Schneider

You bring up a good point.

I think Schneider is largely successful....in part at least...becuz of:

• It's safe to say that the "training engineers" there obviously do a pretty good job overall of passing off some good skill sets to new drivers. In short -- they are really amazing people. In hindsight -- I do wish I'd had a better trainer out in the field, though.
• Schneider is one of the few "starter" carriers to print/distribute a trucker's "bible"....that they give out to drivers going through orientation. It's called the "Schneider Training Workbook". Schneider made a different version of this book for each type of freight: dry van, tanker, intermodal. It's a great read for ANY new CDL driver. I sincerely hope they are still distributing this trucking "bible" at new driver orientations.
• Schneider produces similar publications on other topics like their "winter survival guide"...that I think probably make a difference over time.

I can't prove it....but I think part of Schneider's first-year turnover rate is not just people leaving because of low(er) pay -- I think it is simply a lot of those who show up just can't cut it -- for a variety of different reasons.

-- L

 

No. My first year (2010) I made $42,000.

And yes, but for the yes it's usually the driver's fault he's not making any money.

Three months into being solo I picked up in Ft Atkinson, WI. One of the other guys from my orientation class was there two trucks ahead of me in line, both going to Tulsa, OK. Leaving out, we both were going to have about the same amount on the 14. He drove down to S. Beloit and shut down. I pushed another hour down the road to Mendota. That allowed me to get all the way to Tulsa on day 2, where I could sneak down the road and be first in line to unload. 3 hours after I bumped the dock I was walking in to get my paperwork and the other driver was just pulling in. He's got a bunch of trucks in front of him waiting to unload while I was already onto what was next.

A couple years later I loaded out of Cold Water, MI with another Schneider driver heading down to Edwardsville, IL. A lake effect snow storm was forecasted, so I elected to drop down to Indy and then run 70 across. I delivered, then grabbed a load to KC with an immeadiate return to Edwardsville. I dropped, grabbed my mt and then headed to the yard for my 10. When I walked into the building, the other driver was in the lounge and said something along the lines of "you finally made it". He'd just delivered that afternoon, while I was 500 miles further down the road in the same time period.

A couple months ago I had to 'rescue a load' from another driver. She was short on her 70 and was dispatched on a two stop load that would have allowed her to get to a 'nice' truck stop for a 34 and then deliver afterwards. She had just enough time on to make it through the load without the restart, so she tried to deliver first and take the restart afterwards. Couple of problems with that, the primary being the first appointment was for Friday morning. Secondly, even if both stops would have taken her early, she wouldn't have had enough time on her 70 to move from the second stop to a truck stop for the 34. The first stop told her "not only no, HEEELLLLLLL NAW!" At that point, she couldn't move to a S/L place to wait and still have time on her 70 to make the second stop. So I get called in to save the load and pick up what should have been her next load (1,800 miles) and relay it off before going home. By not paying attention to the appointment times she went from having a very profitable week to effectively sitting still for 3 days. She was blaming Schneider when it was all her fault.

I could go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on about the dumdums who


I will happily concede that in certain markets, Schneider pay is far below what it should be. But I know that if any driver is making more than 10% less than the advertised money, it's on the driver.

 

I did tanker with Schneider.
OTR, Tanker, you get 6 days off per month.
Just have to be extremely careful cause they haul some bad stuff.
Not as bad as some i have hauled for others, mostly Flammable liquids, environmental hazards, Corrosives.

They’ll say 70% non haz in tankers, that’s a lie, was for me anyway, went 6 months and EVERY load was hazmat.
Haz and Twic works well within tanker division.
They’ll train you to load/unload. and you can get good knowledge and get into a higher paying job.

 

Schneider does liquid hazmat, or at least did when I was hauling for QC. I had a buddy who drove for QC who saw them all the time at the Dow Chemical plant in Avenel (now closed). The Schneider drivers were always unhappy because they didn't get detention on that account and it always took at least ten hours to get unloaded.

 

For sure, no doubt!

And to add,

While you gain that experience/knowledge, see if you can get all settlements on your truck. Keep track of all income & expenses on that truck as if it was your own. Learn the business side BEFORE leaping into anything.

Think paper trading the stock market/commodities before risking your own financial future.

Best to take risks, learn business & make errors on someone else's dime, not your own .

 

Started at a mega over all the winter holiday's in the midst of mutiple waves of winter ice storms.

Delayed the heck out of things, but can say gained some awsome training experience, including all mountains both ends of country.

Gained a few more greys, but was definately good to go once cut loose!

 

Wow,

Think my training was 2/3 months before cut loose. Had a mandatory amount of miles to get in before coming in to retest out yet again, both on simulator, pad & road.

 

Yeah,

But that also seems to depend on variations in individuals, too. Do not always know the whole story behind post here, at times.

Then again, you also have luck of draw on dispatchers.

Where I went, most of my students did pretty darn well. One or two did not. It was pretty much on the students themselves, from my knowledge of them.

That said, I am very well aware of some situations where folks got crap dispatchers. Have to stay on that & push for change if becomes the case.

Most I know have done well at Schneider with the effort put in.

 

Schneider might work for you then. Later, with some experience, you can switch to something that pays more and won't have to deal with a trainer. As an experienced driver I had to deal with a trainer when I switched from reefers to hazmat tankers. I didn't mind that though and it worked out well. Wasn't worried about my first solo run then. Hauled hazmat tankers 48 states and Canada and really liked it. Must admit, always missed the reefer life.