I know I know, more questions about the Schneider and the Choice board.

I am in the buyout portion of my lease with Roehl Transport and have been looking at either Landstar, or Schneider as my next step. I have a phone interview set up for Monday and I need to know about all the nasty surprises that recruiters either like to gloss over, or not bring up.

For instance, can you edit your logs? I'm not talking about anything illegal, I'm a paper based person and my mind works that you do the work such as pretrips and then do the paperwork to reflect what you just did.

When they give you what the load pays are they quoting what the truck receives, or is it a percentage of the amount quoted? By the way, I understand the fuel surcharge is part of the rate quote.

What about repowering a load if you break down?

I have read that there is a trailer rental fee to take a trailer home, what are the details?

I just did my physical to the tune of $150, are they going to accept it?

I assume the standard dot drug test and I have heard Schneider does the hair test on their own, do they do it, or do I get it done myself.

In short what do you wish you had known ahead of time?

As I write this I am sitting in Souix City IA and being told there are only two loads available. One I can't legally do and the other puts me in an even worse freight area. They will gladly relay either load for a $30.00 fee, of course they didn't ask if I wanted to come here to begin with, but that is another story entirely. Being able to actually see the load board is what I have spent almost 4 years working towards. This is not a very good way to convince me I don't want to make a move and I know of 2 Roehl drivers who just made the switch.

 

Here's a couple more to compare:

Farm2Fleet
Paramount Freight Systems

 

For instance, can you edit your logs? I'm not talking about anything illegal, I'm a paper based person and my mind works that you do the work such as pretrips and then do the paperwork to reflect what you just did.

Yes, you can edit your logs but not the drive line, that is recorded automatically and cannot be altered by you.

When they give you what the load pays are they quoting what the truck receives, or is it a percentage of the amount quoted? By the way, I understand the fuel surcharge is part of the rate quote.

The quote you see on the load board is what the truck receives, which is 65% of what Schneider receives.

What about repowering a load if you break down?

$400 fee

I have read that there is a trailer rental fee to take a trailer home, what are the details?

48 hours for free, $50 a day after that.

I just did my physical to the tune of $150, are they going to accept it?

I think so, recruiter will know.

I assume the standard dot drug test and I have heard Schneider does the hair test on their own, do they do it, or do I get it done myself.

Not sure.

In short what do you wish you had known ahead of time?

I assume you have read mine, dfo, chknwing, atruckr, and other's threads on here? Lots of good info in those.

Please consider using one of us as a referral if you feel we helped you.

Good luck and if you have any more questions fire away.

 

Etch is going to get credit for being a referral. He is an ex Roehl driver and has been bugging me to switch since the beginning. It is hard making a switch. I have been with Roehl for almost 6 years, but the time is coming to go forward. I have accomplished everything at Roehl I set out to do, now it may be time to seek 3rd party lending and move sooner. I have a couple of physical issues that I may need to take care of as well, but that depends on how Schneider handles things. Before everyone gets freaky I'm talking about things like I barely passed the eye exam on my physical which means I need glasses before my license expires in January.

 

It is difficult making a switch like this.. but you got a bunch of us here being successful on SNI choice as a testimonial. Pretty much most of us like it, I think... Know I do. Plus you know Etch so he should be able to help out. He has a lot of knowledge as IC with SNI. Etch and I don't agree on a lot of things when it comes to running our trucks but we both seem to be making out just fine.

SNI took care of scheduling and paid for my drug screening. Don't see why it would be any different now but as Sadwar said the recruiter let ya know. Also I already had my physical and they accepted those documents but still give you their own pre-work screen to be sure you can bend, climb under a trailer, lift a bag over your head, check blood pressure and those kind of things.

Good luck and Congrats on your decision to make a change!

 

We had to take a dot physical onsite at Green Bay, but the IC's didn't have to take a prework screen. I did my hair and urine test a couple of weeks before coming up, paid by Schneider. Also now they have a promotion going on in May that you get an additional 2 weeks of no truck payments that you can use whenever you like, vacation, breakdown, etc or you can bank it till the end of the lease. Come on up, the water's fine LOL.

 

I am in a situation right now that is a huge motivating factor for moving to a system that allows me to select my own freight. Last Saturday dispatch sends me a load that I turn down because I didn't have the hours to deliver on time. After much back and forth with a dispatcher trying to run my truck they change the eta to what I can do. The next day they order me to relay and trade with another driver. I didn't get a choice of accepting, or rejecting his load. The result is that I am in Sioux City IA. They offered 2 loads, the first I didn't even have close to enough hours to do and the second was also unworkable. Of course they could relay them if I was willing to pay Roehl $30 as a relay fee. The question isn't will I make a move. The question has two parts, when and where.

Whatever decision I make it will be to a system that allows me to see the board and make my own decisions. Schneider is looking like my first choice since their system is the simplest to use and I can become a fleet owner in time. I understand additional trucks will be on mileage pay and under a dispatcher, but that isn't all bad since I'm also looking to build something for my family if anything ever happened to me. Besides, someday I might want to retire.

 

Preacher Man what is this wisdom of retiring you speak of? LOL I cast my vote for you coming to SNI but as any other time my vote doesn't count. Seriously SNI isn't a bad company and here you definitely get to choose your freight and home time.

 

One thing about relays. If you initiate the relay, breakdown, you don't like the load anymore, whatever, it will cost you $400. If schneider tells you to relay for some reason, customer service messed up the appointment,sent you to the wrong part of the country, whatever,it cost you nothing.

 

When i started, my DBL told me break down pay is case by case. Your Dbl can wave the break down fee.