Schneider chat room - Closed see new thread linked in the last post

Well I pretty much screwed myself out of miles today. Been wondering why I havnt recieved a preassignment yet, just dropped my load and went to update my NAT and it turns out I accidentally set it to 1900 on the 15th and not the 14th....

 

Haven't seen anyone post on here from Canada, so the answer probably is no. Was thinking about getting my passport though. Heard the truck stops in Canada have some good bars LOL

 

So, was assigned to shuttle an empty from Obetz OC to Indy OC (trade trailer I guess). Anyway, the trailer has seen better days. The suspension is completely kaput. The front axle of the trailer is sitting at about a 25-30 degree angle sideways, and the tandems are facing the same angle. The torque rod is completely twisted and mangled, and the front curb side locking pin assembly is completely smashed, bent and off the track. The trailer also has absolutely no plates or registration and it's missing tail lights. On the bright side, the inside of the trailer looks like it has a nice brand new floor.

Anyways, talk to SEM and they state that the trailer has been written up for disposal since May and they have no idea why they would assign this as a trade trailer and also have no idea why they would assign this trailer to someone. Maybe they wanted to see if someone was dumb enough to take it? Anyways, called in and had them take it off me without issue.

 

So on Friday i just finished intermodal orientation in chicago.. Overall I'm dissatisfied with the location and management there, but have good things to say about the company itself. The good, Schneider is a company that seems to be dedicated to safe, legal driving. The pay is not bad, equipment is very well maintained. The bad, I worked at pepsi in chicago for a year and a half driving 40-45 foot trailers, sometimes stick, some auto.. SNI gave me 2 loads worth of training in intermodal. Now, these are 53 footers so it does make me a little nervous on the tight city streets compared to even 45 foot trailers.. So i feel rushed. But the main part is that there are a lot of rail yards in the area and i dont feel they have properly trained me for this job. Not to mention that those chassis are in bad shape and they are potential csa points written all over them.

Now i thought i was gonna be running out of ellwood but instead they listed me as running out of chicago. Ellwood is right by my house 50 miles southwest of chicago. its 48 miles to drives to schneider in chicago for me vs 5 miles to ellwood.. They currently have positions available in ellwood and when i asked the fleet manager about working out of there instead he replied "Ellwood is under an old system and chicago is under the new system so they cant do that" there was another new hire there that lives in chicago that they have working out of ellwood.. he offered a trade and we mentioned this to the manager and he said no.. a couple of the other guys there kinda chuckled cause they know that was a flat out lie..

I'm supposed to start monday at 6 am in chicago.. ironically while i was there friday, i got a call from usf holland located 10 miles from my house. they said they were very interested in my application and told me to bring my ss card and cdl to the interview wednesday so they could start the hiring process right away.. I think that my Dad working at yrc for 25 years helped influence them.. Then again i was told that they just in general like to hire people fast.. So i got thinking to do.. if i decide to pass on schneider then usf will most likely be a job i work at for the next 40 years..

For new students, Schneider seems like a solid company with there head on straight. Decent benifits and good hometime plans seem available. But even for a guy with 2 years of experience like myself, the intermodal side sounds kind of... young and inexperienced like they are still getting things together, but maybe that is how most intermodal places run, idk I'm new to it.. the state of the equipment makes me nervous for my cdl.. my cdl is my life and i currently have a 0 score with the csa and would like to keep it that way.. Apparently last week a student got a $4,000 overweight ticket right after he and his trainer pulled out of the railyard so they could go scale it.. but dot was waiting for them right outside.. schneider will most likely pay for it but the csa points will be put on the student regardless..

Like I said intermodal in general seems risky... the more i think about it USF holland sounds good lol

 

I pay for it initially, but I scan the receipt and get reimbursed for it later.

 

You can try telling the fleet manager about your job offer with USF and let them know your going to take it unless you get moved over to Ellwood. Maybe it will get there head out of there ###. That makes no sense at all.

 

True... stand your ground.

 

I don't think I'd like intermodel in Chicago. Some of those railyards are in real rough neighborhoods.

 

You are not lying buddy.

 

Make sure you get with your DBL on that.