Schneider National Carriers - Green Bay, Wi.

in a discussion about the company overview yesterday in orientation, the instructor said that Schneider has been historically about 20% experienced drivers and 80% trainees, recent grads or newer drivers. The company is just begining a specific attempt to turn those numbers around and so they are targeting experienced drivers in recruiting.
They still see an on-going industry wide driver shortage however, and are not implementing any type of freeze on hiring.

 

I got the same e-mail yesterday

 

Okay, here is the straight dope on SNI and their hiring freeze. I run for them now in the Choice Program for O/O's. Reason I called Green Bay was because an inexperienced friend of mine wanted school and word on the no-trainee thing has gotten around..... obviously.

They are, according to who I talked with, not hiring anymore trainees than they have in classrooms already for the national accounts.... at least for now. That said, they are still hiring for dedicated accounts and certain other divisions. Also, and I quote, "SNI is trying to switch the company over to be a more O/O based and experienced driver based company".

That's about all I know of the situation.

 

This makes a ton of sense when you think about it. Companies spend millions upon millions of dollars a year training their drivers and all each year. The cost associated with the less experienced drivers in the long run is higher than just having experienced drivers.

 

There is no "on going" driver shortage. There is, however, a shortage of drivers that want to work for a company that does not pay them properly, provides less than ideal benefits, and has them work for free at times. Until this changes, SNI and others will still see this as a driver shortage. You can even include drivers turnover into this equasion. The numbers will continue to rise until drivers figure this out and actually do something about it.

I still doubt it though.

Drive safe

 

Interesting. Can you please provide the source to this information other than "I made it up because it makes sense to me"

 

Has anyone heard of them buying another yard in NW Ohio?

 

While I understand a lot of drivers feel this way, the facts do not support it and your claims are actually contrary to reporting by industry professionals for the past 25 years.
Furthermore, last year, industry wide, driver turnover averages dropped about 10% down to 116% they did not rise. As you'll see below, Schneider turnover is HALF the industry average so they must be doing things right despite what you claim.

This is a piece of an article that was written exactly a year ago - it is not from Schneider, it is not from the trucking industry, it is from Gerson Lehrman Group (they are an organization that manages industry experts from all fields (energy, real estate, research, etc) for consultation with financial institutions :

"The people / philosophy is one of the reasons for their turnover numbers being half their counterparts and another reason is money. Schneider numbers are not well published, but here are some actual ones. The real key to driver pay is miles. Miles keep drivers busy (and feeling loved) and puts more money “to the house.” While the national truckload utilization close to 120,000 miles per year (2,300 miles per week), Schneider’s actual truckload numbers are close to 151,000 miles per year (2,900 miles per week). THAT IS A FLEET AVERAGE! They are down a bit from last year. Regardless, this puts those hard workers close to $70,000 per year - and able to live in rural America. That is a good 50% over the norm! On the road, the image of driving a “pumpkin truck” has gone from a negative to a positive a good while ago, but they need to get the word out to more - and money talks."

But, as I said, this was written a year ago and the economy I am sure, has changed the numbers to be lower, but the numbers were lowered across the board so Schneider still is head and shoulders above the rest in regard to driver satisfaction, miles, and benefits.

There IS a shortage and it WILL continue, but it is not as simple as you imply. You fail to recognize the huge number of older drivers who are simply retiring out of the business. Also drivers who chose to not participate in an industry that is putting the job and the driver under much greater scrutiny - from drug tests, to GPS monitoring, to fuel solutions, to idling laws, to stricter log book enforcement. What about the number of small company failures and O/Os that have been force out of the market due to the economy? No. Don't confuse turnover with driver shortage. Drivers who are in the seat comprise the turnover figure, people not coming into this career at all comprise the shortage when balanced against those who aren't simply changing trucking jobs, but leaving the road altogether.

 

I agree. The company is getting much more strict with their logbook issues. During winter training, they pointed out how the DOT is requiring companies to be ontop of things, and as such, they are cracking down on drivers. Sure, there are plenty of ways to get around it, but they have various HOS violations and other policies pertaining to logbooks in place so that you get dinged if you get caught. Get so many and you get the boot. They even mentioned how starting in 2009, they are going to be putting Electronic On Board Recorders in their trucks. Should be interesting to see what happens when that rolls around.

 

No, there is know source other than my opinion. It is just like yours, an opinion. However, judging by the posts on this site provided by drivers, I don't think I am too far off base.