Schneider National Carriers - Green Bay, Wi.

Not trying to be sarcastic here but everything you said applies to every other trucking company out there, for the most part.

As a new truck driver, you need to get used to Schneider and their policies as well as their quirks, just like any other company. You posted a complaint the other day about Schneider not getting your Qualcomm replaced over the road. The Qualcomm is something that you would need to go back to the OC for as it is programmed specifically for your account / what you do.

The fact is that you DON'T need a qualcomm. You should have a map that tells you where the OCs and pilots are (and you can fill up at TA's you come across). You should also have an atlas and phone numbers for Schneiderdom as well as your DBL.

Also, sometimes they might want to route you back to Canada for a good reason, just because its a Canadian blah blah blah. Schneider from what I understand is one huge company. However, there are a ton of baby Schneider companies under that that run under the Schneider name. Their Canadian division is different and seperate from the US division. Technically, if you went to an OC down there for something like that, the Canadian division would have to pay the US division for the repair work...etc...and it would probably cost more as well. Its just like having a repair done over the road at Bobs house of Waffles and truck repair OR getting back to an OC...its cheaper to do it at your home OC.

Also, not having a QC is a godsend. If it doesnt work...unplug it so you can give it to a mechanic. At the same time, realize the fact that Schneider has NO way of tracking you with the QC unplugged. Not sure how good their trailers are at tracking. But you could accidentally forget about yoru logbook, go and do something and get another trailer...come back and are ready for yoru next load and coicidentally already have the next trailer as well as you are almost finished with your ten hour break.

Not that I would do that or anything...just pointing out the obvious and what some other "Shadey" characters might do.

Another part of being new is learning the many loopholes.

 

How does driver training work out at SNI and in general? Is the driver thats being trained driving during the day while the trainer is watching from the 2nd seat? If so do both go to sleep, or are off duty, after 11 hours driving? Or, is driver training just another form of team driving. I guess what I'm wondering is the new guy being used as a night driver?

 

you can find more info on the sni website.
All you have to do is google the complete name.
It was built by a sni driver to answer questions from prospective newbee's.

 

Ummm, I've found it to be better for me to not just passively accept Schneider's problems but to look for better work. I think the number of problems I have with Schneider goes beyond what's reasonable.

I thought the Qualcomm and the satellite were two different things. If the Qualcomm is broken, it might be a satellite issue, but just because you unplug the Qualcomm doesn't mean the satellite stops working. I think you have to throw a sheet of metal over the satellite to short it.

I got in a bad habit of forgetting to send my departures from my pick-ups and finally my dispatcher said they can't "process the load" without it, even though she KNEW within 15 minutes of when I left. When my Qualcomm shorted I had to write everything down. And how could they know your availability or your possible detention pay? You'd have to call, blah.

 

Well I've just heard of unplugging the qcomm results in you not being tracked. Basically, I don't think Schneider (or any company...or at least most companies) are going to gripe if they can't track you, as long as you don't get in trouble, everyone is happy.

Sending in the times is important because it lets Schneider know that you have the load. Sure, tracking can sort of show you are moving, but they want driver verification that you picked it up. Heck, there have been a couple of times that I got a call from my DBLs secretary who asked me where I was because the qcomm showed I was still in my hometown and that I wasn't moving. Although granted, I dont need to verify I picked up the load...but the tracking is by far, not a reliable way to verify anything.

And yeah, for the short amount of time that it is down, you might actually have to call the DBL for stuff, but its not the end of the world. If you had detention pay, just tell them so. Work actually does require effort nowadays, you know.

When my truck was down, I got a rental and used that for about a week. I used it and called in when I was done with the day with my times. Its part of my job.

 

Not having the qualcomm was a huge pain in the behind. They were able to track me because of trailers I had. Every morning I sent an email to my DBL with my availability. I'm a little upset at Schneider because instead of taking 5 minutes to take a look at the truck they just right away assumed the problem as too big to deal with in Express or wouldn't touch it because it was a Canadian truck. Well I finally got through my OC on tuesday morning and the guy at Estimation told me that it was something that was going to take quite awhile and that I would have to get the truck in the shop when I went for my time at home. So last night I brought the truck to the shop to get it written up so they could look at it over the weekend and I explained the problem to the guy and right away he told me it was an easy fix. He came out and looked at the qualcomm and then we went back inside to building and he looked on his computer and changed a couple numbers and the Qualcomm was working within 5 minutes.

What it was, was that they replaced my black box last tuesday and they programmed the new black box and it worked for about a day. The reason being was on the black boxes they have a numerical 'address'. Well I guess somehow when they sent the bad black box back to Qualcomm to get refurbished somehow in the computer system the address of the black box in my truck got reset back to the old one. Now I suggested this on the phone to SEM and to 2 other mechanics and they blew me off because of course I am just the dumb driver who knows nothing. I told them it could not be an equipment issue because I was receiving fleet messages just wasn't being able to receive my own personal messages.

 

Qualcomm problems are just another reason why I don't like to depend on electronics in a Big truck.
When I first started driving there were no cell phones or Qualcomm. Everything was done over land-line phones and I'll admit that was a hassle sometimes finding a phone and/or standing in a phone booth in sub-zero weather.

While driving for Schneider I was introduced to Qualcomm and it sure did cut my phone call requirements which was handy. But after getting directions over Qualcomm that were incorrect and other aggravating things associated with the system, I was glad when I went with another, smaller company that didn't use Qualcomm. Back to phone calls and MORE accurate directions when I personally called shippers and receivers for up to date instructions rather than truct out-dated Qualcomm information.
For instance, Qualcomm directions routed me to a numbered off ramp in Arizona that wasn't there anymore. How long does it take to completely remove an off ramp? Seems nobody bothered to update the information.
But I did!

IMO, when we start depending on electronics and don't know how to do things manually we're in for trouble. Now-a-daze with cell phones available I don't even want the luxury(?) of Qualcomm.

 

It is great to read all these post, you guy's tell things the way they are, I like that. Under all my research, I keep coming back to Schneider. The issue is that I am currently driving class B Motorcoach tour busses in Alaska on a Hawaii cdl. I was going to move to Chicago, because there is alot of work there. Problem is that in order to transfer to a IL cdl, it can't be done without starting from scratch again, which would be ok, but then to not get hired with schneider would be pointless. The schneider recruiter told me to call after I get my IL permit which if I was to get it in another state I would not have to start all over again. I just want to work were I am most needed. Any suggestions would be great. Possibly close to midwest. I want OTR, and just want to stay busy, but I will have to move to the state I pick,( or you guys pick ) so I can claim residency. Anything insight would be great!!!!!!!! I think I posted to the wrong thread sorry....

 

Well I don't know how easy it would be to do or not...but they do third party testing. If you get hired on with Schneider and don't have a CDL, they would make you go through their two week course. Just start off from scratch with them. You'd need an IL CDL permit at least. THEN, when you finish and such and complete your OTR training, Schneider will set you up with CDL testing for IL. THey might have one of their employees be a third party tester, or you will just go through the IL...DOT or whatever that handles that stuff.

 

You are still tracked with the Qualcomm disconnected. 99%+ of the trailers have tracking boxes and cameras also.

You can fuel up at all Pilots and use their points program. Some T/As are on the Schneider fuel map but they are few. -> Your comdata card may work at a T/A but most likely it will not.