Schneider Bulk - Leaving For Training Today!

Thanks a ton!!!! I'll send the message now...

Day 8

Nothing new today. Some driving in town and then up and down the very hilly roads near our OC. I did a lot better downshifting going up that steep hill. I didn't even think about it and my hands and feet did the shifting on their own. My instructor was pretty quiet the whole time, which is good.

Then we went back to the OC for straight back and alley docking for about an hour. Nothing new there, did fine.

Then afternoon the classroom doing safety policy stuff and an introduction to health benefits and such.

Tomorrow we "test" in the morning with a different instructor than our normal one. Then Saturday and Sunday we do pump and compressor loading/unloading. Then Monday we should be meeting our OTR training engineer and head out with him for 10-14 days. We will get more information on that tomorrow or Saturday because they need to figure out where we can meet our training engineer.

A quiet instructor definitely means you're picking things up nicely! I like the fact that training is becoming pretty routine and uneventful. For a lot of people it's very stressful and they're always worried about the "what if's" or the little things. Just keep rolling with it and keep learning as you go.

And while you're at it, see if you can come up with a design for those pumps that would make them a little quieter than a jet engine maybe??? Geeeeeeeeeeesh!!!

I pulled a food grade tanker for a year and I used to deliver lard to bakeries sometimes. Inevitably I'd be next to a bulk tank unloading flour. My little liquid pump was the size of a lunchbox and barely louder than a whisper. In the meantime, "flour head" next to me sounds like he's preparing for takeoff!!!!!!

HAH yeah the pump and compressor are loud!

Day 9

We did our "road test" today. We all passed, we just drove through town then up and down a big hilly area. Pretty uneventful like you said. Only thing that went wrong was at the very last 30 seconds of my trip as I was turning back into the OC my right side fender mirror just fell off! I didn't hit anything it just decided to leave the truck to explore new lands... or something like that lol.

For the rest of the morning we did respirator fitting, got our duffle bags with our PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), gloves, hardhat with faceshield, safety goggles, chemical suit and boots, and all that stuff.

Then in the afternoon we had some presentations about per diem pay, safety, safety, safety, more safety, and then safety again. Then finally we had a demonstration of how to do an air compressor unload. This was by far the most complicated part of our training so far, seems like there are 500 things to check, recheck, attach, open, close, pressurize, depressurize, tape, tighten, loosen... man it was complex looking but our instructors gave us some sheets with all the steps spelled out. They said it looks daunting now but we will get it sooner than we think.

So Saturday we will do air unload practicing, then Sunday pump unload.

Day 10

The day went super fast today. We were outside the entire day doing Air Compressor unloading. No simulators or anything, real equipment. We broke up into groups of 3-4 and each took a turn, we all got to go 3 times. It isn't very hard, but Schneider really emphasizes safety. On the procedure sheet for Air Compressor unloading I think we check and double check and triple check everything to make sure there are no leaks, open valves, and so on.

Tomorrow we do Pump unloading and then we find out where we meet our OTR training engineers, then it's 10-14 days out with the training engineer. Then 2-3 days back to an OC to do a final skills test.

Probably after Sunday most of us will get to go home for a day or two because they are short on training engineers.

Day 11 (or 12 maybe I lose track)

Spent the day doing pump unloading. Pump unload was easier than air compressor unload because we did not have to depressurize the tanker which takes a few minutes.

Our entire class passed, we got a nice packet of info about our assessments and what to expect next.

We ended around 3pm. Most of us do not have an OTR trainer assigned yet because there is a shortage of trainers and too many students. We were told to go home, and wait until a trainer calls us, which could be as late as Thursday. So this lets us do a 34-hour reset and see home.

I will report back when I am contacted by a trainer.

Oh I forgot. If ANYONE is interested in Schneider... send me a Private Message.

Full disclosure: there is a driver referral bonus if I put your name into our referral database.

So if you are experienced, inexperienced, interested in dry van , reefer , intermodal , tanker, or anything else Schneider offers... PLEASE send me a PM with your First and Last name.

Thanks all.

Hey Thinks, what happened, waiting to hear how you made out?

Just got home after being out on the road with a Trainer. Now I wait until July 1st to go for final skills testing, then I get a truck a few days after that.

On the road training was great. My Trainer was very professional but had a good sense of humor, we got along very well. He helped me when I needed and backed off when I told him I want to try something myself. I got to go as far as Kansas, then down to Texas, then up from Louisiana to Ohio.

There was no teaming, I drove, trainer watched me, then we both went to sleep. There were a few days we had to start driving at about 4am, so I got to drive at night for the first time. I got the top bunk he got the bottom. Sleeping in the truck was not as bad as I thought, but I assume the bottom bunk vibrates a little more than the top when the truck is idling.

I was surprised how easily I adapted to different situations, tight turns, weird backing positions at customers and truck stops, and so on. My shifting vastly improved as I knew it would lol. The only thing I am still needing more practice on is using the Qualcomm , but that will come quickly when I get my own truck I think.

Honestly I have nothing interesting to report. The classroom and range training pretty much prepared me for being on the road. All that changed was instead of being in our training yard we were at real customers using real equipment doing real loads.

You sound like you have found your spot !!! Thats a good deal !!! And it shows that you did your research, which is so very important...Get out there and make yourself proud. Stay safe and sane....