Schneider Training - Carlisle, PA - Tips

i'm looking into NETTS(NEW ENGLAND TRACTOR TRAILER AND/OR NATIONWIDE. I ALSO AM GOING TO CALL COMPANIES TO SEE IF THE RECRUIT FROM THOSE SCHOOLS. I KNOW SWIFT,WERNER AND THE OTHER ONES THAT HAVE ALOT OF COMPLAINTS DO, BUT IM LOOKING INTO OTHERS.

 

PS, I PASSED MY WRITTEN TESTS, I TOOK GENERAL KNOWLEDGE,COMBO,AIR BRAKES AND TANKER. WILL TAKE HAZMAT AFTER I GET MY ACTUAL CDL.

 

Will Do, Best Of Luck Irishmike

 

congrats mike. My training too took about a month. I thought it would have been faster than that...training for two weeks in CA, and then 4 days OTR in CO. But then I had to wait to take my CDL and all. The SQT took me two days, not sure why. I jumped a couple of turns on righthand button hooks, but he wasn't concerned about it, lol. Luckily my CDL tester didnt have me take any button hooks either. But as soon as I got my CDL, I was put on a truck and sent home and my tractor was waiting for me...had actually been up there for a week or two as they knew I was coming up there.

 

Mike, fill me in a little on your dedicated gig, is it out of WV? I currently deliver to car dealerships. My job is going fine so far, but a couple of things I have noticed that you might want to consider. One of my buddies from training is going through a rough time with Schneider too so you might want to double check some things.
* Pay, make sure you are going to get paid what you signed up for.
*pay - make sure to call someone to double check and make sure you are getting paid your salary pay after your training is done. My pay is messed up and it seems they have trouble for some odd reason switching from training to salary....lol maybe because it almost doubles your pay.
*are you going to be working from the dock or are you going to be domiciled (meaning out in the boonies, never to see a schneider facility again?). Either way, ask about maintenance and the like. We are big on maintenance issues, If I think something is wrong, put it int he shop asap and get it fixed...otherwise if I can't make the deliveries on time, that brings down the docks ontime delivery stuff.
*as dumb as it soudns, ask about days off for holidays. For example...I got a qcomm message saying something about how I would have to work on Friday...even though I was told I wasnt going to work on Friday. Apparently, their friday is my saturday because when they work friday...the truck leaves that night and gets to me on Saturday.
*ask about cold weather starting if that is an issue in your area...mine barely cranks at 11 degrees for petes sake, lol.
*if you are domiciled, get some extra pumpkin books, logbooks....etc.
*hmm look your truck over really good too and get anything taken care of...or at least bring it up.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask me.

 

Hey IrishMike, I start Cdl class on Monday 17th, got a Grant and only have to pay $1200. I'm going with the Teamsters local 251 school. I've been accepted to Millis Transfer and I'm looking into Superior carries(Tank Yanker). I'm also going to look into pumkin. I liked them when i 1st researched them know its time to take a harder look. Hows everything going with you?
JUst got off the phone with pumkin and they said not hiring anyone from my area at this time. Atleast I checked.

 

Hey Mike, glad we stumbled upon your post here. We're gearing up for the Carlisle, PA school in a couple of weeks and you just answered a bunch of questions for us. Thank you for that.

I was wondering how far from Carlisle you came from - because we're only about 30 minutes away and we got the impression from the recruiter that we'd be commuting up there. I don't recall any mention of them actually putting us up in the HoJo for the duration of the course.

Overall, we've heard mostly realistic and somewhat positive remarks about both the Carlisle training and SNI itself. But you must have been on the road for a few weeks now, right? So can you update us on how its going? Are they paying you as they said they would? So on & so forth?

Thanks again!