Questions about Schneider tanker division

ask Ethos hes a trainer for schneiders tanker division.

 

I'd be interested myself as I'm going to start orientation next week. I was told to expect 2300 miles per week at .35 CPM out of Houston. I'd like to know what the recruiter isn't telling me. Call my fussy but I expect to be paid for ALL jobs performed.

 

This is winter and therefore the slow time. 2300 miles is doable but you will have to fight to get it. In spring things will really pick up.

I get plenty of long trips.

Impossible to answer as there is no average. All I care about is whether the want me to pump or air off and wha what PPE to put on.

Very rarely.

Washouts are the best thing for a tanker driver because it means extra miles. Every load ends at a tankwash. I have had dead head washes that were over 1500 miles. Awesome stuff. All you do is drop the trailer and pick up another one. Or sometimes you just bobtail somewhere.

This is trucking and while the LTL guys always brag they get paid for everything the do, trust me they dont. Every driver does work that is unpaid. Your pay is in the miles and the load/unload pay and of course detention.

 

Hey there. drove Schneider Bulk eastern regional outta paulsboro and the average week was 2,100 miles w/ 4-10 deliveries. Over the course of 70 weeks at an average of 2,100 miles per week I had 164,850 miles. Not being an "otr driver" meant that the farthest I went on the two weeks (6 day off plan) out would be Halifax, N.S., Houston, Tx, or Greely, Co & any where in between. The long haul weeks were about 3000-3300 miles.
a typical trip does not exist and you should be ready for anything? "What (did) (I) haul? Mostly hazmat placarded chemicals. 95% of the facilities where you get loaded or unload and the tank washes are #### holes. offloads and loads should take under 2 hours every time but if your pump or compressor fails or some other bs happens the processes take much longer.

drop & hooks are rare but expect to relay and deliver a lot. I hooked relays for the paper mills in Maine a lot outta Keasby.

After every delivery the tank goes to wash.Doesn't matter how long it takes cause you'll be pre tripping another trailer in a matter of minutes after dropping the dirty. The exception is basf loads outta bayone going to Cornwall ont where the heel has to be destroyed at the wash in laval QC before reentering the states. That just means you get to eat dinner and spend the night in Montreal unless you tip the tank wash guy so you only sit for an hour. I usually spent the night in Montreal.

You get paid for loading, unloading, driving, detention & reimbursed for any company related expenses along the way.

schneider bulk is a good entry level gig for getting into tankers but know going into it you aren't going to be home very often. Buy a huge hand pump of hand sanitizer, bulk box of baby wipes, & your own pair of chemical gloves before going to orientation / training. The month of training is the worst part and once sqt is over and you get your own Columbia w/ 800,000 miles on it the days get easier.


Quick advice: have all the answers to the sqt packet before going to sqt. Get the answers from your road trainer. Otherwise one day can quickly turn into 3 painful days. Also have your fast card & twic before going to training so that while the other noobs are still battling w/ their sqt packets you can be off to the port and be off to canada making that krizzle. Keep the receipts cause Schneider will reimburse the costs. Also, purchase two pairs of fr rated carhartt pants and one fr rated jacket so that you don't ever have to mess w/ the dreadful orange coveralls . However do keep the issued nomex so that when another driver asks if you have an extra pair of nomex you can say sure I do "for a rental fee of $ 20.00."

 

My apologies. should have written 105 weeks w/ 164,850 miles driven. There is a rather large gap in the Hub to pay miles at sni but that is a topic for another time. I left bulk after 70 weeks for Sni dry van so the numbers you have are accurate. Being over the road bulk you can expect a new cascadia tractor assigned to you at about the 12-14 month mark.

 

I did 105k miles in about 53 weeks. I took about 6 days off per month, so excluding days off, my *full week* driving average was 2440. (I stayed out at least three weeks most of the time , miles are better if you're not getting routed home as soon as you get in a nice groove).

longest trips - around 1500 for me, but they all add up whether they're 400 or 1500. I never complained about short loads, just did what I could to keep moving, and pay takes care of itself.

p/u & del places were all cool, huge chemical plants, small mom n pop shops and everything in between.

I was paid for just about all labor except fueling, pre/post trips and lugging hoses around at tank washes. Then sometimes there's just PITA stuff that happens that you don't get paid for. I always thought unloading should pay 1.5-2x as much (if you unload it) but it is what it is.

Which brings up something important -- and this is something you wanna learn quick. If you ever played Super Mario bros, you are Mario and the blocks of hidden coins are secret Schneider pay. You have to kick things and find out if you get paid for it. If something happens and you think you should get paid for it, it doesn't hurt to ask. If its something major, a good DBL will tell you without you having to ask (ie, stopping at tank wash to get a load heated, pumping product off an overloaded trailer to another trailer, etc)

Grill your TE, DBL and whoever else you can, because Schneider sure as heck isn't going to provide a list of everything you can be paid for.

All in all, good all-around experience/training and decent money. Don't hit or spill stuff, dont get tickets, and after a year or so you'll be well prepared if/when you move on to your next tanker gig.

Good luck!

 

You got prehired with Schneider? I called them for a prehire letter when I was applying for school and they said they couldn't get me prehired but to call them when I was about done with school?