Orientation in a few weeks... Have a few Questions

Yes every truck is set up for CBs (power and coax run thru the mirrors to dual antennas). The probability is that the antennas and/or the coax is pretty shot so running your own antenna will result in better reception.

 

- If you are full time OTR, you will have your own truck

- You will not do team unless you request it

- Being from Ohio (Midwest) you will be driving the eastern half of the country (basically anything from Texas / Up to Dakotas and east to Maine / Florida)

- Depending on your Location you may be able to be on a dedicated account if thats what you want. Typically they require you to be within 50 miles of the yard in which that account stations from (either an actual schneider terminal or the contract's company distribution center). You can get on these accounts as a new hire, just as you got on OTR, just depending on your location and an account job being open.

- OTR has many options (at least from my terminal) on schedule. 4 on 4 off, 14 on 7 off, or full time where you get a day off for every week you drive (how you take your off time is typically on you, if you want to be out 5 or 6 days and home 1 that is possible but it will limit your availability for longer haul freight which is where youll make the best $$)

Put it this way, of all the mega carriers who hire newbies,you pretty much lucked out getting into Schneider. Are they the best trucking company out there, no, but as far as options for recent graduates they are way way way above something like C.R England / Swift / Werner etc. They tend to be very strait forward with new hires and dont blow hot air up their arse. What you have been told by them is pretty much what you get (at least at Schneider).

 

An average day of driving should get you around 500 miles (give or take 100 depending on traffic / load times).

Being OTR, a lot of how many miles you get is dependent on you and your hustle factor. Schneider has plenty of freight and keeps drivers active so long as they are up for it. You just have to get the system down and know how to slot your times and trip plan, thus allowing you to smoothly transition into a new load right after dropping off your previous one and avoiding down time.

If you are doing it right, you should have no problem getting 2700+ miles a week. When things are going smooth for me I can pound out 3000+ weekly pretty often.

If you are out 14 days, you should be able to get well above 5,000 miles, and thats being modest. In two weeks you can easily traverse pretty much all of the eastern half of the U.S multiple times, and you indeed will (although sometimes you do get "trapped" in a region where it seems you are going back and forth in the same 5 state region for a week at a time, but the miles are still tickin)

 

(typically you are only with trainer about one week before you are off on your own in your truck, unless you can't pick up on it that fast then they can extend it which doesn't happen too often from what i see).

In terms of OTR vs Dedicated, keep this in mind about OTR...
It's something that you have to actually do to grasp if its for you. I can't stress enough how raw it is out there once you're on your own. Sure you can be explained how it works with scheduling and general policies and anything told to you in trucking school, but no words can put the actual feeling of solidarity into you until you experience it first hand. You essentially do nothing but sleep 9 hours, and drive, repeat, every day youre out, unless you have issues with getting a load or a breakdown. There really is nearly no "sight seeing" unless the stars aline and you shut down across from a casino or watering hole etc. I never thought it would get to me much, but the homesickness hits your like a brick the first month or so, and is most likely what kills off a good majority of new drivers and makes them quit. If you can make it through that first month, something sorta changes in you (or at least it did for me) and you grow accustomed to the road, and sorta get addicted to it. Kinda like what they say about prison ( I know thats a downer analogy but oh well), and how you become institutionalized , or highway blooded in this case. Pretty soon it feels weird on your off time at home, like going through a scale house in your 4 wheeler without even thinking about it.

If you have strong roots at the homestead and are someone who loves going out nightly for social reasons, or have a family with kids, OTR is really something that can be very very hard for someone in that situation. If you are a bachelor of sorts and can occupy your mind on your own then you will have a better shot surviving OTR. If you can't handle full time OTR (which I know to someone fresh out of CDL school sounds silly, but trust me youll know what I mean when you get out there), they have part time options like the 4 on 4 off slip seat or 14 on 7 off slip seat, as well as regional if applicable to your location.


Edit P.S - GET A GOOD CB AND HAVE IT TUNED AT A SHOP, WITH A GOOD MIRROR MOUNTED ANTENNA OF YOUR OWN (Because the ones in the truck are almost always broke). Spend the hundred or so bucks for a good cb set up including mic, antenna, and good radio, it is the best purchase for the money for OTR there is. I know it sounds silly, but when you have absolutely nobody to talk to but yourself on the highway, a CB can be the difference between silly entertainment and going insane. )

 

Also invest in a Sirius/XM radio. It will keep you entertained, and you don't have to listen to the CB crap. A lot of Shippers, and recievers utilize the CB for communication

 

If you're out of Cleveland and running OTR, I think it would be safe to say that you will rarely ever run west of the Mississippi river unless you're in Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas or Texas. Lots of Northeast, Midwest and Southeast runs. Mostly the Northeast though where you're at I would imagine. You never know though, you'll get unexpected loads at surprising times.

Also, in regards to taking the truck home with you, we have a drop yard in Seville, OH where you can park your tractor/personal vehicle. I wouldn't doubt it if they have you park at that location, off I-76 just east of I-71. Not exactly sure what the exact distance you have to be away from a location to bring your truck home, but I imagine that Seville is 50 miles or less from where you are at.

There also are other random drop yards all over the place that I'm not even aware of. Maybe there is one in the Cleveland area for all I know.

 

when i was there we had a few who washed.out. but trust me, we pretty much knew who they were the first day. sure the washout rate is high but you have no idea the amount of morons they get and they wont tolerate the bs. which is a good thing.
i laughed my rear end off when the shop guy told the company drivers they no longer fix cosmetic repairs, and slaped a roll of duct tape and a pack of zip ties on the table in front of them. lol. said fix it yourself. they have purty orange duct tape.

btw, they move FAST. allot of.things are brushed.over and you just need to be able to fill in the blanks. being in.indy you will have choice program owner operators in the same class which helps confuse everything