Roehl Or Schneider

I'm not trying to rain on the parade , but you guys need to call Schneider. If you have new cdl from private school they have Otr option of out 11 days/ in 3 starting at .34 cpm Orientation is only 17 days at $80 per day. And in some areas offering $5000 sign on bonus. That's a deal breaker for me

That $5000 bonus you're referring to is most likely only for otr drivers who have some experience and if they are offering it to new graduates, well, it'd be very far and few options like that. Roehl starts off at .32 but after 3 months it goes up to. 34 and then .36 after another 3 months. Flat bed starts off at .34 or.36 I think. The same thing applies though, after 3 months .02 raise. Roehl has much better home time flexibility that Schneider doesn't always offer. Schneider has tankers though if you wanted to go that route.

I weighed my options between the two, because I really wanted to drive a tanker but I don't think there's anything else that could compete with the home time I get. I don't know what it is, but specialty haulers really draw me in, and I really wanna took a big ol tank of gas behind me. That or autos.

From what I've read and heard from other drivers who have been doing this for awhile now, most of the time it is all going to equal up to the same.

Paul, that is a very true statement. For a rookie driver just getting started, I absolutely would not quibble over a few cents here or there for my pay. I had an incredibly lucrative rookie year at one of the lowest paying companies out there. If you catch on and are able and willing to make things happen out here on the road, you will find that your dispatcher will keep you moving at an almost alarming pace. I loved my rookie year - it was one never ending challenge, but I was up to it. That is the key to making a decent start as an over the road driver - you have got to have some resolve and some drive to face down the never ending challenges that a rookie faces. It is tough, we recently had a new driver in here saying he had no idea how tough it was going to be, and that is the common experience - that first year is make or break. Roehl, or Schneider, it is a flip of the coin as far as I'm concerned. They are both solid companies that have their own system of bringing up a rookie driver, and they have both had a lot of success at it. Don't sweat the petty details, if you've got a gut feeling about one or the other that you think you may like, then go with that - don't let all the little details bog you down. Get that all important first safe year of driving under your belt, and then if you think you want to go somewhere else that will pay you two cents more a mile, you have my blessing, go for it.

The most important factor during that first year is your approach to the job... you can forget all the garbage you've read on the internet about how this company does, or how this other company treats it's drivers - it's all nonsense - really good drivers get treated like kings, but very few rookies are really good. Jump on the bull and hold on like your life depends on it - that is how you make a go of it in this business - you've got to be all in, and if you are constantly thinking you made a bad choice because brand x over there is paying their drivers a little more, or they are getting a few extra days at home, you will be totally distracted from the one vital thing to your success - your performance. Never forget that one key element to this career - your performance - it is far and above any of the details about the company. All those details are minimal compared to how you conduct yourself - they will recognize talent if it is presented to them - they know what to look for, and you will rise like cream if you are "gitting er done."

The biggest thing to me in deciding which company to work for comes down to the safety record, as I've been told that the better safety record a company has the less likely the driver will have to stop at a weigh station which means more money as you're not having to stop.

My opinion, but you are making a blunder right here... not everyone agrees with me, but at least let me lay out my argument.

I spent my first year with a company that had a dismal CSA score, which indicates a terrible safety record. This safety record is not any kind of a clear indication of the company, it is an indication that they hire a lot of new drivers - new drivers make terrible mistakes. Which all goes back to my first point about your response to the demands of this new career. There are some large carriers who are willing to take these big hits just so they can bring in new drivers to the industry. They are going to have poor safety records compared to a company that requires three years experience. That really is all that poor safety record tells you as a rookie coming into this career.

Your comment about not having to stop at the weigh stations is understandably simplistic, you've never been out here yet. I told you about the first company I worked at having a terrible record - it was so bad that we didn't even have the Pre-Pass system in our trucks. We had to pull in to every weigh station that was open. You would be hard pressed to find a rookie driver who managed to turn more miles than I did for my rookie year. Weigh stations are fast, in fact most of the time they will send you through the bypass land where you aren't even required to stop. You just roll right on through. A rookie driver's lack of understanding about how to make things happen in their favor out here on the road will delay them much more than having to pull into a few extra weigh stations.

...Continued

You want a company that will treat it's employees like people and not numbers, with respect as long as the employees do their job they're expecting to do and so fourth.

Okay, I think this is another blunder that is common among newcomers. Some of these companies are really big, and to be honest with you I prefer the bigger companies - they have everything in place for you as a driver to be successful. When you break down in Hobunkin County, Nowhere, and you call in to the break down department they already have national accounts set up all over the country so that they can get someone there to help you get back on the road in a hurry - they want you turning miles just as much or more than you do. Who cares if all they want from you is your truck number and location - what matters is that they can get you back on the road. Yes, Billy Bob's transportation service may recognize your voice on the phone, and they may know your name, but who cares if they are treating you like a person while you wait on the side of the road for them to have their credit checked, and/or to establish some way for them to make payment on your hefty repair bill. You may have to wait a long time because the company that they found to come help you is giving preferential treatment to it's national account holders so that they can keep them happy. Don't believe all the nonsense you've read on the internet about being treated like a number - I'd far rather be a number who is turning some miles, than a person who is starving to death.

And then the next thing is the type of trucks. Schneider uses Freightliner which are not bad trucks but the company plans to automate their fleet very soon. I was taught to draw 10 speed and I'd like to continue driving nothing less. Haha

The transition to automatic trucks has come and gone several times, but I'm afraid it is here to stay for now, unless you are doing some sort of specialized hauling like over-size, over-weight. These new auto-shift gear boxes are really reliable and economical, and those two factors are selling them like hot-cakes. Don't be surprised if you decide on who you want to work for based on the fact that they have ten speeds, and then three months down the road you end up with an automatic - it is highly probable. Even just one more mile per gallon efficiency is a huge difference in a fleet of thousands of trucks - the future is here, and the old school guys who think throwing that gear selector around is all part of being a true truck driver are in for a sad awakening.

You want a company that will treat it's employees like people and not numbers, with respect as long as the employees do their job they're expecting to do and so fourth.

Okay, I think this is another blunder that is common among newcomers. Some of these companies are really big, and to be honest with you I prefer the bigger companies - they have everything in place for you as a driver to be successful. When you break down in Hobunkin County, Nowhere, and you call in to the break down department they already have national accounts set up all over the country so that they can get someone there to help you get back on the road in a hurry - they want you turning miles just as much or more than you do. Who cares if all they want from you is your truck number and location - what matters is that they can get you back on the road. Yes, Billy Bob's transportation service may recognize your voice on the phone, and they may know your name, but who cares if they are treating you like a person while you wait on the side of the road for them to have their credit checked, and/or to establish some way for them to make payment on your hefty repair bill. You may have to wait a long time because the company that they found to come help you is giving preferential treatment to it's national account holders so that they can keep them happy. Don't believe all the nonsense you've read on the internet about being treated like a number - I'd far rather be a number who is turning some miles, than a person who is starving to death.

And then the next thing is the type of trucks. Schneider uses Freightliner which are not bad trucks but the company plans to automate their fleet very soon. I was taught to draw 10 speed and I'd like to continue driving nothing less. Haha

The transition to automatic trucks has come and gone several times, but I'm afraid it is here to stay for now, unless you are doing some sort of specialized hauling like over-size, over-weight. These new auto-shift gear boxes are really reliable and economical, and those two factors are selling them like hot-cakes. Don't be surprised if you decide on who you want to work for based on the fact that they have ten speeds, and then three months down the road you end up with an automatic - it is highly probable. Even just one more mile per gallon efficiency is a huge difference in a fleet of thousands of trucks - the future is here, and the old school guys who think throwing that gear selector around is all part of being a true truck driver are in for a sad awakening.

Well spoken......... Advise noted...... Anxious to get started...

You might have a point there Old school about what I wrote about the safety record. I have a question though and I'm not trying to be argumentative either. The safety record is advice I got from other drivers who started out as rookies and then were pretty expierenced. My question is this, Schneider and Roehl both hire a lot of drivers fresh from cdl school and yet they still have a pretty high safety record. So in that sense, wouldn't be a little bit of both?

My next question is this. I have heard both stories when it comes to safety issues. Some have said that it is the rookies that are cause for safety violations and for a company's rating to go down, whereas others have stated that a good bit of it comes from the experienced professionals who have become very complacent and therefore not as alert or careful anymore. In your many years, would you say it's a combination of both or one or the other?

My question is this, Schneider and Roehl both hire a lot of drivers fresh from cdl school and yet they still have a pretty high safety record. So in that sense, wouldn't be a little bit of both?

Sorry Paul, I've been real busy lately and somehow missed this question the other day. Sure, there are those who would say that it is a little of both. Roehl and Schneider both have very good training, and it is interesting to note that both of their training programs are very fast paced. My only reason for pointing it out was that basically there is nothing that a company directly does or does not do that will get them hit with CSA points. Those scores come to the company's record through their drivers. The D.O.T. doesn't come to their shops and evaluate their maintenance programs, they do check their drivers trucks at weigh stations, and the driver is the one responsible for determining every trip whether his vehicle is safe and ready to roll. Even in the situation where a company might be visited from a D.O.T. auditor for an audit of their logs, it is still the drivers who produced those logs. The CSA scoring system was designed to keep the best drivers out there and reduce the number of non compliant ones, but as with any and all government interventions it has non intended consequences. I'm not declaring it bad, government has a roll to play, and truckers have proven time and time again that they won't play by the rules unless they are forced. So, we have made our own bed, and we must sleep in it, and sleep when they tell us to also!

One thing that plays a contributing role to a companies score is how they respond to drivers who have had an accident. I would be willing to bet that both Roehl and Schneider will usually go ahead and let them go after an accident. I work for Knight, and they make it pretty clear that if you have an accident, even a minor one you are probably not going to be working there too much longer. The whole idea is to cut your losses before they get worse. We had a driver in the forum recently whom Schneider let go because as he put it, he tapped another trailer, with little or no damage, as he was backing his rig into a spot at one of their shippers yards. At Knight they will hire you back after you have put in a full year of safe driving somewhere else. That way they are putting a calculated risk onto some other company rather than taking it on the chin and suffering the consequences. I witnessed Western Express keep a new driver after he topped a low bridge, ripping the top of of his Freightliner, and opening it up like a can of sardines. Does that make them a bad company to work for? Not for that driver it doesn't, but their safety record is really poor because of actions like that.

My next question is this. I have heard both stories when it comes to safety issues. Some have said that it is the rookies that are cause for safety violations and for a company's rating to go down, whereas others have stated that a good bit of it comes from the experienced professionals who have become very complacent and therefore not as alert or careful anymore. In your many years, would you say it's a combination of both or one or the other?

Sure it is a combination of both. We know that Wal-Mart is very selective about choosing their drivers, yet they were in the news this past year for a tragic accident involving celebrities, of course! So Wal-Mart's transportation arm will take a safety score hit, but there was no fault attributed to Wal-Mart for that accident. Their driver did something very risky by not getting the proper rest when he should have. Drivers generate CSA points... period.

One thing to keep in mind about complacency... it is not reserved for seasoned veterans. There are plenty of complacent rookies out there also.