Schneider National Carriers - Green Bay, Wi.

This is really an amazing forum. Some people complain that Schneider gives them no hometime, and that they reprimands the drivers for falling short of their 1000 mile a day quota. "Newbie" Schneider drivers also complain that the pushy dispatchers remind them of their 1 year contract that consigns them to a year impossible demands, endless miles and no hometime to speak of. Then there's another forum "the best trucking companies," where drivers appraise this Schneider as being top notch. I guess it's really a case of glass half-empty, or glass half-full.

 

no not half empty or half full more a matter of diff exp with diff companies i work for a company that someone in this forum dogged pretty bad andto be honest i love it

 

It is interesting that companies treat different drivers in different ways. If we were all treated the same we would all work for the same company and it would be considered a monopoly.......

 

i think it already is considered a monopoly

 

From all the research and digesting of them that I have done, I consider them the best training company that a newbie could hook up with, to exchange a period of time for free training. Their pay for newbies, the conditions while training, and the chances for not only meeting the service commitment period, and beyond, are far better than what can be found at all the rest.

Hometime is one of the biggest complaints you will read on them. Those drivers, be they experienced or inexperienced, who make it into one of their dedicated slots, seem to fare better in getting more meaningful hometime.

The one thing that everyone needs to remind themselves when they read negatives on a company, is to look for repetitive instances of the same complaint. One complaint on an issue may or may not be true. Ten? maybe. When you read it over and over though, the likelyhood of the problem being a reality is hard to ignore or overlook.

Schneider is a large company. They probably suffer turnover in their lower level management in higher numbers than what they would probably admit. People who work for trucking companies in offices, trade jobs like drivers do. With some of those trades, comes with their own bad habits.

I know that Schneider's policy is not to hold one's commitment over their head, and I dare say that if this were brought to someone's attention a little higher up the management level, someone's head would roll.

I've never been in that kind of position, but if a dispatcher were to make this kind of statement to me, at the earliest opportunity, I'd be arranging a conference with his or her supervisor, to determine if this is something that he or she is instructed to do, or is condoned by the company.

No one, no matter the circumstance, should have to take that kind of crap, but rather than to walk away from what might be an otherwise agreeable job, go after the one who threatened yours, and in a reasonable and constructive manner.

I wouldn't say that it's never happened, but I seriously doubt that a dispatcher would hang around long, after he or she was exposed for doing it, if a driver will take them to task for having done it.

 

Turbo,I love your patience and understanding. I'm sorry but I had to really think hard on reading why that driver bad mouthed sneider. I never drove for them myself,know some that have and by and far beyond,they,the drivers seem to be more respectable and clean than alot of others out there. Thats certainly a plus for them in my book!

 

No problem at all, and that observation is also one of my own.

I want to expand on something...

I toot Schneider's horn only because I consider them an exception to some of the more important rules, where it concerns newbies, and in the way they generally treat all of their drivers. The sheer size of that company lends to the fact that the experience a person has as a driver is not the same for everyone, but they have demonstrated time and time again, that they are constantly trying to be a better example of how a large company can operate, and still maintain happy drivers.

That aside, they are not a company that everyone would enjoy working for, nor are they known for deceptive recruiting tactics. If a recruiter doesn't think you are a good match for them, or feels that you might not be happy there, they'll tell you that.

Their goal is to sign on people with long term prospects. They interview people for compatibility, attitude, and to sort out those that are serious in their interest in the company. Now, not everyone appreciates that, but I find it refreshing that they do it. It's a heckova lot better than just trying to fill a seat with a warm body, just to have to replace it a few weeks or a few months later, which is the approach of so many companies out here.

I work for a company that literally treats their drivers like kings, and yet, I still have bad weeks. This past week was a nightmare for me. I don't have very much hair on my head these days, and what little I had, I was yanking out by the roots. Trucking is unpredictable even at it's best. Some of the best laid plans can go to heck in a handbasket, and just as quickly.

It's all in how a company responds, when things fall apart, that makes a situation worth getting through. Sometimes you have to gnash your teeth, compromise on some things, and tell yourself that it will all get better, and plunge on through the bad, to overcome the things that drive you mad.

My personal opinion is that if a driver refuses to take the time to work through difficulties that are experienced at Schneider, with all of the opportunities that they provide for drivers to do so, then the chances are that they may not fit in anywhere.

One thing I can honestly say, is that while I have made my fair share of bad decisions in life, I have not walked away from a company, without exhausting all avenues of rectifying problems to a satisfactory conclusion. It really ticks me off, like it does anyone and everyone else, to discover that there are people and companies that do not care to work out things. :smt084 :smt014

 

I gave the Schneider program a shot in January. I felt the whole thing was misrepresented. They prey on people down and out with the promise of a steady job making good money.

My class started with 28 people. Each each day a few people disappeared. It was readily apparent that Schneider "overbooked" the classes knowing in advance that some wouldn't make it, and that there were a lot that Schneider didn't want to make it. By my last day (graduation was on a Friday, I quit on Thursday), we were down 8 or 9.

I felt bad that a lot of these people were down to their last dime. They had put their hopes and dreams in Schneider's hands and then got stuck with a $3000.00 bill, no CDL, and No Job. It seemed predatory to me, and their prey is truly the people least able to defend themselves.

The ultimate insult was when Schneider would tell some poor SOB to go enroll in CDL school and they would considering taking them back into the Program!

I quit with a day left because the lies were starting to surface. After graduation I would not be going home for a "a few days" to recharge. Instead I was going to a tanker yard to Pre-trip tankers. This "detour" would last 5-days. After that I would hit the road with my trainer. That duration was "undefined." All told it appeared I would be gone for about 6-7 weeks before I got home. That is quite a change from 14-days at STA then home for "a few days" to recharge.

The drivers that passed through the SC had pretty much the same gripes as every other trucker I have ever spoken to (dispatchers, pay, not getting home, delays, etc.) But with Schneider the driver also gets the added the added hassle of satisfying the bureacratic needs of a large organization. All in all it wreaks of long term dissatisfaction.

So frankly, I don't know where Schneider fits. For newbies it is trucker boot camp with a high drop out rate. For an experienced driver, the pay isn't all that great - so why drive for them.

One thing I did notice is a lot of "tenured" Schneider employees seem to rise to positions that they probably aren't that qualified for - kind of like the best of a bad lot rising to the top.

This is just my opinion after 13-days STA.

8 months later I paid my own way through CDL school and took a job with a trucking company near my residence.

The only advice I have to newbies - AVOID COMPANY PAID/SPONSORED TRAINING. By hook or crook - do it on your own!

 

All things take time. I agree that it takes much more time than what is comfortable for most people, before a decent and steady paycheck comes rolling in, when training through them or any other carrer, but I don't think that the word "prey" applies to that company. Why? Because they absolutely do not use some of the tactics that are used by some of the others, to drum up warm bodies. They are very up-front with all terms and conditions, and they screen people for incompatibility BEFORE you arrive on their properties.

People who use drugs think they can beat the test. People sometimes have medical issues that prevent them from passing a DOT Physical. People with criminal backgrounds think mistakenly that their past will not be discovered. And the worst thing is, that people will absolutely lie on their applications for employment, and that is something that most all trucking companies who operate responsibly, will not tolerate.

It's not signing on with your normal type of employment, and that's what some people do not understand. The government is serious about who gets behind the wheels of those trucks.

While I have every sympathy for people who are down on their luck, people know right from wrong. When you call Schneider, they will question you like a detective trying to solve a murder case. I know this because I once was interested in them. You know it too. They try their best, to weed out people that will not be sent back home, but they can only do so much, and they are not in the habit of playing games with people's lives.

When people try to beat a drug test, or fail to properly comply with revealing their past as it actually is, it's hard to feel sorry for them. They made the choice that made their situation worse. Working in this industry is not like applying for a factory job. The standards are tough, and getting tougher by the year.

If someone has a medical issue that prevents them from going forward, I do feel for them. I have to carefully monitor my health to remain certified each year.

Some people are in love with the idea of driving a truck, but are not able to do it, or discover it's not as easy as it looks.

So, if the person cannot pass all the minimum qualifications that would allow them to be hired, or doesn't appear to be able to handle the training, what is the company supposed to do?

Why would they even do that? It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

If that happened, and you quit over that issue, apparently you didn't attempt to work out the objection you had with not being able to go home as was offered to you. There had to be some reason for this not coming to pass. How far away were you from home?

I will offer that one of the chief and valid complaints that Schneider does take on the chin, is a lack of home time. When a newbie is in training, hometime is at it's worst with that company. Once you get into the truck in a solo capacity, all gets better.

The goal is to get a newbie into a truck of his own, as soon as possible, so that the fruition of a paycheck, will be in front of the driver to look at also ASAP. I have always advised newbies to be prepared to commit several weeks without expecting to go home. Schneider is no different in that regard.

The job in general, is dissatisfying.

It can be extremely disconcerting to run into drivers that are gabbing about this and that, and to feel that the overwhelming majority of them are displeased. That may only be half true. No week is the same in OTR trucking. There are good weeks and bad weeks.

When drivers congregate, they tell war stories. If the tone turns negative, each driver will attempt to out-do another with their most recent and worst experience. It's true. I've seen this and listened to it for years.

The company I work for has more long term drivers than any other I have been associated with, and yet in that driver's lounge, you'd think we were working for JB Hunt, the way some of those drivers carry on. The thing is, the loudest and the most complaining of the bunch, will ususally have a decade or more in with the company, and while they may raise cain, they are not going anywhere.

Sure, some do drop out. Most do not make muster.

As far as pay in the industry is concerned, it's down across the board. If you knew what drivers used to make two decades ago, you'd flip your lid. I'm working for about half of what I could easily make back then. But compared to what I was netting just a couple of years ago, as an Owner/Operator with me footing the bill for health insurance and such, I'm on track to make about $15,000 more than I made last year, so I'm not doing all that bad.

That may be the case. It wouldn't be unheard of. Trucking companies have as much trouble keeping office staff as they do drivers. It's a high stress environment, trust me. I'll stick to driving, and leave the management to someone else from now on. I left that crap coming up on four years ago, in my rear view mirror.

I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out like you planned.

It's tough for people wanting to get into trucking. I have to say, that if I had to go through what people these days do, I wouldn't have done it. I'd still be wearing a badge and a gun. That was my previous career, many years ago. I still think trucking is better, even though I have no hair left from yanking it out in frustration sometimes.

And you're right. The second avenue you took, IS the best way to go about it. Your options are far better, you're choices are much wider, and you are not beholden to a soul for employment.

But make no mistake. Schneider is the best thing going, for those that cannot afford to pay their way as they go.

 

Any outfit you sign on with for training is gonna be a PITA at times.You think Schneider is bad,why not go on over an sign up with Swift.Then you will have something to whine about.Any career you get into you are gonna have to pay your dues.I have never driven for Schneider,but from the Schneider drivers I talk to out on the road they seem to be satisfied.As has been mentioned here before,your attitude has a lot to do with what kind of a driver you are gonna be.As far as the simulators are concerned I think they are a POS.Swift uses the #### things and swears by them and look at their safety record.