Picking my own freight baby! My journey to & of being on Schneider choice, the Adventure & Numbers!

Ya i wouldn't believe that either. However i do believe they will put the best freight on any available company trucks before it hits the contractor board.

 

I make that hauling tanks, with full benefits. My god, I couldn't imagine going through all that extra stress and liability for the same amount of money. I hope you give SNI a try. At least you can choose to make that amount, or you can choose to make more. The ball is in your court

 

It's quoted within the price on the board. It gives the drivers the feeling that they are running for higher rates than other companies. You can click on the rate info tab on loads to get a true breakdown of the rates.

 

I never believed this until I physically compared loads with another driver down in Laredo. He was trying to get to Florida. I had multiple Florida loads showing on my phone, he had none. We refreshed the screens to double check, and they simply didn't show up for him. Kind of gave me an uneasy feeling to see that happening.

 

So I got the call for an interview. I haven't returned the call yet. I have a couple of quick questions if anybody would be so kind as to answer them.

What is your average IFTA cost per month? Where I'm currently at everything is paid except fuel, federal, and state taxes (of course out of warranty maintenance and repair but they will front you those costs if your maintenance account falls short). All tolls, IFTA, and any other taxes I don't know about are taken care of by the company.

I'm curious as to how you are able to manage your home time with your large weekly truck payments. Here I can easily take 7 days off without breaking a sweat. I can do it every 2 or 3 weeks even.

Schneider finance says they aren't selling trucks, just leasing them. What does this mean exactly for eventual ownership. I've heard something about a balloon payment and the end of the lease term. Will Schneider finance finance this balloon payment? I think that's what I read earlier in the thread but I'm just curious if it's the same currently. Where I'm at it's about a 5 year lease, with a dollar buyout. I have a 700,000 mile warranty, so my truck should be about paid off within that time.

If I'm trading a low stress gig for a super high stress gig, I'd be a little bit hesitant, especially if the attainable payout isn't much greater after having to pay all the expenses I'm currently not responsible for in leasing my current truck.

Ideally, this load board thing sounds excellent, but I truly imagine it's not as ideal as it sounds. Be that as it may, I'm still considering it. Thanks for any feedback.

 

Your gut is telling you something man. Follow your gut. Not much help I know, but it is generally a good rule of thumb.

 

My gut is screaming at me, but I have so many things that effect my 'gut' that I wouldn't know how to filter out what my gut is telling me about this one decision. This is why I'm trying to get as much detail as possible. Also, I want a better APU and an inverter. Getting the truck through Schneider Finance, I would be able to get a tripac apu and an inverter that's not dependent on said apu...not to mention maybe a bunk heater. Also, there's the option of taking the truck elsewhere if I can't stand the cut throat load board at Schneider.

Knowing me, if I go with my gut right at this second, I'll stay where I am. Admittedly, I can't stand reefer and the TON of sitting. But, at least there's very little variability in both miles and per mile pay. I struggle hard with change every single time I contemplate it. It's no different this time.

Thanks for your feedback.

 

If what you say about your current situation is true in my opinion coming to SNI will be a let down.

The micro managing as well as the games played on the load board and the company driver policies bestowed upon us IC or as they're calling us now BO ( business owners) is just the beginning of the non sense we deal with.

Yes I'm here been here a long time but if I were looking to come here today. I seriously doubt I would.

And you wait for reefer loads, we wait for dry van loads sometimes. And our detention starts at 6 hours after appt time.

 

The wait I mean is sometimes 18 to 24 hours..and sometimes it's the way I'm dispatched that causes the wait. For example, last week, I had a 3 stopper, two of which were very close together. They took up most of the day, but I had my 10 done by the time I was finished. I was ready to roll. They dispatched me on a pick up for the next night, 1900. It was 3 hours away. I deadheaded there and waited all day. My appointment time came and went and I still didn't have a door. I got out of there at 0100 the next day. I ended up sitting almost 36 hours with ZERO compensation for my time. It's things like this that attract me to dispatching myself. Personally, I like to run hard, hit my 70, reset, and do it again. That's my preferred method of running.

Still, I'll probably stay where I'm at simply because "the devil you know", etc.

I do appreciate your candor and thanks for the feedback.