Profile For Steven

I was on a dollar tree account for a little while and it definitely isn't easy money. Sucks you had a tough time training but good job on sticking it out. I didn't mind the unloading so much as the tight setup most stores have.

how was your experience?

The family dollar deliveries definitely aint the best place to start out your career.

You got to really know what you are doing when it comes to backing and unloading. You better be young and full of stamina, especially with summer coming up. It gets hotter and hotter the farther back you go in that thing. Even when it is freezing outside you can still work up a big old sweat.

Then on top of that you have to drive to you next stop while exhausted.

I always move aside for the Family Dollar and Dollar General trucks when at a tuckstop, let them go in front of me when waiting to fuel up, just out of total respect for those folks.

I'ved worked at Walmart as an Orderfiller and Target as a warehouse feeder picking up and cutting open 7500 boxes per day in 10 hours. Those i thought were tough but got use to them in a few months. This job is 10x harder then those 2 combined. So far ive driven about 2500 miles. I have to drive into oncoming traffic and back 1500 feet to do a 180 into a family dollar. All sorts of 90 blind sides while dealing with irate drivers, irate managers and me becoming irate from being new and no one being patient with me. I've completed 2 weeks Have gone to WV PA and Southern VA. Each load is between 40,000-75000 lbs and i do 2-3 loads per week. Each stop is 25 dollars after you get to your first store. My first 2 checks were only 400 after putting in 55-60 hours of work each week. The 1st week was training pay and the 2nd week nothing on my check was correct. My miles were wrong and im in the process of getting this straightened out. I have already put in my 2 weeks notice. The bad thing is ive gotten use to working hard and actually like it its keeping me in shape. But i was promised guarantee of atleast 1k per week and im seeing nowhere close to that. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS FOR NEW DRIVERS. YOU WILL EITHER HIT SOMETHING OR QUIT AND HAVE TO LOOK FOR ANOTHER JOB.

Hello All! I made a thread about Schneider National on how I was going to Charlotte for Orientation. Well I went and had a blast. I learned a lot and met a few good people along the way. The first week was mostly classroom and a little bit of driving towards the end of the week. We did a simulation class, logging class, trip planning class, AND lots of lots of rules and regulations learning and quizzes. The 2nd week I went out with a trainer from Walmart. I learned how to back into Docks and really gained a lot of progress in the shifting area.I got only 3 and a half days Wednesday-Saturday everyone else got 5-7 days.(they said i was apart of a pilot program)(I guess to save money).Anyways the last week was basically compiling all that we had learned into one and making it perfect. We also did a load with a trainer which wasn't an actually load but we had to treat it as such. All of us passed and the initial class left with their brand new trucks and Me;us(the family dollar dedicated people) had to stay an extra 3 days for extra practice since family dollars aren't made for trucks. We went over as i recall blind side 90's sight side 180's and some more for 3 days. They even had some big wigs from family dollar come in and give us a spiel on how we are so important to the company. After that sunday the last day we all were sent packing back home.

My first week with my Mentor was hard at first and then became easy as i got use to it.Besides requesting a non-smoker and getting someone who smoked a pack of cigarettes a day in the truck while driving the week went pretty well. I even complained and my wishes went ignored as the toxic 2nd hand smoked smacked my face and lungs with the prowess of angry in his prime mike tyson! I was taught how to use the rollers and build your own ramp and use cardboard to slide the pet food on. After my mentor told me he was getting 2500-3k a week watching me do all the 2500-3000 case unload work while smoking cigarettes filling the trailer up with smoke i was ready to leave. (My first check was 640 before taxes for "training pay"). He didnt really have much of a personality and really didnt learn much from him besides "its ok if you dont do a pre-trip or post-trip just as long as you show it in the computer". After 5 days it was all over.

My First week by myself was coma inducing stressful. Nothing on the Qualcomm worked for me. I called my dbl and other office people over 15 times the first 24 hours. They sent me to West Virginia at night. After getting fuel, sliding my tandems, hitting the scale, and "attempting to trip plan" it was 10 oclock and I was still in Northern Virginia with a 4 hour drive to Fairmont, West Va. It was windy,The roads went Straight down and Straight up for 4 hours! tears were commonplace on my cheeks and garments. Their were curves going down steep and if you looked to the right you saw darkness keen to the pits of hell where you knew with one ****up it was allover.But after 4 heart-wrenchinghours of that iarrived in this beautiful town with not a soul in site at 3:30 am with a unloading time @6.

**Stay tuned as the story continues**

Good luck Steven, and if you can try to keep us posted on the forum. It's helpful information for everyone reading this and considering a "Dollar" type dedicated account. Thank you for the post.

Will do. Does anyone on this site have experience with family dollar dedicated?

I just got my CDL 2 weeks ago. I tried and tried to find a local position but everyone wanted me to have experience. I heard Schneider was a good instructor from my Instructor so i decided to check them out. They presented with a nice offer and I decided to take it. I will be starting at 36 cpm. I will be doing the family dollar account out of Richmond, Virginia. Yes I will be unloading but i wanted to do this to stay in shape.

They put me in a hotel and said their will be someone else staying with me(dont like this idea). But im not paying for the hotel with my own money. Any suggestions or tips about driving and training would be highly appreciated. Also what to expect with that family dollar account

Steven, considering this is only your second post, welcome to the forum and congratulations on landing a gig with the Great Pumpkin! Exciting.

So...Family Dollar. You will definitely get fit if you are not, or be able to stay fit if you already are. A sincere and serious word of caution. Be very, very careful maneuvering in and around the stores. You will typically face very tight and close quarters with cars, kids and shopping carts. Many times you will find yourself blind-side backing off a public street. Not trying to alarm you, just mentally preparing you.

I assume Schneider is going to train you for a month or so before turning you loose...make sure your trainer works with you on knowing the "ins" and "outs" of safely getting to the store and docking. Hold your trainer accountable for preparing you to go solo on this account. Once "in" and through the parking lot (in some cases, yes the front of the parking lot), it's all in how you set-up in situations like this. Each time talk about the set-up with your trainer. If you can, take notes and file them in a notebook where you can quickly and easily reference them. It's likely you will revisit the same stores in the future. My "Walmart" notebook is safety yellow so I can always see where I stashed it, stands out from everything else (except my parka, same color).

Good luck! Safe travels.

Yea they told me 18-20 days. They say i should be making close to 1000 a week 3 loads 2 stops each load per week. Thanks for the tips :)!

I just got my CDL 2 weeks ago. I tried and tried to find a local position but everyone wanted me to have experience. I heard Schneider was a good instructor from my Instructor so i decided to check them out. They presented with a nice offer and I decided to take it. I will be starting at 36 cpm. I will be doing the family dollar account out of Richmond, Virginia. Yes I will be unloading but i wanted to do this to stay in shape.

They put me in a hotel and said their will be someone else staying with me(dont like this idea). But im not paying for the hotel with my own money. Any suggestions or tips about driving and training would be highly appreciated. Also what to expect with that family dollar account

I just got my CDL 2 weeks ago. I tried and tried to find a local position but everyone wanted me to have experience. I heard Schneider was a good instructor from my Instructor so i decided to check them out. They presented with a nice offer and I decided to take it. I will be starting at 36 cpm. I will be doing the family dollar account out of Richmond, Virginia. Yes I will be unloading but i wanted to do this to stay in shape.

They put me in a hotel and said their will be someone else staying with me(dont like this idea). But im not paying for the hotel with my own money. Any suggestions or tips about driving and training would be highly appreciated.

Btw im really a poker player just live in a state where its illegal and have decided this is the easiest way I can finance a move while paying off some debt.