Profile For Ryan L.

I head out for orientation soon for Schneider also. I am not happy about sharing a room with a stranger if that happens. But I will be able to get by it for a few weeks. I know the first week I will be in the hotel, then after that out with a trainer for a week, then back at the hotel. But I am sure once meeting them you will start conversations and get a better feeling about it. I am not going to trust them by any means but I am also not bringing anything valuable either. And my personal things like my wallet and phone will be in my pocket when I sleep. Just a speed bump in the road. Once you are over it then you are out on your own with no worries. Also if something does come up missing, its not like you don't know who took it, and if they disappear, I am sure that if you contact the company they will have there information that they can forward to the police should you file a report. Maybe I do not know how that exactly works but I have not really heard much about problems at orientation. Most people just say that people made it or not.

Good luck with Schneinder. I am starting a trucking school in the beginning of December and Schneider is on my short list of potential employers. They are big enough to offer many driving options, seem to welcome rookies and are have about the pet-friendliest policy I have come across. I'll be interested to hear about your experience there. I hope you keep posting, or better yet start a blog!

I will try too, I don't know if they have computers there for us to use or not while at training but if they do I can. My phone is old and does not like to cooperate with going online much lol.

Thanks everyone. My fiance understands, she was actually pushing me a long time ago to go regional and to go with Schneider. Ended up getting what she wanted lol. Also am glad to hear good things about Schneider. I have heard the training is good though. How does there training time go? Is it straight through the week and weekends? I would assume it is.

Yep, you'll do about 17 days. First five will be at the operating center with backing, driving and slow maneuvering. Then you'll go on the road for 5-7 days with your Training Engineer where you'll do all most all of the driving. Your TE will be in the passenger seat while you drive. Then back to the OC for the remaining 5 days of testing, trip planning and graduation. When you finish, you'll get a chance to go home for the weekend before hitting the road.

One of the reasons I came to Schneider was the ability to be earning solo pay much quicker than most companies.

Good luck and welcome!

That is what got me interested in them also. I was really strongly considering TMC but that 7 week training program is what stopped me. I do not know how I could deal with not seeing my daughter for that long. And when I talked to a recruiter from there they said I could possibly get a truck right out of training and start driving. So it could have been even longer than 7 weeks to get home. I am sure there training is great from what I hear, but I also hear that Schneiders training is great too and it is only three weeks. I also like getting home for the weekend before heading out.

Hey everyone. I am just excited to finally start my new career. I graduated school in the beginning of October and got my CDL A. I tried and tried to get a local position but it is not easy with no experience lol. So I finally decided to go regional and after looking at all sorts of companies I chose Schneider. I hear good things about there training and it is not that long as long as I do not need more time. I have my 2 year old daughter, and being away will be hard. But I will get through it so I can get some experience. I am probably going to get in my one year and try again for local. Other than that I am set to go for orientation on December 8th. Wish me luck.

I'm also set to start orientation Dec 8th. I got one day of school left and test on Saturday for my CDL. Are you training in Indianapolis ?

I am going to Gary Indiana for my training. My recruiter did not talk about Christmas yet but it would be nice to be home for Christmas.

Thanks everyone. My fiance understands, she was actually pushing me a long time ago to go regional and to go with Schneider. Ended up getting what she wanted lol. Also am glad to hear good things about Schneider. I have heard the training is good though. How does there training time go? Is it straight through the week and weekends? I would assume it is.

Hey everyone. I am just excited to finally start my new career. I graduated school in the beginning of October and got my CDL A. I tried and tried to get a local position but it is not easy with no experience lol. So I finally decided to go regional and after looking at all sorts of companies I chose Schneider. I hear good things about there training and it is not that long as long as I do not need more time. I have my 2 year old daughter, and being away will be hard. But I will get through it so I can get some experience. I am probably going to get in my one year and try again for local. Other than that I am set to go for orientation on December 8th. Wish me luck.

Putting the transmission in neutral is a good idea

In my opinion it's not a good idea. There's an excellent chance you're going to need to get on the gas at some point to regain control of the vehicle and you're not going to be able to shift into neutral and then back into gear again when necessary during a skid. There's too much happening too quickly. In fact a lot of times the worst thing you can do is get off the gas in the first place.

For instance, say you have a good bit of weight in the trailer and your drive tires lose traction for a moment on snow covered roads. The drive tires start to slide to the side and the tractor starts to jackknife just a little bit. Your trailer still has all of its momentum so it's pushing forward on the tractor which is no longer pointing straight ahead. If you get off the gas completely or go into neutral at this point and the tractor slows just a bit that trailer is going to keep moving forward and spin that tractor the rest of the way around. You just jackknifed and you're sitting in the middle of a cornfield somewhere. Most of the time in scenarios like this you want to feather the throttle lightly and steer gently with the skid to get those drive tires to start getting some forward bite again so you can keep the tractor's momentum going forward. It's like you're trying to stay ahead of your own trailer so it doesn't spin you around.

Same with a trailer jackknife. Say you start getting on the brakes and your trailer tandems lock up. You see that trailer start to slide out to the side on you. If you get off the gas or kick it into neutral at this point there's an excellent chance that trailer is going to come the rest of the way around and jackknife. You have to get on the gas lightly to stay out ahead of that trailer so it will fall back in line behind you.

Now understand that these are advanced techniques and no two skids are ever alike. There are all kinds of factors that go into the decision about what tactics to use once you start sliding. But those are just a couple of scenarios where you need the throttle to get out of trouble. In fact, in my experience you almost always use some light throttle to help gain control of the vehicle.

I agree with everything you said. Every situation is going to be different. The only thing is though that when the wheels are spinning that is loss of traction and when you apply power to the wheels you lose more traction. That can make the situation worse. Again though it can also help like in the example you gave. But in snow the key to staying in control is traction and the less wheel spin there is the better to regain that traction. Now you do have much more experience than me as most on this forum do. I am new in the trucking world so I am going to take the examples you gave as good advice and hopefully if needed I can control the situation if one is to happen.

I think we need to start a "CB Radios Save Lives" campaign. To be honest it seems beyond stupid to me that there are so many drivers out there either without radios in their trucks or with them turned off all the time. Of course it seems stupid to me because I've watched countless people get killed out there over the years and I've witnessed many situations like the ones we're seeing in these videos where drivers did indeed have their radios on and it did save lives. In fact it's been so helpful and important in so many ways over the years that I always considered it one of those critical tools I wouldn't dream of driving without.

You're driving an 80,000 pound rig through blinding snowstorms on slick roads but you don't need no stinkin CB radio, right? That's for old timers hanging on to the past, right? We have newer, better technologies now, right? Besides, people can be annoying sometimes, right?

For you drivers out there that haven't yet gotten themselves or others killed needlessly in wrecks like these because you don't have a CB radio, get a CB radio before you kill someone! And oh by the way, here's your sign:

I understand that people don't want to hear others blabbing on and what not on a CB, but you are 100% correct it can save lives. So for the people that don't have them, get one and when the weather starts looking bad turn it on. Anything extra is great when it comes to being safe. A CB radio can get the message out much faster than trying to dial a number on your phone.

Putting the transmission in neutral is a good idea. When you start sliding you want to take power away from the wheels to allow them to regain traction. In an automatic there is still power to the wheels when you let off the throttle. Remember they are still in gear and will idle which will still cause the tires to spin. Putting the clutch in neutral will put no power to the wheels. Like said before though, anything can happen when you start sliding and could cause for a different reaction. On that note, drive safe everyone.

I would start rolling back about 5 to 10 feet, then start my turn. Once the front of my truck was facing the 11 o-clock position I would get my wheel straight and go very slow. What worked for me at that point was to just go very slow and watch the trailer tires. As I was backing I would constantly be moving the steering wheel right to left while watching the trailer tires. As you back while watching the tires you can just guide it to were you want them to go. Remember to go very slow, that way you have time you can make up for a mistake if you turn the wheel the wrong way or too much. If you go fast then you wont be able to save it. I am assuming this is for the test, so also remember you have pull ups you can use.