Just got my cdl from the green bay schneider acadamy!

Ok, I want to know how things are going?
Are they paying you what they said they would, are you getting miles, are you getting the home time they said they'd give?
Do you have to wear uniforms?
What is the truck governed at and what's their detention/breakdown/layover pay?
What's the rider/pet policy?
How long were you out with a driver trainer?
Overall, any complaints? Come on, be honest.

 

How does it work if you have to have a laptop? Does Schneider care if you have a laptop on all the time? Seems like a big hassle, I dunno.

 

Can't really speak for them...but I will try to answer your questions
*mileage and pay - you get whatever CPM they hire you at, but mileage can vary greatly. Stuff is slowing down about this time I think and there are less miles available. Plus, your board or DBL might not have the best mileage stuff for you either.
*Uniforms - Ive heard different things, but the vast majority is no...just wear non skid shoes / boots, jeans...etc. ie...wear work clothes.
*Trucks are goverened depending on what you run. Teams and dedicated are set at 67, and solos are at 65.
*they do have various pays for detention and such...not sure what it is.
*riders allowed after six months...have to be a certain age and get approval from your DBL. No pets.
*if you go through the training, you can be on the road up to 2 weeks...I was out four days.

 

IS co-pilot text only
or text to speech as well ?

 

I can't remember if you said this or not, but how many people started in your class and how many ended up graduating? How many were "escorted" out instead of just getting pissed and leaving? And do they force you into per diem pay? They say it's optional but on here I heard they automatically enroll you in it and you have to take it during training and possibly into the end of the quarter.

 

Dedicated is set at 67. Mine is set at "What the...Im passing a team? heck yeah!"

Also, regarding new equipment, Schneider is starting to hold off on buying new tractors because of the reliability issues with the 07 engines. They aren't planning on getting anything at least until mid 08. I also don't see them buying a a bunch of 08 models with the older engines either as they dont want trucks to be sitting around collecting dust.

Also, being out with a trainer...just depends on how long they want you out there. I was with mine four days. Uh...4 days? Of those, I drove an average of 3 hours a day.

Teaming is just an option. I would never in my wildest dreams chose it just to make money as that is the dumbest reason by far to go for it. ie...they are on the road all the time. In what I do...Im making a bit less, but Im home daily, on the weekends, I don't drive as much...etc. That time with family is worth far more than being on the road almost all the time and such. Plus, I actually get to LIVE at my house, lol.

 

I graduated with Crystal and Chris and can tell you about solo driving at SNI. As a solo you will get older equipment, being phase 1 level 1 I got me a nice ole 2002 with 470000 on it already, it had been sat in indianapolis for quite a time I think, but it was well detailed and fully worked on, not a bad truck, looks like someone had a whoopsie in it tho because the light fairings are cracked on both sides and it has a replacement front fender. Freakin noobs! LOL

Cruise for solo is set at 63mph but she will give you 65 foot to the floor. Now the truck will tell you 67mph flat out, but the odometer in my truck is 2mph off. you also get smaller diesel tanks than teams, mine are 2 x 100gal tanks good for about 1K miles.

As a solo I have been to Canada a lot, but thats not that bad, only into Ontario and the roads there are pretty nice, michigan roads on the way in suck tho. I run a lot in the east, mostly they keep you out in the rural areas for p/u and delivery in most states, I have been to chicago and Newark NJ a couple of times, this can get interesting. Especially as a new driver.

As a new solo you will get the smaller things to do at times, like pickup relays that guys left at an OC on their way to time at home. Some of them are only a couple of hundred miles, but are 99% of the time just a drop so no messing around, then you drop that and get a real load in the same day.
Loads for me vary in distance, most are in the 600 to 750 mile range, some have been 1200 and some only 200, so it varies.

At the end of the day, if you are willing to run hard and you tell them that with your availability messages they will keep you loaded all the time. Its rare that I even have to sit an hour to get my next load info from the time I drop the last load. The weekends is when it is a little more relaxed, you get say a 1100 mile load on friday morning that has a mon morning drop, so if you plan in these you can make time for laundry etc, I stay out 2 - 3 weeks at a time so things like that need to be in there.

pretty much its what you make of it, if you take the full time allowed on each load you wont make any money, but if you are arriving a day earlier, call your DBL and ask them to call the consignee to see if you can deliver early, 9 out of 10 times its a yes and you move to the next load, no sitting around.

well enough yappin from me, but if anyone has any questions about solo driving I would be happy to tell ya all about it sometime, be back on here around christmas

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS!


~DAN~

 

Id say double check your speed with a gps. I too was told my speed was showing 2mph faster than what she was actually doing...but we checked and, we were going the speed indicated on the speedometer, lol.

As far as the tanks....I never heard of teams getting larger tanks...because they just get the newer tractors, then when they are done with them, they are then put into circulation with the solos.

Anywho...teams arent the only ones running with new tractors. Dedicated accounts are on even tighter ships as far as time constraints so they have newer trucks as well. Mine is a 06 with less than 200k on it.