My Journey With Schneider

So today marks the day were I can officially say Day 1

Woke up at 3 a.m and sort of just waited in the dark till 5:30. Was a little nervous so didn't eat the complimentary breakfast the hotel offers. Was pleasantly surprised to find a friend who took the same course to get our CDL with at the hotel! We talked a bit and he drove me over to the terminal and told me some re assuring tips. Found out the Schneider facility in Gary, Indiana has mostly Automatics, and that's what we were going to be training on for the next couple of days. Finally finding out what I was going to be driving on was a relief and a load off my mind.

Class started around 6:30 and we were met with a 10 question exam upon sitting down. It was surprising and I started thinking of things they could ask, but upon starting it, realized that it was mostly a reading comprehension exam. You read a passage and then answer a question that has everything in the passage. We were told we were only allowed being late 2 times because "If you can't show up to class, you might also be late delivering loads". We then did our urine and hair follicle drug test, and our physical. Surprisingly we didn't have to do a fitness test which I read we were going to take, that consisted of a step test, lifting test, an agility test in which they monitored our heart rate / blood pressure. So that was another relief.

A majority of the day was paperwork, i-9 forms, Schneider policies and PowerPoints. Some Computer work that was just more Schneider policies and hitting ' I agree' after reading it. At 12 we were given vouchers for a meal at the terminal's kitchen. And then it was back to class for more PowerPoints. A lot of it was review of the HoS rules, how to fill out log books manually, how to work an automatic, the collision mitigation systems that are placed in the trucks, and were then given some 40 question packet of homework that's like the exam in the beginning, mostly reading comprehension. We ended the day with being told some of the stuff that we were going to do tomorrow and how everything we receive, we can use on every test, including the 'final' and also how before we do any maneuver, we will be given a demonstration by the road instructor how to do it. Everyone was kind and welcoming and said that as long as we make an active effort to learn, they'll make an active effort to teach us, which makes sense, no one wants to waste time and money on training an employee only for them to fail, right? Still get emotional thinking about home, but it's definitely a better way for me to help my parents & save up.