Going with cr england

I think there are a lot of opinions on this site. Some good, some bad. There seems to be an overwhelming one sided agreement as to the "lease" thing. This would make me wonder why. Can you make money leasing? Sure can. It is just a rare occurence for the ones who are. There are just SO MANY factors in leasing of which it is also not cheap that can make you or break you. If you can line all of these ducks in a row you can be successful. Finding a person that can do so is just rare. I will be fair to in that it does not always lye in the drivers hands. A truck that has a lot of breakdowns or a bad dispatcher will put the nails in your coffin. These companies really lock you into the leases so that they benefit. Trust me, been there done that. As for working for England, I still cannot figure out why anybody thinks it is a good idea to work for a company that has to spend millions of dollars in advertising to convince someone to be an employee. In the real world the job seeker has to convince the employer to hire them. If you have never killed anyone and can resist the urge to not drink while you are driving than you are hired! I think its harder getting a job as a rent-a-bum! So if this is the way they have to operate wouldn't that make you think they are hiring and firing quite frequently? Or maybe there is a black hole by the terminal and everytime they hire a driver they disappear in to the hole! Can one of you new guys please explain the logic behind going to one of these companies. I and some of the other experienced drivers would really like to know. Thank you for your time.

 

Well I am a new guy Chompi. I will try to explain as I saw it before I found this site. Before I do that I will give you a little background on me. I like to research everything as much as possible before I make any major decision. Hell sometimes even minor ones. I been screwed over too much in life, in the past, not to do that. Some people however do not research things and they see a commercial or website and say WOOOT!

Comming from the perspective of a person that does no research.... You decide one day you want to become a truck driver. Ok what do you do? You either saw a commercial on TV or saw an add in the paper. Maby you even decided just to put a search on google about how to become a truck driver. One of the first things you see is CR England and how they will train you. WoW thats great, This company will not only give me a job but I dont have to shell out 8 grand upfront to goto school first! Then you goto their website to learn more information. To be frank, out of all the companies, they really do have the best website. They have some nice videos that make everything look all hunky dory. So you spend an hour or two watching the videos and reading the information on their website. The next thing you see is a "contact me and start now" button. So you click that and you get their phone number. You call that phone number and talk to a well trained salesman, err I mean recruiter. He then continues to spruce up what an amazing opportunity this is for you so you sign up.

That all could have happend to me very easily. I can totally understand why people get sucked in. Lucky for me, I have trained myself to research things. I start doing various google searches with various key words. I happend upon a ripoff alert page first. They had hundreds of people putting down CR England for many of the same reasons. Red Flag HELLO. One of the next things I found is this very forum. See this forum isnt readily accessible or known to people just starting out. If you are not someone like me, that likes to research, you may never know it exists. I start reading for about a month about CR England and other companies. I didnt even make my first post before about a month of reading. I am not one to ask questions when the information is already there in front of me, if I can help it. I feel I have learned all I can by reading without the actual first hand experience. I signed up for Central. I actually tried Swift first but they were not hiring out of NY. I am happy with going with Central and I will go in with a possitive attitude and try my best to keep it no matter what.

I look at it like this.... Starting out in the trucking business is no different then starting in any industry (as far as this part is concerned)... You start at the bottom and get #### on until you get some experience and prove yourself. Just like when I started in auto mechanics. Im currently 2 ASE certs from being a master technician and I made pretty #### good money. When I started out I was an oil change tire guy for about a year and a half. I made 8 bucks an hour back then. I fully expect to make crap money starting out. I fully expect to get crap for loads until I get experience and prove myself to the company that I can handle it. The only thing I dont know is that if this is the career for me or not. I will never know that without getting in there and doing that. No post on any forum or any words from any person can tell me that. The only thing that can tell me that is me getting in there and doing it. What I do know is that I love to drive. What I do know is that I love this country and I would absolutely love to say someday that I have been just about everywhere and seen just about all there is to see in this beautiful country. I also know that I can handle living in a closet. I can also handle being away from home for long periods of time. Trucking may or may not be for me. I hope it is. If it is not then well... I will hold my head up high and say I gave it my best go but it just isnt my type of career. I will atleast give it a year or two to make that decision. I will atleast uphold my obligation to Central before I walk away if it comes to that. What I hope is to build a long standing career. Put away some money and buy a house and retire someday. After 20 years in auto mechanics and getting fired from some hot shot new manager that just wanted to hire his friend into my position.. Im burned out from that business and will not go back.

 

You have a pretty good attitude as to what you are getting into. This is definitely a must in trucking! You are going to have your bad days too. You just need to have a good head on your shoulders and realize that this is just what it is "a bad day". I think you will be happy with Central, they really go above and beyond to help their drivers succeed. There were many instances in which they went out of their way to help us. Not a lot of companies do this!

 

Thanks Chompi. I try to keep a good attitude. It makes life so much easier. Also thanks for the PM. I will definately keep that in mind and it much appreciated. I cant PM yet but a couple more posts and I can =)

 

I am going with England as well. just have one question to those who drive or know the answer. Can you drive solo without leasing?

I was told on the phone by a recruiter that you can drive solo without leasing.

 

To my knowledge, the only way you can drive solo as a company driver is if you are part of the dedicated fleet and maybe the regional fleet. I do know that to be OTR and not lease that teaming is required.

 

my son has been there for 5 weeks and he said that you have to lease NO company driver at this time. good luck. he is not happy at all. but best of luck to you

 

Scott7975, you nailed it wonderfully. You are the kind of intelligent, realistic, street smart young man that will be very successful in this industry. This current economy is horrible. There are people who need a job to provide for their families. Unfortunately, not eveyone understands the dire straits that some newbies are in.
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Learn as much as you can, DO NOT HIT ANYTHING and pickup and deliver on time. Everybody has to start somewhere. While some companies are better than others, any entry driving job is better than no job. It ain't real important which "bottom feeder" company you start with. With a CDL, clean driving record, no accidents plus experience; you can move on to better companies and better deals.

 

Please go to the 'Report a bad company' thread...and type in CR England....

I can't, in good conscious, not suggest that....

It frustrates me, to see what a company like CR England, can and does do to 'people with good attitudes'....

They take that good attitude and put it in a blender...

With all the damage that company has done to peoples lives, all the countless horror stories...it amazes me their still able to recruit...

The abandoments, the bad daq reports they give drivers just out of spite...the trainers...some of which know less about trucking than the students their suppose to train...

The working for weeks without no pay check....and never getting home...

It's wierd...by telling you this, I'm setting myself up as the 'bad guy'...but by not telling you to think twice...I feel guilty...like allowing someone to walk into a land mind field and not warning them....

I hate to see companies like that take someone who is down, and then making their life worse, not better...like messing up your credit, harming your dac, even when you return the truck to the right terminal....

And not to mention various law suits being filed against them by former drivers...

Please do more research....I know things are hard...but please don't make them worse for yourself....