Questions About Schneider Family Dollar

The schedule and pay:

Sunday Evening - Friday Evening

Home Friday Evening - Sunday Evening

Home some during the week

.29cpm 1600-2000mi/wk

$25/stop, except 1st and last stop (4-5 stops/trailer) $75/trailer load (3-4 trailers/wk)

Palletized freight or roller carts

The information above is what I received from the Schneider website, and the recruiter. It sounds great, but I know not everything is as good as it sounds. I am sure the backing/parking will be difficult at many if these stores, and I've got no issues there.

If I've calculated the above pay correctly, I could potentially make between $700-1000 every week, but I could be wrong.

Does anyone have any experience with Schneider's dedicated Family Dollar account?

Thanks.

CJ I wrote this to you 3 weeks ago as a final reply to your rant about the incompetence of Swift personnel and more specifically the DMs. Here is what I wrote to you:

I read what Big Scott wrote. And unlike him I offer no apology and could care less if I p*** you off.

You come across like a c**kie know-it-all. That's a reflection of your attitude and is likely projected in most of your professional interactions with dispatch, the DMs, planners and customers. I call 'em like I see them and you my friend are not fooling anyone.

You have trashed Swift and Swift personnel in at least two other threads today and have elevated yourself above all of them. Really bad form rook, unprofessional. Fact is none of them got to where they are by being stupid and most of them were drivers and possibly still are. They already know how to do your job, yet you barely have a clue how they do theirs.

Like I already said to you; "humble-up". Bite the hand that feeds you enough times and you start to go hungry.

Imagine my surprise when you never responded to this. Huh. There is however a common theme here;...you have zero clue how this business works. Didn't three weeks ago and you don't now. This job would be so dang easy if it weren't for the people. Right? No other drivers, your DM would focus entirely on you and the whole fam-dang supply-chain world would revolve around the truck driving needs of CJ. Life would be grand. Re-read the last sentence above, the highlighted one. That might have something to do with your current situation. You have pushed them to the point of forgetting you and you have made it very easy.

In the simplest of terms, considering you are retired military; in my wee-itty-bitty mind this is like a Navy Sailor requesting a transfer to the Coast Guard because he dislikes boats. You don't have an issue with Swift, you have an issue with People and Basic Communication. Doesn't Schneider have people? Yup, lots of them, only they have orange trucks instead of white ones. Moving from Swift to Schneider is nothing more than going to the same circus only with different clowns. There isn't that much difference between the operations aspect of the two companies. They both move freight, are very good at it, and they do it with drivers who are available to drive. And like it or not, they tend to favor drivers with the best attitudes and yes a minor consideration, those that are actually assigned to a truck. You are currently off the grid, and actually put yourself there.

As follows you wrote:

So, to squash any troubles that may arise with this, I offered my truck to the teammate, through my DM.

Not only did you offer this, but you insisted on giving it up after your DM told you (three times) that he wanted you to stay in the truck. You willingly offered to give up your truck multiple times without a set plan to quickly get into another one. Who does that? Unknowingly this sends a message to the DM that you would rather not work. You basically got exactly what you asked for and now it's Swift's fault because after 4.5 days you sit, without a truck. Wake up. It's not your DMs priority to find you a set of new wheels. Their priority is to move freight, and do so with the drivers who are available, with trucks! There are so many things you should have and could have done to change the outcome of this.

For starters, do not offer to give up your truck unless you have a documented plan from your DM, TM, or FM of how, when and where you will be getting a new one. That was your first mistake and most everything else cascaded down hill from there. Do not willingly give up your truck,...you are a truck driver, you cannot fish without a pole.

Secondly, you need to document conversations of importance through the Qualcomm , either freeform message or in-messaging directly to an individual. You then have a history, a record of what happened. This is essential when some sort of action is required by someone else. If it's not in writing, it never happened.

Understand the priorities of your DM, how it affects you, and realize you are one of up to 100 drivers they are responsible for. They cannot and will not drop what they are doing to service an exception like yours CJ. Not gonna happen...

You have two months of experience, barely scratched the surface and you believe the grass will be greener on the other side and that you know way more than me, Old School, Errol, Brett and Devon? Welcome to the island of CJ. Sure, Schneider will take you. So when two months go by, and something else happens to get you all worked up, are you going to leave Schneider too?

Here is my suggestion; go to Schneider, have a ball parking, unloading the "Five and Dime" trailer in the sweltering heat (if it's 90 outside the trailer, it's 110 on the inside), get back in your truck soaked with sweat, dead tired, and drive to the nearest truck stop. That's if there is one within 50 miles of your location. These stores many time are miles away from the the sanctuary of the Interstate System, in the middle of "where the he** am I" USA. Fryin' pan into the fire. Don't say we didn't warn you.

Make no mistake, until you learn to effectively/professionally communicate with driver management and adjust your attitude, you will be faced with a similar situation again, and again, and again regardless if your truck is orange, blue, white or black.

I don't have any specifics personally on the Schneider account. Others may be able to help you out there. If you type in Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, or Dollar General in the search bar at the top you will find numerous conversations we have had in the past. I think we talk about these types of accounts at least once a month.

You are aware how difficult the job is right? Also didn't you just start out solo with Swift? You shouldn't jump over to another company until you have a year experience and dependent where you are you can get on a dollar acct with swift. I wouldn't want to do it because of all the labor and I am not confident enough in my skills to maneuver around some of these stores. Also that is low pay for considering the work you have to do on these accts. I make the same amount just sitting on my butt most the time and maybe strapping a pallet or two.

Devan, I don't mind the extra work. I actually hate being this lazy. Plus, I'd like to somewhat keep in shape.

I've held my CDL for 2 and a half years now, and Swift seems to be jerking me around these past couple weeks. So while they forced me to go home while giving my truck to someone else, not even looking for me a truck, and threatening me with service failures, I don't think this is the company for me. By the way, if you're not happy where you're at, then leave.

So I found Schneider hiring for this position while I was at home, due to being forced out of my truck and not making any money, and I just wanted incite about the position.

I don't mind leaving my comfort zone and jumping into something that may take a little more physical work, and a little more skillful driving. If you're happy where you are, then that's fine. But your happiness may not be the same for everyone else.

The pay is that low on this account due to my tractor-trailer experience level. I've heard nothing but good things from people who actually drive for Schneider. I cannot say the same for Swift, myself included.

You are aware how difficult the job is right? Also didn't you just start out solo with Swift? You shouldn't jump over to another company until you have a year experience and dependent where you are you can get on a dollar acct with swift. I wouldn't want to do it because of all the labor and I am not confident enough in my skills to maneuver around some of these stores. Also that is low pay for considering the work you have to do on these accts. I make the same amount just sitting on my butt most the time and maybe strapping a pallet or two.

CJ, weren't you just in training not that long ago? Are you under a training contract with Swift?

Your description of what happened with Swift is unclear, doesn't seem to make sense. IMO you haven't been there long enough to establish yourself. Why are you unhappy and what really happened?

Jumping to a Dollar Account with big orange seems like a hasty and knee-jerk reaction.

Just wondering. How do u get forced out a truck with no pay? Isn't that being fired?

Your description of what happened with Swift is unclear, doesn't seem to make sense. IMO you haven't been there long enough to establish yourself. Why are you unhappy and what really happened?

Jumping to a Dollar Account with big orange seems like a hasty and knee-jerk reaction.

My thoughts exactly.

If you'll give us honest and accurate information about what's going on we'll tell you how to handle it and get things going in the right direction. If you think the problem is Swift I promise you you're wrong about that. If you think jumping into one of the most difficult and demanding jobs out there is the solution I promise you you're also wrong about that.

So the best thing to do is discuss this with us honestly and we'll help you work through it. You have to learn how to make your way in this industry. No one is going to make life easy for you. No one is going to hand you anything. You have to put in the time to learn your trade, get to know the right people, do the dirty work for a while, get to know how this industry works, and prove yourself to your company. Then you'll understand how all of this works.

Swift has all of the miles you'd ever want and they have all of the opportunities you'd ever want but they're not going to hand any of them to you. And neither is anyone else. You're either going to put in the time, do the heavy lifting, and earn the treatment the top tier drivers get or you're going to jump from company to company and find out the hard way how this industry really works.

CT wrote to CJ

Just wondering. How do u get forced out a truck with no pay? Isn't that being fired?

Sounds like a possibility.

There are pieces of this story that seem to be missing. I have been with Swift long enough to know they do not give a driver's truck to someone else for no good reason.

I drive OTR for Schneider (almost two years now) and everything the recruiter promised is what I've experienced.

Also, I went through orientation with some Dollar General guys and they got what was promised also.

Everyone seems to want to know all of the details about something not related to this post, for this post is about the Family Dollar account with Schneider. No problem. Here's how I was forced out of the truck.

As some of you know, I began my career, after mentorship, as a team driver. Well, after witnessing many things that I've disliked about teaming, my teammate and I began talking about going solo. So, he decides to take his hometime, while I decided to stay out longer (needed the money).

After two days, I asked my DM how hard it would be to make me a solo driver. Well, he comes back with "no problem at all. I'll just have to find your teammate another truck."

So, to squash any troubles that may arise with this, I offered my truck to the teammate, through my DM. I was told "no, it doesn't make sense to pull you off the road when he's already at home. It makes more sense for the company if I try and find him another truck." Ok. This was said to me twice, and I was told I was keeping the truck three times, directly from the DM.

Now, my teammate left a few belongings in the truck, and I made mention of this to my DM immediately after I asked about going solo. His response was to work it out with the teammate and let us figure out how to get his stuff back. My way of doing it was to drop his stuff off at the terminal. Well, that wasn't going to work for the teammate, apparently.

By the way, my truck was a KW T680.

After being solo for nearly two weeks, I'm told that while I'm on my way to drop off this next run, to swing by the home terminal and pick up my former teammate, deliver my load, and he would be driving me home. Then I was informed to clean my stuff out of the truck when I got home because the former teammate would be taking my truck.

First off, I was lied to three times. Secondly, I was pulled off the road just to wait for them to find me a truck. Third, I'm at home for nearly a whole week not making any money, and not because I chose to be off. And the biggest problem that I found with this whole scenario, is that my former teammate was offered another truck while he was on his hometime, but he refused it because he said he wanted my truck. And let's not forget that I have seniority on him. Whatever, right? Why start trouble, just go with it. Ok.

The problems that arose after all of this crap is that I arrive home on a Friday. The following Monday, I call my DM to ask if he's found me a truck yet (since he's known I would be getting another truck for at least five days at this time). His response was, "I can't get you a truck and hold it until you get back, so when are you coming back to work?"

Well, since I was forced out of my truck, and forced to come home by the DM, I just replied, "I'll be there in two days." His response was "ok, I'll get to looking for you one. If I don't call you back before Wednesday, call me." No problem.

Wednesday comes around, so I give him a call back. Now at this point in time, he's known for a solid week that I'll be needing a truck, since it was him who told me directly the week prior that I'll be assigned another truck. So I call, "we were short handed in the office on Monday and Tuesday, and it slipped my mind completely. I'll send a message to the person who can assign you a truck right now."

Seriously? So, his plan was to have me meet at the terminal, then ride down to Louisianna to get a truck with a few other drivers who need trucks. Of course, while I was forced to be at home, I used that time to search for jobs. And, of course, some of you know about that service failure threat, but I guess that never came to fruition in the end. Well, now I'm asking about this Family Dollar account at Schneider because it seems to work for me.

I hope I made everything clear, if I've not, then please feel free to let me know. I'll try to clear up anything that you feel hasn't been addressed. Thanks.