I Need To Decide Between Prime, Schneider Or Maverick

I'm new too. 6 months ago I made the same choice as you. Prime and Schneider were both on my short list. I didn't even consider Maverick. Not BC they are bad or anything I just never heard of them at the time.

I picked Schneider and I'm happy with the choice. Training with them (at the Carlisle PA OC at least) lasts 3 weeks. Since you have you CDL they expect you to know how to safely handle a truck (which is not the case for all CDL holders).

Week 1 take you out for a few 1 hour drives with a trainer and the rest of the first week is all onboarding and classroom and stuff. The instructors at the training center were absolutely awesome. I learned more in that 1 week than my 6 weeks in CDL school. Being a trainer at an operating center is a very prized job at Schneider and there is high competition for the job which i assume is why they are all so high quality. Not only are they good drivers but they are great teachers and have good communication skills. Anyway after that first week the trainer's decide if you are safe to move on to the next step.

Week 2 you go out on the road with a training engineer. This is not team driving. I drove, he rode passenger. When I ran out of time we parked. He was training me so he had to be on duty when I was driving. He was a Million Mile Driver and a great guy but still I disliked living in a truck with somebody else. The week went by fast though. I ended up in Indianapolis and they bussed me back to Carlisle.

Week 3 you learn the Qualcomm and a couple other things. By midweek we started taking our qualification tests. Pull out of the OC, drive around for an hour or so, back to the OC, 90 degree back between 2 trailers, and your done. I'm not sure how many mistakes you are allowed to make on this test. I made one (canceled signal too early on lane change) and still passed.

After that test you are assigned a truck. You might have to take a bus to go get it and depending on what it is you might need a little more training. For me it was an hour computer course explaining the dash lights and stuff for my model (2017 Cascadia) and an hour out with a trainer showing me how to use automatic 12 speed transmission (all training and tests were done on a 10 speed manual). My first load was to pick up a relay at the OC and take it to my park location and drop it for somebody to relay the rest of the way. I went home for 2 days, came back and my Qualcomm was full of money to be made!!!!

Hope that helps a little.

Sorry I replied before I read the whole conversation. My post really isn't relevant at this point.

Maybe it will help somebody else though lol.

Good luck.

Sorry I replied before I read the whole conversation. My post really isn't relevant at this point.

Maybe it will help somebody else though lol.

Good luck.

Congratulations on your choice, Peter B. Schneider just ended up not being the right fit for me, but it sounds like you are happy there. Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm sure it will help a lot of people.

I'm considering switching to glass because of the pay but it doesn't do me any good for home time. You will earn that cpm for sure. Also, not sure if things have changed but that 1st Tuesday after orientation was a VERY long day lol. Best of luck

Yeah, glass seems to get less home time than the other two. They said today that the average is 1.1 34 hour reset at home per month for the glass division.

I am also looking at some of those trucking companies, I talked to a driver from Schneider, he worked there for 3 years, told me a great place to work at to get experience but the reason why he is leaving for Marten trucking is because the more he got paid per miles the less miles they gave him to run. Said he would have worked one year then left for another company. Anyone else encounter this at any company? Thanks

A driver for 3 years at Schneider told me he quit to work for another company because he is getting less miles to run because he makes more per mile versus his 1st year. Do you notice this at all in your times with the company? Thank you

Okay, I looked at positions with different companies. Schneider's positions are listed @ Schneiderjobs.com. I asked the recruiters at different companies for realistic first year earnings. I finally settled on Schneider Van Truckload because the position most closely matched what I wanted.

After being with Schneider for two years now, I can still say that what the recruiter promised is what I got. No excuses, just promises fulfilled.

Please, please, please make sure you can verify what recruiters promise you.

I hope this helps.

Hi Steve. Thank you for your reply. I will definitely keep that in mind and try to verify what I am told by the recruiters.

I talked to a driver from Schneider, he worked there for 3 years, told me a great place to work at to get experience but the reason why he is leaving for Marten trucking is because the more he got paid per miles the less miles they gave him to run. Said he would have worked one year then left for another company. Anyone else encounter this at any company?

Don, this is a common misconception in our industry, but it is totally false. Here's how it works: The guys who take care of their business, get along well with their dispatcher , and safely keep getting their loads delivered on time are the ones who are counted on with all the miles they can handle. Just like any business there are times when things may slow down a little, but to equate less miles coming your way with an increase in your pay is absolutely some truck driver lounge talk. Truck drivers are famous complainers, and even better at keeping their own misunderstandings about this industry alive and well.

Everybody involved at the trucking companies gets paid for moving freight. Doesn't matter if you are a dispatcher, a driver, or a salesman - heck event the top executives make more money when the company is moving a lot of freight. That is the focus of any trucking company, moving freight. They don't start giving raises to drivers just so they can cut them back on miles. Why would they want to give a guy a raise, which in essence says, "Hey you are doing a great job, we would like to pay you some higher wages for your efforts," and then start cutting back his work load so that he is making less money for the company? It doesn't make any sense. I am making almost twice the mileage rate that I started at years ago, and I am steadily averaging over 3,000 miles per week. That is a tall order to keep up with, but they keep it coming my way because they know I will make sure it happens.

Take a few minutes to listen to this Latest Podcast that Brett put together. I think it will help you get your mind wrapped around the whole concept of mileage pay in a much better way.

Driver's miles can vary at times, but it should never be equated with the fact that they are earning more per mile now. When things like this do happen it is incumbent upon the driver to communicate with management, and discover what the problem is, but it will never prove to be that he just got a raise, so now he is going to be utilized less now.

I agree with Old School here

My FM gets basically a commission on the miles I drive. He's greedy too...he grabs the highest mile loads from the load board and will swap loads with drivers who run low on hours---just so he keeps the miles on his fleet. Meaning HIS drivers are racking in miles while he gets higher pay. He has said to me "I know you won't have enough on your 70 but just grab it and run as gar as you can with it."

Some weeks I run hard with 3000 others I take it more easy. By I'm always preplanned. The past couple weeks cause of weather and repairs killed my check...meaning I got 1700 and 1500 miles. That is really rare for me. Some weeks I might have a long load that delivers after our payroll cut off so.less miles one week but nearly double the next.

I think those who complain are just trouble makers and the FMs might give them less miles. Why bother with a complainer when you have drivers who get it done?

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to post an update. I left Maverick a couple weeks ago. I still think they are a great company, but I just couldn't handle being away from home for weeks at a time. I thought I would get used to it, but I was wrong, I guess. I wish they had a dedicated account where I live, but they don't. So now I am looking for something with at least some weekly home time.

Hey buck sorry to hear you left maverick. I'm still here after a while and have no trouble getting home. Not sure if you posted it already but I was wondering where you live and what division you were in?