Profile For G-Town

My ultimate goal is to be good enough and safe enough within the next 3-5 years to be able to get hired on by Walmart (I mean I live 10 minutes from one of their main DC's in Bentonville, Arkansas.). There's also a few others around here that will take me once I get a year under my belt. So, to me Schneider is a stepping stone that will hopefully help launch me into a pretty good career that will enable me to help provide a better living for myself and my family.

I have been a Walmart Dedicated driver with Swift almost 6 years now, running on a NorthEast regional account delivering dry and perishable groceries to stores and Sam’s Club. Schneider is a good choice for you since they have many Walmart Dedicated accounts. The absolute best path for landing a future job with WMPF is to work for one of their transportation partners (like Schneider, Swift, USX, Crete, etc.) assigned a Dedicated Account at a DC.

That said, IMO it's best to get several months of OTR experience before committing to a Walmart Account. It’s a very challenging job for an entry-level driver; requiring frequent close quarter maneuvering and 5-7 backs per day (I average about 1600 backs per year). I happen to love the work and the job, but it’s not everyone’s cup-of-tea. Not trying to discourage you at all, just offering a reality check.

Here is a link to a piece I wrote 2 summers ago about my adventures... A Day in the Life of a Walmart Dedicated Driver. This will give you a good thumbnail of what it's like.

Good luck with your quest to be a Pumpkin Pilot!

Welcome to the forum.

Not sure if you had an opportunity to read and study these links, if not; a great place to start. Brett’s book and the Career Guide will help set realistic expectations. The High Road is an on-line Training course designed to enable expedited success in passing the permit tests.

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

My suggestion is to consider all of your options, not just one. Schneider is a great company; however their road training is by far the shortest in the industry. You might be okay with that, you might not...

Please take a look at this link for other possibilities: Paid CDL Training Programs.

Good luck.

Now...what he should have said is...I wanted to be home every night on a schedule and be home for my family....but instead he created a syndrome.

You think I’m incompetent! Creating a false syndrome! Correcting my wording! I know what I said and yes there is medical research being studied on this. Article is in the workshop.

KingPin...no one said you were incompetent. Why the venom?

Several folks, including two highly respected moderators asked you a question; what did you mean by Truckers Syndrome?

So...why don’t you answer the question?

I find it amusing that a part-time driver (Kit) is advocating a trucker strike after resurfacing a five-year old thread.

Agenda? I think so.

Read his profile, it references “Black Smoke Matters”.

So Kit, Trucking Truth’s charter is all about helping committed men and women from any walk of life, including retired CEOs make a positive go at this career. How does your week politically bent post achieve that? Who exactly does it help?

After a bit of brief research, I concluded that "Abused Trucker Syndrome" may be caused by spending too much time reading posts on "thetruckersreport".

A bit of truth, a bit of snark...

He’s back...

Interesting...

Its to bad there is way to many rookies getting out there and just hammering down and expecting to get home safe.

Only rookies? I believe a blanket statement like this needs to also apply to experienced truckers.

Most rookies are scared-to-death to speed, plus most of the carriers that hire entry-level drivers have governed speed. Besides, the newer technology gets drivers flagged for excessive over speeding.

“Horrid regs”? Like what?

Auto-shift? The negative hype surrounding this is overblown and unfounded. I drove a 10sp manual for two years before my fleet went full auto. Not a big deal. In fact I prefer it now.

Electronic logs is the biggest reg. change occurring lately.

If you have prior experience, a year or more this change isn’t an onerous one. Elogs will be reviewed and taught during orientation and then in real-time while road training.

Tractor... is ... in ... the ... House !!!!

Welcome back!

Yes, true.

Good photo gallery of this truck...

1974 Freightliner

Wow that model is amazing! I'm searching for 73 or 74 diecast cabover freightliner..its a harder hunt than I thought to find on as close as possible in red. Little differences here and there. Or big ones...particularly the top.

I suppose to get the perfect replica I'd need to build my own like you did. But man that takes crazy skills! The scale on yours means its very tiny correct?

Thank you! Yes tiny, less than 1” wide.

Many DCP 1/64th White Freightliner COEs on eBay. Mid 70s. The black one with yellow stripes is a dead-nuts ringer for the prototype truck photo you posted.

Log into eBay and search on DCP 1/64th.

Try this link:

Diecast Direct

Also AMT has 1/25th scale kits of this truck. You can search eBay for this.

Here are the photos...

HO scale, 1/87th

I will post an HO scale version of a truck I built about 20 years ago...

My father thinks it is probably a late 70s or early 80s Freightliner cabover

He is in the right ballpark.

It’s early to mid 70s White Freightliner COE. This is several years before White Motor Trucks sold the Freightliner brand to Daimler. White originally had Western Star, Autocar, Freightliner and White brands of heavy trucks.

Late 70s/early 80s version the grill was changed from the open grid to tightly spaced horizontal fins. The air intake above the grill was also simplified to a similar design.

Early to mid 70s White Freightliner COE. I’ve seen lots of restorations of these. Tonkin and First Gear make diecast replicas in 1/50th scale.

I can probably help you, but recheck the link. It’s not working.

Congratulations!

Congratulations Rob! Good luck to you.

The scenario described by Old School is typical of the areas surrounding Lancaster Pa. In particular taking PA-10 off of I-176 from New Holland to Lancaster in order to make deliveries at several Walmart’s in that area.

Many, many buggy encounters along the route, with small children in the back smiling and waving right at you.

Different world, requires extra care.

I’ll say it again, really good stuff CWC, & all. Enjoyed reading it.