Central Refrigerated - 10 month Reveiw - Long

In 2007 I drove for CRS 10-months. I would have stayed an entire year if the semester didn't start, but I wanted to finish a long drawn out degree in college that I never finished. Here’s is my CRS experience:

I got a license at a school near where I live, so I didn't do the CRS training program to get a license. After talking with a recruiter I was sent on a prepaid grey hound bus to Fontana,CA They paid for a motel while doing the hiring process (It was an average motel, not fancy, not crappy either).

After being hired, they seated me in a trainer truck. The whole hiring process and being seated was friendly and excellent. I was hired and on a truck in seriously less then a week on arriving. I’ve heard complaints that guys do get stuck for 2 or even 3 weeks sometimes though. This didn’t happen to me.

I was put on with a guy who told me he had 15 years of experience, but I swear on the bible he couldn't back a 53' into a hole without 20 pullups. Not only that but he had to be only 27/28 years old. Most companies won't even think about hiring someone until they are at least 21. 15 years experience was a huge fib, this guy must have counted the years driving his tonka toys as a kid. I should have immediately just called and asked for a different trainer, but being that I was new, and not high in the totem pole, I figured it was best just to act like everything was just dandy, so I did... Needless to say it didn’t work out and the both of us ended up exchanging some words and back at the terminal.

The next 2 weeks I drove with a middle aged guy who let me drive full 11 hour driving days and would actually have me ally dock/park EVERY time we stopped, even when he drove. He was a killer trainer, and really a cool dude to boot. Now that I know now what I didn’t know then, it would have been good if he taught me more trip planning and Qualcomm stuff though. Later I learned this same employ was put into a safety position in the company where he had a cozy desk job and good pay (Good on CRS for reconizing a good employ when you got one).

After that I was upgraded and seated in 3 days (That’s pretty good seating time in my opinion). I drove 80k in 9 months solo which isn't bad for a newbie. some weeks were 1500 miles, some were 3300 miles. Average load was around 900 miles. Rarely did I get nice 1600+ mile loads unless they were rushing me home. Here is a list of some stuff I know from working with them (BOTH GOOD AND BAD):

CPM was ok starting out, but slow 1cent increment changes. Even the experienced drivers wouldn’t get above 34/37 from what I saw, and other companies (expecially reefer) I saw advertisers for high 30’s low 40’s all over (I’m not experienced though).

Tractors are usually new equipment and excellent condition. All standard Volvo 670. You’ll still have the occasional breakdown, but that’s truckin’

Some ballpark numbers here: 3 out of 4 trailors are in good working condition and are not a problem. 1 out of 2 trailors have tons of body damage but work. Drop and Hook: I’de say maybe 20% drop/hook if that. Good luck finding a decent empty at terminals.

Usaully they always have a load preset for you before you even deliver your current one (this is Salt Lake terminal I speaking of here), but if you don't get one before your delivery, MSG them a couple hours before delivery and tell them to get a present for you, and usually they will.

Being company, you don't have a choice on loads (they tell you that at orientation) and its true. I've OO is pretty much the same. I had to accept every load that came to me no matter how crappy or good (you don’t have to accept illegal loads, and in my experience only 1 guy (no names) from the southwest area would try and strong arm drivers into them.

It was very rare I ever actually sat for a whole day because of no loads. It was common to get crappy short load, or wait at a shipper/receiver for long hours. And often the app times on pickups seem strangely to be deadlined just before it could be possible to get there on time before unloading your last load (It makes it so you don’t get delay pay on pickups). This was common in seriously 3 out of 4 loads in my experience. So you end up being late on pickups and on-time for deliveries without much choice.

They say they try to run you as many miles as they can, in my case, I ended up making around 2800 miles the first month weekly (I think this is good for getting short loads), then the next 4 months I seriously was averaging only 2000-2200 miles or so, waiting on long pickup/delivery times. Complaining to the DM didn't help, so eventually I spoke with the Terminal Manager about it who listened and affirmed he'd look into it (This ended up being good and bad), My DM was fuming out the ears about me going over her head or even just contacting Management for something making her look bad. After that I was put on really funky loads that got me more miles, but didn't make life easier (Can't say I didn't ask for it). Loading/Unloading at night, quick 900 mile trips all over the place, (Short loads are more work and same CPM then the long ones, and sitting at a dock doesn't count as on-duty time so... I ran a combination of nights/days sleeping 4 hours, docking it, sleeping 2 hours pulling out, sleeping 2 hours, waking up to the wonderful noise of Qualcomm beeping…etc). I ended up not only making more money because of miles, but also because I seriously didn't have extra time to spend the money I made. It was ok though, I asked for it I guess. I still rarely got over 3000 miles even with working my TAIL OFF. Those short loads are a hassle, but they are miles and work so…

This is my only REAL complaint with the company. CRS offers Lots of Xtra pay like Delay/Layover/Late home time...etc BUT YOU HAVE TO FIGHT FOR IT!!!!! Don't plan on them giving 1 penny for x-tra pay unless you keep an accurate record of EVERYTHING you do and when it comes pay day, make the weekly calls to payroll to get EVERY PENNY THEY OWE YOU. In 9 months of solo driving, I've called payroll and X-pay departments at least 500 times. And still I've been jipped on at least 400 dollars or more of them not coming through on Late home pay and other various Delay pays (They usaully get you home on time in my experience though, if not 1 day late every once in awhile). DM's are supposed to take care of all pay roll issues by the book (I was told this directly by the Salt Lake terminal manager after I quit). But if you can get one DM to actually take care of all your payroll issues, then you have a RARE DM there, and give them a hug next time your at that terminal for doing so. When I spoke with X-pay at the terminal directly, they told me that most of their drivers don't even keep accurate records like I did on pay, when I said they probably get jipped on all kinds of pay, both the ladies went silent and shook their heads yes. If your a CRS driver please don't let them do this. It will only allow them to think they can do it more. Call/use Qualcomm over and over and over and over tying up their phone lines and workers until they make things right. Hopefully the terminal employs will get tired of it and finally just pay us what we make without hassle. I actually left a month early from the company because I got pissed about not getting paid for a six hour delay at Cargill.

Anyway, other then the above mentioned I can't think of much else to say. I would have gone back to CRS if it wasn’t for the hassle of fighting to get paid for what you work for. Other then the payroll issues they are an ok company. If I was a brand new driver again, I would look elsewhere for your 1-year of EXP though.