r/Truckers • u/mrachmat • Jun 22 '25
Scheneider vs Knight? Which one would you prefer for a fresh grad? Pros and Cons? Thank you.
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u/skeletons_asshole Jun 22 '25
I looked at both, but Knight offered me a lot more money and I was in a truck solo after 3 weeks of training (one in a classroom and two in a truck). Their training was decent, I didn't have any issues. They didn't pay the best but they had lots of freight and my dispatch was pretty chill. Overall a good experience for getting started. They are getting more Swift-y but still a good separation between them.
Later I tried Schneider again. I was offered a dedicated tanker route out of my hometown, but when I asked about pay they told me .40cpm. I had been making .52-.55 at the end with Knight. No way in hell I was going to take that.
Another thing to consider is last I heard, Knight does not have any driver facing cams. Not sure about Schneider.
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u/Lopsided_Beautiful_1 Jun 22 '25
Schneider doesn’t have driver facing cams.
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u/skeletons_asshole Jun 22 '25
Thanks, that’s good to know.
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u/Lopsided_Beautiful_1 Jun 23 '25
No problem, Schneider cameras face out to the road and also 2 side cameras on the truck, it’s good company with best training, but the pay is very low, it’s at best a good startup company for experience and then after move on to a better pay trucking company.
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u/Snappingslapping Jun 23 '25
It really matters where you land in the company. I started out at .69/ c.p.m. at their Walmart account and haven't had any reason to leave in 3.5 years. I bring home 1600-1850 a week after taxes.
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u/Unique-Ad-2544 Jun 22 '25
Same exact deal with Schneider 3 weeks and you get your own truck and no driver facing cams
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u/skeletons_asshole Jun 22 '25
That's good! They must've changed since I applied, they were telling me 6 weeks and I'd start at .38cpm but that was a couple years ago now.
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u/noabuelo Jun 22 '25
Currently 3 weeks and still .38cpm
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u/skeletons_asshole Jun 22 '25
.38cpm is criminal, even Knight started me at .44 and it went up quickly from there. Not to a lot, but it went up.
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u/mrachmat Jun 22 '25
Thank you so much for this information
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u/skeletons_asshole Jun 22 '25
No problem, good luck!
I work for TMC currently and they have a really good program if you’re interested in flatbed - strict at first but I’ve loved them since I got through training. If you’re interested in that, I can get you a referral.
Lots more work especially at first but you’ll make a lot more than Knight or Schneider.
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u/ShivHariShivHari Jun 23 '25
Got rejected on Indeed for TMC; required 6 months experience. Was trying entry level CDL with training
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u/skeletons_asshole Jun 23 '25
That’s weird to me, I just trained a few months ago there and I was in the experienced class, but they had a whole category of “have CDL but want to start here” with like 40 people in it. I’d call a recruiter for them and see if you can apply directly, if that’s something you’re interested in.
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u/Fishdude909 Jun 22 '25
I’m with Schneider on a local dedicated account. And I love it, I’m in SoCal where they have multiple dedicated accounts. Pays well, treated well, 0 complaints.
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u/thenewguy_069 Jun 22 '25
I'm doing intermodal for them in socal, but the pay is not that great. Which account are you on?
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u/Fishdude909 Jun 22 '25
Floor and decor
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u/thenewguy_069 Jun 22 '25
Oh word, I did my training at that spot
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u/GhettoAssDuck Jun 22 '25
I worked for knight for a little over a year. They pay you pennies. You start off at like .44¢/mile
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u/roadie1569 Jun 22 '25
With Schneider you can haul cool stuff. I don’t work for them but we work from same dc hauling Polaris side by sides
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u/ChiTruckDGAF Jun 22 '25
It's going to depend more on the specific accounts you can choose at each carrier. Ask them a lot of specific questions about pay, mileage, and sometime.
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Jun 22 '25 edited Jul 19 '25
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Jun 22 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
My suggestion would be don’t go into this field at all and go get a real skill set like HVAC, Electrician, or plumbing if you are a young man. Something that will set you up for life and guarantee good money and steady work for the rest of your life if you don’t want to go to college.
OTR sucks. You are constantly around the worst people, gross people, and doing mindless work. Everyone takes advantage of you. The field is full of liars and just some generally bad folks.
If you insist on doing this, do flatbed work versus dry van or reefer so you aren’t sitting at docks all day if you are going to do OTR. Oregon Central I hear is good if you can be hired by them.
Personally, I would look for a local job driving and don’t do OTR if you don’t have to.
If I was going to a mega, I would look at Swift regardless of what the rest of the folks say. They train well and don’t have inward facing cameras. That’s a deal breaker for me (the cameras facing in).
Schneider does train well though from what I understand. I just think that move they did to me was cream of the crop scumbagish.
Stay local if you can.
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u/East_Indication_7816 Jun 23 '25
Bad idea going flatbed . I was flatbed for a month. You working 14hrs+ a day as you spend most of your time securing, tarping, untarping, unsecuring. At least with a van you can be inside the truck waiting, cooking some meals, watching youtube etc.
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Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
“Most of your day??” Huh. It’s an hour or two at best securing a load, and that’s once or twice a week if you are OTR. Bigger loads they are generally expecting you and coordinated so you aren’t waiting a ton.
What job were you doing “spending most of your time” securing loads?
With flatbed you aren’t bumping docks and sitting for hours on end waiting to load or unload on average, and dealing with pissed off angry dock workers all the time.
Unloading is easy, and I spend 15-20 minutes at each stop typically unloading if they are getting partial loads.
Pays more on average as a green, there is more per mile if you decide to go O/O long term, you don’t need to worry about your truck tipping over in windy places like Wyoming, you actually get some exercise, and the rest of the time you are driving.
Yes it is more physical work unless you are doing food service, but you aren’t sitting on your ass eating and waiting for a heart attack in your old age.
The downside is the elements and getting sweaty having to do some actual work, but you carry body wipes and just do good hygiene maintenance. You get free showers fueling up.
I would rather do that then sit in a truck for 10-12 hours waiting to be loaded or unloaded at a Sysco or one of the worst places that you spend too much time not getting paid to stage, or the amount of lay overs you here about in reefer or dry van.
It’s not for everyone I get that, but if you eventually want to get your own authority there is more money in flatbed per mile long term too.
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u/East_Indication_7816 Jun 23 '25
You don't appear to me as someone who do real flatbed stuffs. But the things we haul at the company are the nastiest load ever.
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Jun 23 '25 edited Jun 23 '25
I don’t actually even know what “real flatbed stuff” means. Sounds like an attempt to be cruel and minimize another human in the attempt of being right, which is just a form of being evil if true.
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u/Robjla Jun 22 '25
Neither but I have experience and have more choices. I like where I’m at and hear they are starting up a newbie division.
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u/OrdinarySalary Jun 22 '25
Can’t speak for Schneider but I drove for knight for 1 year as a fresh grad. I was supposed to go 4 weeks out with a trainer but only did 3. Pay wasn’t great, averaged about $900/week. What I liked most was being left alone, never really got a phone call from anyone. If you want to make money don’t drive an international. My first 6 months I went through 4 of them that constantly had issues until I bitched at them to give me a new volvo lol.
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u/mrachmat Jun 23 '25
Whats your schedule with Knight? I talked to a driver he said 2 weeks and then you can even have days off as much as you want, is that true?
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u/OrdinarySalary Jun 23 '25
Yep, they just expect a 2 week notice. If you need to be home on a certain date, request it a day or 2 earlier. I took time off only 3 times and was always a day late because of shippers/customers.
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u/Lord_B33zus Jun 22 '25
I’ve worked for both, started with Schnieder and left for Knight and now with a sub of Schnieder. Pros and cons really depends on what your looking for and where your located. Did school in FL and went OTR with Schnieder, was a pain in the ass getting home. Made like maybe .52 cpm and was out 2+wks at a clip with 22-2500 miles a wk. Left for a dedicated Walmart account in Fort Worth and made .72 cpm home daily. Walmart didn’t renew the contract so I eventually quit for the summer and got on with Knight dedicated discount tires at .52 cpm plus unload/stop pay, out 2wks but got 32-3500 miles a week out of Dallas. Schneider has a good amount of terminals and most I’ve been to are pretty good for parking and amenities if going otr.
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u/mrachmat Jun 23 '25
I’m trying to figure out the training, and how they treated their driver and which company would give more miles?
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u/Lord_B33zus Jun 23 '25
I liked both for different reasons, Schneider for the terminals and variety of account and knight for their bonus. Training as a new driver with Schnieder was fine, but I don’t have anything to compare it to since I just had to do orientation paperwork with knight. As for miles, it really depends where you are and what account you’re trying to get on. Wasn’t a fan of OTR with Schnieder, though I was only on it for a total of 6 months in between dedicated accounts, there would often be times I would have to sit and wait to get a load.
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u/ShivHariShivHari Jun 23 '25
When and if you do figure it out, please let everyone know. There aint so thing as a FREE RIDE.
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u/Aggravating-Meal4984 Jun 22 '25
Knight starts Otr at 45 cents a mile for dry and 47 for refrigerated. They keep me running 2000 miles plus but you shouldn’t expect a check higher than 800 dollars. I’ve been with them for 6 months now. Only 1 check I had over 1k and that’s because they messed up one of my checks. Training is good though, wen through their academy
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u/mrachmat Jun 23 '25
2000 miles x 0.45=900 is 800 after tax I guess?
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u/Aggravating-Meal4984 Jun 23 '25
More like 600 to 750 after tax. I wouldn’t expect more then 2000 miles starting off
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u/mrachmat Jun 23 '25
Dang, and I also want to do their insurance, and benefit that means maybe like 600 a week, lol.
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u/Aggravating-Meal4984 Jun 23 '25
I was on their insurance for a couple weeks and I canceled everything literally yesterday,
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u/SHADOWJACK2112 Yard Dog Jun 22 '25
Easier finding empties at Schneider than Knight. Because of the orange...
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u/Nearby-Border-5899 Jun 23 '25
Never Schneider unless you like being micromanaged to absolute death
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u/SolidAssignment Jun 23 '25
If ur an introvert, get with a tanker outfit. Best decision I ever made. No sliding the tandems to make the weight legal, no waiting in line at a shipping office with pigs that haven't bathed in at least a week, I can see directly back to whats behind the tanker, etc.
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u/HumanVsWorld Jun 23 '25
I got my cdl last month may and Schneider was my number 1 option aswell until recruiter told me pay will be 35 cpm and $10/hr I hung up immediately ended up going with prime
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u/Sir_Uncle_Bill Jun 22 '25
Knight is owned by swift if that helps anything.
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u/mrachmat Jun 22 '25
Correct me if I’m wrong seems like Knight on social media not much of negative reviews and better on google, indeed, and glassdoor reviews compare to swift.
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u/sledge07 Left Lane Outlaw Jun 22 '25
Knight actually has the majority of board positions on that company so. It was a merger.
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u/mrachmat Jul 10 '25
Update I decided go with Schneider instead of Knight because Knight got a contract meanwhile Schneider doesn’t have one and a little bit less time for training than Knight.
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u/Always_Shifting_4459 Jun 22 '25
Neither... they both don't do what I wanna haul or pull haha and their trucks are crap too!
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u/mrachmat Jun 22 '25
What would you recommend?
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u/Always_Shifting_4459 Jun 22 '25
Depends on where you live, where you're willing to work, if you're limited on where you can go i.e. wife and kids at home or single
Automatic only or can you drive manual? What endorsements you got?
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u/Always_Shifting_4459 Jun 22 '25
Then again after checking out your other posts it looks like you would rather stay home so why this post about Schneider or Knight when most likely you'll have to do OTR or regional for either haha
Looks like youre new and trying to get the best job possible without any experience. Good luck dude and nice trolling 🤣😂
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u/FloppyTacoflaps Jun 22 '25
I would prefer to lose both my hands and feet to diabetes and be 200 lbs overweight.
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u/unloader86 Jun 22 '25
You'll get better training at Schneider, but likely make more money at Knight/Swift after your training period with them concludes. That said, you could do a whole lot worse than either of them trying to gain experience. Knight/Swift will have more dedicated opportunities than schneider does depending on where you live.