Comments By Dean R.

Give them a blank EFS Check.

I went with Schneider after an unsuccessful attempt at flatbed with a small regional carrier. Orientation for new drivers with a CDL was two weeks. After orientation I spent 5 days with a TE (Training Engineer) before getting my own truck. I was on the Walmart Dedicated account out of Sterling, IL. I delivered to stores in Southern Wisconsin, Upper Northwest Indiana, Central IL. and Eastern Iowa. Any yeah, that included Chicago proper (Cook and Lake counties) and the suburbs. Best backing training you'll get!

Schneider offers a CDL program now. I don't know much about it. Regarding the 5 days with a TE - I learned a lot in that short time. I personally did not want 3 to 5 weeks in someone else's truck during the pandemic.

Dean

Hello all. I am new both to driving and to this forum so I hope this topic hasn't been posted a ton and my apologies if it has. I am former law enforcement but due to an injury sustained in the line of duty, I was forced to make a career change. But I'm not the "sit in an office all day" type of person. I like being out and about and I don't mind doing some hard work to go along with it, so trucking caught my interest.

As someone who is new to the industry, I'm still not naive enough to not understand that companies are going to put their "best" information on the website to try to get you hired, and the recruiters will tell you what you want to hear. It was the same with the military when I was serving.

That said, if you just look at reviews for a large majority of companies that hire new drivers, they are usually pretty dang terrible. As someone new to this industry, I'd love to hear from some of you on what to believe and what not to believe. I have a family so I certainly don't want to get into a horrible situation, but I also know that there will be cons to anything you do, that's just part of life.

Some companies I am looking into that are associated with my CDL school are Averitt, Werner, Schneider, etc. But there are other companies like Warrior Logistics, EPES Transport, USA Truck, Paschall Truck Lines, etc. that will also hire new grads and put you through their training.

Thanks so much for your time. I appreciate any comments.

Lol, poor ole swifty swift. I looked into them in the beginning and mentioned it to my sister. She said, "You know what "Swift" means, don't you?" haha

If you are a fan of Bonehead truckers it seems like Amazon Prime and FedEx contractors have taken over for Swift as bonehead videos.

My driving school, John Wood Community College (8 week program), had a simulator to help people with 10-speed shifting. Still didn't help one student who eventually dropped-out.

Schneider in Gary, IN., has a simulator. They throw traffic, steer blowouts, and weather scenarios at you. I tried the American Truck simulator while in driving school but didn't get much out of it.

Dean

An update. My DAC is clear, but Schneider uses a different service called "Driver IQ." They tagged me as "leaving the roadway or going off-road."

I've been looking at different companies. I'm leaning towards CFI and Swift. CFI has a lot of regional dry van and reefer loads in the midwest Great Lakes region and Swift has a couple of Walmart Dedicated locations within a couple hours of my home. Swift has regional also. I'm going to take a couple of weeks to look at both companies.

I would appreciate comments on both companies.

Thank You,

Dean

Dean wrote:

I turned too early into the Glen Elyn, IL. Walmart last year. Ended up having to back out onto the street across traffic. Too many obstacles to navigate to the back of the store. Found a spotter who was collecting carts in the parking lot. He said I wasn't the first. Good thing it was in the middle of the night in a Chicago suburb.

Embarrassing for sure.

Same exact thing occurred to me at the Walmart in Warminster PA many years ago. Got out of it unscathed but had help. That is the time when I began using the GoogleMaps satellite view religiously and requested a paper copy store map from that point forward. I compiled an entire notebook of store maps by state in alphabetical order.

G-Town offers good advice for you newer drivers. Look at your destination before you get there. Saved me more than once from making a bad turn. A few of the Walmart stores in the Chicago area were safety record killers and/or career enders.

And yes I've had two jabs, a booster, and the bivalent jab.

What's that one?

Laura

From my Clinic's site: "The bivalent COVID-19 vaccines include a component of the original virus strain to provide broad protection against COVID-19 and a component of the omicron variant to provide better protection against COVID-19 caused by the omicron variant. These are called bivalent COVID-19 vaccines because they contain these two components." basically. mix of the original Covid and the newer Covid.

I turned too early into the Glen Elyn, IL. Walmart last year. Ended up having to back out onto the street across traffic. Too many obstacles to navigate to the back of the store. Found a spotter who was collecting carts in the parking lot. He said I wasn't the first. Good thing it was in the middle of the night in a Chicago suburb.

Embarrassing for sure.

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

I stayed home this year. Caught a mild case of pneumonia - again - and decided to forgo traveling. And yes I've had two jabs, a booster, and the bivalent jab.

I'm working on getting back behind the wheel, probably with Swift since they have good regional positions in the Midwest/Great Lakes area. Heck, I might even c consider Walmart Dedicated again.

Stay safe.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Watch your manners. Be professional. I found that if I ran into someone having a bad day using good manners goes a long way. You never know what issues they have faced that day.

I met a very angry receiving clerk once who lightened up a bit after I minded my manners and used "yes ma'am, no ma-am, I'll know to do better next time Ma'am." If you go in with a chip on your shoulder someone may knock it off.

Be polite. Be professional.