Landstar vs Schneider Choice ( Comparison )

Those are actual SNI loads live from the loadboard just today. I just crudely put them together for you to give you an idea. There were about 200 loads within 100 mile radius of paducah

 

I have not worked for LS but I have talked to drivers from LS and they were kind enough to show me how their load boards operate...

Ill put it to you this way...

LS has approximately 1/3 as many trailers as SNI..
SNI has company drivers that also share in your loads tho..
SNI gives you good rates and ###### rates depending mostly on whether or not they happen to have enough company drivers in that area to cover freight or not.

LS brokers their own freight and so don't really have to share your freight with anyone but nonetheless they still want to make a profit so like alot of guys say
that if you get to know a broker whoopity doo you're set and if not then keep running like a dog till you find one.

With SNI you don't know the brokers and they don't know you so thus there is no room for favoritism. You have a loadboard from which you can choose freight
many loads at a time and SNI does promise 75% drop and hooks. I found that works great when running Elogs but sometimes can be a pain if there are no empties available and you have to go around finding one but typically thats not an issue since if it is more than 25 miles out of route either way then SNI will pay you 1.30 cpm to retrieve an empty.

SNI has a huge network of operating centers which not only cover large places to park but also restaurants, gym rooms, small convenience type stores, clean showers, a company vehicle you can use to go out and shop if need be as well as fuel facilities. They have about 17 of these nationwide. To me that really helps alot as you always have a place to rest your head and be around help if needed.

Landstar is more like a bunch of independent brokers come together in order to compete better but i've never heard of such driver amenities from them but I may be wrong.

As for rates.. with SNI they are clear with their rates.. they tell you what you are getting after your 65% clearly without you having to do the math in your head.
They do charge you 500 dollars if you cancel a load.. but only if you do so after the time you are to pick it up and even then they can be pretty lenient from case to case.

They also will pay for any truck repairs and give you an interest free loan which they will take back from your pay a little at a time in case of emergency repairs.
The load market can be ridiculously huge. I mean there are times when I look at the loads and there are always good loads.

Just remember that they have like 7 regions and loads within any region usually pay the highest. Leaving from region to region you can find good paying loads but most of the times they are so so. Main reason is each region has a manager and each manager discourages trailers leaving their regions so they will make it unprofitable for you to do so. I don't mind hell who wants to go far away from home if you can still make good money near home?

as for Elogs well.. i have heard of guys qualcomms going down for weeks or even months and the company doesn't force you to go in and repair it but say whenever you can get to an Operating Center then do so. Meantime Guys are sending in paper logs with their paperwork for those days when you just want to run hard

i think the only thing different with LS is that you can put in a rate which you would like to get paid and they may or may not move it but with SNI its pretty much set and they don't change rates.

I know that with SNI they make your running your truck as easy as possible and you pretty much do your own dispatching and all that. They will tell you the best times to get on the loadboard to find the largest number of loads and if you follow that you will do good but if you only find time to dig for loads say in the late afternoon or late at night then you can't really blame anyone for not finding the best loads... best times are 9 am to 2 pm cst.

 

Here's a plain and simple review of my exp at Landstar. I've been here just over one year, love it, wouldn't go anywhere else.

My net earnings for the first 6 months avg about $2000 a week give or take a few hundred. THEN I found a good niche here where I take my time, stroll roll out about 1500mi to 3700mi on one load doing the unloading myself but am earning NET about $xxxx-$xxxx+ of each load. This is van freight which the special crane inside. It's hard work, but so is working an extra 1.5 weeks driving an extra 2500-3500 mi putting wear and tear on your truck to make a similar pay. But hey, some people like it "easy".

here at Landstar you gotta stay safe, and take control of YOUR business. Some people think that business is supposed to be easy and sweet, and those are the people that usually fail. I'm naturally a people person, and with real business, in the real world you HAVE to have people skills, be able to negotiate, be able to do quick math and exercise a lot of common sense. It is what it is.

Hope this helps.

 

2000 a week isnt great if youre unloading yourself and all that in top of it. Plus unloading yourself carries alot of risks of not only damaging freight and having to pay out but also of hurting yourself.

i know guys paying 1100 a week for new truck lease plus all the goodies and doing no more than 2500 a week while still going home with 16 to 1800 a week net.

And as I said before if you find a good broker lucky you but if not then you are sol.

SNI has a very and simple way of coming into the company so if all else fails try it out and if it doesnt work go to landstar. Personally im a hard worker but if I can work easy and still make good money then why not?

i met a lanstar driver out of kentucky last year who said he didnt like driving california due to having a non compliant truck... When I told him that i was making about 1800 take home as a company driver.. He said I was doing better than he had been doing running regional but that he did it to be close to home.