Considering schnieder, read first!

It's not you who were up on a horse. I just didn't want to sound like I was on one.

Health history matters at some trucking companies. And I'm not talking about issues that affect driving. I'm talking about issues that don't affect driving but mean high insurance costs for the company.

Maybe these guys saw something in your health history they didn't like.

 

I went to a Job Fair today and Schneider was there.
I got the whole rosey picture, etc...

I am 56 looking for a career change. This thing about age is interesting since on their website they make a big deal about how great AARP members are...

More BS...

Anyway, I'm learning a lot from this forum

Thanks everyone!

 

Traveler, you could do a lot worse than Schneider. You could do better, sure, but you could definitely do worse. Schneider may be worth working for for a little while. Research them with an open mind and I know you'll be fine whichever way you go.

Just avoid JobHunt, C.R. England Ad, and SwiftQuit. There are others out there that are rotten to the core, but these three are the stinkiest of the biggies. They will always put an annoying advert in your face or bug you with annoying phone calls. There's a good reason for this, and you want no part of it.

 

Wow, what a thread...

You were told $0.30/mile because that is the rate for system drivers. Dedicated drivers make less per mile on the assumption that their miles are more consistent. Doesn't make it right, I know, but a little research could have saved you that trouble.

I have never heard of Schneider doing "stress tests" for standard box-van drivers, are you sure you weren't signing on to a Family Dollar account? That's besides the point though, I would expect her to be capable of handling the job duties assigned to her.

Schneider has over 10,000 employees, they simply do not have the time to sit and discriminate against women. Of those employees, thousands of them are women, hundreds of which are over 50.

You can not expect to NEVER have to unload a trailer, that's outright ludacris. You're just starting out. 99% is a total percentage for your type of drivers (teams) not what YOU will recieve. What would you have done if she needed to unload a trailer? You ran out of hours, and she's on duty. Would you really expect that reciever to just wait 12+ hours to get their stuff, which could be a line-shutdown load?

It never crashed on me. I have dealt with stupid people in the office, but that's a different issue. As for the trucks sitting... See the comment below.

Some drivers like to go home. The trucks that are sitting there aren't just "idle." There's trucks that belong to drivers on vacation, drivers who go home nightly, and drivers just stopping in for a break. Yes, there's some that are waiting for a load, but when you say things like "I won't take it if it's less than 600 miles," that's what you do. You have to be willing to take the short load which could link you with a nice long run.

Schneider really does offer the best training out there. I know others on here will agree with me. You could do better than SNI, but you'd have to basically win the newbie driver lottery.

Fact is, without experience the "choice" companies won't consider you.

Whatever you decide, stay away from SWIFT, WERNER, JB HUNT, CR ENGLAND, and CRST.

I have said it before, and I'll say it again. When you're looking for a new company, be wary. If it sounds too good to be true, then not only is it probably not true, but it is MOST LIKELY not true.

Go to a truckstop, find some drivers that work for the company you're looking at, and talk to them. Then call the company and find out what they say. The truth will almost always be somewhere in the middle of it all.

 

I work as a trucker for Schneider and my operating center is Green Bay,WI.

Right now Schneider (and I'm sure other trucking companies) are idling (letting them sit unused) some of their trucks. There are many reasons for this: Lower freight levels, Not wanting to upgrade to the newer ULSD trucks with the newer emissions. Out of maybe the 200 power units in Green Bay maybe 5-7 are being idled from what I saw and some of these may even set aside for sale (doubtful since Schneider sells their trucks at the training center location. I personally believe they will hold more of the older trucks back for parts (older trucks are more efficient with the older emissions).

I started out at .26 a mile with a .02 mile bonus. Most trucking companies pay a little more than that starting out ~.30-33 I believe Werner pays less. At these pay rates you should be making $500-750 a week (2000-3000 miles a week). In a year I should be making .33-34 which is about industry average for starting drivers. After a year you could shop yourself around and hope for more. Schneider has a good system and can get you the miles (if you want them).

It is very hard to find good working team drivers -that's why they are paid a premium. Many trucking companies will be interested in you if you are willing to join as a team. Working as a team is not easy and I'm not sure if I could do it in a Schneider type truck.

I am writing this out of the Charlotte, NC OC using their free broadband/wireless system. Otherwise I like the Flying J wireless (~25$ a month).

 

Mom and Dad, so where did you go for training.

 

I assume by SwiftQuit you mean Swift...

The Schneider school is a two hour drive to Charlotte, NC from my home in Greensboro, so I would likely stay down there...

I have two local schools within 45 minutes of home. One, Future Truckers of America, is directly linked with Swift, the other, Cross Country is directly linked with Maverick Specialty...

I hear horror stories about them both!

Pehaps SNI will be the lesser of the two evils...

Thank you for your input, I greatly appreciate it!

 

Hey, OTR Gamer. Thanks for getting on here to let us know how "good" Schneider is. Your supposed to be able to tell if an axle is going to catch fire by doing a pre trip? What if everything was good on the pre trip, and something went to hell AFTER he got going down the road?
Why did you run these people down, for letting us know about the crappy
experiance they had with this company?! As far as im concerned "Schneister" is the same as all the other large trucking companies. Maybe you want to run me down a little now,that I voiced my opinion.

 

I agree..
It is most definantly possible, to not see a Fire hazard during a Pre-Trip.
Sounds to me like that guy is bucking for Pumpkin Recruiter.
Anything could have happened while on the Road to start the fire.
HE needs to be more realistic.

 

That's how companies make their money through the back door. If you think about it, a company either owning or having an interest in a school means it actually benefits from turnover. Each Newbie going to its school(s) pays for tuition out of his own pockets or uses grants to pay it. And the tuition is usually WAY overpriced for what one will get at a mill, thanks to the government's jacking up prices by giving out so many grants in the past. Multiply each newbie by several thousand or even ten thousand or more and you'll get an idea of how much companies make on turnover each year, thanks to the training schools they own outright or control through majority ownership.

This means such companies WANT experienced guys to quit 'em so those drivers can be replaced by green drivers who've gone through the mill. Some of those drivers are stubborn and won't play along, so they have to be gently persuaded by bad treatment so they'll quit. And when a driver quits, his unemployment doesn't have to be paid.

My trucking school was a 'corporation', and now I know why. I also know why my first company, SwiftQuit, treated its drivers so poorly without justification. Swift controls training schools and uses those schools as a source of revenue. The more newbies SwiftQuit hires on, the more revenue it makes if those newbie grads go through their training program or a third party school Swifty controls.