Thanks for the tip! I thought they went out of business. I'll definitely look them up and submit an application tonight or tomorrow.

    I appreciate the comment, I'd read about the long sleeves, pants, boots, and other stuff that they require tanker drivers to wear. I actually already have the tanker and hazmat endorsements and the TWIC and all that stuff and was intending to drive tankers, but I honestly thought I'd be getting more from a pay standpoint. The zip code to zip code rather than actual miles is stupid to me, esp. from a dedicated Walmart account that'll have me driving within a 150 mile radius of the DC.

    There seems to be a lot of pretty good jobs in the Houston area but all of them seem to require 6 months to a year of experience. Maybe going through Schneider for 6 months to a year won't be too bad.

    I tried most of the mega carriers and Schneider seems to be the only one willing to put new drivers on dedicated or even regional routes.

    Any recommendations on who might be a better option?
     
  7. Texas_hwy_287

    Texas_hwy_287 Road Train Member

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    @TexasPete I saw that your location is in Houston, also checkout southeastern freight lines, AAA cooper, Estes, R&L and FedEx freight.

    The companies mentioned above are home daily with the chance to be a city P&D or linehaul.

    Grocer supply if you anywhere near richie rd and 45 north they been also hiring.
     
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  8. meechyaboy

    meechyaboy Heavy Load Member

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    Detroit, Michigan
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    You can get around the boots long sleeve and shaving If you avoid other drivers and Schneider facilities during banker hours. You’d still have to put on a show when pretripping or dropping off a trailer. Truthfully at about month 4 I stopped shaving unless I was going into the office. Now if you really want to pull tankers down the road.. regardless of the money they do a great job at preparing you to deal with all kinds of tanker trailers but only if you know you want to go down that path. You can ask if they have any tanker dedicated positions out there that you can get on. My last 3 months I was on the ecolab dedicated account. Made about 1200 a week only worked Monday-fri. Picked up loaded and dropped empties in the same spot. You ran with whatever they had loaded at the time
     
  9. QuietStorm

    QuietStorm Heavy Load Member

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    Regional work tends to pay less than OTR simply because you spend more time loading and unloading compared to OTR where you might drive 1500-2000 miles at a time before you have to deal with that. the rumor was true about lower pay drivers getting more miles but I also know that drivers have rankings and if you’re a high performer you get higher value loads first because they’re pretty sure you won’t screw it up.

    Anyway, first year expect between 30-50k depending on your luck then move somewhere you can make decent money once you have experience.
     
  10. tscottme

    tscottme Road Train Member

    I worked for Averitt Express for 18 years. I only worked for a dedicated account, never OTR. Averitt is great if you are a 'boy scout". If you are a "cowboy" DO NOT work for Averitt. It's a great company if you fit their culture. They try hard to make drivers happy. They have a Finishing School to give new CDL drivers a lot more practicle training. IMO they are great for some drivers but terribible for rebels or cowboys.
     
  11. Dockbumper

    Dockbumper Road Train Member

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    Well....... that really thins out the herd in this industry doesn't it! Lol
     
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