Schneider lied to me

I went to the Schneider school (Charolotte STA) in June 2007. I had never previously shifted a manual before or rode in a tractor trailer let alone drive one.

Here are my thoughts and some details.

- Training for shifting newbies is TOUGH. The first few days are minly paperwork (including the physical test - "PWS") and simulators but by day 3 you will be in that truck in a nearby industrial park. You will start off bob tailing and will be with other students in the truck taking turns. There IS other traffic around you but it is very light.

-If after your first day behind the truck you are doing well, you will move to a trailer and go out in the same industrial park at first. At this point the instructor may have you also go into town or at least drive back to the STA from the Industrial complex.

-Day 3 of being out in the truck usually is where you will definitely be out on the real roads and on the interstate deriving around. Shifting is one of the main things, but you're going to also have to learn basic turns.

-The instructors DO TRY to work with you, but it is tough and it is very easy to fall behind. DO NOT allow that to happen.

-SLEEP gets to be a real problem for some. I don;t know if they do this on purpose or what in order to see if you can take it.....but there WILL likely be days in traing where you get done at 8:30pm and are expected to be ready for the bus around 6am. Most days you will get back to your hotel around 3p - 5pm though. But remember with tht time you also need to do homework and study the materials!

-I made it all the way through the STA and graduated. I even made it through CDL week. MY problem is come CDL test time, I KNEW I would not be able to pass it and I chickened out as well as decided it wasn' for me (more later)

-If you fail the PWS, you will get sent home on day one. Usually this means you will NOT have to pay anything to SNI.

-If you don;t make good progress or commit a very serious error they will begin to try to get you to go home and come back. One girl was sent home due to shifting problems but the story was that SHE decided that she wanted to go home....NOT SNI forcing her.

-The instructors WILL work with you. Like I said, I was a total newbie. My instructor (at the STA) bent over backwards for me. In fact, I don't think he should have ever graduated me but he did.

-I also decided that trucking just wasn't for me. At least not SNI. I had to go to a special training area along with the others from my state. The trainer was a good guy and great. He taught me a lot and I have no real problems with him. In order to have made it, I would have needed another full week and probably would have done great.

Part of my problem was that two of the previous students from the week before (who failed the CDL test) were also there to "help". Soemtimes they helped honestly but other times myself and the others often felt that they were giving us wrong instructions and it confused us. At one time one of these guys (failed CDL students, not trainers) got in my face because I decided to take a break and get some water (it was really hot - like 95 degrees).

Btw, one of these students who were "helping out" failed his CDL test because he pinned a car underneath his trailer during the state examination with the state official!

I honestly feel that the presence of the other failed students kind of hurt me because I got confused. Also it meant less road time for us because these two were there. HOWEVER in the end it was my fault for NOT saying something about it to the instructor down there who probably would have accomodated me. I was just too chicken ####.

My point to anyone considering SNI's training - they WILL work with you if you have shifting problems.... BUT BE PREPARED to work your ### off and you ought to be trying to study shifting RIGHT NOW even before you get to the school. If you have a questiona bout anything or feel you need help SPEAK THE HELL UP MAN! If you don't you'll pay....!!


--- I am not in trucking anymore. I have a home business where I work over the computer now. It is a little less money, but found that I am a "Home boy" and I just love home too much. But I stillr ead this forum because I respect trucking and heck -- ya never know -- I might just decide to ge tback on that saddle again someday!

If anyone has any questions about my experiences at SNI in training (because they think it might help them) feel free to PM me and I will try to assist if I can when I see it. People ought to help one another and I try to practice what I preach!

 

u signed a contract. next time make a contract work for u. report em to ripp offs and better business burea. good luck.

 

I 2nd the suggestion. If someone has any doubts they should probably be looking for a real 8+ week course. SNI teaches the same stuff and sometimes more, but it is compressed into 2 - 3 weeks.

To be honest during that first week I could have easily killed someone. (and you saw what I said above about one of the CDL students the week ahead of me apparently pinning a car under his trailer [no injuries though] during his state CDL examination, didn't ya?] I didn't really know what I was doing. And the instructor will tell you that you MUST listen to their instructions and execute them or else you can hurt someone. It is very true. In retrospect htose sims should probably be getting used a hwole lot more during that first week in my opinion!

I did learn A LOT from SNI STA though. If you put me behind a truck, could probably hack it if I had to. But I don't want to hack it, I want to KNOW IT and DO IT. SNI school is better than many of the diploma mills out there -- we had one guy who came in with his CDL.... he knew how to back but he couldn't make turns or shift to save his life! Another didn;t know how to log at all! I spent hours helping him so that he'd pass his logging exam.

Also - hint for nyone who will be getting their CDL before goign to SNI: Study up on your logging and make sure it is perfect. We had a vet driver who was actually a SNI trainer in the past get forced to take the whole 14 day course all over because he messed up a bit on logging. Study up.

 

In defense of Schneider, my husband in law (my ex's now ex-hubby) attended their trucking driving school and worked for them over ten years.

I never heard him complain of being ripped off or of Schneider ripping anyone off.

As far I as I know, he's still there but I lost touch with him about 2003 when my ex became his ex.

Schneider may be lots of things but I've never heard anyone outside this website (or the I'net) claim they are crooks or rip people off.

 

Well I for one say if the Lawer will take the case and gets his money ONLY if he wins then you may get lucky because sometimes Companys will settle instead of fighting in court.But dont pay a Lawer up front because then he has made money.

 

I work for sni as an ic now but did go through traing school with them in jan of 04 i will have to agree with some of the other posters that somethings fishy about the four day and we dont want you anymore story. we had several "stickshift newbies" in our class and they all got the help they needed to get going. we also had one student who had drove a dump truck with a 9 speed tranny for 15 yrs. this student took longer than anyone in the class to be able to get the shift pattern. it was end of week two that he got it. the only people who got "kicked out were three folks that had lied on thier application and thier past driving record cought up with them. (oh and one cry-baby that said he didnt think he would have to drive in the rain) something else is going on with the situation in the original post but ill bet he'll never tell the whole story.

and just so that you folks dont think that i bleed orange i am looking for another comp. but just sticking it out for the right decision. i do know that sni will doctor the dacs but i also know that if you go through thier school and work that year(granted you might have to bite your toungue during that year) with a clean record almost any company out there will take you. sni does have a short school but they will help anyone who is will ing to help thierselves(in school) i have been by the academies plenty of times since i have been with the company and hear joe blow blowing off steam about how he isnt getting something in the training and then step 5 feet away and hear others talking about how joe was being stuck up or causing problems in class because he refuses to listen.

moral of the story is you have to study any company or college,talk to others,and look at all aspects and decide for yourself is this learning style going to fit me or not. just my two cents and i guess i owe yall a nickel for running long

 

I believe I have actually been to this Walmart DC, =way south Illinois and there is #### near nothing around it except a small town.

Goto the guard shack and tell them you want to drive for Walmart or Schneider. It's fairly rare to have a Schneider facility at a Walmart DC but there are a few (at one time there were more). They actually will have Schneider staff in the office = the dispatchers for that account are in there = much better than talking to a recruiter that won't know anything.

Since you are from the area, that is what they are looking for = not too far to drive to get to work/home.

 

there is something that doesnt sound right. schneider is a company that is really big on "training" and for them to send you home in just 4days dont sound right. i could understand getting sent home for failing the physical and that only takes 1day. most people that i heard of going to "snl" never drove or shift gears before and they made it through because of "snl" training and "snl" knows that most of the trainees that come to "snl" for there training cant drive a " lick " and thats why they call it training. 4days cant determine if you can operate a t/t or not ( a couple of weeks maybe???) there got to be more to your story?????

 

That's what they told me too, but I told them I wasn't quitting, and made it.
2nd, they gave me crap loads, which led me to bankruptcy, which by the way you can claim them in a bankruptcy, regardless of the form your read or signed, talk to a lawyer. good luck

 

Yea, I'm not buying the not learning to shift quick enough excuse either.

I'm sure if you get in your avg pumpkin truck and start using that sloppy wore out shifter, you will see that shifting excellence is just not that high a priority at the big pumpkin.