Not coming to Schneider at this time.

Chris L. did a great job ruining and tormenting the company drivers. Looks like he's moving on to destroying the IC side, too.

 

17. "Out-of-Service" Status and Trailer Disposition and Acquisition.
Independent Contractor may elect "Out-of-Service" status prior to selecting a Shipment. If Independent Contractor accepts particular freight, any losses incurred by Carrier due to Independent Contractor’s subsequent rejection of that same freight shall be borne by Independent Contractor. Prior to going Out- of-Service, Independent Contractor shall notify Carrier of the date and time that Independent Contractor’s Out-of-Service status shall begin and end and the Independent Contractor’s anticipated next available location.
Upon receiving Independent Contractor’s “Out-of-Service” notification, Carrier shall provide Independent Contractor with a Trailer Disposition Location at which Independent Contractor may drop off Carrier’s Trailer prior to Independent Contractor’s “Out of Service” time. To the extent Independent Contractor drives from the Last Shipment Completion Location (as defined below) to the identified Trailer Disposition Location before going Out-of-Service, Carrier shall provide Independent Contractor payment for such services (Spot Payment), in accordance with Exhibit B. Independent Contractor may, alternatively, elect not to drop the Trailer at the identified Trailer Disposition Location and instead drop the Trailer at the Last Shipment Completion Location; provided however that if Independent Contractor chooses this option, Independent Contractor agrees to return to the Last Shipment Completion Location (or to within 100 miles thereof) upon coming back into service or to pay Carrier the amount set forth in Exhibit B to cover Trailer repositioning costs (Repositioning Fee).
In any situation where Independent Contractor is in possession of Carrier’s Trailer at the completion of a Shipment or has dropped the Trailer at the point designated with the Shipment or as required by the customer, this shall be referenced as the Last Shipment Completion Location. If Independent Contractor’s next-selected Shipment originates from a point more than 100 miles from the from the Last Shipment Completion Location the parties agree that Carrier will experience a cost burden as a result of the Trailer repositioning or availability (as determined by the Carrier) needed to facilitate a Trailer for Independent Contractor’s selected Shipment and, further, that Independent Contractor will, in Carrier’s discretion, share in assuming such cost burden. To provide predictability, and given the uncertainty and variation in the costs which may be incurred in each instance of required Trailer repositioning, Independent Contractor and Carrier agree that the cost of the Repositioning Fee to be charged to Independent Contract shall be that amount set forth in Exhibit B, regardless of the actual cost incurred by Carrier (which may be more or less than the amount set forth in Exhibit B). To avoid paying the Repositioning Fee, Independent Contractor may choose to return to a location within 100 miles of the Last Shipment Completion Location for Trailer acquisition. The above provisions regarding Trailer acquisition and disposition are applicable both when Independent Contractor is in Service and when Independent Contractor goes in and out of Service.

 

There's the entire passage that is causing the biggest issue. The funny thing is in some instances you'll deliver to a spot where there isn't any freight within 100 miles. What happens in that instance, are they going to fine you? Of course not, they leave themselves discretion to determine whether or not a fine is appropriate or not. So again, this is all discretionary and there's no guarantee they'll fine you, but they do leave the door open.

Not only that, but we need to notify them that we're going out of service and basically get approval before we go home LOL. For me this isn't an issue because I just go to the Gary OC. Others that live in rural out of market areas are going to get screwed.

 

This is the reason I only did a one year lease. I had some reservations coming here but did so since the good seemed to outweigh the bad and I've been doing a version of Choice for a few years.

Now I generally take a wait and see attitude and adjust my work habits accordingly but I will say the feeling of being "blown off" or not being answered directly to questions I ask is a bit concerning.

One particular question I had was doing an offload at 3am on a Friday in Dallas then deciding to go home for the weekend outside of Houston....how long should I reasonably wait to be told to either drop my empty to Dallas or bring it to Houston?

I was told to just call in and ask or send a message in. Now what kind of answer is that?? And who's going to be around that can make that decision at that time?? I'm not a dummy I know the answer to that.

 

IC support shift the same crew for VTL?

 

Just drop your trailer at the Dallas or Houston OC and don't even ask the question if they want you to shuttle it somewhere.

 

When I go home (which is rare) here's one of two things I do.
On a drop and hook near my house and I'll send it a message saying I'm taking a couple days off so I won't be picking up an empty and I just bobtail out.
Or if it's a live unload I just bring the MT at the Knoxville drop lot and tell them I dropped it's there and I'm taking time off.
I never had an issue...
There have been times in the Northeast and once in Florida I took time off to visit family and I stayed hooked to a trailer and Schneider never fined me or said anything about it.

Take that as you wish.

This is a J.O.B. after all, at least everybody isn't beaching about not making money here and that's what's most important isn't it?
Today is a happy day for me because I got a good paying load leaving the Northeast!
You did a smart move doing a one lease year, there is a lot of dumb games and stupid "rules" here but we still do generally what we want to do and the money has been well. *Positive thinking*

 

You said you never had an issue. But that was under the old policy.

 

One thing you'll find out soon is Schneider doesn't know their butt from their elbow most of the time.. which can be hurtful obviously and but helpful in some ways.

 

Trust me. That's what will be done. I don't mind playing their game to a point but My definition of reasonable time is 30 minutes and even that is generous.