New pumpkin driver

Thanks. I am not a recent grad. I was on a dedicated account, and no perdiem. Changed to to OTR, first pay check, there was per diem. I was never even told about it. That is a very large gripe.

 

Here is what I know about per diem.

I too was forced on it for the first 90 days. My only information was all negative and taken mostly from this forum

I went to my accountant/ tax man. I gave him all the information I had from both SNI and Roehl. He ran the numbers and told me to take the per diem, because I already had more in deductions than I could use, and so the extra money was well worth it. I then started getting my checks, which my net was larger than my gross. So in my personal experience, I had a horrible attitude towards per diem which was formed by reading complaints on this board, when in reality it was the best for me and my family, and ultimately my bank account.

I am now on a local job, so it is irrelevant for me, but just wanted to point out that each person should do their own research and find out what is best for them, rather than listening to what is best for others.

Raid3r

 

I understand. If it works for an individual situation, there is no problem with that, but I don't agree with it being forced from any company. If I was younger, I may very well have stayed on it, but at my age, and seeing that I was getting .02/mile less to be on it, then per diem was not justified in my case. I would rather have control of my pay through W-4 manipulation and keeping track of where I stand throughout the year. I am not comfortable with giving the government a free loan just to have a lump sum in one payment in the form of a refund. That is what personal savings is for. Plus I can not justify cutting my pay .02 just to have a "seemingly" larger weekly check.

Please do not misinterpret my post. I am not trying to comment on what you are doing, I am only commenting on my situation. I do have a finance degree and crunched my numbers. I as well am not saying my degree supersedes your CPA's advice for you. It is an individual endeavor.

As well, I crunched numbers based from orientation info at Schneider, not based from comments in this forum. I do read this forum and take posts into consideration on decision-making, but as you probably know by now, if all opinions on here provide decision-making facts, then a decision will never be made.

 

I just want to clarify my post, and give an example of how I calculated mine even with the .02/ mile deduction (although I thought mine was .015/ mile).

If I ran 2000 miles and my non per diem pay was .31 / mile, I should get a gross check of $630.00 and a net of around $500.00. However , some how I was getting checks that if I ran 2000 miles would show a gross check of $400.00 and taking home $700.00 . I was taking home more per mile than I was supposed to get paid. Now in my case, the more miles I ran and accessory pay I got, the gap was not as large. Somewhere, I had posted my gross and net pay here as an example over a several week period, and I will see if I can dig that up. Again, apologies to Jason as we have totally hijacked his thread.

Raid3r

 

Congrats Jason. Be safe and learn SNI's Mac 18 to keep you rolling. Godbless

 

Glad to see someone likes it there. Thats part of the reason I took a dedicated North west lane to avoid the East Coast or as I call it the old World To many people cars crappy tight docks the only time I have to put up with that is in Seattle and parts of Canada.

 

Hi,
New guy here I start school in about 12 days out here in Utah. I have two pre-hires already from Werner & Swift. I have talked to Kay at Schneider just yesterday and she is doing all the back ground stuff so I'm sure I'll have a pre-hire from them shortly. Which is where I'm leaning towards. I have a few apps out there still waiting on. One is Pride which is Utah based. I have a couple of local places I'm gonna hit up to see if they'll hire me out of school. One is BT, my son works there. He is in the parts dept and wash bay and they love the kid so maybe I'll run coal it pays good like $60k+ a year and home every night. But to be honest I don't know if I can do that. I would like to see some country preferably 11 western. Which is what I'm talking with SNI about. so we'll have to see what the next 6 weeks throws my way.

Question for you SNI guys. What is there Pet Policy? anyone done Orientation out of Fontana, Ca or SLC, Ut... After reading Jason's Thread I've got a good feeling about SNI. Swift is ok my buddy runs for them he's been with them 10 yrs, now Werner man I can't seem to get into them...I think a lot of it is the bad rap they get from all the truckers forums.

Well guys thanks again for a great forum and all the answers for the new guy. One thing I never see mentioned and maybe I'm not looking in the right spot but how are new guys excepted out on the road? I'm a 25yr Journeyman Electrician and I have had plenty of apprentices thru the yrs Some I liked, some I couldn't stand, but I never treated them with disrespect we all have to start somewhere and Its our obligation as journeymen to train them and give them good advice. My journeyman was awesome a great mentor and a great electrician. So I was wondering how it would be on the road after training etc...

Well nuff' said

 

Schneider has a no pet policy. Sucks because I wish I could take my dog with me on the road....but good because I wouldn't want a truck that smells like not only the previous driver but his smelly dog too lol

 

LOL thats funny!!! But the policy sucks my healer was trained in a truck He's so good its unreal...actually that might change my whole out look on the company...Its one of those things that I can't wrap my brain around. If they charge a pet deposit and I pay it so be it if one driver doesn't want one then so be it. Thanks for the answer I appreciate it.