Going To Schneider

In my area there are several options along I80 family dollar, OTR home run pod, tanker out of Kenosha, Wirlpool out of Iowa City, Teams, I will be going to Schneider because of the training program, I did OTR briefly in 08 before driving a bus for six years so I do have a few miles under my belt. I'm very teachable some people would say I'm to eager, some people say companies don't want drivers that are to willing, I don't agree I just like to do the best I can and fly underneath the radar, my former boss said he did not like my adittude because he always thought I was better than him, pretty bazaar I know so I'm a little gun shy starting a new career and seeking some advice, I'm leaning towards a team situation finding someone I can learn from. My former boss is a sociopath but that's another story for another day, theirs another thread dealing with some of his methods "electronic surveillance" I'm just glad to be away from my former employer, but still having to put up with him on a daily basis. Pardon the rant, but any advice is greatly appreciated.

No advice from me. I too am leaning towards Schneider, but being green and fresh out of cdl school I'm not certain I agree with only 18 days total traing before solo Trust you are aware of the sign on bonus being offered on some jobs. ??

No advice from me. I too am leaning towards Schneider, but being green and fresh out of cdl school I'm not certain I agree with only 18 days total traing before solo Trust you are aware of the sign on bonus being offered on some jobs. ??

I just finished my 1st week with Schneider in Green Bay. One of the big things for me in choosing Schneider was that they focus on Safety and as Driver you are the Captain of your ship. If your not comfortable on the road, it is your decision. I go out with my Training Engineer on Monday and get back Saturday. I'll be doing 80% or more of the driving and we will be delivering his loads. If the training Instructors in your first week do not feel you are ready for that they will hold you over to the next week and keep working with you. They are not going to put anyone on the road that they don't feel is ready for it. 2 people got held back in my class this week of 7.

Once you get your truck and are on your own you will have your hand held by your DBL for the first month at a minimum. There are so many options for help here, that being worried about the 18 days is really not a big deal. You have someone at the tip of your finger 24/7 if you have help or get yourself in a situation you're really not sure about.

Schneider is a good company to start with. Safety is very important to them and making sure that new drivers are ready to drive on their own. I went through training after school early this Spring with Schneider in Carlisle. We had 28 in our class and by the end there were 8 of us left with 3 who had to go through additional training to continue on. Don't let those numbers scare you as the instructors said they have had the entire class get through training numerous times. They just want to make sure you can handle the truck when you are through with the three weeks of training, that you have a good attitude and that you show that you will put in the work needed. They gave everyone a good number of chances to continue on with them. If one of the trainees didn't do well driving with an instructor they would put them with another instructor to see if they had potential.

They tell you right up front that they expect that you already know how to drive a truck, though from some of the members in our class I had a hard time believing that they could have ever passed the CDL driver test.

When you get out on the road with your TE for a week (it was the second week of training for us) try and drive as much as you can. It can be frustrating at time and my TE said that a lot of people he trained would let him take over at times when they were having difficulty (i.e. going up and down hills, docking, etc.) These are the times that you should stay behind the wheel and let the TE assist you with overcoming some of these stressful times for a new driver. Better to do this with a TE then when you are out there by yourself.

Third week, after getting back from your TE, is some more classroom (map reading, trip planning, Qualcomm) and you will take your final tests to move on to driving your own rig.

Just come with a good attitude, plan on learning a lot during those 3-weeks (like drinking water through a fire hose), get sleep, watch other drivers and observe what they do right and wrong and what the instructors tell them on how to handle those things and ask a ton of questions.

I've been with Schneider since 2003. Left August of last year to take a break from trucking. Once you learn how Schneider hands out loads and how the various freight markets work, you'll find the job gets easier and you can predict where you'll be going. DBL's don't assign loads. Area Planners do and they do it based on who is in their area, how much time the driver has left on his clock and how far the load is going. If you're getting close to making your delivery and it's been a long week or you just want a few extra hours of sleep, push you next available time out a bit. But make sure you push that time out as soon as you decide you want to do that otherwise while you're rolling to your destination, that qualcomm may start beeping with a new assignment to perform as soon as you get done with your current delivery when you had your heart set on a nice hot shower and early bed time.

As far as freight markets go, some areas are hot and the following week they're not. There will be many times when you get routed to an area for delivery and there just isn't squat to pick up right away and it's likely that if you could get something right away, you could get rolling again and make it home for a few days off. But as it is, Area Planners have to deadhead you out of there to pick up a load to get you home and the load isn't scheduled to be ready until the next day. Don't get mad or discouraged. It's just the way trucking is sometimes. If you can be prepared and expect that occasionally that'll happen, you'll save yourself a lot of stress and heartache.

Like I said, once you figure out Schneider's system of running and assigning loads, you'll find it's a pretty nice company.

Thanks you guys. Very helpful.

The dedicated route they are offering me is 11 days out with 3 days in. What should I expect to really happen ??