Thinking Celadon as next company company driver or lease pros and cons of both

OK so you have a lawyer look at the contracts, he has never driven a truck so he wont be able to tell you how your getting screwed, so let me help....
Do some simple math .20 cent a mile truck payment, .10 cent a mile maintenance plan, .01 cent a mile to a tire and oil change fund, 157.00 a week for insurance, qualcomm, workmans comp, prepass (weight stations only). Deposits, base plate. If you run 3800 miles, find the cheapest fuel, don't idle the truck, take light loads across flat ground, and no tolls, you should make about $710.00 (A company driver $1120.00 for the same week and he can idle the truck whenever he wants). They will also tell you that when you are done with the lease plan the truck belongs to you (OK even though its pretty much worn out with a million miles or close to it, But it is yours(GOOD PAPER WEIGHT)).A few other things you should know, ALL maintenance has to get cleared through Quality leasing (after hours or weekend break down you sit till they get back to work) they should authorize you to take the truck somewhere to get it fixed. oil changes have to be done at one of the 3 terminals they have (remember 3 terminals 4000 trucks on the road. don't think you will have to wait awhile?) let's see what else, oh ya any repair under $200.00 comes out of you check. if you should quit Celadon they keep what ever money you have in the maint account (Could be thousands of dollars). Lease drivers pay all there tolls, but they will tell you any tolls east of Ohio they pay except for upstate NY, NJ, WV, so the way I see it its only PA and you have to get authorization!!!!!! They don't have loaner trucks, the will not let you test drive the truck before you buy it (Some guys have set at the terminals weeks on end waiting for there truck to get transmissions, and engine rebuilds. Everyone at Celadon will tell you that you do not work for Celadon, you work for Quality equipment. Oh lastly from what I understood from employees that work in the various offices the turn over rate of the lease purchase drivers is 100 percent within 2 to 3 months. They used to have a really good lease plan, but they found out they could make a lot more money with this plan........

 

When you get to celadon, you will see hundreds of empty trucks and 70 to 100 new recruits each week. That should tell you how high their turnover rate is. Also, they make you pay $160 to $250 deposit on prepass, air-cuff lock, and padlock. If you quit, they will make it look like you quit under a load even if you didn't so you don't get that deposit back.

 

Well my other half has been with Celadon since March. It started out not too bad, light loads and paychecks, and has gone down hill from there. He has several years experience as an owner op. He is getting ready to leave after not getting a paycheck for 7 weeks and he has been turning over 3k miles a week. After finally being able to pull up his settlements online, cause they won't give him a copy of it or mail one to the house, it turns out he is paying them to haul their freight. Their fuel surcharge leaves much to be desired, they are giving him heavy loads, he can't get his fuel milage over 6.5 and he is getting all sorts of flack for driving 53 mph trying to get his fuel milage up. I have never known him to be under 7.2 and I used to drive with him.

 

I just recently was told they have a NorthEast dedicated that i might be coming onto (I live In Vermont).....has anyone heard for this???

 

Celadon is the very last place you want to work..They tell the biggest bunch of lie's.Their adds say they speak the straight truth..DO NOT BELIEVE THIS. I worked for them for two months then took the truck back to Indy and told them too stick it..I've been driving for 37 year's and never worked for a sorry company as this one. 5 weeks vacation a year???A Lie..Layover pay????A lie..If you are sitting in their terminal as i did each week in Laredo,Tx for 3 & 4 days at a time you are not eligiable for layover pay..Just wait till they bring your load over from Mexico..They have a no count medical staff that put me on some kind of pill's because of my blood sugar level's..When I get back to my own personal Doctor he was just outraged that they prescribed something I DID NOT NEED..But I had to go to Wal-Mart and get em before they would dispatch me.No stay away from Celadon..Most all big Company's plug the driver..But Celadon has a Master's degree in doing it..This Industry B***** over thr ( Driver Shortage)..Well common sense tells you that you get what you pay for..You want vthe best driver's then PAY and TREAT them as the best Driver's...A Hint I've learned in going on 37 years in this business..When a company has hundred's of empty trucks at their terminals and they have too advertise in the Trucking Magazines month after month and year after year...BEWARE..don't let them B.S. you on we are growing...They do not live up to the lie's they tell you and driver's won't stay...If they were doing all they promise and treating the driver right you would have to wait till drivers either retired or died off for an opening..

 

Thanks for the good information.

 

as a owner operator, I was told that Celadon wont even let me store my truck on their lot in between hauls. Is this true?

 

From What I see, if they take out .31 cent from your pay, most trucks fuel cost about .58 per mile if they fuel and drive right. so your looking at .89 per mile in truck expenses off of .90 plus fuel surcharge which is .443 where im at now. so you would be essentially making .45 cent per mile

 

Who told you that, and why wouldn't they?

 

if i had it to do again, i would have stayed with schneider rather than go to celadon. celadon pays more but their stringent fueling routes means i pay for showers far more than get a free shower with fuel. schneider let me fuel anywhere and i usually had at least 1-2 showers on all my truck stop cards. If I'm lucky I get 3-4 showers a week from fuel, meaning I'm down $30-40 a week on showers alone, unless I want to be scrubby.

celadon terminals are a disgusting joke, don't bother showering anywhere but Drums PA, its the only one I've found halfway clean. Schneider terminals are real nice, free good speed wifi, and clean showers.

Miles were roughly the same for me at both companies, and I can't compare health plans yet. The only thing I like about Celadon is the brand new truck over the ex-training truck I was given at Schneider with 800k miles on it. Of course, the new model QC at Schneider worked a hell of a lot better than the POS in my brand new Celadon truck.

That's just comparing the two companies I've worked for, not trying to get you to go orange, just comparing with what I know.