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Questions about Schneider

TruckNado

Member
Hello all, first post here.
I'm about to finish up my CDL school and from all my research I've decided that Schneider was probably the best fit for what I'm looking to do. I'm considering joining the tanker division there to get that experience.

I came across a blog post on their site explaining the average pay and it was a convaluted pile of horse manure. In the comments section some folks were probing the recruiter to elaborate further but to no avail. He just kept dodging of course.

I did some more digging around the net and discovered a few reviews from drivers who have to haggle with the company to get their paychecks reworked every week! This may be due to errors or intentional attempts to short the driver. The thought of having to maintain an insane amount of oversight over money grubbing thieves on top of all my other duties is a major put off. I have a bad feeling that this is the status quo industry wide which really deflates my enthusiasm for a career in trucking. Any insiders got intel on this situation at Schneider?

Here is a few more inquiries specific to Schneider if there any of their employees lurking around here.

Can I carry a pistol?
Can tanker trainees only drive when the tank is empty?
Do they still do the three drivers/one truck OTR that runs two weeks out one week home? If so, can you make decent pay with this configuration and is it really seven days home?

That's it for now and thanks in advance for reading or replying.
 
Yep. Scenic.

Everyone was like "hey man y'all need to check out the huuuuuge amaaaaaazeballlllllssss main terminal in Gary, Indiana!"

I googled it. Member photos or whatever they're called say "meh."

I guess I'm hard to impress. Satellite shows a big mess of people who can't park to save their lives.

When i drove for SNI for a year and a half back in 04 before I left trucking for a few years... my fave OC was the one jn seville Ohio... nice clean fresh food at cafe and a truck and trailer automatic wash... sadly they shut it down to save a few bucks sometime back.

Gary Indiana wasnt much better than houston I dont know what the rave was about.

The next best one is Indianapolis. Really huge and a cafe.. mechanics are super friendly always willing to help.

The one in Alabama... which got shut down was small but really friendly mechanics. Give them 50 bucks theyd turn the truck speedo up from 65 to ...... 😁
 
When i drove for SNI for a year and a half back in 04 before I left trucking for a few years... my fave OC was the one jn seville Ohio... nice clean fresh food at cafe and a truck and trailer automatic wash... sadly they shut it down to save a few bucks sometime back.

Gary Indiana wasnt much better than houston I dont know what the rave was about.

The next best one is Indianapolis. Really huge and a cafe.. mechanics are super friendly always willing to help.

The one in Alabama... which got shut down was small but really friendly mechanics. Give them 50 bucks theyd turn the truck speedo up from 65 to ...... 😁
I hate the OCs. I always feel like a foreigner. Our satellite lot is super informal. At the OC it's like a farmer visiting First National Bank of Shoulda Wore a Suit in his overalls.
 
I hate the OCs. I always feel like a foreigner. Our satellite lot is super informal. At the OC it's like a farmer visiting First National Bank of Shoulda Wore a Suit in his overalls.

Really? Wow its change alot. I remember whenId visit greenbay and old don schneider would always be seen walking around in blue jeans or jean overalls.

The good ole days before the jewish cabal tookover leadership from the schneider family. Then things became “corporate” and I suppose this is the outcome.
 
Well, I just quit, so here is my 2 cents.
Pay? I have no idea how or why, but I wasnt making crap. Granted, I should have been more on top of it all, but I wasnt. I never asked about any of the details of it. Detention pay, drop and hook pay, EXTRA drop and hooks, loaded vs empty vs bobtail, paid hub miles, book miles, gpsed miles, etc, etc. Yes, my mistake.
There is some IMPORTANT stuff that you may miss, repeatedly, that wont be caught by your dbl unless he goes looking for it. Like filling our the load tab with your HOS. I missed it, like since I started in October. When my dbl finally caught it, he told me the story of some driver that got an 18 year sentence for manslaughter due to him not filling out the load tab. This was after about 1.5 months of my not filling it out that it was noticed. BUT! Accidentally get fuel while you are logged off duty? You will have one message about it before you can even pull away from the pump, and another within about 15 minutes. That shows me where their priorities are. I also got screwed out of home time twice, within about a week.
The final thing that tipped me over the edge was going through NYC during rush hour. Multiple reasons why, but it was pure hell and it was the final straw for me. Living in a truck, cooking on the floorboard in front of the drivers seat so the wind didnt blow out the stove and the fuel can stayed warm,*, and dealing with a wife that couldn't handle me being gone so much. I was done. I have always admired truck drivers, and now I have more reason to admire all of you that can do the Over The Road life. Me? I will stay local now.

As for the *? The little butane stoves you see in a truck stops are kick ass! They work beautifully, set it on a cookie sheet or something and you can put them anywhere without the heat damaging anything. (Like carpet or a Rubber mat in front of your seat) I used a foil roasting pan because it blocked the wind too. You can use it in the truck, IF you have good ventilation. I just left the door open since I was usually standing there anyways. ut the fuel need to be a bit warm. Below about 40 degrees, the pressure in the can drops a lot and it doesnt burn as well either. Get a few cans and keep them warm, NOT hot! Don't put them on your defroster vents to warm it up. At some point they WILL explode.
Back on subject. Make sure you know exactly what you are getting into. But that goes for any company. I learned a lot and I have a skill i can take anywhere. But i went into this with blinders on in some ways. That was my mistake.
 
That's what I forgot!
The OC's and other drivers.
Other than the ones I trained with, I saw ZERO camaraderie or connection with any other Schneider drivers until literally my last day. I only found one other driver that ran a CB, (again, last day). If you flash to let one back in after they pass you, you get no response, if you pass them they wont flash you back in. Very, very few will wave back if you wave to them. In short, you are completely alone. I got better reception and interaction from almost everyone out there EXCEPT my fellow Schneider drivers.
It was just sad.
The OC's were ok though, the only one where you actually see anyone was Carlisle, where I trained. Everyone there was great to deal with though.
 
Working off duty is kind of a significant violation. So yeah they're gonna flag stuff that blatant. It's automated.

They're not gonna have automated flags for leaving spaces blank on the logs and workflow.

I doubt anyone got a manslaughter charge for leaving a load form blank. That's form & manner. It's a violation but not of the driving without hours variety. Lots of DBLs are FOS.

I dunno why you didn't make any money either but my slipseater started out complaining that he wasn't making anything but come to find out he always cut his day short by declining extra loads or whatever they'd have planned. So he'd miss out on like, $50-80 a day because he wanted to go home early. That's at minimum $250 a week, $13,000 a year.
 
Working off duty is kind of a significant violation. So yeah they're gonna flag stuff that blatant. It's automated.

They're not gonna have automated flags for leaving spaces blank on the logs and workflow.

I doubt anyone got a manslaughter charge for leaving a load form blank. That's form & manner. It's a violation but not of the driving without hours variety. Lots of DBLs are FOS.

I dunno why you didn't make any money either but my slipseater started out complaining that he wasn't making anything but come to find out he always cut his day short by declining extra loads or whatever they'd have planned. So he'd miss out on like, $50-80 a day because he wanted to go home early. That's at minimum $250 a week, $13,000 a year.
some people only wanna work a set hours, or a set routine...

i turned down extra work cuz it was sporadic and only when the regular driver was running late or out sick..

after about 3 refusals to do any extra work, the boss stopped asking me, and that's fine with me..

i have a set routine/route, that i can plan on a regular paycheck, and home near my usual time......which suits me just fine.

for all my years, either as a mechanic or driver, i never asked, volunteered or accepted extra work...

quitting time, was just that, and i couldn't be bothered.
 
some people only wanna work a set hours, or a set routine...

i turned down extra work cuz it was sporadic and only when the regular driver was running late or out sick..

after about 3 refusals to do any extra work, the boss stopped asking me, and that's fine with me..

i have a set routine/route, that i can plan on a regular paycheck, and home near my usual time......which suits me just fine.

for all my years, either as a mechanic or driver, i never asked, volunteered or accepted extra work...

quitting time, was just that, and i couldn't be bothered.
He was a new guy with no set routine. But even so, my point is he was complaining about not making as much as the guys who put in the hours and hustle.

I'm not talking extra work. I'm talking about asking for loads to be removed from what's considered a normal day just to cut early.

For us, extra loads is different than putting in a new day. It's having a few hours left in your 12 hour block and taking a load. It's not overtime, it's just normal. It's not even above and beyond. It's a full shift.
 
He was a new guy with no set routine. But even so, my point is he was complaining about not making as much as the guys who put in the hours and hustle.

I'm not talking extra work. I'm talking about asking for loads to be removed from what's considered a normal day just to cut early.

For us, extra loads is different than putting in a new day. It's having a few hours left in your 12 hour block and taking a load. It's not overtime, it's just normal. It's not even above and beyond. It's a full shift.
oh.
 
Nope, I was running as hard as I could as fast as I could. It still could have been something with me, but I stopped to relieve myself or to eat, that's about it. (Most days)
Well, if you did your best and still didn't make any money, then you did the best you could and time to cut ties and your losses and move on. 👍
 
Yup. At the same time I also found out that I cant hang with you guys either. :) I will still be driving, but over the road is not for me. (Or the wife) :)
I can't blame you for that, OTR is not for everyone, I am also at a stage where OTR is no longer a good fit for me, I stay local.
The good thing about holding a CDL is that there are so many different kinds of opportunities.
 
I can't blame you for that, OTR is not for everyone, I am also at a stage where OTR is no longer a good fit for me, I stay local.
The good thing about holding a CDL is that there are so many different kinds of opportunities.
I’m the opposite, I can’t do local work. It drives me bananas. Bumping into the same shipper and the small talk gets old fast. One union place even had the plant workers listed by seniority. I can’t stand union run places.

I like seeing new roads and going to different places. I can see how after awhile the novelty wears off though
 

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