Advice?

That's interesting. I'm still glad that I went to Dootson because I could make my own schedule and study at my own pace. You said that Schneider required training with 40+ foot trailers, but they still accepted you for orientation, correct? So, do you still need the outside training? I would assume you'd just go with a trainer after you pass orientation.

 

I just need to be prepared and that means asking all of you for advice. I've been looking over threads here for information. Can you give me more information about their tests, company operations, specific things to be aware of, etc? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you![/QUOTE]


I can't give any specific advise on the orientation class for new drivers. During my orientation the tests included FMCSA rules and regulations, Schneider company policys, trip planning the schneider way, etc. IMO the company is run well. I run local intermodal in los angeles. Before this i was 11 western home run. Running teams i believe your DBL (driver business leader) will be in West Memphis. I've always been treated well, like a person not a number. I never had a major problem with loads/miles. I only sat for a day twice waiting for a load. Now running teams is different. Teams at schneider run hard, usually coast to coast runs. A couple of my buddies teamed with SNI and they never stopped. Team trucks are usually newer than solos. Communication is key with SNI. Let your DBL know about everything even if it will not affect your load. This will build trust. Work hard and it will pay off. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. Good luck on your journey.

 

The driving test is pretty easy. What they want to see is that you learned something in school. I learned more in 2 hours with my TE than I did the whole time in school.

You'll have the same TE during Orientation so they are looking for improvement. You'll drive their kit the whole time.

When you test out you will be on the same roads, in the same truck the whole time.

Schneider wants you to pass. Remember this and you will do fine.

There is a written test at the end ... You will want some help with this. It's much harder than you might imagine. When someone says that this test is "what you already went over" they did not take that test. In my class of 7 only 4 passed.

 

I'm taking the written Wednesday. What's so hard about it?

 

Search out RoadRaid3r blog on this sight all info you need is in there. It is very informative on what to expect from SNI.

 

if you still need the help, i haul 53's out of the inland empire up and down the central coast daily, as long as your not a pychopath i wouldnt mind taking you along and getting you some time behind the wheel. Also my boss (an owner operator) is currently purchasing 4 more rigs if you want to drive for an O/O. Youll make about 700-800 take home a week, be home all but maybe 1 night a week. We haul out of fontana CA, to SLO, santa maria, pismo, and weekends to tucson, sometimes vegas. Trucks are parked in pomona, unless you have a place near home to park it then you can just take it home on your way thru LA from coming home southbound on the 101, then hop back in and head to fontana to get the next days load. Not sure if you can private message on here, but if you are interested in the free 53'er training or the job offer PM me if you can and we can set it up.

 

Socaldriver, I live In Fontana and will be graduating from CDL school in the beginning of November. How much experience does your boss want for someone to start out? I'd send you a PM but I think you need like 7 posts to be able to send/recieve PM's

Chuck

 

he needs none, infact when i started with him i had a permit, i attended NO truck driving school, infact ive never towed even a boat or a toy box, much less backed one up. He promised me a job so i stuck through it, he had to bounce through a few insurance companys till he found one that was AA rated and would insure a green trucker but he kept his word and did just that. I have personally trained 2 guys since then and 1 is now working, the other is working on getting his felony expunged so he can work for the company. Only stipulation is no double clutching, to drive my bosses trucks its required you float the gears (because if done properly makes the clutch/tranny last longer) I would have no problem teaching you that. Im leaving him to go OTR, bored with dedicated as it is redundant, but i will stick around long enough to fill the trucks and the new ones. One good thing is he keeps a spare truck without a driver, so that if say your truck needed repairs, you have a truck to move into for a few days until yours is fixed and you wont lose a days work. Other bonus is like what happened to me when i blew a turbo 20 miles short of tucson, he bought be a cab to the airport and flew me home, gave me a spare truck, then when truck was ready flew me to tucson to pick it up and payed me my miles to bobtail it back home. Its a very small company working for a large comapany doing just store deliveries. (company is 2 partners, and 3 drivers, but buying 2-5 new/used trucks "prostars") I had a name on here with more than 7 posts so i can PM you but i only remember the password and not the name, so i made a new one. Lets just keep in touch until we have enough posts for PM lol.

 

also you would be a private contractor to him (lots and lots of write offs come tax time )you would need to go to the san bernardino hall of records and create a name for a DBA, costs about 40 bucks if i remember, plus another 40 bucks to have a newspaper run the notice for a week. you can write both off. or my boss can pay it and when you bill him with an invoice you can just take a few bucks out here and there until he's payed back. The pay is per run, some runs pay more but come out less per mile. the shorter runs like up the coast and to vegas = about 55 cents a mile, where as the runs like tucson come out to about only 29 cents a mile. No contracts though, if you like it stick around, if you dont move on, but he is a good guy to work for and a good company to get some experiance with full pay and no contract, so you can always get your experiance and take it elsewhere. I dont think you would want to though, they are good people and you can con them into buying lunch whenever you see them lol. Also, ive hit hard times before and they had no problem giving me an interest free loan on nothing but a hand shake, even if it meant tapping into their own pockets and not the companies. In closing they are very good people and ive seen them not take a paycheck at all (aka work a month for free) to make sure i get paid on time and the trucks get fully repaired.