Married couple, how to start? (she only wants to drive with me)

I've heard Werner trains that way.

 

I trained at Werner back in 2014. Most students were running basically as teams so 48 states after an observation period of maybe 10 hours I think it was (no night time and trainer in jump seat for observation period).

I was lucky and my trainer had a dedicated route so I did most of the driving. The trainer only needed to drive 2-3 hours a day and we were usually parked every night. I was also in a hotel in Chicagoland every weekend for the 8 or 10 weeks of training but we never saw a terminal and I never heard of Werner Training that ended everyday at the terminal.

I think it might be Schneider that does that.

 

Is that an April Fool's joke? Why the sudden change of heart?

 

When I was cutting my milk-teeth Schneider was one of my prehire offers. Their training regimen was too short for me (was like 10 days or something like that).... I knew I'd need more time to see more #### to be successful - 10 days isn't long enough for much to really go sideways.... So I spent a few months with "South Carolina Bob" and Werner. Then I did my OTR year solo with them... Had some scrapes, few tough parking events (I'm the guy that BACKED INTO SWIFT!).... Survived it. Werner was an invaluable experience - but I'd never do it again.... Now I work in bulk with cats who still consider me "The Rookie" even tho I've been at it almost 8 years, because I got into the game late. And they stick things like this to my cab thinking I won't notice.

 

I trained with Werner last year. Both my trainers were on a dedicated account, and we never did team driving either. They used to have a program called 2 + 1, or something like that, for couples entering driving as a team that worked like Covenant, but a recruiter told me last year that they had changed it to where each partner would go out with a separate local-driver and then they'd both end up back at the hotel every night. They may or may not still have that arrangement.

When I was at orientation, there were some trainees who were assigned to local drivers. They were back at the hotel every night. It was supposedly random, but I noticed those students were usually females, which would make sense. If I were running a driver-training program, I'd assign as many of the females to local trainers as possible and pretend it just worked out that way. The downside is that they seemed to have to wait longer to get their trainer.

 

Based on my experience there....Schneider can be a good first choice for a beginning driver, if:

• You're a fast learner (and thus, don't need much time out with a trainer);
• You're ex-military, and/or maybe already drawing a pension....and thus, you don't mind as much having some of the lowest paying gigs in the industry;
• You want to learn/sample different types of freight, without the hassles of changing employers. For the first time--the other day, I saw a Schneider reefer job, out in the Dallas/Ft Worth area (very likely someone else's trailers, though). Schneider now does flatbed (but I gather it's mainly conestogas--at least as of the time of this writing). While I was there--I did dry van, and (mostly) intermodal.
• You like having access to more terminals and dropyards, especially in and/or around major metro areas...for overnight parking options;
• You like/want to be "captain of the ship"--if the weather and/or the roads are bad, you can park it until things improve--and (of course) call dispatch, then update the ETAs as appropriate;
• You are interested in driving jobs that are part-time. Availability of such of course varies...based on (fill in that blank here).
• It's virtually impossible to comprehend the incredible amounts of freight that a carrier like Schneider has...even in a time of depressed freight volumes. If you want to be with a carrier that will keep you running when it's slow elsewhere--Schneider can be a good bet (been there--seen that). Also--if it's slow in their tanker group--put in for a transfer over to intermodal.....work things to your favor!
• Regardless of where/when your rig breaks down--help is just a phone call or qualcomm message (or two) away. Schneider has agreements with shops/chains pretty much everywhere, to come and help you out as appropriate.

No carrier is perfect; each of course will have its own strengths and weaknesses. But....despite all of its obtuseness in places--a lot of what's listed above is (part of) why I first started there.

-- Lual

 

Probably a good move. 'Dedicated' ain't all its cracked up to be and running teams, they'd probably run you in the ground.
Home nightly for 30 days sounds pretty sweet.
Good luck.
And remember, wife happy, you might be too. Wife unhappy, you will be too.
Have fun