Profile For Jamie

I dont know what company he works for but the company I work for Schneider has it in writing. Like most other companies. And a lot of shippers and receivers have signs about no weapons allowed.

A 34 hour reset and 541 miles later, I'm 61 miles from my delivery for 7am tomorrow. I would have went further today but didn't want to risk getting into any traffic jams going through Fort Worth TX with only 2 hours left.

I also have problems with judging distances, but my biggest concern is is that I seem to not be straight in the docks half the time. It's embarring to have to keep fixing my position. I was so crooked last week that I pulled up and kept making it worse!😂 It took forever to get myself straight in the dock.

I used to have that problem, how I usually use something as a reference point either on the ground or something on the wall next to the dock. A few times when there was nothing to use as a reference point, I made my with something either lying on the ground or something from my truck. That way I can line my wheels up to the dock door based off my reference point.

I thought the company was too big to keep track of that stuff, and I thought I was just lucky getting a brand new truck and pretty much never sitting anywhere, but I must be doing something right. I got a ride to the pharmacy with another driver because Schneider won't let me drive anything while I'm on meds, even the company car. This driver did nothing but complain about the company the entire time. He's an older guy with a lot of time in the seat, and I wonder how. He was a terrible car driver, going in a do not enter driveway, all over the road, and too busy complaining to pay attention to the road. He was complaining about his old, beaten up truck too, and was shocked when I told him I had a brand new truck that no one had ever had before. All his trucks have been old. He mentioned that he's all for himself because the company didn't care about him and they don't mess with him because "he don't play." He said they never mess with his hometime because they know him at the company and he'll call his lawyer. I couldn't believe this guy, and I'm sure they do know him, and not favorably. I was in a lot of pain riding with him, and he was painful to be around. I think there's a lot to what Brett says, and I didn't really believe it until I saw how an "old timer" is treated in the company vs. a rookie like me who never has a problem when I need to be off, and gets new equipment and anything else I've asked for. It's all in your performance and attitude.

I've encountered a few people st Schneider like that at our OCs, and whenever we do talk and our trucks come up, everyone is always so surprised that I also got a brand new truck. Figured I must be doing something right, because my DBL told me only me and two of his other drivers got new trucks right now. Of course I'm sure that has changed now but at the time.

What's going on guys. Its been a while. Well I graduated and have been upgraded to a solo driver. I have been out on the road solo going into my 4th week. It has definitely been fun and different. I have been having my learning curves, but its all been dope. The hardest day so far was when I locked my keys in the truck lol. If u wanna hear the story lemme know. Everything else has been fun tho. I learned always add a extra hour for Massachusetts traffic and definitely 2 if u driving thru NY.

You are definitely not alone in having locked the keys in the truck

Nope, I've done it twice myself. Once in my second truck and another when I got my new truck. I kept reminding myself to zip tie a key outside somewhere, but I kept pushing it off. Then I had to go to the bathroom really bad, and started to close the door, I noticed my mistake as it was closing and tried to grab it but no luck. Paid out of pocket to have it unlocked the second time.

So "sneaky good"!

Sounds like somehow the planners must have access to something about your abilities to "git 'er done!" Anyone know more about this? Could be some sort of "simple" "scoring system". Could be info on ontime performance, bonuses earned, etc.. Despite the the apparent desire to avoid favoritism they no doubt have access to a wealth of information. I believe Schneider pioneered GPS tracking. They have known for decades where their tractors and trailers are.

Banks use "profitability" scoring systems when crediting fees, etc..

Just guessing but I bet the planners and DBL's know more than you might think.

Anyone?

No idea what information that have track of rather then our next available time. But Schneider does keep track of other information such as on time deliveries, ETA compliance(such as making it there when we say we will or keeping the ETA updated), and a few other things such fuel mileage and compliance.

Stay home. Drugs and trucking don’t mix.

I didn't think about this before, but I remember them telling us that even in training. Seems Schneider is the only or one of the only companies to do that.

Also I always hear stories about getting to know your dispatcher, however Schneider handles things a bit different from my understandings. My DBL(Direct Business Leader) isn't the person dispatching my loads, a group of planners and what not from their main location in Green Bay dispatches loads to drivers, they have no idea who you are, I heard they do this to avoid favoritism.

Now from my understanding, dedicated accounts are different and your DBL will dispatch you those loads because they are specific for that account. But OTR and Regional is handled by someone else, because anytime something comes up or I cant make a load due to hours, my DBL always mentions he has to get with the planners, and he'll get back to me.

Like this load I got now, another DBL set it up while talking with the planners that give these loads out, to avoid me sitting in El Paso over the weekend.

You are required to pass a dot physical and drug screening to get your permit and CDL, so yes they will drug test you.

I meant sneaky more in a joking manner, however I appreciate what they did, the load even has 600 miles on it. Probably better then something the weekend dispatch would give me from previous experiences.

Funny thing is, it wasnt even my dispatcher. It was another DBL aka dispatcher, he set the whole thing up before my DBL even got to work.

I actually made this same mistake, but I was parking at the service plaza because I didn't have enough time to go anywhere else. Delivered to the same Walmart DC and everything.

Probably 3 or 4 weeks ago.

Doing the 8/2 split would be amazing if Schneider allowed it, would have been helpful a few times.

Well this place worked me in quickly, faster the a lot of places where I'm at during my appointment times.

So what was sneaky?

Just an unexpected load, but it was really a favor to keep me rolling after my 34 which would have been over tomorrow. I'm not mad or anything, I actually appreciate it. Since they could have just left me here Haha.

Lucky the shipper decided to take me early.

I was set to take a 34 after I delivered my last load this morning, since I have 5 hours left on my clock. Well they changed my NAT for me and gave me a load picking up at 2pm that had enough time on it for me to take a 34 hour reset and still make the time.

They was doing me a favor, because if I didn't get this load I would've been here until Monday since they had nothing coming out of El Paso this weekend.

The catch was, the appointment was for another day actually at 6pm. But they was messaging with the shipper to get it moved up, which they did but it wasnt until 6pm tonight, which I wouldn't be able to do since I'd be out of hours. So I made sure with Schneider it was okay to go in early, since they want us to get approval from them. So I did. They wasnt sure but said I could try, so I did and the shipper agreed to take me early, and worked me in. So I waited for about an hour, and got a dock door which I had to disconnect and park in a bobtail area, since the yard is small.

So I'm here waiting, but they looked to have the load ready, and started loading me as I disconnected. currently have 3 hours and 58 minutes on my clock and already got a parking spot near by.

El Paso is great. If you park at the J near the back, you can walk up that hill and get a great view of Juarez and if you listen closely at night, even hear some gunfire lol.

Funny I'm planning to take a 34 hour reset there, low on hours and recaps coming back to late. They have kept me busy this week.

Once you run the west for awhile, you'll never want to deal with the NE again. You'll be amazed at the availability of parking compared to your home turf!

Parking in the south is completely different then the North East, pulled into this rest area in TX on I20 west and it still had 3 spots open. Would have been 4 but some car is parked in one...

Jamie, what kind of miles are you turning each week currently?

My average miles per week is in the range of 2000-2500. Now I've had weeks I got near 3000 miles for the weeks, kinda depends on the loads they're giving me and which customers I go to, live loads/unloads.

Schneider handles loads assignments based on the next available time we set when picking up a load, so we trip plan and let Schneider know when we will be ready again and how many hours we expect to have and usually they will have a load for us before we even deliver the current one. But lately I've been waiting around a lot, for example I will deliver a load with a fresh clock, but due to the area I'm in there will be no loads right away so I'll either wait around burning my 14 hour clock or forced to take a early 10 hour break due to the appointment time of the next load assigned.

Because I try to use my clock up as much as possible, whenever they keep me busy.

I try picking up or delivering early whenever possible but it has to be approves by my dispatcher or customer service, doesn't matter if I call the customer directly which I have a few times. But if it isn't approved by my dispatcher or customer service, they count it as a service failure.

Some people get freaked out by the way the loads fall on each paycheck. They'll get one big paycheck, then a small one the next week and think they're not doing well overall when in fact it's just kind of random which loads fall on which paychecks. Obviously you have to look at the average pay you're making overall to get a clear idea.

That's exactly my problem, and it happened for my next paycheck actually. I had a lot I picked up on the last pay day of the week, and I ran 50 miles and parked due to being low on hours. The next day I drove 550 miles which I expected to be on my next paycheck since it was the start of the new pay week but instead Schneider put all the paid miles on this weeks check so my next check will be a bit lower. But in reality, I'm making the same money just one week paycheck might be lower then the previous check.

I think you should really evaluate this a little better before you make this move if the plan is to make as much money as possible. I highly doubt you'll make more at that local flatbed job.

I'm sure you're right about that.

Now on the other hand, if the point is to get home more often then by all means I understand.

Home time right now is fine, I usually stay out 4 weeks at a time and go home for 3 days. My wife can now come on the road with me, which she actually enjoys. So it's mostly just the pay, or how it falls on each pay check. That and some weeks I get pretty low miles.

However since coming back to work last week, every load I got was basically 500-900 miles long besides one I did for 80 miles by it they got me a 900 mile load which I'm picking up soon.

Of course I'm joking Jamie.

Of course, I was just going along with it.

And i know the inconsistent pay is due to me being a rookie and needing to prove myself. I have been doing that and always look for ways to improve with everything ranging from driving, dealing with customers, keeping dispatch informed of any delays and things alike, and so on down the list. And it has shown that it has helped, these days I get loads with more miles on them, with some bad weeks here and there which is expected. Unlike before where I did a lot of short haul loads all the time.

Now I'm in no way saying I'm perfect and got this all figured out, just that I'm always trying to improve rather then just getting by doing the bare minimum.

Schneider is an amazing company and everyone is here to help you improve if you wish too. Me looking into something with more of a base pay or even something with more consistent miles each week is more of a temporary thing to better support me and my wife's situation currently.

I know your comment wasnt directed at me, but I figured I would reply regarding my specific situation.