Starting Schneider Bulk

I took my DTL’s email address from his business card and used that. I made it pretty clear that I was very comfortable with using email to communicate any questions and he had no problem with it. I’ve gotten responses back to questions in minutes via email and was never even able to get through the phone system to call him. I also don’t have too much of a problem using the free form messaging on the tablet. Just be sure to ask all of your questions in one message.

I gave up on trying to call in for anything on day two. The only thing I had to call in for recently was to get registration documents sent to me for a trailer that didn’t have any of the paper registration in it. The exops people on messaging game me a number, and I used the callback feature and got a call back in about 30 minutes. She asked if I wanted them faxed somewhere or emailed somewhere I had her email them to me personally that way I could control where the document goes instead of a mistake being made and having to sit on the phone on hold or wait for them to call back again.

 

Well, the miles have kept piling on. I’ve been so busy I don’t even know what to do other than drive and sleep.

Mileage is still consistently over 2500 a week, this week is a little bit of a pain, the appointments are literally down to the minute of what is possible. What makes this week a pain though is my last customer took forever to load. It seemed like they were pumping the trailer full through a garden hose. It took over 4 1/2 hours to load a product that is currently in my trailer at 100°..

Definitely getting more comfortable with the surge and the way the trailer handles in the corners, or should I say curves on the interstate.

I managed to conquer I-40 through the smoky mountains without squeezing the color out of the steering wheel.

I’ll try to be a little more prompt on keeping this updated but it is a pain as I am typing all this on my phone. I hope to be bringing my laptop in the truck soon I don’t know why I haven’t yet.

 

It’s been a long while since I posted an update, and I will be saying goodbye to Schneider soon. They have kept me busy, not sitting around, and well compensated for what it’s worth.

I have a two year old at home, and it’s about time to go to a local gig. I applied for a local fuel hauler job and... Got It! The pay and being home daily are going to be huge differences in my life. To be honest I threw out what I thought was a respectable wage in my application, they came back with a number over $19,000 higher than I was looking for.

I will be roaming around the Carolinas for the future.

A few things I can take away from my time at Schneider.

- Their training is no joke, has a high washout rate, and is respected by those in the tanker community.

- Their pay is OK for a first timer, or someone wanting to see what surge is all about. I claim 0 on my taxes, and took home between 800-1100 a week, depending on loads.

- Short hauls and trailer shuttling makes you the money here.

- They never played around with my hometime.

- They have been a great stepping stone to my career, and I am forever appreciative of the fact they took me in.

If I were to make any recommendations, apply for the regional position, and stay out longer. The pay package is more beneficial to a regional driver, and if you are willing to stay out longer than a week at a time, you can make some good money.

Maybe I was lucky, but I truly never sat around waiting for a load. I’d have my next preplan before I even got to my delivery location. I did not miss any appointment, so that may have been a factor. I loaded, drove and delivered.

If anyone has any questions about Schneider or tanking, I’ll be glad to help out. Looking forward to having time at home and more time to check in here more often!

Many Thanks to everyone that supported me in this endeavor, it’s only going up from here!

 

I have less than a year driving Class 8 combination vehicles, 3 years driving Class B trucks, and a couple years of running my own authority as a hotshot. I will be working for a smaller company, and my saving grace is nothing on my 10 year driving record. There is a lot of trucking in my relatively rural area of the state, and hiring standards have relaxed for this company over the past couple of years. I would say it’s a matter of luck and persistence. They stress safety over speed and pay accordingly.

Communication with Schneider was an issue at times, however as far as trailers go, I’d either fix the problem, or report to SEM, get someone sent out to fix it and move onto the next trailer I found and let them know it was good to go and I would have the trailer assignment updated to the trailer I located. By the time the next guy got to the trailer I had rejected, someone would have already been out to replace the tires or brakes, or whatever the problem was.