Dec 7 - Dec 22

13,392 paid miles in 15 days 6 hours out this time out. Each team driver gets credited with half that, paid at their own pay scale. Hub miles totalled 13,826 not counting the BT home, so we drove 434 miles (3.24%) out-of-route (OOR). We had a PM done in Carlisle at 40,614 miles, so our next one is due @60,614. Miles now are 54,520, so it looks like we will be getting one done over the road next time out.

Originally, we were to pick up our tractor from the PM & pick up a relay at the Carlisle PA OC & take it to El Paso, but the relaying driver ran out of hours just inside the PA state line from NY on I-81, so they took us off that load. Instead, they sent us down I-81 to take a load of Corningware from World Kitchen in Greencastle PA to Target DC #3801 in Midlothian TX.
41+1303: 1344

Dec 9, we ran JC Penney from Haslet TX to Statesville NC. If you follow Schneider's directions to Haslet, they work...as far as they go. You just have to continue straight, cross the railroad tracks, go straight thru the traffic light, and turn into the curvy driveway BEFORE you see the gate. And the Statesville JC Penny empty lot is actually west of I-77 x49B in an old drive-in movie lot.
12+36+1087: 1135

From Statesville, we picked up a relay at the Charlotte OC to Tracy CA, then deadheaded over to Nestle Foods in Modesto to take 43k pounds of Carnation fat-free condensed milk to Breinigsville PA.
27+16+2639+30+2794: 5506

From there, DH to Kraft Foods in Dover DE to take 41k pounds of Jello pudding to Aurora IL (deja vu), but we drop relayed it in Hilliard for a more important, 3,258 pound (very light!) load to West Valley City UT.
115+484+1660: 2259

They had us BT up to Kimberly-Clark in Ogden to take 28k pounds of Huggies to Sulphur Springs TX. This took us down US-287 through southeastern CO and the panhandles of OK & TX, a nice drive on a nice night. Boise City OK is quaint: the junctions of US-56/64/287 all run a circle around the courthouse downtown.
39+1308: 1347 paid (1423 hub)

After a live unload, it was DH to FedEx in Irving TX to help them move the masses of packages to Toledo OH. I could not believe how many packages I saw whizzing overhead on the conveyor belts! I also couldn't believe how they loaded the trailer: boxes stacked loosely back to the 48' mark...on a 53' TRLR, with nothing to hold them there. They pull the trailer from the dock and seal it before the driver can do anything. I can only imagine the mess awaiting the unloaders in Toledo.
90+1098: 1088

Our final load was DH from Toledo to Middletown OH, near Dayton for a live load @0630 on the morning of the 22nd. This worried me because that part of the country was under a winter storm warning, and that storm ended up hammering the region...AFTER we got out of there, thank God! We successfully delivered the load to Proctor & Gamble in Mehoopany PA an hour early later that night.
169+544: 713

Schneider Pay News

We will be getting a pay raise starting Feb 6, 2005. That means, for example, if you are a team driver with 2 years driving experience, you will make 41¢/mi before bonuses. If you make all bonuses, the total is equivalent to 45¢/mi.

You get bonus pay for all paid miles in the quarter:

• 1¢/mi if you keep engine idle time below 15% (5% if your tractor is equipped with the Webasto cab heater). My idle is <2%. I have the Webasto.
• 1¢/mi if you have no more than one "service failure". A service failure is when you fail to make on-time pick-up or delivery for a reason other than safety. Valid reasons for being late are road closure due to weather (I-80 in Wyoming, for instance); an accident in which you are not at fault; etc. Poor planning on your part is not a valid reason. I've nver had a service failure.
• 2¢/mi if the team truck turns at least 60,000 paid miles. Made it every quarter but one.

So, if the truck turns 60k paid miles in the quarter (30k credited to each driver), that would be:
$12,300 base pay ($0.41/mi X 30,000)
+ $300 idle bonus
+ $300 service bonus
+ $600 team mileage bonus
$13,500 total pay for the quarter, a rate of $54k/year. Not bad after 2 years on the job.

Even without the bonuses, it's not bad. Say your truck turned only 58k miles. 58,000 / 2 = 29,000 miles X $0.41 = $11,890 for the quarter, a rate of $47,560/year.

Team Driver Mileage Pay • East Region • Van (effective Feb 6, 2005)
(pay per mile applies to all loaded and empty miles, based on the Household Movers Guide)

YEARS PER MILE
0-1/2  $.38
1/2-1  $.39
  1-2  $.40 
  2-3  $.41
  3-4  $.42
  4-5  $.43 
  5-6  $.44
  6-7  $.45
  7-8  $.46
Over 8 years: $.005 longevity increase every other year, with a maximum at 30 years.

$.02/mile QUARTERLY BONUS | $.02/mile QUARTERLY TEAM BONUS*

*Quarterly Team bonus is paid to each team driver when the team drives at least 60,000 miles (30,000 per driver) in the quarter. The bonus is paid on team miles for the quarter.

• Teams equally divide total miles driven.

 Detention pay starts @3 hours.

Check what your pay would be if you were driving for Schneider:
https://webapps.schneiderlogistics.com/online/driverpaybenefits/search

Interested? Tell 'em I sent you.
http://www.schneider.com/schneiderjobs/drive_experienced.html

And remember, "If you bought it, a truck brought it."

Nov 22 - Dec 3, 2004

We were told to BT to Tunkhannock PA to pick up MT and then take it to the drop yard in North Bergen NJ to await "expedited freight". The assigned MT was not there, so I BT to the local Frightliner mechanic shop that repairs Schneider trailers. They had one outside ready to roll, but it was only a 48 footer. Schneider said go ahead & take it. 30 minutes after arriving at the yard, I still had not received instructions as to where to pick up this "expedited freight". Finally, they send our load: Drop the 48' trailer, pick up a 53'er & take it to Chester PA to pick up...paper towels destined for a Wal Mart DC in Cullman, Alabama!? That's an expedite load? Oh, well.

After dropping in Cullman, they had us BT all the way back up to Knoxville TN to pick up a relay bound for Otay CA. That was nice because that is 10 miles from my father in San Diego. He came down to see me & we had lunch at the Otay Truck Stop. NEVER eat at the Otay Truck Stop! After eating, we watched some guy haul in three slabs of raw beef and two mounds of lettuce out of the back of a SUV on an 80 degree day.

From Otay, they sent us up to Fontana to pick up a relay, but halfway there, changed their minds, sent us to Chino to pick up an MT, where there were none, so we ended up BT to Buena Park. That load took us to Breinigsville PA, a nice long run. But with the ebb comes the flow...

Dover DE to Aurora IL: We took our load of Kraft (Stovetop Instant Stuffing) SR-47 out of DE into PA and US-30 are painfully slow. If you get this run, skip I-294 in IL and take I-80 to exit 112 and run SR-147. It is much less traffic and avoids a lot of tolls.

South Holland IL to Ocoee FL: We took an Overnite load out of IL & IN before the snow got too bad, but those big snowflakes were hypnotizing. Southern IN brought fierce winds.

Alachua FL to Zanesville OH: Dollar General needs to learn how to add. The BOL said we had 43k pounds, but when we scaled out, it turned out to be more like 33k. I thought it was pulling light.

Columbus OH - Wilkes Barre, no, Middletown PA: Went to pick up our load to Wilkes-Barre and there is no such load! We sat there for nearly six hours before they figured it out and sent us to Middletown in the end.

We BT to Carlisle to drop tractor off for a PM. We have 40,200 miles on the truck (42181) now. Lori came down in Zejlko's car to pick me up.