Yet Another Newbie....OH WISE ONES...

Been a lurker for over a month now....decided to sign up...

Here's my proverbial fork at the road...

I started working on my CDL this past July and I got my CDL in late August via non-certificate option, which saved over $4000. I paid out of pocket. During my early stages, I had access to an O/O's truck while he trained me on a few runs. I drove the truck for at least several hundred miles per seat time, and learned the basics. Did a about 4 OTR over a month, each lasting 2-3 days. On my non-training days, I went to a school rented a truck, and polished my skills, and finally did my test and passed.

2 weeks ago, I reached out to schneider and found they had a local gig and SURPRISE! SURPRISE!...they were accepting NEWLY MINTED CDL drivers. only catch is I have to attend their boot camp for 27-35 days (no home time) then return to my local city for the local, home daily route.

We did the usual song and dance, I got the pre-hire , passed drug test/background etc...then got a boot camp training confirmation.

Then, 2 days before I left I got a family emergency, ER visit, hospital stay etc....so I had to cancel the trip to the boot camp till next time.

Gotta deal with family health first.

As walking around the hospital to clear my head, I see a truck delivering clean linen to the facility...says now hiring class A/B. I call the # out of curiousity, and they tell me to "Come-on over". I was like.."bbbbut I dont have experience....yyyou gon, you gon hire me?", lady on the other end says, "We might not if you dont come over"...

Long story short....they are offering me a Class B gig, with me being their Class A "stand-by"

Basically, the Local company with small truck fleet is offering Class B position with pay @ $700/week for 40hr week = $17.50, while acting as stand-by Class A as needed. company is also willing to provide initial training to familiarize myself with Class A equipment/routing. also have opportunity to pick up other shifts (class B)...which may make up for the opportunity cost of forfeiting schneider. Both classes (A & B) are regional with home daily.

OTOH, scheider is offering class-A position with pay @ $900/week for 60hr week = $15. Role is salary (not cpm) and 100% local

Im leaning towards the local company due to shorter hours (HOS) which give me more family time, plus regional OTR as available

So, oh wise ones, Im I foolish to forfeit the schneider opportunity? is there anything I will miss out of the training that is critical to my trucking life?

I'm not a "wise one", but here is what I see. You have a Class A. License, but have not gone through with the required 160 hours of training that most companies need today. Any major company will require that. Being a Class B driver and standby as a class A driver will not fulfill that requirement. So the question is...do you want to get that 160 hours done now (with Schneider) or go through this again in the future.

Also, there are going to be situations you get into on a local gig, where the experience of driving OTR is very helpful. Congrats on getting your license that way, but you will most likely need that 160 hrs to get hired by a major company.

Welcome xanex.

You have an interesting conundrum your are dealing with. So at a high level you need to consider, of the two companies which one can offer you the best opportunity for long-term career growth and potential. My opinion, clearly it's Schneider. Big Orange has been in this gig for a long time and they do it very well. You are only considering the "here and now", but the significance of your decision is what happens once you have the year of experience. We have numerous successful Schneider drivers on this forum.

I also agree with Tim's point, the local gig has limitations on the type of experience you will have access to. Most large carriers will not consider this OTR experience, thus if you make a change to Schneider (for example) a year form now, they will likely require you to go through their training regardless. So training,...that is what is most concerning about the local company; "there is none". They are not doing you any favors by sticking you in a truck day one. Although you have a CDL , you are by no means ready for solo operation without further instruction. Most every school provides just enough instruction and practice necessary to pass the CDL tests, nothing more. This does NOT adequately prepare you for solo driving.

We have seen numerous examples of new drivers choosing a local job similar to the one you are considering. Many of them fail for a myriad of reasons, the least of which is lack of experience with frequent close-quarter maneuvering typically required while performing the tasks of local operation. If something happens, you will have a blemish on your driving record and in all likelihood face the prospect of unemployment.

So, oh wise ones, am I foolish to forfeit the Schneider opportunity? is there anything I will miss out of the training that is critical to my trucking life?

YES, you will miss out on supervised, one-on-one instruction covering the basic fundamentals required to perform this job and carry you to the next level. Under the best of circumstances the learning curve for a rookie driver is steep and difficult, with a high risk of incident during the first 90 days. Bypassing the training Schneider is offering and committing to the local job, in my opinion is foolish, and is a set-up for eventual failure. You cannot short-cut or rush the time required to learn safe, effective, and efficient operation a tractor trailer.

Good luck.

My advice to you is to bite the bullet and go OTR for at least 6 months. 1 year would be better. Driving local is a much more difficult task in some ways then OTR. If driving a truck is something you want to do for a long time, going OTR is the best thing you could do to set yourself up for a successful career. It won't pay that great right away, but the experience you will gain will open up countless opportunities for you future and your pay will only get better. If you accept a local B driving job right now you will make ok money but you won't advance from that. You will be kind of stuck. I drove OTR with roehl for 8 months. I learned more then I ever thought possible about driving a rig and the job itself. The pay was just ok and the hours were long. But it paid off for me in the end. It helped me land a local gig making 1200 a week minimum. So I say invest in your future. Go OTR, gain experience then look for a local job.

Thx to all that replied.

With Schneider, the boot camp will only offer 7days OTR. 20 days will be the basics i.e. shifting, backing, logs etc...same stuff as what was done at school.

Also, due to current situation, I cannot do other Schneider OTR runs, that's why they presented me with the local, home daily, 12hr x 5 days gig.

The earliest I can do a "real" OTR is 9 months from now.....as in be gone for 2+weeks at a time.

So. Both options entail local runs. Both options entail a short-ish OTR exposure (7days).

My calculator shows that 24hrs x 7 days = 168hrs. Seems to me that Schneider's 7 day OTR requirement is meeting that goal. The local company has not explicitly stated that, but i brought up the need to do side by side training runs for a week before being let loose on the Class-A equipment and they agreed. (Seems to satisfy the 160hrs req IMHO)

Xanax, what they are referring to about the 160 hours is a training certificate that shows evidence of 160 hours training - that is what you will get from a training program or a truck driving school.

(Seems to satisfy the 160hrs req IMHO)

Your honest opinion will mean nothing to a prospective employer when they want your training certificate so they can have it on file to meet their insurance company's requirements. Without that certificate you will be hard pressed to get employment from most of the major carriers. I am seriously surprised that Schneider is willing to take you on.

The best scenario for you is to take Schneider's offer. You are not starting your career under ideal circumstances, and we would never recommend your chosen path to anyone. But, it is your bed, and I guess you must sleep in it. Not everyone has the ability to go OTR right out of the box, and we understand that.

Here is our concerns...

You are going to be exposing yourself to some precarious situations for a rookie when embarking your career as a local driver. These positions are particularly tough with tight schedules causing you to rush yourself, and that only magnifies the chances of you making a mistake and hitting something with all the difficult maneuvering you will be required to do on this type of an account. One of my favorite members in here is Mountain Girl. She could not go OTR because she was a single (divorced) Mom who had small children at home still. She took a local job, had a couple of seemingly small accidents and then got let go due to the accidents. Now she had no experience to speak of, and some dings on her record. Last I heard from her she was having to do temp jobs on a daily basis - what ever she could get as a driving job. That is why it is tough to go about this like you are doing it. You can easily mess up your whole career due to the difficulty of taking a local driving gig with no OTR experience to help you have a foundation to build upon.

I say to go with Schneider because although their training is shorter than most, it is also very thorough. You will also have so many more options with them as time goes by. Their operation is huge with all kinds of divisions you could move over into with ease if you are able to prove yourself as a safe and productive driver.

That other job sounds like a dead end to me.

thx for your reply....

Xanax, what they are referring to about the 160 hours is a training certificate that shows evidence of 160 hours training - that is what you will get from a training program or a truck driving school.

(Seems to satisfy the 160hrs req IMHO)

Your honest opinion will mean nothing to a prospective employer when they want your training certificate so they can have it on file to meet their insurance company's requirements. Without that certificate you will be hard pressed to get employment from most of the major carriers. I am seriously surprised that Schneider is willing to take you on.

Heck, I was surprised too...

I got the impression that they are desperate for drivers....not that Im an "undesirable"...LOL

I have a clean MVR , 15+yrs of no speeding tickets, no infractions, nada.

Never did drugs of any kind

No Felonies or Misdeamenors etc

steady work history.

Schneider asked how I got my CDL , I told them about the O/O friend giving me some training, then renting a truck and passing...which means I have no "School Certificate" to show....but I have my CDL to prove that I did not screw up during the testing

I say to go with Schneider because although their training is shorter than most, it is also very thorough. You will also have so many more options with them as time goes by. Their operation is huge with all kinds of divisions you could move over into with ease if you are able to prove yourself as a safe and productive driver.

That other job sounds like a dead end to me.

Based on what I have read here re: schneider boot camp, it seems to be exactly what my O/O friend did to me....unless im missing something.

They have a simulator, which is cool.

I've dropped & hooked, I've backed into docks up in PA @ Nestle plant, I dove up & down scranton PA all the way to SC & GA.

please keep in mind, I'm not demeaning schneider bootcamp, but based on the stories, i have not read anything that gives me that "Aha!" lightbulb moment. it seems to me to be replication of private CDL school (or maybe the private CDL schools copied schneiders format..LOL)

All in all, Im all for more training, but Im kinda expecting a graduated level of training like my motorcycle experiences.

In motorcycle, I started with the regular MSF class, then after one year of experience, I took Advanced MSF training, and after another year, I took a training similar to motorcycle cops (real aggressive/footpeg scrapping stuff)

Im I expecting too much?

Two things I am going to say and it's basically already been said; the training you will receive at Schneider is not what you received in school.

And:

A couple of hundred miles in your friend's truck is not near enough to prepare you for solo running. When I road trained I turned over 15,000 miles, over a six week period.

We offered you sound, truthful advice, based on our collective experience and common sense. Go with Schneider...

Good luck.