Schneider National Carriers - Green Bay, Wi.

Just an FYI, if you already have your CDL you do not need to go through Schneider's basic course (2 weeks). You go through their ADTC advanced driver training course which is 3 to 4 days then you are assigned a TE for usually only a week.

Yeah Carlisle is a dive. We were there last week. We don't spend too long at OCs. Just enough to get fuel, a shower and bug out.

 

Somethin funny about Geargrinders story.I have always reccomended going to a school on your own to get your CDL,and a lot of valuable training.If a company like Schneider puts you thru this training and gets you ready for your CDL test they are gonna want repaid in some way.Cant really blame them for that.Getting that road test for your CDL is just a very small part of being ready to get out there and make a living driving a truck.Going thru a school on your own is gonna be the same type of trainig that Schneider gives you.Only difference is you are paying up front for it.When I started into truckin I could have just got my permit and passed the CDL test very easy,due to the fact I had been in and out of trucks all of my life.However I lacked the driving employment record to be grandfathered in for the CDL.Sounds to me like you are looking at this thing all wrong.A whole lot more involved here than just driving a truck.

 

My point is that Schneider strings you along to get your CDL. With even the dirtiest of dirtbag Company Paid Training companies you can get your CDL within the first few weeks, but not with Schneider. If the newbie spent 4 weeks with prime (universally recognized as horrible) and 4 with Schneider, the newbie would be further ahead with Prime. This is because the newbie would now have a CDL with Prime, but zip with Schneider.

In neither case is the person really qualified to drive. But at least one has SOMETHING to show for the expensive misadventure.

All are a scam, each has there own twist.

Schneider isn't as good a deal or company as is often portrayed on this site. They have many warts. They are badgering just as many people for the installment contract as all the other companies offering Company Paid Training. My proposition is that signing on with Schneider requires a longer commitment to get the CDL than with the other dirtbags.

 

there is a hotel right there next to the oc can't remember the name but it was cool hotel. had a pool table, inside bar, and indoor heated pool. i stayed there once and got ripped and played a bunch of billards. had nice rooms too.

 

i started with them and never had a problem with them except for the occassional pay issues but they took care of them quickly.

 

The purpose of Schneoder's training is to get you a license and out on the road in a Schneider truck. It is not to get you a CDL early in the process, or to license you as a CDL driver. The company goal is to do the training concurrent with their own needs. If it were otherwise, they wouldn't spend the time and effort to run a training program.

it probably is run 2/3 for their benefit and 1/3 for yours, but in all consideration, that's a pretty good ratio. It isn't a charity, and in many cases it is an option that appeals to those who for one reason or another need the training but lack the resources to pay for it on their own. Numerous people on here have long recommended that you get the license on your own, usuially recommending community colleges first, commercil schools second, and company run programs as a final option.

I'm surry that you were unsatisfied with yoru experience there, but it doesn't really sound like you got mistreated in any way. As for the quality of Schneider's training, it may not be as good as some of the other options, but I can just about guarantee tht tere are plenty of worse places.

 

Another thing that was not mentioned which is probably the same for other companies is they put you up in a hotel and give you lunch and dinner every day you are training. Granted the hotel is not the ritz and you have to shack up with another student but it's not that bad. At least you get a warm/cool place to sleep and a shower. The hotel usually has free breakfast. That costs a lot of money. With their discount it's about $40 a night per student at the hotel. About $550 per student for lodging. About $140-150 per student for meals. A bus ticket to get you there. (Which is not worth any price in my opinion. I will never step a foot on another greyhound again as long as I live.) Fuel for the trucks you practice on. Salaries of the instructors etc.

It is mainly for their benefit. They're trying to teach you to be schneider employees not to give you a CDL so you can work for someone else.

If you need a CDL, then after you complete training and road time with your TE you are prepped for CDL for your home state. I don't know how long this takes. That and the fact that you don't have to sign Schneiders 18-month contract (some are 12 month) is why everyone says get your CDL first.

All I can tell you is go to Steven's, Prime, JB and see what they offer. You might find a better deal.

 

What I am finding in California is that the recruiter won't touch you out of CDL school here unless you get the school certificate. There is an education certificate called POST that requires the permit training and vehicle training. It is much the same as the certification put out by other states. If you had a local company willing to take you on and show you how to drive it is only about sixtifive for the permit and twenty bucks for the permit course on line. I was able to download the Commercial Driver's handbook and get my permit on my own but every school wants to run you through their numbers if you want that certificate the recuiter wants.

They got you coming and going.

I have not found a scool cheaper than $3,500.00 that is worth going to. I wish I had a truck to practice with. I learned the double clutch shift and how to match rpms when I was fourteen. I don't think it will take long to pick that back up. I know the backing will take a little more than remembering though. I have been backing trailers behind four wheelers for thirty years and I still get goofed up on occasion.

 

From what i see you want to be on the road getting paid for miles in a month. I have looked at a lot of private schools and you still have to do classroom time plus at least 160 hours of driving instruction before alot of companies will touch you. Then you still have to drive with there trainer.

As far as schneider being the major benifactor of your training....well no crap I mean they are the ones training you and and in the end they dont want to put you on the road after 2 weeks to kill somebody, from a company standpoint it gets expensive when your employees start killing people.

I am working a front desk job at a local AmericInn and the guy training me, who i also went to school with, used to drive for schneider and he has nothing but good things to say about and he felt the training was long but worth it. I would rather you be safe and suffer a couple of extra weeks, then run down my family. I'm not trying to be confrontational but it sounds like you want it all and you want it now. I mean what does it matter if you have your CDL at the end of you training or earlier. Having it changes nothing you still have to train and your not gonna be on the road till then.