Schneider lied to me

Hey, if you get the contract beforehand I see your point. Maybe I didn't know anything about it because they didn't tell me because I wasn't required to sign one, having already obtained my CDL. I stand corrected.

 

The OTR company's prey on the people who are least likely to be able to fulfill the contract if they should deside driving a truck is not for them or wash out of the program for some reason.

The OTR company's should realize that not everyone is cut out to drive their equipment, even though they might want to, and should not punish them afterwords. The training costs should be prorated and not used as a vehicle for financial gain at the least. Lots of company's have training costs but don't stick it to their employee's with interest.

I'm taking software training at my company right now, and it is not costing me a dime. The company I drive for sees a benefit, not a cost, in training their employees.

If OTR company's want newbies instead of treating their experienced drivers right and retaining them. Then they should foot the bill for it, not charge it to people already down on their luck in many cases.

I am all about personal responsibility, but what about the responsibility of the carrier to weed out the desperate and ill equipped individual and the ones who have demonstrated they are already a bad credit risk.

One should just find a cheap PTDI school somewhere and get their training like I did when I went from Wa to OK to do it back in the 90's. Heck I already had a CDL and took a temp job till I had the money to go.
I don't like paying interest or being someones dishrag for a year to pay the money back.

Leasing a truck or training to drive one should not be done through these shifty OTR company's. Or you might regret it in the end.

 

They have quite a reputation.

 

I think I said something like this already in this post, but I feel the need to mention it again. Big OTR companies, just like any other, are in the industry for the same reason as every driver. TO MAKE MONEY. Sadly, many of the companies do so at the expensive of drivers with lease plans and "free" training. Someday the companies will realise the true value in happy, well trained employees. But not until all us drivers make them.

 

Well I think all companies are in the business to make money...heck even non-profits are in the long haul to make money. I agree that many companies have really crummy lease plans (although I've heard quite a bit of good stuff about Schneiders lately). Their training isn't free, but they take out fifteen bucks each week which isn't much at all, and they toss in another 50 a week; so really they are paying more for my tuition...Ill only end up paying like 900 or so after 18 months. Plus when it all comes down to it, if you really researched a company well enough and looked into them long and hard, there should be no problem at all with staying 18 months. Although I can say that easily since Im in a somewhat plush spot working a dedicated run.

 

What about their pay scale, which will make your training far more expensive then I think you know. Even 1 penny a mile over a year is around $1200 dollars.

A friend of mine started out $.03 cents a mile more then the same pumpkin driver does as a trainee and after a year will still be making 1penny more a mile then their OTR drivers and 3 Penny's more then their regional drivers do on the west coast which is what he would be.

Schneider driver after 1 year west region after training = $37,400 not including any incidentals. (Based on 120,000 miles)

My friend after 1 year after training doing the same would make $40,500 for a difference of $2,600 after 1 year and $1,200 more the second year when they would finally be making equal pay.

So when a trainee looks at cost of training they should look at the whole cost of their training which the large carriers will squeak from you a little at a time so you do not notice it so much. And they must ask themselves if your average training company is so different to give up (in this case) $3,800 bucks minimum to start out there?

You might also want to consider that working for a large outfit such as Swift or Schneider will mean that lots of drivers won't even make 120,000 miles a year no matter how much they want to. A couple I know from New Jersey who trained and drove for Schneider for 2 years never broke 200k a year even though they practically stayed out the whole time except for a couple of holidays. They moved over to IDC and did 60k more miles the first year out with a lot more home time.

 

SO today when I put in a call to schneider they said the will not hire drivers without actual OTR right now anywhere in the 11 western because they have too many drivers. A company that big has too many drivers, come on.

 

Well we could compare cpm all day long. Which when you think about it, is dumb; because trucking companies pay their drivers fifteen different ways as it is already. Just because Bob worked for company x and now is at company Z, that doesnt mean much to me. Companies can have low years, and high years and we know that already and that even certain times of the year freight is whack. So sure, someone may get an extra penny a mile after switching to Bobs House of Waffles and Trucking, but Sally at Company X might be making more money by having a cent or two lower cpm, but getting more runs.

Lol um, or not.

According to the Schneider webpage, the average pay for their drivers with 6 months to 1 year is 37-41k at .34 a mile. With a max of 45k.

With 1-3 years, you make 42-55k at 37/mile. So when you compare, you are getting the numbers from some weird place in space, when I use their actual website. Drivers with one year of exp will earn more than your buddy does.

Well hmm. We know one person who has problems, so it must apply to the whole friggen company of tens of thousands of drivers.

I get paid for x miles a day, five days a week, and pretty much 52 weeks a year, which ends up being about 116k miles. Now think about this. I don't even break 500 miles a day. I only work five days a week, home daily and have two days off each week. My Average workday is about ten-ish hours. I drive for...8? After working with the comp for a year on this route, I will make 39k a year before taxes. Not bad. Considering that your friend works most every day, day in and day out, rarely home, drives alot more, and gets what...2-3 grand more?

 

According to the schneider site as ziggy said, 120k miles at the one year pay scale is $44,400. Even if they didnt give quarterly raises the first year you would make $33,000 just at the initial post training wage. There are always better OTR and local jobs out there. I only work 4 days a week, 10 hour shirts and made $36,000 before taxes in 2007. Not bad for 3 day weekends, 10 paid holidays, and a paid day for my birthday. Find your niche and stick to it.

 

Ok that doesnt make sense, my numbers are correct, but you still chop off 11 grand to come up with a pay of 33?