CRST the truth..Good company bad trainers

Discussion in 'CRST' started by Unidos, Feb 8, 2010.

  1. Unidos

    Unidos Light Load Member

    78
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    Oct 6, 2009
    Port Orange, FL
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    I just finished up my 28 days well kinda more like 18 days. I am not slamming the company as I had the worse trainer and dispatcher. I do not want training from someone who has piss poor habits.

    CRST is all about the money they get from the Govt. They get a 10k tax credit for everyone they hire. They are a red flag company from all their accidents and deaths. They have a 30% turn over rate as they are a starter company.

    Cedar Rapids has about 100 people a week in every orentation class. I sat 8 days waiting on a trainer. FYI if you decide to go with CRST go to Cedar Rapids trust me OK City is a rat hole.

    The trainer I had should have not been training people. He has 1.5 years of experiance and his answer for almost everything is you will figure it out sooner or later.

    He did not like to shower. We went 8 days of no shower. 2 showers in 18 days. He felt since we were not sweating that he didnt have to stop for them. We never did pre trips and he got pissed when i took time to do them. Said we were waisting time. He said all you have to do is log a 15min pre trip and 30 min post trip then just check the tires. Before you go down a grade some places have stops so you can check your brakes.. He would drive right through.

    We picked up a 43k lb load of paper. I asked are you going to scale this load? He said no, I am not paying $7.00 for that and its $3.00 to re run it. He said its your licence you can do it if you like.

    My first time in thick fog with over 42k loaded on a 7% grade he was ######## that i wasn't going fast enough. I was doing 55 and he wanted me to do 65. I told him if you want to go 65 i'll pull over and we can switch. He declined.

    The kicker was when I stopped for 15 min to take a break. I was on the truck for 7 hours. I pulled into a rest stop in Oklahoma. I made a sandwich, got out stretched my legs and check the truck. The trainer lost his mind. Screaming You do not stop this truck ever. We only stop for fuel and if you have to piss. He's a company driver and basicly said if you dont like it get off the truck. I told him in orentation they said we are allowed to stop every 2 hours for 15 min if needed. He said thats not true in the real world of trucking. I called dispatch and they sent him a qualcom to let me off at OK City terminal.

    BUT it was ok to stop at his brothers house with 6 cats in NY for 30 hours while we were live on a load and on my training. Instead of going to the drop and getting on the list for another load.

    I have been hired by another company. Orentation is on Wed. It is based in FL. All I have to do is take a road test and go out for 2 weeks. I have a co driver who was in the same situation as I was, he too is driving for the new company now and loving it and making money. We will be teamed up in a few weeks..

    If you like to sit alot than CRST is right for you. I made about 400.00 in 18 days.

    Recruiters are full of ####. CRST does not have paid orentation, tuition reimbursment and home time is 1 day for one week out not that 1.5 days their web site says.

    After orentation plan on going to a hotel for up to a week and as long as a month. Bring money so you can eat, there are a lot of people eating other people's food out the fridge cause they are broke.

    sorry for the book and keep the rubber side down..
     
    Baack Thanks this.
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  3. vinsanity

    vinsanity Road Train Member

    1,760
    689
    Nov 23, 2009
    South Florida
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    Hard to believe you were at the same company. That is the complete opposite of my experience.
     
  4. Unidos

    Unidos Light Load Member

    78
    11
    Oct 6, 2009
    Port Orange, FL
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    I wish i was making all this up. I thought i'd never be that guy who has the long list of issues.
     
  5. BULLDOGG

    BULLDOGG Bobtail Member

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    1
    Apr 16, 2010
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    you know you didnt have to keep that trainer. and i hope you would have gave him a bad report. so someone else doesnt have to suffer. im currently waiting for mine to arrive. a half a day after orientation. if you had a bad expierience. you did it to your self. whole time ive been here. it has been all about safety.
     
  6. crc32

    crc32 Light Load Member

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    Jun 11, 2010
    North East, Missouri
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    Sounds to me like the OP got one of those trainers who was purely in it for the money. I became a trainer at my starter company, and I refused to run it like we were a team. Atleast until the trainee had some experience.
     
  7. free2frog

    free2frog Medium Load Member

    437
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    Sep 15, 2009
    Indianapolis, Indiana
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    Good luck Unidos, My 8 months will be up in July hit 6 months in may with the big pay raise only to have are miles drop off lost 6k mile after getting the the big raise and looks to be ##### again this month. talked to dispatch on her Private cell she confirmed what i have been told by other drivers Training trucks and the .22cpm guy get priority on the loads those of us that make it six months are starved out. Cause after 6 months CRST gets to keep the government check for training us but if were quit before the 8 months then they get the check and go after us for the 4k for school. So I'll ride it out here for 3 more weeks then I'm outta here already lined up my new ride all i have to do is pass the pee test. 34cpm to start dedicated home almost every night and off weekends (weekends are optional) Crst is not a bad place to get your CDL and is not a bad company if your the type of person that needs to be told when where and how to do something. But if you have anything over a Jr. High school education and any business sense you will go nuts here. I know I have but the end is near out of 12people in my class only 2 of us have made it this far me and my co driver.
     
  8. TchainT

    TchainT Bobtail Member

    7
    0
    May 13, 2009
    St. Cloud, MN
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    I too had a bad trainer with CRST. He wanted to run logs illegally and decided it was okay to mouth of racial remarks on the mexican border to mexicans. I thought he was gonna get me shot. He always had me switch when we were close to a drop so i never was able to get any experience backing into docks. Im sure every company has bad trainers though, I just have ridiculously bad luck :biggrin_25513:
     
  9. Happen

    Happen Bobtail Member

    16
    3
    Jun 25, 2009
    California
    0
    CRST as a company is getting worse.

    want to know why they have bad trainers is cause the way they recruit them. all they talk about to get trainers is that you make more per mile. So all you get is people who don't know what they are doing or how to treat people right wanting to be a trainer for the wrong reason, money.

    the hometime was reduced last november from 1.5 days off per week to 1. then they still have the gall to say they have the best in the industry.

    Also the policy states that the dispacher is responsible to ensure that the driver makes it on his schedule home time BUY the operational reality is that you go where the freight does and most the time in the wrong direction. you home time is not important to them. when you want to be home is a suggestion and they will get around to it. some say to defend them that they need to make a profit and i see that but i have more than once relayed a load to someone going my way so they can get home. we move alot of freight now and i can never seem to get a relay to get me home on time.

    Currently they talk about driver retention. LOL they have not figured out that to keep drivers they need to treat them like humans, not micro manage the driver from a cubicle in cedar rapids, from someone who has zero over the road experience.

    the pay does suck and the more you earn per mile the less miles you get. its that simple. CRST is going to be one of the companys that are going to get totally screwed when CSA2010 comes out.

    they constantly complain that the trucks get put out of service at scales. well they have not figured out that a driver will send in a macro stating a problem several things will happen.
    your dispatcher will not let you get it repaired if in any ways it affects the load getting picked up or delivered. CRST attitude is not my problem if you get caught and if you dont like it then leave. that last statement has become more apparent as of late. IF you don't like it leave.
    second if your dispatcher doesn't get involved then you have to argue with maintenince. they will speak down to you tell you that you don't know what you are talking about.
    then they want you to get it fixed at a terminal. that depends on the terminal. fontana is by far the worst. the stuff they state they fix they don't only to have it come back to bite you in the ###. and if you report it again they state its already been fixed or its a non issue. then they send out stupid messages on the qualcom that make sure you are doing your pre and post trip inspections to find issues, WHY they are not going to fix them.

    this was not the way it used to be but as of late crst is acting like they have money issues.

    I used to defend this company from people who talked smack about crst but now i encourage that CRST should be your last choice.
     
  10. Temptinfates

    Temptinfates Light Load Member

    246
    111
    Apr 21, 2010
    Cartersville, Ga.
    0
    Just finished my training stint. I had a real nice, knowlegable trainer. Not all are like that, But my trainer was a decent guy. Have heard some stories about other trainers though..and some stories about trainees...

    Temptinfates
     
  11. Temptinfates

    Temptinfates Light Load Member

    246
    111
    Apr 21, 2010
    Cartersville, Ga.
    0
    I can only say what I experienced at the Fontana yard. We had a broken mudflap on the trailer. We had to wait a little bit, but we ate a pizza while we waited. We finally were told to back in on the trailer pad.

    The mechanic there went above and beyond on the work he did and the way he repaired the mudflap-excellent job. He also changed out about four tires and repaired a leaking seal. The tires were still within DOT limits, but somewhat close. The seal leak was very minor. I watched this guy work out my mirror. I was glad I wasn't having to do the labor.

    After the repair, I went back and told him thanks. I also asked him about the tires and why he changed them. To be honest, this guy did more than we asked and worked his butt off doing it. Other experiences may be different,
    but, we had a guy work his butt off for us.

    Maybe workload was light and he didn't have too much to do- I don't know. I do know that the one time we went there the shop guy did us right. I was glad to leave there with the better tires and the mudflap repaired. The mudflap was missing when we picked up the trailer and we didn't want the DOT to put us OOS for it. Just reporting on my experience with Fontana yard.

    Temptinfates
     
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