I have been riding with my man since February 08-working hard with him trying to make some money and get some in the bank for a change. We left TransAm due to low miles, not so great dispatch, etc...On the advice of his friend/former trainer who left TA for Celadon, we decided to give Celadon a try. They sure sounded good, all those nice ads in the trucker mags, etc...HA. He quit after 3 months of crap. One major bone was the idling nonsense. How they expect you to sleep in 80 degree nights w/ 100% humidity, and trucks on either side of you idling while you lay there w/ the truck shut off sweating off your u know whats- I dont know. I would invite Steve , their CEO to spend a nite in one of his trucks in Texas in August w/ no AC. To make a long bad story short, his average weekly pay was 230.00 a week, which I think he could make at Burger King. When we had to make payment arrangements on the cell phone bill due to no money, it pretty much sealed the deal and he left Celadon about a month later. There are a lot of other reasons to avoid Celadon, a big one is TOLLS. You end up cash advancing your paycheck to cover tolls, and then you get about 1500*1800 miles for the week so you are constantly in the hole. Best of luck to those who are making a good living at Celadon...it sure didn't work out for us-even after he spoke directly to the operations mgr about getting more miles or taking back the truck( he was professional about it) Too bad, nice International ProStar 2008-I wonder if they think because they gave u a new truck u will put up with no miles and no money????

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Billsgirl

Do you realize it costs more money for you to ride with your man for food, drinks, smokes if you smoke, most likely riders insurance, and do not forget those little things he buys you at the truckstop.

I am not trying to attack you or tying to stick up for the company just pointing out that it costs more for the driver to have people out on the road with them.

I had someone wanting to come out on the road with me but I said no due to the costs of the person being on the truck.
It cost me enough to eat while I am out.

Besides if the other person is at home they can have a job to help pay bills.

i am in the same situation. here at covenant there are no miles, crap equipment and all the rest that make up a sad situation, but i have my girl with me, thank god.if it wasn't for her i would have lost my mind out here alone, roasting in the truck in the summer,freezing in the winter,and yes they don't care, they saw this as a way to cut back expenses and the cost of fuel can go down to 1.99 per gallon they still will fuss over idleing.
anyway, i am glad my girl is with me, even thru the costs.

Another example. Even the best companies have whiners. Those of us who have been out here a while can sense what happened. Extra person on the truck means MORE advances. More advances means less "paycheck". This is somehow the company's fault. I've heard it time and time again. BOTH the complainers here have extra people with them without taking into account the COSTS involved.

I have been driving for almost 12 years and have to disagree with it costing more for a spouse to be on the road with a driver. My wife is with me and has been for about four years now, since the kids all grew up and left the house. Ocasionally she will take a few weeks off and stay home to visit kids and grandkids, and it definitely costs more for her to be at home while Im on the road. Twice the expenses it seems. Of course, all of our meals are cooked on the truck and we simply do not eat out. Honestly, I dont know how anyone can make money eating in restaurants every meal while driving a truck anyhow.

We are fully aware of the cost of 2 people on the road, but according to the companies that I worked for previously, I would be making "$36,000-46,000" as a first year driver, and with only a cell phone bill and a storage bill to pay seeing as how I gave up the apt and put my furniture in storage-the cost of having someone on the road with me should not even come into play. If you are too blind to see the fact that the miles are shrinking, since the pay hasn't gone up since the 80's, people were making .30 a mile back then which was a good income in 1980 & by the way, I am sure you know that trucking is considered "non-skilled" labor but yet you drive an 80000 lb missile on America's highways up and down mountains, dodging tornadoes in tornado alley, and in the Northeast snowstorms on I-80 in PA, occasionally on I-40 in Tennessee. If you think you are getting compensated for the risks you take every time you start your truck in the morning, I am happy for you. But myself personally, I don't have trucking in my blood. It was supposed to be a good career that pays well. As it turns out, it is a good career but you just have to find the right people to work for that aren't only concerned with feeding their family, and sending their kids to college, keeping their Platinum Blue Cross/Blue Shield and going to the Yacht Club or Moose Lodge bragging about their new Jaguar or Beemer. By the way, Bush is getting ready to up the HOS, I can't wait to get back out on the road with all the sleepy idiots that will be driving their missiles on the highway-(not you professional drivers, you know who you are) If you think you are being treated well for keeping America's economy moving, I am happy for you. As for myself, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. This is from Bill, the driver of the truck.

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Billsgirl

I'd really like to know where people are getting this idea that the HOS are going to be increased. I'd be interested in seeing some sort of information on this proposal, since it doesn't come up on a search anywhere. I have seen this mentioned several times in the past week by various people.

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I didn't say it was your fault, I said I was going to blame you.

Dynamite comes in small packages, Nitro comes in smaller ones, take your pick!

I made great money out there and I ate at restaraunts all the time.

The differince is I always ate off the dollar menu's.

I did sometimes eat a good sit down meal but that was maybe twice a week the rest was all fast food.

You just have to know who to spend your money wisely.

I most of the time only are breakfast and dinner with no lunch.

I did have a few snacks in the truck that I stopped up the road at walmart to buy when I was at the terminal in Utah.

If I had extra time I would stop for lunch but that was rairly because I would only stop in rest areas for the bathroom during the day.

I only spent about 100 per week for all of my food, snacks, drinks etc while out on the road eating out in restaraunts.
I would still have on adverage 600-700 left.


All I can say is you knew the cpm before you started the yearly adverage could be what you stated but rember that is before uncle sam comes asking for his share and do not forget you have to pay for social secuirty taxes etc.

If you done your research before jumping on board you would know about all the risks etc that truckers do not get paid to deal with.

Not all truckers drive for the money they drive because they like doing what they are doing.

If you decided to drive a truck just for the money then you were sadly mistaken about making bank.

I drove for a while and I was able to save up some good money that is because I knew how to control my spending.

I also got arround 2000-3000 miles a week and I did not stop verry much.
I was getting paid .32cpm

P.S the hos are changing but for the worse they are not increasing they are suppose to be doing away with the reset. Just goes to show people gets things confused.

What's laughable here is that you applaud yourself for "only eating fast food most of the time". All that money you saved doing that is gonna go right to your doctors for your treatment for your heart attacks, cholesterol and numerous other ailments that stem from only eating fast food.
I swear, you people give me more good laughs with the things you say than any comedy show ever could.

Where does Billsgirl say he couldn't control his spending? You're trying to read things that aren't there. Maybe they also "ate off the dollar menu". I'm sure they know "how to spend their money wisely".

I drive because I like what I'm doing, but if I was out for a week or more, and was bringing home $230.00, I'd be looking elsewhere. Quickly.
Anyone who says the ONLY reason they're driving is because they like what they're doing is lying. Or has a boatload of money in the bank from a previous occupation. Or a rich significant other.

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Go, and beat your crazy head against the sky.....