Schneider Pre-Work Screen Keeps Me From Driving For Them

I got my permit (spent $200 in PA including the $125 DOT physical PA requires) and had plans to attend school paid for by Schneider starting in 3 weeks. It's the ideal situation: they pay for school and you sign on for only 6 months; paid orientation for 3 weeks; only 1 week with a trainer on the road; regional job with gaurenteed salary of $47,000/yr. Too bad I cannot pull 100lbs or squat 10x in a row due to arthritic knees (I'm almost 56). The recruiter told me I could call a lumper if I didn't think I could unload the trailer. I wonder how that works in the real world. I was soooo excited to be doing this. Totally disappointed.

Does anyone know of a similar paid CDL and training plan out there? I haven't found one. All the paid training programs require at least a 1 year contract and they reimburse you so you have to pay out of pocket to start. There is no pay during training and I need that income. I cannot go without income through school and orientation.

That sounds like a "Dollar" account with Schneider. Not great idea for a brand new driver. Those places are very hard to get in and out of when you are a brand new driver.

At 50, I went through CFI's paid training. They even reimbursed me for my permit, endorsements, medical, hazmat background, and CDL. They have a one year commitment. We haul dry van and the hardest things I do are crank the landing gear and sweep out trailers. Here is a link to my CFI training diary CFI's one year contract is pro rated. For every month you work for them you pay off 1/12th of your contract. We stress the importance of staying with your first company at least one year. This will help you secure another job should you desire. I have been with CFI for a year now and it flew by.

I suggest you read through our starter pack.

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

Then you can look through Paid CDL Training Programs

Good luck we are here to help.

It's the ideal situation: they pay for school and you sign on for only 6 months; paid orientation for 3 weeks; only 1 week with a trainer on the road; regional job with gaurenteed salary of $47,000/yr.

Ideal? How do you really know?

Only one company pays you while going to school; Roehl.

There are no guarantees in trucking, especially the first year. Huge, very steep learning curve that has about a 90% attrition rate. How can they guarantee 47k? They can't. This job is totally performance based. Most carriers pay cents per mile (CPM), stop pay, and other possible incidentals. They all guarantee you get a fair and equal opportunity to prove yourself and provide you with the tools to needed to succeed.

One week of training. Yup, that'll effectively prepare you for solo driving. Not even close. Don't get me wrong, Schneider is a great company, but one week of road training woefully prepares a driver for this job. Most companies well equipped to train entry level drivers, road train anywhere from 1-3 months.

And here is the thing; a one year commitment is nothing. We highly recommend sticking with your first company for at least a year. It will take at that long to develop adequate skills, safe driving habits and intuitive situational awareness necessary to be a top performer.

I went to Swift's Driving Academy in Richmond, road trained with a mentor for 240 hours of accumulated driving time. Great experience. Even with that, It barely scratched the surface of how-to perform at a satisfactory level of safety and performance.

I could go on, but I think you have enough to chew on for now.

Invest some quality time reviewing the links Big Scott sent; re-evaluate your expectations and build a realistic and accurate knowledge base.

Good luck!

One week of training. Yup, that'll effectively prepare you for solo driving. Not even close. Don't get me wrong, Schneider is a great company, but one week of road training woefully prepares a driver for this job. Most companies well equipped to train entry level drivers, road train anywhere from 1-3 months.

But that is what Schneider does, i went to their orientation, first 5 days paperwork, DOT physical, their physical test, some road driving, a final road test on Thursday or Friday to see if you are good to go with your trainer the following week. Week 2, you go with your trainer some dedicated, regional account are possibilities, i was on a Lowes Dedicated accout and drove 1252 miles that week and was back at the hotel on Friday afternoon of the second week. The 3rd weeks was log books, trip planning, some simulator stuff and then your final road test to get you your own truck. The end of the 3rd week, I was headed home on Saturday with my first load 43,000 lbs and on my own.

One week of training. Yup, that'll effectively prepare you for solo driving. Not even close. Don't get me wrong, Schneider is a great company, but one week of road training woefully prepares a driver for this job. Most companies well equipped to train entry level drivers, road train anywhere from 1-3 months.

But that is what Schneider does, i went to their orientation, first 5 days paperwork, DOT physical, their physical test, some road driving, a final road test on Thursday or Friday to see if you are good to go with your trainer the following week. Week 2, you go with your trainer some dedicated, regional account are possibilities, i was on a Lowes Dedicated accout and drove 1252 miles that week and was back at the hotel on Friday afternoon of the second week. The 3rd weeks was log books, trip planning, some simulator stuff and then your final road test to get you your own truck. The end of the 3rd week, I was headed home on Saturday with my first load 43,000 lbs and on my own.

I know that's what they do. Exactly my point. Glad it worked out for you though.

Like I said, IMO 1 week of supervised driving is not enough. Others may think otherwise and that's totally fine. That's why it's important to fully understand the bigger picture, upside and also downside.

Sink or swim...

Like I said, IMO 1 week of supervised driving is not enough. Others may think otherwise and that's totally fine. That's why it's important to fully understand the bigger picture, upside and also downside.

Sink or swim...

This is why Get The Big Picture is one of the Keys of the Smith System.

Yeah I should have realized you knew that, lol, sorry. I was actually talking to another driver about this last week. I believe a lot of when we do is common sense to a point. I like to think I have enough sense to make a judgement call about a certain route, current conditions and knowing when to ask for help if need be. Yes it worked out well for me but there are also plenty of drivers that have driven their 30,000 miles or whatever amount of hours they needed to to be off the trainers truck and still just aren't getting it so to speak. I'm sure everyone else sees it all the time and wonders how they achieved their CDL , not saying that is always the case but I also look at it, that these people are also on the same roads as us and to be honest that kinda makes me nervous sometimes. But that is just my opinion rhink of it what you will, lol. But ai can tell you this, i didn't feel comfortable at all or thought I was rrady to head out on my own after 1200 miles.

One week of training. Yup, that'll effectively prepare you for solo driving. Not even close. Don't get me wrong, Schneider is a great company, but one week of road training woefully prepares a driver for this job. Most companies well equipped to train entry level drivers, road train anywhere from 1-3 months.

But that is what Schneider does, i went to their orientation, first 5 days paperwork, DOT physical, their physical test, some road driving, a final road test on Thursday or Friday to see if you are good to go with your trainer the following week. Week 2, you go with your trainer some dedicated, regional account are possibilities, i was on a Lowes Dedicated accout and drove 1252 miles that week and was back at the hotel on Friday afternoon of the second week. The 3rd weeks was log books, trip planning, some simulator stuff and then your final road test to get you your own truck. The end of the 3rd week, I was headed home on Saturday with my first load 43,000 lbs and on my own.

I know that's what they do. Exactly my point. Glad it worked out for you though.

Like I said, IMO 1 week of supervised driving is not enough. Others may think otherwise and that's totally fine. That's why it's important to fully understand the bigger picture, upside and also downside.

Sink or swim...

Only one company pays you while going to school; Roehl.

Acctually, Prime, Jim Palmer and Wil-Trans pay something during training.

CFI pays for everything including food while in school and pays $100.00 for orientation then you are paid 26 CPM while out with your trainer.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Only one company pays you while going to school; Roehl.

Acctually, Prime, Jim Palmer and Wil-Trans pay something during training.

CFI pays for everything including food while in school and pays $100.00 for orientation then you are paid 26 CPM while out with your trainer.

School, before getting the CDL? Unless something has changed it's only Roehl. Maybe Rainy can confirm, but I thought Prime advanced money to drivers before getting the CDL.

Every company pays drivers during road training.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

Wil-Trans:

Darrel Wilson bought his first tractor in 1980 at age 20, but, being too young to meet OTR age requirements, he leased the truck out and hired a driver.

Through growth and acquisition, Wil-Trans now employs over 200 drivers, and has a long-standing partnership with Prime, Inc. to haul their refrigerated freight. The family of businesses also includes Jim Palmer Trucking and O & S Trucking.

Beating up on Schneider’s orientation helps no one. For me their set up WAS the perfect scenario. I arrived with my CDL in hand and plenty of years of experience in the area of RESPONSIBILITY.

Sorry, but it is a system that works for many. I just think the advice is helpful, and more effective, without the bashing of a company.