schneider is the worst.

Could you elaborate? Three years with SNI and if I can help you I'd be more than happy to. Either way, good luck...I know it's tough at first. I started trucking when I was in my mid 30s with a wife and three kids.

 

Well,apparently I missed these postings a few months ago. I signed on w/SNI in August after seeing no gripes on here abt them. After 5 mos,bottom line is; TOO FEW MILES,TOO MANY LAND MINES. Last 3 wks;1500+,2100+,and 1300+. In 5 mos,I've had 2 wks over 3000,2 wks # 2500+,maybe 4 @2000-2500,and the rest below 2000 miles.Most between 1100 and 1800 mi. Averaging abt 1900/wk. Yes,all co.'s have their negatives. But when the income isn't there and they keep steering you into train wrecks,time to look again for another job and that's what I'm doing. DBL is a nice guy,but he doesnt seem to understand why we svc fail a load after operations overlaps loads/schedules making it impossible to arrive on time. Just one example of their brilliance;this past week I emptied in Chicago(south side of course) abt 9am. Had deadline to pu in Valparaiso,IN by 1300.They decide I have time to go to clinic in Chicago to random drug/alc.test. Send me no info xcept customer code# 4the clinic. I send MAC03 2get directions. Sends me to N side of Chicago (no street address given).Cant find it,call Op.Mgr in Charlotte.He gives me street addr,the place is back on Chi's south side.Have2 traverse back thru Chi traffic(45 min+ ea.way). Get to clinic,spend 2.5 hrs there(nevermind the parking issue). Needless 2say,missed the load that day and DBL asks me "What Happened ?" Average trip is 100-350 miles after you spend 1/2 day trying to find mt to pu your load. If you are thinking of applying # Schneider,dont waste your time.Keep looking.

 

I have been here since Sep, and already am looking. Avg miles 2000/wk, and I stay out 3 weeks before heading home. Was told that I would have no problem with 2600/wk. So far my best, 2200. I was supposed to fly to China this February. they have know since October. Well, that plan is shot. A truck that has over 750,000, and tonight was told what one of the problems is, as far as power, injector going bad. Well, lets fix it. No, trk is due to get swapped out sometime in the future. Do not know when. For now, deal with the problems. We will really fix safety issues. Then receive msg, due for PM. My new attitude is, they do not care, then I do not care. They do not even care about my truck only getting about 5.4 to the gallon. Oh, one last reason, I am OTR, and treated like Regional. Back and forth to the Carolina's. Told me the other day, Hey, you went to Texas a month ago, and where from there, back to the SE. Today had to drop a load in Gary so because it delivered on Tuesday in MN. Thought that they would give me more miles for the holiday, keep me running. Well, turns out that the load that they gave me, did not have the hours to del until also Tuesday morning, and of course, back to the South Carolina, and all for an extra 200 miles. The one to MN, could have had a nice easy drive up there, use only 6 hours per day and on Tuesday, plenty of hrs to run, but no, deliver in SC and have all of 5.

 

Lol...uh...first...don't mock their 'brilliance'...when you just pretty much pinpointed to anyone at SNI exactly who you are...and by doing that and ripping on them...that pretty much gets you on the spit list.

second...your miles aren't always going to be great. You weren't guaranteed any miles whatsoever, especially in writing.

Third...the macro directions arent always the best. And if you need to go somewhere that has mac directions that probably arent used too often and never get corrected, your very first step should have been to call and find out exactly where it is. You wouldnt have lost hardly any time at all. And drug tests are a part of life in the trucking world. And seriously...welcome to my world. When SNI wanted to do a physical for me, they would try to send me 200 miles away, instead of somewhere local. Thats when I started learning how to say this powerful word.....'no.' Works wonders!

Plus...while they don't pay you for drug tests (unless I think you get called in for a second or third one in a single year)....you could have worked with your dbl or ops manager to get some sort of pay for wasting half your day on issues outside of your control.

Also...if you signed on with SNI without seeing any grips on here about them...you were NOT looking at all on here.

Seriously? you are complaining about being out three weeks before being sent home? That is STANDARD in the OTR trucking industry...if not...its a little unusual because companies usually keep you out for 3-4 weeks at a time. Not trying to be sarcastic...but what kind of over the road driving job did you expect to get (along with 4,000 miles a week you apparently want)...and get home every week? You guys are driving in the downtime of winter! Don't you know that freight slows down this time of the year, every single year?

An injector isn't a safety issue. It costs alot to swap out, and with that many miles...it doesnt make one bit of financial sense to change out the injector..they wouldn't get the return on the money spent for the repair on it...so they are limping it along, until you get a new(er) truck swapped out. NOT a safety issue.

As far as the PM...because you can't understand why they do what they do, you get the idea in your head that they dont care, which means you won't care. The PM is designed to keep the truck running, which it is doing already. Depending on what PM it is...they will swap out filters, lube it up, change out the oil...etc. That is basic stuff that needs to be done. 5.4 to the gallon...it could be worse, and they DO know about it if the injector is getting bad. Ever wonder why you have to enter your mileage when you fuel up? They keep track of that stuff, and normally they would fix any issues, but since the truck is due to get swapped out in the near future...they are just letting it limp along.

For example...my old 06 Century was going fine. It broke a rear differential, had some occasional coolant issues, and then it needed a drive shaft swapped out. It only had like 550k miles on it...which really isn't too bad at all (MANY SNI trucks have much more than 750k on them...trust me...Ive seen it!). I asked occasionally when we were getting a new truck because a few trucks on our account had been swapped out. My DBL kept telling me he didn't know. Well lo and behold...one week he up and called and said if we wanted to get our new truck....we had to do it that weekend, and bobtail halfway across the country to do so (his choice to bobtail us, lol). The DBL's dont know when their trucks are going to get swapped out...thats a whole other division within SNI. They might know which are set to get swapped soon, but they dont always know when.

And you are a driver for SNI, nothing more. And if you go to another company, you are going to be a driver as well, not a 'otr' driver, or a 'regional' driver...but a guy who can pull a trailer to where it needs to go. But if you are supposed to be OTR and keep getting stuck in one area for a while...call and ask what is going on. Keep in mind...that if you were 'regional' in the western states...you would be running I-5 nonstop.

 

Could care less if they know. What are they gonna do,cut my miles ? Had it !

 

Ziggy,just looked@ your "years" driving. You talk like you've been driving 50 yrs. I know,after 17.5 yrs of this,that nothing,esp.miles,are guaranteed. Was told 2500 a wk would be no prob. I know it ebbs and flows. I thought with an acct base the size of SNI's,they would at least get close on avg. After a point,one with the miles I have under my belt doesn't care if a DBL is upset by the truth. If they can't handle the truth,they can choose to sever ties b4 I do. I can get another job.

 

You speak of them in the past tense.

If they are so "fantastic", as you put it, why aren't you still with them?

 

I was told years ago when I was starting out, by Schneider, that I would run an average of 2500 miles a week and spend 10 days on the road at a time. Had they not lived up to that expectation I would have been ticked, to say the least.

There's nothing speacial about Schneider unless you count the fact that they have the filthiest, most beat-up, duct-taped fleet on the road as an endearing quality.

 

Wow! and all that with just 1 year experience? (sorry, too much "wind" to quote it all) ...

Can't wait till you reach 2 years in ... maybe you'll have an op worth reading ...

 

Ziggy, if you would have really read my post, you might have understood it. I actually stay out 3 weeks at a time so that I can get the miles. Pretty much our OC is out 10-14 then home. I ELECT to stay out longer.

After 18 years on the road, I think that I know what a PM is for. I belive that I also stated that they would not fix because of money issue when the truck is due to get swapped out. The problem, they do not know when, so in the meantime, limp it along. Also if you would have really read my post, I said that I was only expecting 2600/wk, not 4000.

I believe that this is what I said.

No, trk is due to get swapped out sometime in the future. Do not know when. For now, deal with the problems. We will really fix safety issues.

I totally understand the issue regarding money and what it would take to fix.

I could go on regarding your reply, but you seem to know everything with all of your exp.