Questions about Schneider trianing.

You say your husband is thinking of team driving now....who is going to be his team partner? Surely he is not thinking of going over the road and making the commitment of driving team with someone he does not know. Team driving can be a strain on people that know each other well and for along time, little lone two people that have entirely different habits, views, work ethics, etc, etc. I think I would rethunk that one again. Just my advice and keep in mind I am a guy just getting ready to apply. But you are talking alot of hours in a very tight spot that can get even tighter if you are not getting along with someone else.

 

Please reconsider. I had a comm chaufers license yrs. ago and drove a semi in the 80's. I had to get a cdl because I hadn't driven since the 80's. Anyway, I went to Schneider in Dallas.It was rediculous. The class was about 80 people . 4 people in a trk plus instructor. They do a lot of talking and preaching on safety. You have very little practice in a trk. The first day there we were driving in down town Dallas. How safe is that? anyway,It's mainly paperwork and stupid tests. Afterwords you are to go out on the road with a trainer for 2 wks. They didn't have one for me . being a female, no otr trainers available. so, i went to la. to drive a day cab with a regional driver. I spent 3 wks there and told the so called trainer to find a place so I could practice backing. He found a empty truck stop where I practiced . Schneider doesn't teach you to back! Their moto don't back up unless you have to! rediculous! Backing is an essential part of trucking. If you can't back up you may as well forget driving a truck. What good is it if you drive to the shippers and can't back to the dock? Anyway,after that was over , I worked with them for about 3 months.I teamed with a woman in my area because they said there would be a 1000.00 bonus if you teamed for 3 months. Little did I know that the woman went thru 2 over the road trainers and flunked cdl 3 times. She hit many things including a owner operators trk IN THE SCHNEIDER YARD! I had a broken disc . in my neck from all the accidents. Schneider told me to go to consentra to get checked out concentra told me not to drive so, she drove us home . When I got to dr. they said it was broken disc. blah, blah, anyway filed workers comp and schneider fired me . But, i would say during that short time driving for them that 80 percent of their trailers had flat tires, the trucks were over a million miles . one even had head light hanging on with chicken wire. and steer tires almost bald. when confronted with these safety issues they had excuses and didn't do anything about it. You would think with all the preaching about safety, they would make their trucks safe to drive! But, safety only applies to you... the driver. Also beware..you sign a paper when you start going to their so called school that if you quit or/and if they throw you out you have pay them anyway!! about 6,000.00 . I have a friend , who I was bunked with in the motel schneider put us up in , that was thrown out of .school she didn't get a long with trainer . She still gets notices from schneider and it was put on her credit report. She went to a private school afterwards (got a grant) that told her to forget everything schneider told her! She is in PA. today on a run driving with a local company and driving a new KW. So think hard and long , consider a private school . they will give you a grant if qualified. Or you maybe tied up with schneider one way or another for a long time.

 

Hope all that helps. Just remember, no matter where you go, expect abuse for the first year... Try and stick it out, it will help getting a better job later if you decide not to stay there. Nobody in the trucking industry likes job-hoppers any better than the normal jobs.

 

Sensationalist crap. If Schneider didn't teach you to back, you'd have never gotten a CDL. You had the power to change instructors if you did not like the one you had. And to be blunt, if you want a small class it's simple: Don't go to Dallas, and don't go in the summer.

Dallas has a crappy school because it services the drivers from all of the following states. TX, AR, MO, ND, SD, MT, WY, CO, NM, MS, LA, and probably more! It is the only school they have between the mississippi river and Fontana, CA, just outside of Los Angeles. Portland has one if you're from the NW.

Basically, starting out in the fall, from the area he's in... He shouldn't have any trouble.

As for the trucks, you are absolutely lying!! Over a million?? Were you in a cab-over? My first truck got forcibly taken from me with 650k, I wanted to keep driving it, because it was a good strong truck. They trade them in before it ever gets to 700k, the ONLY exception is the 3 or 4 cabovers they still have for downtown Chicago. Of those, I think 3 are O/O trucks.

As for the teaming accidents.. I would never put my life into the hands of another truck driver. Even the most experienced driver can mess up and get you killed right long with them. Sorry, but that's why teaming just isn't worth the money.

Your experience is FAR FROM NORMAL, and Dallas sucks anyway.

 

I guess you didn't read that I practiced in an closed down trk stop and that I had experience in the 1980's ! I don't know what the trainers teach you in 2 weeks over the road because like I said they didn't have one for me. Regardless, 2 weeks of driving does not make you a truck driver. It might just get you enough experience to pass a cdl test that's about it. I had driven before so it wasn't that big of a deal . All I'm saying is I would go to a private state run truck driving school where you aren't commited to drive for that comany for the next yr. or so.

 

ANy ideas on what their physical is like? Im a hefty guy and Im not sure how big of a factor that is going to play.

Thanks

 

Hi ziggy. I just had a physical for Roehl Transport. I am a big guy and the only problem I had was my blood pressure is a little high. I got a certification for 1 year instead of 2 years. I think the actual dot physical is the same for all companies. I have looked at Schneider's web site and they do a Pre-Work Screen. It is several activities similar to what you need to do to drive a truck. Check out their web site for more information.I hope this helps.

 

Raven, thanks for that. I missed that and looked at the site again along with watching a video and it doesnt look too bad...Im fairly confident I can do everything they listed. However, is that pre-work screen different from the DOT physical? My main concern is balance.

 

Go to the schneider website. Under the Inexperience Driver > Training link there is a video on the physical test. Looks easy to me, simple stuff done indoors to show that you can crouch, lift a small amount of weight, get into the cab and trailer of your truck etc...really doesn't look like it's too challenging even if your not in good physical shape.

 

My school told us the same thing on the first day, that if you have never driven a manual transmission you have an advantage. However, I couldn't disagree more with this statement, I think it's more of a confidence builder than anything. There were four people in my class that had no concept of how to work a manual transmission and they were held over while the rest of us graduated. If you at least have the concept of how to work a clutch and shift a manual transmission you will at least understand how a shift pattern and clutch work. I do agree that double clutching is much different than a 4-wheeler manual shift but disagree with anyone that says if you've never driven a manual you are ahead of the game. It's just not true, you will have a bigger learning curve than the others but that's not saying you won't pick it up quickly. Just from my observations the ones that never drove one took a bit longer to pick it up than the others.