Answers from a driver who stuck it out. 1 year with CRE

I have noticed a bunch of threads under cre with new drivers asking questions I might be able to help with. I have been driving for Cre for 1 year now. I am not a lease op, or a trainer and definately not a recruiter. Just a driver that has had a pretty good experiance with England. New students and drivers with under two yrs experiance will start at .25cpm. I have seen a select few drivers make the lease program work, but they are very few and far between. If you have any questions I will be happy to answer if I am able. Also if you are currently a driver with CRE an need some advise or have questons I will try to help. I have found that if the low pay is worth making your chops in this industry, and you are willing to work within the constraints of their system you can have some sucess with them.

 

I recieved my cdl through the USMC before I left active duty in 2009. I didn't use it for a year afterwards,as I saw it as a great "fallback" option. After working at a 7-11 for the first year after I got out of the Corps, I decided it was time to make a sacrifice for my family and give driving a shot. I tried with no success to get on anywhere else. I read up on here about many of the negatives of different co's, but at the end of the day England was the only company that returned my calls.

I knew from what I had read here on the forums some of what to avoid, and my experiance in the marines made me wary of the too good to be true items they use to hook in newbs. That said I still had to shell out $500 for a "refresher course." This is the same training as all brand new guys get, except they have to pay $2500 for it. I left on Feb 12th, 2011 for training starting on the 15th. 26 hr greyhound ride to SLC, I'm sure you have all been there. School lasted 2.5 weeks and then I was assigned a "phase 1" trainer. I was very lucky in that my first trainer was a 22yr veteran otr driver, and an all around good guy. He was a very good teacher and really helped me to establish a good foundation of otr skills and habits. I was with this trainer for 30 days.

Upon completion of 30 days with my phase 1 trainer I was dropped off back in SLC for a 4 day upgrade course(road test, backing test, trip planning class and hiring paper work). Several times through the initial 2.5 weeks of school and this 4 day upgrade we were talked to about all the "perks" of the lease program. Once I declined the lease and told them I wanted to be a company driver they placed me with a phase 2 trainer for 60 days. If I had wanted to lease this would have been shortened to 10 days. My phase 2 trainer was a douche bag, but did have several yrs of experiance otr. I later learned that I had again licked out and that no experiance is required to be a phase 2 trainer. He had a dedicated run working for the Walmart DC in cheyenne, wy. During this period of 60 days we ran exclusively in WY, MY, CO ND, SD and UT, during the months of March, April and part of May. As you drivers know these states never really have any decent weather during this time frame so again I gained some valuable winter driving experiance. Once I completed these 60 days I again went back to SLC for final tests. One of the guys I had gone through the refresh course with had leased a truck and asked if I would come on with him at .15cpm to help him out.

I took this option and became a 1099 employee of his. He had gotten a dedicated accrual running from Napa, ID to Buffalo, ny each week. This is where I learned how grisly hard it was to make a lease work at England. I worked for him for a month and despite averaging 6500+ miles a week, after he paid me and all his truck payments he often only took home $100-200 a week. We drove ourselves into the ground, but for the most part he barely scraped by. He never went into the negative on his payments, and always paid me before he paid himself. We remain very good friends to this day. He is one of the only people I know that has been successful with his lease. He and I decided to part ways after two months and he became a phase 2 trainer.

I talked to a couple buddys I had made in my short time here at England and teamed up with another friend, again as a 1099 but this time with a woman who has 14 trucks she runs with England. I have been driving with her since august, and have been quite happy. I have driven team and solo in my time with England, though never technically as a company driver.

I think this should pretty much answer most questions up to this point so if you have any other questions please feel free to ask. I will answer to the best of my ability.

Semper fi
Adam

 

Oh and to answer Cajun I currently make .29cpm paid as HHG miles. So no I can't afford internet lol. I post from my mobile phone with web access so bear with me if I don't respond every day. I've been a ttr lurker for a bit so I am familiar with a few on here as well as the naysayers and attackers. Bring it on, one thing I have developed in a year with CRE is thick skin lol. Thanks for the warm welcome!!!