Profile For Travis

I can second Scheider. I got my CDL separately but the bulk tanker training I received was great, very safety focused company.

It was no fault of Schneider's I left, merely an opportunity they simply couldn't match.

I'm actually headed to the new job now after a few weeks of training. If for some reason I absolutely hate it I'd head back to Schneider with no issues. I actually just got a "rehire" email from them

Hi Austin and welcome. This topic is discussed regularly, but for good reason. People getting started in the industry need to have a realistic view of reviews about companies. Most of what you read is pure garbage posted by disgruntled employees or ex-employees. If the truth was known, these negative nobodies created whatever mess they are griping about.

Personally, I started out with Schneider. They didn’t have CDL training then, but they do now. And you get to go for free and even get paid. Schneider has top notch training and instructors. I left Schneider for various reasons but I still think they are a fine company, especially as a starter company. Prime is another stellar example, as is CFI, TMC, Swift and many others. Approach those negative reviews with a heavy dose of skepticism.

Driving as a "civilian" is so liberating. Drive when you wanna, nap when you wanna.

Made it home yesterday safely for my youngest's first Christmas.

Hope everyone reading had a safe and Merry Christmas, if ya were home or on the road

🤣 its the drop off spot for my rental car. My actual destination is Mexicali.

Love is what took me to Mexicali originally cause I can't imagine anyone going there willingly for any other reason.

I've never met anyone in the military (past or present) that went to El Centro willingly.

The bunk heaters Schneider had were no joke. Never used them in super cold. Maybe 20° max.

Now that I'll be in North Dakota I might miss them

Anyone driven or driving this right now? Had a flight in Tulsa cancelled, next available is 27th. Not trying to miss Christmas by that much so rented an AWD car.

Looking for updates on conditions on the road and any particular areas to watch out for. I think I10 from Las Cruces should be ok to go across to I8 and into El Centro CA but any data points from someone who has been on it in the past couple days or is doing it now, EB or WB would be appreciated.

Stay safe and have a Merry Christmas everyone.

I like resets as I can do laundry and catch an Uber to Walmart to grab supplies and a real restaurant meal etc

Not that you can't do that on recaps but I tend to prefer not feeling rushed

For the record, I don't understand the "I hate resets" perspective. I'm the opposite. Running recaps seems to be a pain in ass, because it requires much more trip planning than running resets. On another thread, Packrat posted his 8 day logs showing that he runs between 8 to 9 hours a day. I can't imagine how much planning it takes to run recaps that consistently.

I'm running recaps for the first time since I began driving. As I mentioned above, I had 1.5 available on-duty hours yesterday morning, which was exactly what I needed to get to my receiver. I used an additional 1.5 hours on-duty checking in and pumping off my load. Then PCed to a truck stop after unloading. I "got back" 9.5 hours last night at midnight, but when I checked my clock this morning, I had only 8 hours of available on-duty time. While it makes sense, I didn't realize that the 1.5 hours of on-duty time I spent beyond my 70 would be subtracted from the time I "got back." When running resets, I have a brand new 70 after a reset. Any extra on-duty time spent beyond my 70 does not subtract from my post-reset 70-hour clock.

Running resets, I know what available hours I have each day, except when get close to the running out of my 70-hour clock: 11/14 every day. I never have to "plan recaps" or have a "couple of days of bad recaps."

I've always wondered why a public/private partnership wouldn't work in rural areas.

Huge swaths of woods and just fields along interstates. Get something like EZ Pass and charge $5-20 or whatever it costs to keep a restroom staffed, some semblance of security and trash picked up for the night. Have them every 50 miles. Have signs about 25 miles before them X total spots, Y available (if you're using an ez pass like system you can log spots as drivers come in and go out)

Certainly won't work in urban areas but if widespread you could allow HOS extensions in areas that are truck parking unfriendly to get to the nearest open parking at one.

Williston ND, stocking up on Ariat gear and smartwool base layers 👌

Congrats! Will you be in west TX?

I just put in my two weeks notice with Schneider to take a job cementing with Schlumberger.

15 days on 6 off, so basically double the time off, they pay for airfare and given the possible hours the pay will be about 2.-2.5x a week what I make now. Pay will only average out to maybe $500 more a month as with double the time off I'll have less work per any lengthy period of time.

What really sold me was the amount of time I will be able to be home with my family and them paying for my travel. Even with double the amount of time off I'll probably be working just as hard or harder though.

Anyone reading this looking into trucking or companies - I'd still recommend Schneider based on my experience. Everyone I've met and worked with has been professional and I feel the training was really good.

I came into Schneider via schneiderjobs dot com with 0 experience and a sign on bonus. As of a week ago when I was checking for a buddy who wanted to look into driving the jobs listed had 3 months experience.

I see students training but so far I've been too busy to go up and ask if it they already have CDLs or if it's the all in one paid CDL and Schneider training rolled into one.

Hey all, I was convincing a buddy of mine to get his CDL but he stumped me when he asked “Is their ever a time where truck companies have hiring freezes”?

Is their a time that happens every now and then?

Our pins were MMDDYY birthdates, not sure if that's on any paperwork a trainer would have but a sinple social engineering "when's your birthday? Oh cool, what year" gets that data

I can't say how their actual volume is but Schneider has some approximately $3000 bonus deal if you'll run teams on the van side up through the holidays.

As we head into the slow season, FedEx is offering furloughs instead of laying off employees. Furloughs are offered top to bottom and then forced bottom to top if nobody volunteers.

Furloughs would be from December 4th to March 5. FedEx will pay for all of our benefits during that time so we continue to have medical/dental etc. After the return from furlough, FedEx will pay out 300/week for each week we were off. They can't pay it during furlough because it would interfere with unemployment. They will deduct the insurance premiums from the time we were off from that 300/week.

FedEx guarantees return to employment at your seniorty spot and if furloughs are still necessary in March, they will do the process over again.

Anyone ever have to deal with them? I got sent to 3 different places 5 different times to get some tests done 🤣😭

US Army 2004-2008 92F (Petroleum Supply Specialist)

Small trash can,save truck stop and grocery store bags. Have a trash bag in the can, put a store bag inside it. Maybe more if you got bubble guts. Wrap it up, tie it off. Put another bag and tie that as well if you can't immediately put it in a trash can/dumpster outside your truck. When you can get it out of the truck also close and tie off the trash bag. I've got a small trash can, maybe 2 gallon size. A 5 gallon bucket would take up more space than I'd want to give up.

Yes, i mean can you take the test on a bus with just the permit?

For passenger you can take the written, but you have to test on a bus to get the endorsement on your license.

You can even do the actual driving parts of the passenger and bus endorsements with a permit?

I can only speak for North Carolina because I literally just went through this, but you can test out on all endorsements. Some companies may require certain ones like tanker or doubles-triples. DMV may try to give you a little grief. Just tell them that you need them to test. Haz-Mat is probably one you don’t want unless you absolutely need it for a job.

You can even do the actual driving parts of the passenger and bus endorsements with a permit?

I can only speak for North Carolina because I literally just went through this, but you can test out on all endorsements. Some companies may require certain ones like tanker or doubles-triples. DMV may try to give you a little grief. Just tell them that you need them to test. Haz-Mat is probably one you don’t want unless you absolutely need it for a job.

Another thing to look at is intermittent fasting and/or keto to keep your a1c and weight down. I want to say I've seen Brett post some about it as well.

There are plenty of type 1 db drivers. Some on this forum.

I'm hypoglycemic so have to watch diet closely as well. With a high protein, 1 to 1.5 grams of protein to 1 lbs of bodyweight, a bodyweight workout using the armrests for dips, pikes, diamond push-ups, coupled with kneeling pull-ups from the top bunk, declined push-ups from the bed down and utilizing the bags of chains for squats, curls and lat pulls, I've been able to consistently put on Lean muscle and reduce stubborn fat. I lift for progressive failure. I'll never be huge, but will definitely stay trim and lean with great core strength while putting on some size.

I alternate my workouts with a half hour of brisk walking on rest days. No hard-core cardio as it isn't needed for my body type and metabolism.

Absolutely no soda, no fast food, rarely eat out. Water only. I have a bit more latitude on fat, but even then, I keep it light. Organic clean protein.

Thanks, with the good responses I'm pretty confident now it's possible to stay fit while on the road. I go take a pre A1C the 30th this month. If that goes well. Below 8% I'm going to take my actual physical.

What about someone on paper logs who went off duty exactly at 0200? Would they put the line at 0200 or 0100?

I've wondered what happens on your logs, especially if you go off duty exactly at 0200 that day?

This Sunday, 2022 06 NOV, at 0200 Eastern Standard Time Daylight Saving Time ends. Clocks revert back one hour, so you get an extra hour of sleep. Set all those timepieces back before you go nighty night on Saturday. Try not to arrive an hour early to your delivery the next morning.

Trust Cher (yeah right!).

Iirc your logs update automatically but you still have to get a full ten hours off

I've wondered what happens on your logs, especially if you go off duty exactly at 0200 that day?

This Sunday, 2022 06 NOV, at 0200 Eastern Standard Time Daylight Saving Time ends. Clocks revert back one hour, so you get an extra hour of sleep. Set all those timepieces back before you go nighty night on Saturday. Try not to arrive an hour early to your delivery the next morning.

Trust Cher (yeah right!).