Info On Schneider Target Dedicated Account

Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. I went through Roehl’s GYCDL program and graduated in December, went on to truly enjoy OTR driving (in the process discovering how bad some fleet managers are with planning.)

I ended up coming home in spring and staying home (My family and I got very sick, and couldn’t get tested for anything due to shortage of tests with the pandemic, we quarantined.) I voluntarily separated from Roehl on good terms, able to go back once comfortable (I have several at risk people at home so held off until now.)

Before going back to Roehl I decided to put my name out to a few places just to see what’s available with better hometime or pay, and have received a few offers so far. One that stood out to me is for a Schneider dedicated Target account, out of the distribution center 10 miles from my house.

Does anyone have experience with their Target accounts? They’re offering me 53cpm, 5k retention bonus, tuition reimbursement (up to $7k) and home Friday’s and Saturday’s. They claim it’s 100% no touch freight, mostly drop and hook (avg of 5 loads and 2k miles,) and occasionally bringing a load back from a shipper.

Any insight? To me it sounds like a pretty good deal if there’s any truth to what the recruiter is saying, could expect to be home at least weekly and pay wise I’d come out ahead of Roehl, or at least break even if they’re exaggerating the miles.

On a side note (probably better for a separate topic,) Roehl’s GYCDL program and OTR training was pretty good. I feel it’s main issues were a lack of real world experience in terms of only hauling empty trailers on flat ground in the program, and both stages possibly being held back by struggling classmates or inexperienced trainers (my OTR trainer was practically a rookie himself.)

What about your tuition/contract at Roehl?

The tuition from Roehl was sent to a debt collector within a week of me leaving, if I return to them and stay a year (technically 120,000 solo miles,) I wouldn’t have to pay. The amount of tuition reimbursement Schneider is offering would cover the amount Roehl wants, and one of my classmates already went to them (Walmart dedicated) and Schneider approved him for their tuition reimbursement.

Devon sorry to hear you and family got sick, but it does happen. We as a society have been going through alot.

Roehl’s cdl program isn’t geared to teach you real world situations, it’s only purpose is to get you qualified to pass your cdl exam. They used to have a little weight in the trailers, but not alot.

The real world training comes with your road training. They used to require every trainer to have a minimum of 1 year experience with them without any incidents, accidents, or service failures. Most trainers I knew had a minimum of 2 years experience.

As far as your tution, they will just send you a bill for whatever is still left. They prorate the dollar value to miles you turned, and you cut them a check for the balance.

FM or DM’s whatever they are called are like everyone else. Some are great, good, or poor at their job’s. That is everywhere.

You said you really enjoyed OTR. The account your looking at sounds strictly regional. Will you be happy doing that?We all have different circumstances, it is about finding what fits your needs the best. If you want to run regional , that sounds like a decent account. Keep in mind that accounts come and go. I would ask the recruiter how long they have had it, and how long the contract is. I’m not saying it will go away, but it is always possible at contract dates it could.

Also don’t get swayed by the sign on bonus. It is nice, but won’t be paid out at 1 time. I’m certain your looking at taking 1 year to receive it all.

I wish you all the best in your decison.

I did enjoy OTR , but of course family would like me home more often so that aspect sounds nice. Thanks for your input, I know accounts come and go but hadnt thought about asking those questions. The sign on bonus is paid over time, but yes you need a full year to get the full amount. It sounds pretty decent and at the very least Schneider has more facilities nearby compared to Roehl, who’s closest terminal was about a 10 hour drive from my house.

I’m not feeling swayed by the bonus but the prospect of consistent home time with better pay and tuition reimbursement sounds like a decent deal. At the very least I can still return to Roehl should need be.

How is Schneider going to hire you without your completion of training certificate from Roehl?

Until that is paid, Roehl will not send you the certificate, and you are still financially obligated to Roehl, too. That's going to be a huge black mark on your credit report, like akin to defaulting on a car loan.

You would be smart to get back with Roehl, finish the year minimum, and be out from under the huge debt. Plus, you will have a year of experience and your certificate in hand. Employers want to see all those things, for two big reasons: it demonstrates responsibility and it shows commitment.

Have you looked at other options to stay with roehl as far as hometime? I know when I left there were plenty of options as far as 7/3 and some regional routes they were trying to get me to take to stay there. If hometime is important roehl probably has a program to make it happen. Then once you get your year in look elsewhere if you still want to.

I received a certificate from them upon completion of the program after passing the WI road test. I understand the financial obligation, but was told they would reimburse Roehl (one of my classmates was able to successfully begin tuition reimbursement too.)

As far as credit, my credit is completely trashed as it is, I don’t think this addition will change that for the worse. I was in an abusive relationship before that led to me ending up with significant debt and destroyed my credit, which actually was a driving force in my decision to get into trucking. I did a lot of research (on this site and others) to get an idea of what I was getting into, being that the area I live in has a dying economy it was one of the only real options I had to begin paying back my debts instead of going through bankruptcy.

I appreciate the input, if things don’t pan out with this position I’ll be going back with Roehl OTR , as I enjoyed the position. The opportunity to make more money with tuition reimbursement and more hometime presented itself, so that’s why I’m considering Schneider. Not many people post online about their Target account so was just trying to see if anyone had some info.

Whatever I go to, I will be sticking with for a while, whether it’s Roehl or Schneider. I was planning on staying with Roehl for a while until I ran into unforeseen medical problems amidst the pandemic.

One thing that I am concerned about with going dedicated (/regional) is mileage. They stated the average is 2,000 miles, though I’m aware that’s often inflated. With Roehl I was routinely able to get 2,600-2,800 miles a week, and could have gotten more if they had different loads to give me or I didn’t lose time out of my days due to long LL/LU at docks. If Schneider is truthful about the miles or I can get more it will be a substantial raise for me, though at around 1,750 miles or less I’d break even, not considering bonus or tuition reimbursement.

On a side note, aren’t hiring/retention bonuses kind of a joke to you guys? I’ve done nothing but hear about people getting screwed out of them, or getting them and losing 40-65% of it to taxes.

JakeBreak, I live too far from a terminal to do any of their special hometime fleets. They are very good about hometime for OTR Driver’s and I liked being able to stay out longer for more time, but the special fleets weren’t available here. The only dedicated fleet near me before was a Kraft dedicated account and that wasn’t offered to me, though I would be foolish not to see if that would be available now, thank you. I’ll have to give them a call tomorrow and see if that’s changed/if they have something different than OTR available.

I’m not completely opposed to going back OTR, but if I could choose between that and more pay WITH better hometime the choice is kind of obvious.

Devin no matter what company it is the dedicated fleets are pretty much setup. They already figured out how to run them for max profitabilty. That could be 1700 miles or 2500 miles. It just depends the routing they have setup. They are usually very predictable. Give it a shot and see what happens. Unless someone ran that specific account they would not have first hand knowledge.