Starting at Schneider

Company Drivers - KLLM Transport Services

 

OK, I misunderstood you. In Post #163 you said you're trying to find a job.

 

Keep your eyes, ears, and mind open, and your mouth closed, you will be fine! Good luck!

 

Congrats!!! Glad to hear it.

 

Congratulations on getting things sorted. That said, no one at Schneider Training needs to know anything about it or your financial situation. Those details are not pertinent and will only serve to make you look like a 'last chance trucker'. If your skills are borderline, that can make the difference between being offered more training or a bus ticket home.

The first week is mainly "Schneiderizing" your CDL skills. Schneider has a very specific way to do EVERYTHING. The instructors will be such sticklers on these things you'll think they're trying to win Sphincter Of The Year. They do it that way because long experience has taught them it's the safe and easy way to do it. Some of the things are dumb, but have a good reason while some are dumb because of dumb reasons. When you open the hood, you'll be instructed to unlatch the drivers side, then the passenger side, then shout 'clear', then lift from the side. When closing the hood, you'll be instructed to shout 'clear', then push from the center and let the hood drop unassisted, then latch the passenger side first, drivers side second. Asinine, right? Not really.

• Shouting 'clear' isn't really needed when out on one's own, but with lots of trainees and trainers walking around the same equipment, it ensures everyone is on the same page and no one gets clobbered.
  
• Lifting from the side allows a driver to use legs and arms and decreases the chances of straining one's back.
• When latching the hood, securing the passenger side first does 2 things. First, it reduces how much walking back and forth you do. Secondly and more importantly, if you get interupted and forget to latch one side (a common occurrence) you are more likely to see the driver's side isn't latched before going down the road.

So there are good reasons why they're going to have you do things in a specific manner. Don't get hung up on the nit picking, just do it the 'Schneider Way'. Over time you'll develop your own way of doing things. Just remember, if something goes wrong and you weren't following procedures, it all falls on you. If you want to understand the reasoning, don't just ask "Why do we have to do it this way?" - ask "what caused Schneider to develop this procedure?" or "what's the benefit of doing XYZ instead of ZXY?". The latter questions are phrased as knowledge seeking, while the former has a "I don't want to do this BS" connotation.

The first week is spent doing Computer Based Trainings (CBT) and working in "The Wheel" (training ground). The CBTs are boring, annoying, and over simplified. There are also a LOT of them, but buckle down and knock them out. If you don't get them done during the allotted times, you will have to stay late. After each section, write yourself a summery of what you just watched. It will help with both comprehension and retention. If something doesn't make sense, write down your question. You will not remember it if you don't write it down. Then when you have 'dead time' - walking from the building to the trucks, etc - ask your instructor for clarification. Or save them for the week with your TE.

You'll be given 'cheat sheets' for all the hard skills - pretrip, coupling, enroutes, etc. USE THEM until you have them down cold. As you do your pretrips, point to or touch each thing as you talk about it. The sooner you convince your instructor you know what you're doing, the more time you'll have backing and driving. When it's not your turn, watch the other students and what they're doing. See what they're getting corrected on, see what they're doing right, see what they do different than you. Particularly on backing, watching someone screw up can be very informative. You'll learn to recognize when you're about to screw up and stop before you're in a pickle.

When backing, Schneider will make you set up, then GOAL walking clockwise around the truck. They do this because:

• GOALing at that point helps identify an impractical set up that needs to be fixed before attempting to back.
• You will make better initial steering decisions.
• walking clockwise allows you to look down the passanger side at the hole, which gives you a better frame of reference
• you will see potential issues like potholes, debris or landing gear handles sticking into your spot

After the initial GOAL, get out whenever you need. I never had a problem with guys GOALING too much, but it always pissed me off when I had to stop a guy to GOAL. If your instructor is telling you to GOAL, ya dun messed up twice. As you're backing, keep your head swiveling to the offside mirrors. Stay off the brakes as much as possible, it makes life easier. Remember that your tandem setting will impact how the trailer responds to your steering. Also remember the steers control the tractor and the tractor controls the trailer - doesn't matter if the steers are straight if the truck isn't straight with the trailer. Avoid getting more than 45 degrees truck to trailer if you can - sometimes you can't. You are not backing to pass the CDL test - pullups are your friend. Once the trailer is straight with the hole, don't go any further backwards, nothing good will happen. If you can see the trailer will get straight with the hole before the tractor gets straight with the trailer - stop and pull up. There are a lot of times an early two foot pull up with your steers straight will save 15 minuets of Austin Powering



Also, pack/dress for the weather - layers, warm clothing, etc. When you're in the classroom, take off as much as possible while still remaining comfortable, then layer back up before going outside. I know with you background, you already know this but you'd be surprised how many guys will hang out inside with all their cold weather gear on and then freeze when they walk outside. Also, the ice cleats that you'll be issued work, use them.

ALWAYS COUPLE THE WAY SCHNEIDER TEACHES YOU. If you do, you will never have an unplanned disconnect/rip your lines off/calamity. If you don't do it the way Schneider teaches you, then you WILL have a problem like these guys . Jaws don't always lock, ground isn't always even.

That's it for now, I'll do trip planning at some point next week. If you have questions - ask them, ask here, just make sure you ask them. There are dumb questions, but it's better to ask the dumb question than to do the dumb thing.

 

Pack all your stuff in a flexible duffle bag, not a hard suitcase. A hard suitcase can be a real problem with two people sharing the inside of a truck. A flexible duffle bag, is flexible, so can fit where a hard suitcase can't.