Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

I want to click the play button so bad I don't know what to do, so I won't. Anyone who has job hopped as much as him is laughable. I can't get angry at something I have never seen, so I won't click. I find a picture of @TennMan on the hook far more enjoyable. At least it's the truth. Sorry Tennman, but it does make me lol.

 

well golly, u mean to tell me i can invest my time and money into my own truck and still count on someone else to get me home?! what a deal!!!

 

He's probably gonna end up back at choice....

 

Freightwipper, you come up with some funny stuff. Just have to give you props.

 

Hi, I just applied to try and get on at Schneider for their choice program. I've read the thread, including the beginning when freightwipper was the a huge cheerleader for the company. I've watched the attitude slowly change, but I still feel that I might be able to make this work. I'm also a pessimist by nature, so I might be behaving a little out of character.

My background...I'm coming from a variable lease. My fixed expenses are 314 a week, my per mile cost to lease the truck..including maintenance...is 0.28 center per mile. I make 90 cents per miles plus fuel surcharge on ALL MILES. JCT pays for everything but fuel, federal taxes and state taxes. I might be an exception at this company because my paychecks have rarely broke a thousand dollars. I'm current driving a 2016 Kenworth t680 with a a carrier apu. I got it with almost zero miles on it and I've put about 210,000 miles on it thus far. I've been driving it for a year and a half.

I'm based out of Phoenix so there is a Schneider terminal near me which makes this much more convenient for me considering that JCT is based in Sapulpa.

I have a few questions for some of you currently making it on the Schneider choice program. I would very much appreciate some answers from those of you in the trenches in present day 2017.

First off, the load board is one of my biggest concerns. From my reading of this thread, some of you make it sound like getting loads off the load board is like trying to be the first person to click the button on the game show Jeopardy, but with a thousand other contestants. How much time do some of you typically spend on the load board to get a load? Are you apt to find loads only during certain times of the day? I'm a night owl. If I were to log on at midnight, would I find any available freight to book for the following day?

I read a lot of you complaining about low paying freight...but what would you consider low paying? 1.25 or lower? 1.00 or lower? What percentage of freight on the load board is far below average and are you OFTEN forced to take that freight out of absolute frustration just to keep moving and cover expenses?

If I never want to see California again, would that be possible considering I'm based in Phoenix? Are there decent loads leaving Phoenix going east?

What other tax expenditures should I expect? I've never had to pay IFTA and I'm not sure I completely understand IFTA. But, outside of Federal, State, and IFTA are there any other taxes I should expect to pay? Do I have to pay tags and permits as well?

Maintenance is another concern of mine. One of the greatest benefits my current company offer is that they will float you maintenance costs even if you don't have enough in your maintenance account. I was 3000 plus in the hole with my first used truck, but I just drove my way out of maintenance debt. This was a HUGE help and kept me cash positive. Anything like this as Schneider or should I pay off my credit cards and expect to use them instead? I do have over 20 grand saved up but I like to keep that positive cash flow around for extreme emergencies.

If I can't find a load home and I need to get home in a hurry, would it be possible for me to just bobtail home and my own dime? I would prefer not to do this, but would it be allowed under Schneider policy? How about if I'm in a dead end area and can't find any freight out, can I just bobtail into an area where freight is hot?

I'm coming from a very laid back atmosphere. I've been here 2 and a half years and they pretty much leave me alone. I hear some of you complaining about micromanagement. What kind of harassment can I expect? Are there tons of bureaucratic hoops to jump through constantly? Are they a macro heavy company as far as the qualcom is concerned? Are your feet held to the fire on logs? 15 here, 15 there, etc? I usually either flag load/unload or don't even bother and I've never had any problems.

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure more will come to me in time. Thanks for reading and I'd appreciate any answers good and bad.

 

As far as ifta, sni deducts whatever you owe at end of month.. as far as going home you can go home whenever you want and don't have to ask anybody and as far as eastbound Phoenix Freight is concerned it's extremely cheap and under a dollar a mile... as far as moving to where there's other better Freight you could deadhead as far as you want but the farther you deadhead the less the load will pay you rate wise...

 

My personal minimum is $1.65/mi. Any thing less I won't touch. Everyone has their own numbers as to what they will haul for.

I typically spend at least 4 hrs a day on the board, but some days its 9 or 10 hrs.

SNI will take care of IFTA for you, but you should really understand these things to be successful. You pay for plates and anything else related to the truck. SNI pays permits.

I've never heard of SNI helping anybody w/ maintenance. But if you're under a load and have to relay it, they won't hesitate to charge you the $400 relay fee.

I'm not familiar with Phoenix markets, but in general dry van freight is regional. If you stay in a certain area it pays, but hopping from one region to another will cost you.

Looking for loads at night you will be seeing mostly scraps. What's left over that no one else wanted. That doesn't mean there are never decent loads though.

SNI I believe is Washington's training ground for bureaucrats. It seems like every month its some new bs rule that someone makes up in order to justify their existence.

 

I'd say it's a great starting point to becoming an O/O, even though there is some BS over here, and you can make good money. I've been here for 8 months and I do well, but I am starting to look into going into FB with Mercer or a similar company to get out from under the micromanagement and constantly changing rules. Running in AZ, you will do best running the Western states...getting east can be challenging from what I've seen on the board. I run the MW with an occasional jump in and out of the NE...have seen some good loads heading to CO/TX/AZ, and miss running out there, but can never find an exit plan that will even cover my running costs, so I don't bother.