attention all CR England haters:

Discussion in 'CR England' started by racerdad, Oct 4, 2013.

  1. NoCoCraig

    NoCoCraig Road Train Member

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    Man I thought you were being a real jerk calling someone a quitter......until I realized it was his forum handle. lol
     
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  3. Elendil

    Elendil Heavy Load Member

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    any company is better than England............and I mean any.

    That being said, avoid company training altogether. Get your CDL on your own. Company sponsored training is not "free". You agree to work for the company for a specified period of time. If you leave before the specified time you are on the hook for training costs.

    Many drivers will tell you that you can quit anytime and not to worry about paying for school. I believe those who say that are the same types who don't think the rules apply to them. You are agreeing to a contract that has obligations on both sides.........

    Also keep in mind that most companies that provide CDL training also pay at a lower rate than many other companies that will hire new drivers but don't provide CDL training. All in all there are a lot of hidden costs associated with "free" CDL training........

    By my way of thinking it is like saying you want to be a HVAC technician, but you want the company that you will work for to provide your schooling so you can be an HVAC tech. Sounds rather silly. You first put yourself through school, then you apply to companies you want to work for.

    Trucking screws itself to a certain extent because in what other profession do you expect your employer to provide you with the education needed to enter the profession in the first place?

    If you can't figure out a way to get your CDL on your own, then you should look at a different line of work. You are only setting yourself up to be screwed otherwise.
     
  4. quitter

    quitter Light Load Member

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    LOL, I see it all the time people saying they are not a quitter, so I thought it would be funny to go ahead and state up front that I was a quitter. I know there is a big negative stigma attached to being a quitter, but it my case it turned out to be the best. I started to do the truck driving to get the health Insurance paid (which is like $1800/month because of my wife pre-existing condition of diabetes) and to make some money for my family. Right before I finished my training and was to test out to get my own truck at Werner, my wife who had not been able to find a job in years landed a job with health benefits.

    I decided truck driving was not for me. In the time I was training I had made a wrong turn in Los Angeles and in San Francisco. So there I was lost In SF, and LA, driving a vehicle with a 53 foot trailer up and down streets where no truck should ever go that were so narrow that I had to climb the sidewalks to make a turn. I tell you my blood pressure must have went through the roof. I also got to experience driving between Cheyenne Wyo, and SLC Utah for one week. Everyday, driving through unbelievable wind storms, even when it was not snowing the wind kicks up the snow so you can't see, you stop you going to get rear ended, so you just keep trucking through near zero visibility. I got to experience the trailer breaking down and waiting for days, I got to experience pulling into a DC at 3:00 AM, and having to wait till noon, with no bathroom... Those are just some of the things that made me decide that while driving was OK, I even enjoyed driving on the LA Freeways, the over all job was not worth it for me, but I do respect all those that do the job and wish you all could make more money. So, I took the name quitter, so I would not be confused wit the people that earned the title of being a truck driver. For me, it all worked out great, I was able to go back to school at my advance age, learn some new technologies and continue in engineering, although at a lower salary than I had. So, sometimes being a quitter is OK, I think you got to be honest with yourself. One last thing, I see a lot of people complain about Werner, but they treated me fairly, they did not trick me in any way, and I still think they are a decent way to get your foot in the door. I imagine though if I had started with a smaller company that did not have me driving all kinds of different places every day, I would most likely still be driving, I found the stress of not knowing where you are going because it was a new place was really the straw that broke the back, so to speak.
     
  5. TruckDuo

    TruckDuo Road Train Member

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    Excellent post Quitter
     
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  6. MysticHZ

    MysticHZ Road Train Member

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    This post should be required reading for every newbie on here who wants to jump right into a lease ... this the real reason you should drive for at least a year, before deciding to invest in a lease or your own truck.

    It's not to learn how to be a truck driver ... it's to learn whether or not you can deal with being a truck driver.

    As much as some want to glamorize it, frankly the job sucks.
     
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  7. pattyj

    pattyj Road Train Member

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    Interesting thread title,lol.
     
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  8. travie3000

    travie3000 Bobtail Member

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    You must watch out with programs like that they may except you and then half way threw the program they say oh well we can't give you a job but you still owe us the six thousand that it cost to train you and then your out a career and in debt to the company. If I were you I'd check with a training facility near you and see if they offer a student loan program.
     
  9. Dr_Fandango44

    Dr_Fandango44 Road Train Member

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    I did my rookie CDL training at CRE way back in 97. Cost me $1200 and paid them back over the course of the year. Training was pretty good, then when you got your temp permit, you went OTR with a trainer. That was fine. Then came the "dumb and dumber" program as you teamed up with a fellow student and drove OTR again for a few weeks. I was lucky I got a good partner, but others were not so fortunate. What staggered me is the amount of guys that never made it thru the course, about 80% fell by the wayside. Once I got my CDL I just waited til I had paid off the loan then moved on. CRE just use the new recruits as cheap/slave labor. I was paid 21c mile at first and the amount of miles I was getting was pathetic. I'd be lucky if I got 6000 a mth!! Soon after I joined up with Indian River Transport but I'm glad I went thru the experience. It could've been worse. All told I was with CRE for about 15 mths.
    i would say their training program is pretty good, but beyond that I would recommend that you move onto better things ASAP.
     
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  10. Dewey120

    Dewey120 Road Train Member

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    I like the dumb and dumber phrase, its totally true. I have to admit when I was a phase 2 trainer I had no idea what I was doing. I used to call my phase 1 trainer all the time. Also I would come to a backing situation and I would ask my student how he would setup for it since I didn't know.
     
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  11. Milkman719

    Milkman719 Medium Load Member

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    well if you go there you will have a great time. lol but really if you stay focused and have a good attitude your do just fine. most people dont relize how much a of a lifestyle change OTR is on your life. you said free training just a commitment? you might want to check the interest rate on your free loan. there tons of trucking companies that offer "FREE" training. If you have the means or have a family member that will help you pay for school you can be ahead of the game. for example when i went to truck driving school the students who sign up for free training signed a loan agreement for 4,500. I paid cash and it was 2,800 i kept in touch with 5 other students by the end of the year only one was still in it (besides me) I'm a local driver now but i did put my time in OTR.
     
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