6/21/16 Is the beginning of my Schneider career!!!

I don't care about equipment much. I actually really liked my freightliner. Just trying to find a correlation or secret in what to look for, from the outside looking in, to a "good" company that cares about their drivers. They all say they do. They all are wearing their Sunday best right now lol. I was all about Schneider for their training and safety boasts. I had it easy for the first 6 months. Automatic brands new truck. I'm expecting I'll be going to something older and used up depending on where I go. It's less of a deciding factor than compatibility.

 

I'm wide open really for what I'm looking for. However what I really want may be unattainable lol. In understanding this I'll risk looking like an arse in saying this. Respect. It's my #1 priority. I'll take less money and crappy older equipment just to be at a place that is trustworthy. My biggest issue with Schneider was having to fight for things. I'd lose track of my detention pay and other stuff I was paid extra for because I had to complain about things and they would be paid but to different work orders. So at one point I was owed I think $140. My DBL said to me she forgot to put it in like 3 weeks later and apologized. I forgot about it completely. I thought it was paid. Without her honesty I wouldn't have gotten it. I really did like her for that. She was awesome. But I'd rather be paid less cpm and be able to suggest something for a certain scenario and they just say ok. For example, I posted this in here a while back, I had picked up a load Sunday morning in Maine. Had less than 600 miles to deliver in NJ for Tuesday morning. I offered to shut down for a layover pay situation but I said I'll forgo my time at home which was scheduled for Wed and keep running for $100. They denied it because they only pay $65 for a layover. So they told me I would be worked in to the live unload Mon morning. I went and sat till I don't remember exact time but about 6pm until unloaded. Had they paid $35 extra dollars it would have delivered as scheduled and I'd be on a clean 70 without needing to be routed home. Instead they paid $65 for detention and routed me home with 2 relays. My offer would have saved the company money and made them more money in the long run. And I didn't get home till Friday lol. Getting what I want I'm starting to see it'll cost me $300k in my own truck. I'm just holding on to faith that there are good companies out there. I'm not ready to own my own truck. I'm thinking of smaller companies. Hiring locally out of the Memphis area. Although it doesn't matter where they are to me. With all the mega carriers taking up the pipeline of online job offers its hard to weed out to find the smaller ones. I've talked to one this morning. So far it sounds really good. They're running my info now and said they may need me to come in for a road test tomorrow or the next day. The thing I'm stressing is the way I look. Long hair. Long goatee lol. Should I get a hair cut? But I'm wide open as far as driving. I've been to CO and had to chain the tires. El Paso and Laredo. Maine and unforgettably Charleston WV lol. WI and MI. I've driven through NYC but never delivered there. Toughest city driving for delivery may have been Chicago for me. But I've got no tickets, failed inspections or accidents on my record which is good. I've got a feeling that Schneider is going to put an abandonment on my DAC. I went back and read the thing he sent me. I'm hoping that's not the case. Our discussion on the phone specifically said that they wouldn't do so. I asked for it in writing and this is what I got. Yall tell me.

 

I see what you did there!!!! Ha. As I'm looking into local positions I keep thinking I kind of liked being on the road. I liked coming home to a happy family to see me. After a couple days they hate me again. So it's time for a trip lol. Nah, I just think that going home every day would be harder. Drive to and from work every day. And if you sleep 8 hours you've only got 2 hours outside of a 14 hr day to do other things. If it matches up to the family schedule I guess it would be good. But if not I wouldn't think it would be worth it. I'd like to try but I'm just worried that if I don't like it then I'm stuck. Or leave and hop to another company. Just a worry that I have. And i could be wrong. I might just end up loving it like you do.

 

Yeah. I found some great info on here over the last 6 months or so. Learned a lot here. Value the contributions of most people on here. So when people like yourself, @mickeyrat @Chinatown and many others speak or give advice I listen!!! I really do appreciate all the help. I initially thought of leaving this thread being on the Schneider part of the group as I'm not there anymore. I may do so and start one with the new company I choose. If it's this one I'm thinking I will because there are only 2 threads about them but not since 2012. They share a similar name to a not so reputable company. I've done research on the FMCSA website looking into CSA scores and such. With 100 trucks they are really really low it looks like to me. Mostly bonehead driver stuff. Texting while driving, speeding and such. I didn't see much that would incriminate them. Some normal equipment stuff like lights out or no mud flaps. But that still can be linked back to not pretriping properly. Only 7 accidents in the last 2 years. They have local stuff and regional. So I could do either it looks like. Starting pay is 41cpm with a half cent increase every 6 months. Home 95% of weekends. They'll automatically route you home if you don't say to keep you out. If you are out one weekend you have to come home the next weekend. Tractors under 3 years old. It all sounds great so far. Something that works for me. I need to ask average miles a week for drivers. Although, I'm not to worried about that as I crushed the average at Schneider. My last 3 months there I averaged 2800 miles. My time at home percentage was just above 80%. So it wasn't from staying out all the time. I was usually home every 7-10 days but I stayed home usually a little longer than 48 hours each time. I just kept it even. It worked better for me that way.