Schneider Team "Tips and Tricks" 2015

Referrals-I had 18 referrals in one year while with Schneider. Each referral paid at least $500 and teams paid $2000. It adds up! The following could help you make some extra cash.


1. Be a professional- Presentation is important when meeting a prospective referral. Truck clean, look professional, be friendly and be honest. A prospective referral is watching you and just waiting for the right driver to talk to. Be that driver!

2. Talk to other drivers at companies you know treat their drivers poorly. We all know the companies out there that their drivers aren't being treated well. Those should be targets of opportunity.

3. Talk to security guards. Not sure why but sometimes all they need is a little information and the next thing you know you have a $1000 bonus added to your check.

4. Have a card handy with your info and get their info. Tell them to call if they have any questions. Give them 2-3 days and then call them.

5. Show them what you do. Don't talk about cpm but explain the miles you run and how you can make a good living if you hustle. I talked with a Team in SD that was making 45 cpm but only getting 4000 miles a week. They were extremely disgruntled. Didn't figure I'd hear from them again yet 4 months later I got a bonus. You never know.

6. Once with the company mentor the driver. They need to know you care about their success. Call them regularly to see how they are doing. Share your tips and experiences. May mean the difference between a driver quitting after two weeks and one with the company for years.

7. Talk about the travel. It sounds exotic to some people and they are amazed when you tell them you can go East Coast to West Coast in 2 1/2 days.

8. Use Social media. Their are many trucker forums out there that you can talk to new drivers that are just looking for the right company to work for.

If you want to get real ambitious go to a Truck Driving school or job fair and talk to some of the people. This job isn't for everyone but prospects are everywhere with very little effort.

 

Winter Tips-
Do not crank your landing gear all the way up. Ice and snow will form on the landing gear and freeze. Need to have a little play to break it loose. You will encounter frozen brake drums. They tell you to hammer the drum itself and it would break it loose. That didn't work all the time for us last year. I kept a bottle of rubbing alcohol (90%), identify which shoe was frozen and spray a little alcohol on the shoes. Worked every time and causes zero damage to the brake pads.

 

Finding an Assigned empty Tip

Arrived at FEDEX Smart Post in Kent Washington earlier in the week. Small place with usually a one for one trailer swap. Assignment had me pick up specific empty trailer when I arrived. The guard said if they have an empty it's on the fence line. When I went to check there were no empties so I sent in the exceptions for no empties available and waited.


Updated assignments come up on the APP before they show up on the Qualcomm so I logged in to the APP. It showed the trailer I was supposed to pick up and a location for it. Out of curiosity I looked up where the trailer was. It shows nautical location (35 N, 90 W) which does me no good but it also had a directions button. I typed directions from my location to the location of the trailer. It was about a mile away so since I was waiting anyways I drove over to the location the APP said the trailer was. Sure enough the trailer was tucked away behind another business up against the fence line. There were two trailers side by side both empty. To save time I went ahead and hooked up to the one I was originally assigned and did my pre trip checks on it. Updated Pre-assignment comes in and assigns the trailer next to the one I found a mile away and says it is also at FEDEX Smart Post. Box Planners get your stuff together!


Trailer checks out good so I head off to next assignment. Time saved? Probably an hour or more just by using the technical resources available. The APP also comes in handy if you are waiting for a relay to show up.

 

Pre-trips, Post trips and Fueling-

Schneider teaches 30 minute pre-trips, 15 minute fueling and 5 minute post trips. This is a tip that is legal and safe and will save you 2 hours a week each of valuable drive time

Time yourself conducting a complete front to rear Pre-Trip. Mine takes me 12 minutes but I log in 15 minute pre-trips. Fuel pumps dispense fuel at 60 gallons per minute. It normally takes less than 3-5 minutes to fuel. You must log at least 5 minutes so the Qualcomm will place it on your log so fueling is 5 minutes. Post Trips are 5 minutes.

15/5/5...keep it simple

 

Inspections, load tab and Fueling. Most of the mistakes on your log contain these three common mistakes. Remember you paper logs? You had to log loads and such. This should help you keep your logs looking good and legal.

This will help keep your records looking good and keep you legal.

When fueling you must be logged in when you swipe your fuel card. Make sure you use your card and not your co-drivers.

Conduct inspections on your truck and trailer at the beginning and end of your shift. ALWAYS!

The last one is load tab. Make sure you enter the information on your load tab every time you receive a load, drop a load, pick up an empty or Bobtail. Make sure if your load is three days long that the load is logged for those three days. Before approving your load make sure you have all the days accounted for.

 

Approving your logs- Approve your logs every two to three days. Your are responsible for correctness. If you make an error you have the ability to make corrections on everything but drive time. You will not get credit for days worked until you approve your logs.

 

Bonus and Pay Raises- Your Bonus is determined using several factors:

Days worked- You must work 80% of the days available to receive credit for days worked

Fuel Economy- Varies by truck and you won't have a lot of control on this one. Easy to achieve just use your cruise as often as possible

Safety- Don't hit anything...easy enough

Hazmat- This is not because you haul Hazmat it's because some shippers require a background check to haul for them. With Hazmat you will get better loads and more miles.

Compliant Fuel Stops- When you receive an assignment "Jill" will give you fuel stops. These fuel stops are good for 96 hours. If you want you can request a fuel stop at any time. Do not enter less than 1/4 tank when it asks your current fuel level. Make sure you have good signals on your Qualcomm when requesting a fuel stop. Getting full credit for fuel stops is easily attained.

Pay raises are determined using your performance metrics listed above AND your on-time percentages for Pickup and delivery. This is why being on-time is so important.

 

How do the planners assign loads? By understanding this you will know how to get the best loads. There are 5 different planners that schedule loads in five regions of the country. They will see your truck as an ICON with your truck number and Tier level that is all.

There are 3 different "Tiers" of drivers with the company-

Tier 1- This is reserved for new drivers or drivers with low on-time percentages. They will receive loads of 800 miles a day or less

Tier 2- This is for drivers that have on-time percentages (90% or higher) and are limited to no more than 1200 miles a day

Tier 3- This is for drivers that have on-time percentages (90% or higher) and can do more than 1200 miles a day. This is sometimes referred to as "Elite".

I have worked all three levels and prefer Tier 2. Tier 3 meant a lot of Just in Time Loads and recovery loads. I actually average more miles at Tier 2 and can manage my hours better.

Hazmat will help get a lot of coast to coast and light loads because you can take expedited high value loads. It opens up assignment opportunities for the team.

So as you can see being on-time will get you more miles.

 

Scaling the Load- I know this seems like a no-brainer but there are a lot of new drivers that get tickets for overweight or for violating bridging laws. I am guilty! I received a $190 ticket for having my rear tandem set incorrectly for California. Once I set it right I was overweight. I honestly didn't know so hopefully this will help someone from making the same mistake I did.

Set your rear tandem to the position for the strictest state you are going to/through. Weigh it if it is over 30,000 pounds or if you feel it needs weighed. Some shippers front load a trailer and it may be 28,000 pounds but over weight. If for some reason it doesn't make weight with the rear tandem set then take it back to the shipper and contact your Driver Manager. You will be angry but it's better than getting a ticket.

Pet products, Recycled paper, any liquid products (Beer, Soda, Water) are all infamous for being overweight so when you see Purina, Coors, Anhueser Busch you know you will need to scale the load.

Loads will shift. If you can look in the back of the trailer before it's sealed than do so to make sure it's braced. If it's not and you feel it may shift than make sure it's done before you seal it.