Ending Career with Schneider

Yes, it is true. I am laying down my Schneider hat and moving on. It is not a decision to give up my Commercial Drivers License (CDL). I will most definitely keep my CDL intact, so don't give up on my trucking blog. I will continue to post entries in my blog which may or may not be directly related to truck driving. When there are things that fit more into my phylisophical blog, I will place the entries there, so be sure to check it out as well. There are a lot of things that crossed my mind while driving that I did not have the time to post due to the lack of personal time to get onto the computer. Now that I have my personal time back, I will be posting into my blogs more frequently.

Why did I give up Over The Road (OTR) driving?

The primary reason is so I could enjoy what I had worked so long for all of my life, my house, my home, and my family. Family is very important and should not be taken for granted. My wonderful wife was very supportive of me while I continued to try to make the OTR driving work. It was both our decision for me to give up what was keeping us apart and robbing us of our personal time together.

Another reason for giving up on Schneider was the unreasonable delivery times. After making my decision to leave I had spoken to several other drivers on the account I was driving for, only to find out they shared the same opinion and made the comment that several other drivers had already left for the same reason.

Schneider National OTR drivers were given a raise to 40 cents per mile while drivers on the account I was driving for were not given the same raise. While individual dedicated accounts would be reviewed at a later time to determine what, if any, raise they would get, I had already made my decision to leave and was not staying around to find out what it would be. It is more difficult to provide raises to dedicated accounts since the contracts with the company that hires the dedicated accounts has to be revisited and renegotiated before any raises can be passed onto the drivers and individuals working the accounts.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though. About half a dozen jobs have opened up in the Federal Government in the same profession that I used to work. I will be diligently applying for these positions.

While I am waiting for something to show up, I have the opportunity to do some part time driving for one of my friends who owns a trucking company.

Stay tuned, and don't give up on my trucking blog. There is more to come.