Schneider or Covenant

As a driver that started out at Schneider 17 years ago, I can say it was nice that I did. I spent over 5 years with them. I made good money while there and until I started at Tyson it was great on the Sears account until 2000. The biggest advantage SNI has are the dedicated accounts. Work there long enough and you may get on one and be set. The only reason I left was when they took the drivers in my region off the account. I took a $300 cut in pay and had to run 2 weeks at a time from 4 1/2 days a week on the Sears account. For someone starting out it is a good learning experience.

 

Does that couple of weeks trainer thing apply to new CDL school grads or just experienced drivers

 

That applies to new drivers who have no experience. You do a week orientation in Indy or Dallas or out in the west coast if thats your region, which you get paid 400$ a week to do, starting day one of orientation and continuing until you are in your own truck getting mileage pay (unlike most companies who don't pay a dime for the week orientation). Then you go out with a trainer for a week and they teach you the essentials without wasting your time and get you on your own (sometimes a student may need a second week but its not common from what Ive seen). Experienced drivers don't have to go out with trainer, they just do a 3day orientation (mostly for paperwork like taxes and emergency contacts and pay etc), a physical & fitness test (its very easy, only thing that hangs some people up is super high blood preasure) with a quick 20 or 30 minute road test to make sure they're ok to drive, and a little written test to make sure you can trip plan correctly and enter macros into the qual com.

 

I read on one of the threads here that Schneider does not allow big inverters or fridges in their trucks.

Maybe one of the Schneider drivers on here can chime in and clarify their policy on truck additions such as inverters and fridges.

 

They do not allow any inverters larger than 150 watts and they must the 12v plug in types not wired to the batteries. So those would not be powerful enough to run a fridge, only a 12v cooler.

 

Pick Schneider, most definitely.

A solo OTR driver for Schneider will run 3k or miles a week if you are not lazy and know how to work your mac18.

Everything else here has pretty much been covered, however you can run a refrigerator in your truck, I have one, it just needs to be 12 volt

And I do believe the Idle % is 5% in the winter, 15% in the spring and fall, and 50% in the summer. And if it is over 85 outside, call your DBL and if they are worth spit, they will take that idle time off of you.

 

Covenant is a Team Oriented company. You will not get good miles if you intend to solo. Not as financially viable as Schneider either

 

I would like to know a update for this post. It's 10 years out dated but this is one of the questions i would like to ask/post ... but since i am new :/ i can't... I am in CDL School for Class A ... I am going to team drive with my significant other.. However, we don't really know who to go with at this point... We do want to train together if possible.

Students - Covenant Transport

Team truck driving jobs | Schneider

 

It *usually works out best if you an outfit that is either based close to where you live or, at least, has a terminal close by. You don’t want to mess with an outfit that’s 500 miles from where you live.

That said, the two you mention is like deciding between potted meat and vienna sausages.

 

What other companies would you recommend? We are completely new. We were leaning more towards Covenant.. Mostly because they offer to train us together... I mean to get started they don't seem too bad. I do think they have locations in FL since they had contacted us through the school we are attending