Schnieder National ..... What BS!

Oh...they are on hiring freeze alright. With all their training centers are shut down...including the big one in Green Bay WI. No more newbies for a while. The second half of the cutting the fleet down is letting go drivers for the stupid and most petty of reasons. And in many cases....straight out ########. 1/4 of the drivers out of Woodhaven/Detroit were cut. Some for not wearing thier safety boots.
Brad W, a driver I went through training with, was cut because they claim his fuel MPG was too low. His #### truck was a 2002 that even on a flat stretch, no mountains, steady run from Green Bay, WI to West Memphis, AR via I-43, I-39, I-55, I-74 and I-57 and back to I-55.....only 22,000 lb load. Only made one stop. His truck would still only average 5.4- 5.5 MPG.

How about Troy, Van H, another cut because of excessive idle time. But its ok to leave the poor guy stranded in northern Minnesota for 3 days with temps in the lower teens and a non-working space heater under his bunk. FYI, Schneider only approve truck idle if temp fall below 10 degrees.

Before I left, I got a messege on my quallcomm box to drop our cruise speed to no more they 57-60 mph, to save fuel cost. IF I do that, the truck now falls out of the operating RPM range of 1300 to 1600. The maximum effiency range set by Schnieder. Its a catch 22 !!! Yet, they will route your ### 20 miles out of the way to save 2 cents on fuel.
As for fuel, Schneider is actually burning the fuel they purchased 5 years ago in mass bulk for the Operating Centers fueling only. Like pre-ordered and prepaid. This allows them to cut back buying when fuel cost skyrockets and then order when price of fuel is low. But this does not count for fuel purchased at a Pilot, TA, Pedro etc etc thats seperate.

My departure came in Gary, IN at the operating center. I went to go pick up one of the old "A" trailors with 44,000lb of seeds. The trailor is sitting on 3" of packed snow , plus its sitting low. Last driver did not want to drop the landing gear down all the way. They tell you do this to prevent high grabs from the next driver. Anyway, That weight, older trailor...you can't crank up it up with the landing gear...no way!! So, I line the cab up. If it was dropped, I should be able to pick it up......just grunt my way under it. Took a few tries, but I backed into kinda hard, barely clearing the tires under the trailor. I did a dug test, make sure it grabbed. Pull forward and it breaks free. The 5th wheel did not lock because of ice, frozen mud, and gravel clogging up the lock jaws from working properly.

(This was later determined by a mechanic when the 5th wheel was inspected.)

OK..so I pull it forward slowly to try again, and now the trailor falls and drops on the frame of the truck behind the 5th wheel. AHHHH #####!
What happen?? when I was slamming into the trailor, with that weight, the landing gear was pushed back and then dug/sank into the packed snow underneath them when I pulled forward. Now I sit SNAFU'd. So I go to the shop for help. The shop then writes it up as a "DETACHED TRAILOR INCIDENT" I never left the yard!! Airlines were not hooked up!

They claim it was all preventable if I did a proper pretrip like I was taught at the school. I went to my cab of the truck, grabbed my Schnieder Training manual and demand they show me where it states to "test the 5th wheel in a pre-trip. IT DOES NOT!!!! What do you want me to do, lock it open and stick my hand in there to trigger the locking jaws???

No damage to truck, trailor or load....but here's your pink slip!
They then wanted me to clean all my stuff out of the truck,..TV, DVD, CB, food, clothes, tools, all my gear and even a custom mattress and shove me on a Greyhound bus out of Chicago back to Green Bay. SCREW THAT!

 

ziggystyle,

Well Excuse me....feeling that I am new here, I did not feel compelled to boar everyone here with every detail and look like a green newbie who think you know it all. Are trying to lecture me on procedures.

OH WAIT...you messed up too! You failed to mention to check your spacing between the 5th wheel and the apron of the trailor..........YOUR FIRED!!! Whooaaa...for a second I thought you were copying and pasting right out of the Schneider Textbook they give you at the training school, " Called Trucking Book for Dummies"
You think for a second that SNI wrote that....NOT. Most of it was copied from other companies. And before you preach the pre-trip is the "law" with SNI. I want you to sit at one of the big O.C. like Indy or Gary.
Watch how many of those trucks rolling out, never open a hood or do a daily pre-trip the way you are lectured at the school.

My incident was the result of the locking jaws only partially closing.. It was closing only enough to grab the kinkgpin. But once force was applied, it popped out. This was determined by thier OWN shop mechanics.
SNI, safety Director out of Gary, IN said I should have tested the 5th wheel before hook up.
SNI, will use the phrase, " It was preventable" . This is their way of telling you, no matter what happens, no matter what the circumstances, it is and will always be the driver's vault. This is corporate attitude toward its own employees. SNI strongly believes this and stands by it. If get into an accident, regardless of vault Once SNI gets word, they will tranfers $25-30 million into a seperate bank account. this is set aside to pay lawsuits. You are deemed guilty before the ink on the police report is dry. I worked for Frito Lay for a year. You get into an accident, and its not your vault, they have a lawfirm that will fight for the company AND you legally. They

Go to any OC and chat with other drivers, listen to all the complaints and gripes about the company. Now go in the yard and study the trucks conditions. How beat out many look. Banged up panels, patch work with the orange duct tape, broken Antennas, cracked windshield etc etc etc. Lack of pre-trips being done. It all directly reflects back to one word...attitude!! Both company and drivers toward the company.

If your goal is dress up in one of the those kiki SNI company boy scout shirts and sing Yanky Doodle Dandy while rolling down the interstate at 55 mph,...Well knock yourself out.

 

Oh one mre detail my great Pumpkin Worshiper, Another missing procedure steps you fail to mentions when a 5th wheel fails to grab in a dug test is to pull the tractor completely out from under the trailor and re-check everthing. The edge of the trailor only need to clear the pivot point of the 5th wheel before it drops, A view you can NOT see no matter how much you stare at your mirrors. I started pulling out, unknowing that the height of the landing gear was compromised.