What's the beef about Schneider?

[Zandalli Moon]

It seems that everyone and their brother thinks poorly of the big orange pumpkins? Why is that? They are a $3 Billion a year company they must be something right. Is it that the trucks are governed and could slow down traffic, the drivers aren't friendly, they steal would be loads from owner/operators, I'm just looking for some opinions. Thanks

[stevedb28]

I dont know what their deal is. I have no opinion of them. I havent driven for them. But I will say that it doesnt matter if they make trillions, it doesnt make them a better company than anyone else. Fact is most drivers seem to perfer the smaller companies and seem to hold a grudge against the big uns like sni or swift or prime. So, to answer your question the best way I can, it seems the bigger the company, the more other drivers seem to turn against them and say bad things about them. I dont know if sni has earned that bad rep or not.
I know the way a lot of drivers are going to see the fact of them making billions is: Wow, and you think they could give their drivers more cpm, because quite honestly, thats the first thing that went through my head. It seems like the bigger the company the less the pay. Look at swift, they are making bookoos and can afford to raise drivers starting pay .03cpm and not even skip a beat. But they wont do it because that means some big wig in his office couldnt get that huge freakin stock option of $200,000 that he gets every year for his xmas bonus. While you sit in you truck eating ramen noodles not idling your truck at 20 degrees hoping to get your fuel bonus.
I worked for over 5 yrs in banking and if you believe that very thing isnt happening, it is.

[Frogman]

In doing my research, one of the rumors I picked up is that they are heavily involved in the movement to bring aliens to drive trucks in the US.

I wish they were bringing in Martians or Plutonians . . . but their focus appears to be Mexicans and Central Americans . . . who will work for a whole lot less than the little green kind.

If succesful, this will do to trucking what Walmart did to local business.

How true that is? I don't really know . . . just a rumor. But if you think that bringing in foreigners to compete with American labor is fundamentally wrong . . . it's a rumor I would check before signing on with a company actively promoting the effort.

Their 18-month commitment (if you train in Dallas) is what turned me off on the company. Rumor has it that's a cheap way for the company to jack up incoming cash . . . since most new drivers quit long before 18 months are up, they're collecting a lot of money on those who quit.

[Niagarafallss1]

No, I saw a real Alien driving one! And his fellow Martian/co-driver wearing a glass slipper :P

[yoopr]

They're big so there's always someone who doesn't think they're as good as they think they should be.

[Useless]

I've known quite a few Schneider and former Schneider drivers who seemed fairly happy driving for them. I've heard good things about their training program. I do know that when I was considering training options, they were the only ones that offered skid-pad training.

This is an industry where there is no shortage of malcontents. Some companies have well deserved reputations for being bottom of the barrel companies. Based upon what I've heard, I wouldn't put Schneider in that category. Some companies are right for some drivers, but not for others.

As far as importing drivers from Mexico and Central America, I wouldn't know anything about that for a fact. I have heard that rumor applied to just about every mega-carrier out there.

[Crete_drvr]

They are a $3 Billion a year company they must be something right.

They didn't get that way by paying their drivers well. That's a good figure if you're looking to invest in them. I'd invest in J.B. Hunt but never drive for them.

Have you been to www.pumpkindriver.com ?

[greg3564]

Pros: Good training program
Cons: Terrible Pay

I think they are a decent starter company and their newbie drivers stay on longer than other starter companies. But the pay seems to send most drivers looking elsewhere.

[Zandalli Moon]

I'm glad to see the varied responses. It would seem that there are always those that want to throw stones at the big guys no matter what the industry. As far as the Mexican and Central American drivers would go it wouldn't surprise me a bit. Corporate offices regardless of industry have a responsibility to shareholders to make the return on investment as large as they can. For them, there is a plus side, hire cheaper labor (in this case drivers) and your profit margin grows. For most applicants that would come from Mexico or Central America, the living conditions alone in a Century Classic tractor would be like living at the Ritz. And, although there may be a few that are here legally, if corporate America is willing to turn a blind eye to the illegals, they will work for even less than those here legally but with the same background. I must admit I was a bit shocked to see what Schneider offers starting drivers on a cpm basis. At that rate they probably have to stay for the term of their contract because they sure won't make enough money to pay it off early. As far as corporate bonuses and stock options....I live in Green Bay....I've seen Don Schneider's house....nuf said.

[yoopr]

Yeah but have you been inside Suzie's house? :P
I got my start with Schneider in '78 when Al was there.

[ohiomohawk]

If you have no CDL and go to Schnieder I would think twice about the Green Bay training facility unless you have a little experience.

The class sizes used to be around 30, now they are up tp 85-100 students every week. The "Jump Start" training is no more. The training is 2 weeks with "Jump Start" you had an extra week, but they got rid of that.

Of the 14 days you are in Green Bay you drive 8 days, of those 8 days you will most likely be with 3 students, each getting about 2-3 hours a day of driving(this includes pre-trip, coupling and uncoupling).
I am hearing 15%-30% of each class gets sent home.

It seems kind of backwards........

Increase the class sizes from 30-40 to 80-90 students arriving every Friday

Decrease the length of training by 1 week??

The other training locations do however have far fewer students.

[Zandalli Moon]

Nope can't say that I've gotten any closer to a Schneider than driving by on the street.

I haven't been in Donnie's sister house either-Just wondered if you had :P

[Zandalli Moon]

I actually ran into a potential driver at a Wendy's in Ashwaubenon (where the training academy is located) and he was headed for home. He had done his stint in training with about 75 other people and they hired like 14, the rest were sent home to "practice". I have to tell you that I have been driving tractor trailer for about 20 years and it makes me cringe when I come upon a trainee driver around the area....it really seems to me to be a dangerous practice. (Although they are never moving fast enough to really damage anything) Taking people that may not even know how to shift a car let alone a vehicle that can tip the scales at close to 90,000#, it just seems like you'd be asking for trouble.

[Cluggy619]

I went thru their training program back a couple of years ago. Their training was good at the Dallas site. No complaints there. Got my CDL, and went out to be with my OTR trainer.

What a dirtbag. He had two of us training with him, and all it seem like he wanted is the lumper pay that we worked our *****e$ for since he was on a Family Dollar account. The truck always stank, no A/C during the summer months.... I had enough after 5 days out with him, and got out of his truck, called back to Dallas, and let them know I will not be getting back into his truck ever, and asked for a new trainer. They decided to let me go at that point.

I'm sure I just hit the jackpot with that driver, because most of the drivers I talked to that was working for Schnieder seem to be good people. I hope no-one else have to go thru that.

Now, a couple of weeks later, they did call wanting their $3500 for the training, and they threaten to sue me for it. I smiled to myself, and told them if they did sue, I would counter-sue for the one year employment they promised me in their contract. They told me they would get back with me.

I haven't heard from them since.

[devildice]

Now, a couple of weeks later, they did call wanting their $3500 for the training, and they threaten to sue me for it. I smiled to myself, and told them if they did sue, I would counter-sue for the one year employment they promised me in their contract. They told me they would get back with me.

I haven't heard from them since.

[ohiomohawk]

I actually ran into a potential driver at a Wendy's in Ashwaubenon (where the training academy is located) and he was headed for home. He had done his stint in training with about 75 other people and they hired like 14, the rest were sent home to "practice".

WOW.......Many of the ones getting sent home also have a nice bill of $2,000-$3,000.

Imagine 30-60 people a week owing $2,000-$3,000 X 51 weeks a year even though a lot of the money wont be recovered it is a brilliant little scheme to make $$$$$.

I hear companys like Maverick have like 10 students at a time I have heard some have even 6-8 per week. These companys seem to focus more on doing everything they can to TRAIN students instead of using masses of students who signed contracts to rasise money.

I understand training costs money and everyone who goes is not able to handle driving a truck but 80 students a week is extreme and safety is compromised in such short training.

[Crete_drvr]

The class sizes used to be around 30, now they are up tp 85-100 students every week. The "Jump Start" training is no more. The training is 2 weeks with "Jump Start" you had an extra week, but they got rid of that.

Of the 14 days you are in Green Bay you drive 8 days, of those 8 days you will most likely be with 3 students, each getting about 2-3 hours a day of driving(this includes pre-trip, coupling and uncoupling).
I am hearing 15%-30% of each class gets sent home.

It seems kind of backwards........

Increase the class sizes from 30-40 to 80-90 students arriving every Friday

Decrease the length of training by 1 week??

The other training locations do however have far fewer students.

WOW! I went to school full-time for 6 weeks Mon-Fri 7AM-5PM and I didn't think that was enough time!!

[usdyver]

All compaines has dirt bag trainers, idiot drivers, and some idiot policies.

Lately it seems to me I have seen more stupid Schneider drivers. I got up the other morning in a rest area in Maryland and was blocked in by a Schneider driver. I knocked on his truck and the driver told me he couldnt move his truck for another 3 hours since he was on a 10 hour break. It took a call to the 800 number to get him to move. What a moron.

I know several cool Schneider drivers but with the state of the industry they seem to get more than thir share of idiots.

HT

[Ian Williams]

I actually ran into a potential driver at a Wendy's in Ashwaubenon (where the training academy is located) and he was headed for home. He had done his stint in training with about 75 other people and they hired like 14, the rest were sent home to "practice".

WOW.......Many of the ones getting sent home also have a nice bill of $2,000-$3,000.

Imagine 30-60 people a week owing $2,000-$3,000 X 51 weeks a year even though a lot of the money wont be recovered it is a brilliant little scheme to make $$$$$.

I hear companys like Maverick have like 10 students at a time I have heard some have even 6-8 per week. These companys seem to focus more on doing everything they can to TRAIN students instead of using masses of students who signed contracts to rasise money.

I understand training costs money and everyone who goes is not able to handle driving a truck but 80 students a week is extreme and safety is compromised in such short training.

Yes, but figure 1/2 to 2/3 of the debt will be noncollectable. We are largely talking about people living hand to mouth with poor credit.

[Deus]

I like smaller companies. I see all these stories about trucks with no A/C and crap. I remember this summer the fan in my truck didn't work at full speed, it still worked though as did the A/C. I wrote it up on a VI just for the hell of it. To my surprise the next week the truck went into the shop and boy did the fan work good when I got it back. Smaller joints are the way to go if you find a good one.