Profile For Peter B.

Sorry I replied before I read the whole conversation. My post really isn't relevant at this point.

Maybe it will help somebody else though lol.

Good luck.

I'm new too. 6 months ago I made the same choice as you. Prime and Schneider were both on my short list. I didn't even consider Maverick. Not BC they are bad or anything I just never heard of them at the time.

I picked Schneider and I'm happy with the choice. Training with them (at the Carlisle PA OC at least) lasts 3 weeks. Since you have you CDL they expect you to know how to safely handle a truck (which is not the case for all CDL holders).

Week 1 take you out for a few 1 hour drives with a trainer and the rest of the first week is all onboarding and classroom and stuff. The instructors at the training center were absolutely awesome. I learned more in that 1 week than my 6 weeks in CDL school. Being a trainer at an operating center is a very prized job at Schneider and there is high competition for the job which i assume is why they are all so high quality. Not only are they good drivers but they are great teachers and have good communication skills. Anyway after that first week the trainer's decide if you are safe to move on to the next step.

Week 2 you go out on the road with a training engineer. This is not team driving. I drove, he rode passenger. When I ran out of time we parked. He was training me so he had to be on duty when I was driving. He was a Million Mile Driver and a great guy but still I disliked living in a truck with somebody else. The week went by fast though. I ended up in Indianapolis and they bussed me back to Carlisle.

Week 3 you learn the Qualcomm and a couple other things. By midweek we started taking our qualification tests. Pull out of the OC, drive around for an hour or so, back to the OC, 90 degree back between 2 trailers, and your done. I'm not sure how many mistakes you are allowed to make on this test. I made one (canceled signal too early on lane change) and still passed.

After that test you are assigned a truck. You might have to take a bus to go get it and depending on what it is you might need a little more training. For me it was an hour computer course explaining the dash lights and stuff for my model (2017 Cascadia) and an hour out with a trainer showing me how to use automatic 12 speed transmission (all training and tests were done on a 10 speed manual). My first load was to pick up a relay at the OC and take it to my park location and drop it for somebody to relay the rest of the way. I went home for 2 days, came back and my Qualcomm was full of money to be made!!!!

Hope that helps a little.

I have been driving for Schneider for 6 months. I have 1 preventable accident on my record. It wasn't "my fault" as far as the cops go (car made illegal attempt to pass me) and nothing went on my DOT record but I could have avoided the contact had I been paying better attention to my mirrors.

On top of that I have had several close calls and near misses. Any one of these could have been a preventable if things turned out a little different. For example I was backing and about to hit a car in my blind spot behind the trailer. Another driver beeped and alerted me to the impending contact and I stopped. Other things like that. Outside cirrumstance prevented accident, not my skill.

The thing is I'm really stressed out. I feel like I am one bad move away from loosing my career. If Schneider fires me for preventable accidents nobody else will hire me. I don't see why either. Companies hire people with 0 experience but if you have 6 months along with 2 accidents that you learned from you are black balled for 3 years. Im wondering if going to a big otr company was a mistake but it is all that would hire me.

I'm starting to think I should get out of the business before it hurts my employability. I have a great resume before here. I don't want Schneider to give me a bad mark on it when all I ever did was try my best. I always get back to my truck on time after going home (unlike other drivers). I'm always nice to customers and warehouse workers even when they are being hostile.

I don't know. I'm just ranting now. Anybody else ever feel the way I do?