Post by Allan on May 21, 2005 5:15:07 GMT -5
Hello everyone . . .
I am an infrequent poster here, but love to come and read the posts here, and when I was first thinking about trucking, this site (and Rachelle's book, which I still keep close at hand in my truck) were very helpful to me in deciding to finally make the move.
I decided to start training/driving for Schneider back in December, 2004, and began driving on my own in mid-February, 2005 (that's where the 3 months comes from in my subject blurb).
Of course, I am still very new to everything, relatively speaking, but I thought I'd offer some feedback after the first few months, in case it might help someone else.
(1) In general, I love driving as much as I hoped I would, including the lifestyle; one of the main reasons that my experience is pretty much matching my expectations is that I did a lot of reading and research beforehand, and it helped me not to have unrealistic ideas about what to expect, both positively and negatively. I think that trucking (at least OTR, which is what I'm doing) does require a certain mindset or personality, and wouldn't work with many folks (e.g., I just got divorced before I started driving, and it's something that I never could have done when I was married -- it just wouldn't have worked).
(2) I am very pleased with Schneider. I think the training I received (both initially, and since I've been driving) have been as good as I had read it was, and I have been treated very well so far. I have had mostly good experiences with the dispatchers I've dealt with at Schneider (Schneider calls them STL's). I run as many miles as I want, have always gotten home just when I wanted, and have never felt pressure to make a load work when it would be unsafe or illegal. If I can't make a load work legally or safely with the hours I've got, I tell them when I can have it there safely, and then they either go with that or take me off the load (that happened last week, as a matter of fact).
(3) Two things that drive me crazy about Schneider (and I think that this might be a problem with other companies, too, but I only know my experience with the Pumpkin): finding empty trailers and bad directions. Schneider's making major improvements (or trying to -- they just spent over $4 million introducing a brand new directions system that is worse than the old one ever was and now they have an albatross that they are trying to "fix" without much success), but that's still the most frustrating part of this job for me -- wasting a good part of a day driving around looking for empty trailers that aren't where they are supposed to be.
(4) I think that most companies (with some exceptions) are pretty similar in most respects, and the thing that makes the difference is your own attitude (like anything else). I see lots of guys at Schneider terminals who hate their job, and hate Schneider (and you could fill in the blank with any trucking company's name, probably), and they are so unhappy. The truth is, I think that even if those folks switched companies every month, they'd still be just as unhappy. That's a generalization, and those are dangerous, of course, but I think it's generally true that you find what you are looking for.
Hope that wasn't too long, and I hope it came out like I intended. Good luck to everyone thinking about trucking, and thanks to everyone here who has helped me (even if you didn't know it).
I am an infrequent poster here, but love to come and read the posts here, and when I was first thinking about trucking, this site (and Rachelle's book, which I still keep close at hand in my truck) were very helpful to me in deciding to finally make the move.
I decided to start training/driving for Schneider back in December, 2004, and began driving on my own in mid-February, 2005 (that's where the 3 months comes from in my subject blurb).
Of course, I am still very new to everything, relatively speaking, but I thought I'd offer some feedback after the first few months, in case it might help someone else.
(1) In general, I love driving as much as I hoped I would, including the lifestyle; one of the main reasons that my experience is pretty much matching my expectations is that I did a lot of reading and research beforehand, and it helped me not to have unrealistic ideas about what to expect, both positively and negatively. I think that trucking (at least OTR, which is what I'm doing) does require a certain mindset or personality, and wouldn't work with many folks (e.g., I just got divorced before I started driving, and it's something that I never could have done when I was married -- it just wouldn't have worked).
(2) I am very pleased with Schneider. I think the training I received (both initially, and since I've been driving) have been as good as I had read it was, and I have been treated very well so far. I have had mostly good experiences with the dispatchers I've dealt with at Schneider (Schneider calls them STL's). I run as many miles as I want, have always gotten home just when I wanted, and have never felt pressure to make a load work when it would be unsafe or illegal. If I can't make a load work legally or safely with the hours I've got, I tell them when I can have it there safely, and then they either go with that or take me off the load (that happened last week, as a matter of fact).
(3) Two things that drive me crazy about Schneider (and I think that this might be a problem with other companies, too, but I only know my experience with the Pumpkin): finding empty trailers and bad directions. Schneider's making major improvements (or trying to -- they just spent over $4 million introducing a brand new directions system that is worse than the old one ever was and now they have an albatross that they are trying to "fix" without much success), but that's still the most frustrating part of this job for me -- wasting a good part of a day driving around looking for empty trailers that aren't where they are supposed to be.
(4) I think that most companies (with some exceptions) are pretty similar in most respects, and the thing that makes the difference is your own attitude (like anything else). I see lots of guys at Schneider terminals who hate their job, and hate Schneider (and you could fill in the blank with any trucking company's name, probably), and they are so unhappy. The truth is, I think that even if those folks switched companies every month, they'd still be just as unhappy. That's a generalization, and those are dangerous, of course, but I think it's generally true that you find what you are looking for.
Hope that wasn't too long, and I hope it came out like I intended. Good luck to everyone thinking about trucking, and thanks to everyone here who has helped me (even if you didn't know it).