Schreiner’s got many decades of experience that reach back into his family's 1950s-established produce-haul business. He got involved in it growing up in the 1980s and, after his time in the Marine Corps, went hauling leased there in the '90s in a W900A with a special family history itself.
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More about the move to his 2007 379 in the podcast this week in his own words.
Yet with respect to advice, perhaps more importantly, he said: Make sure your family fully supports you in your drive to success.
"You really have to have your family on board," he said. "It's important to have your family be able to back you ... to understand your time will be dedicated to that truck, to getting that business running."
[Related: When the mentored becomes the master: Trucker of the Month Adam Mackey]
Schreiner’s in gear in that regard, no doubt, with his wife, Kay, and three children helping make a challenging overnight oilfield schedule work day-to-day as efficiently as possible.
The 2007 Pete 379 he's continued to keep in tip-top shape after some recent front-end repairs. As told in Cole's feature and in the podcast, Schreiner had an unfortunate wee-hours run-in with a cow on the way to load. Though the fleet he’s leased to was able to offer use of an idle truck to continue his daily runs, the owner-op didn't waste time moving to his go-to major-maintenance partner on the repair.
As he well knows, as is the case for any one-truck operation, "the grocery getter gets attention first," he said.
That's right, grocery getter, his phrase for the 379 that powers the biz and the family. And no, though he's done reefer work in the past, he's not moonlighting as a grocery hauler.
"She's the one that puts a roof over our head," he said of the truck, "and she comes first." Take a listen:
Cole told Schreiner's story attendant to the owner getting the nod as May Trucker of the Month, putting Schreiner in the running for the 2026 Trucker of the Year award.
Get your own business -- or nominate another owner to compete -- in the Trucker of the Year competition for 2026 via this link.
[Related: Momentum building: Trucker of the Month Sam Kelly, three trucks and counting]
