Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Mamamia, you are still a newb. Don't take offense to that, just the facts. My wife and I drove team for Central for 7 years. We had a planner for a DM. We and other teams were expected to run 7000 a week or 1000 a day. There is no reason you can't do it. You just a little more practice in planning and stacking your loads. As soon as you pick up your load let your dm know exactly when you will be there. You and your dm need to work together to either get them to take it early or reschedule your appt. If this cannot be done your dm needs to work on plans for you to drop it. As soon as you have a delivery to either a drop or receiver your dm should be looking for something else. If you are running drop and hooks you should really be stacking your preplans. Once you start hustling and your DM is assured you can handle multiple loads then they will be a little more comfortable stacking them on you.

 

No offence Chompi but things have changed since you left Central, JJ and I still have friends who work for Central and the weeks of 7000 miles are almost non existent, Central is a cdl mill and freight comes second as long as there is a truck for a newb coming outta school Central are happy, why do you think there are so many new faces on this thread every week????

 

Thank you for bringing that up jess. it matters not any more how good you are at planning. We were looking for ways out of places well before we got there, even looking at load boards, but you can only do so much. I can't book the loads myself. I will admit we are still rather new, but compared to the drivers at central chris and I are becoming an extinct breed. We tried every dedicated line. We like dole because we know it and have the best and most stable dm. He keeps all of his trucks moving, which is why usually 3 of the 10 owner ops of the month are on the dole fleet. We are happiest on this fleet. Anyway, in our class there were four teams, we are the only team left. Central makes there money off of the school and the leasing. They got our money for the school, now I control as much as I can with this truck.

 

By the way chompi, when we are loaded this truck moves 1100 to 1300 miles a day. In 4 days we will turn in 4600 paid miles. We hustle. We have been late for 4 loads ever (one was the other day because of a tire, one we told him was impossible, and we made it when we said we would, one was weather, and the other I got sick and chris couldn't drive 48 hours straight). We do what we say we will do. We don't like to sit. We haul. It is also a matter of new and everchanging dm's and planners

 

Curious,how many company drivers at central over one year??, they do have alot of new drivers but that may be normal turnover, and realizations that driving isn't for everyone. I am very interested in central and 2-3 weeks out at a time, so investigating before i sign on.
Thanks

 

When I was with Central I was there 2 and a half years. Only reason I left was I needed to get off the road for awhile, they really aren't a bad company, there are far worse, but they are far from the best.

 

Dang, I thought Chompi was a Recruiter. I have no bones against recruiters. Actually, any viable organization has to have recruiting to sustain itself. Just always consider the source. Chompi is most positive, yet realistic. There is no "one size fits all".

 

Found out my trainer is still stuck in St. Louis waiting to get a load. Now have to go in 2marrow and see if I can get a new trainer or a ride 2 the one they assigned to me.

 

I can give no actual verifiable statistics. I will tell you the teacher we had for a majority of the time (which I understand is not there, but that could be rumor) made no bones about that half of the class wouldn't be there at graduation, and half wouldn't last a year. You have to decide if this industry is for you. You have to decide if the company is for you, etc. I can tell you (and I may be a little off on the beginning number but you can look back in the 500 page area and see for sure) we started with 62. 24 graduated. 8 were there at the 8 month mark, only 2 of those were still company. Now keep in mind 2 of those are lex and I, and if one of us leaves, the other does. He has 4 years prev experience in this. 1 of the teams is now with express1 in a condo straight truck and only works m-f (must be nice). 1 of the teams developed out of the class and went home and then back out with crst but may be off the road now. One of the guys that did not graduate with us is back at his old job. One of the o/o that was at the 8 month mark and was actually training at that point went home. I will say had he listened to us he may not have leased, which wououldn't have forced him to become a trainer which may have meant he would still be there. Most of the people we run into have been with the company less than 6 months. Of course coming from the cpa who worked in customer service, these stats could be played out in a number of companies where the focus is having the chair filled with a breathing entity.

Do not let this scare you. You know our personal story. You will have to decide. You have to decide if this industry is for you. If so from there you have to decide if you may be better off at central or considering your options with another company. The ones that left that went to other companies most went to regional fleets so they could stay close to family. If that is what you want use your education for all you can and spread your wings. You have to go into anything with your eyes open and become a sponge. There is a lot of useful info on here and from others. Jj gave us a call to be realistic before we even went to school (thank you jess and jj). We talk to lots of people. We have a great bs monitor and will let someone spout knowing they are doing it to hear themselves talk and then pick apart what they said later. If you have questions, holler. if you make it through and see us, ask if we have a minute. We try to help people no matter what, including giving pep talks and deciphering logs for people. Because we are a team, and have expectations to move, we may not give you a lot of time, but we may be able to spare a few minutes. Our truck is even badged different than most because we aren't the average central drivers. We help anyone thoughven those #### in the white trucks of our sister company. That is just us, and as lex says, that is the way it used to be, but things have changed in 15 years.

If this helps it helped, if not, I said my piece and then some. I will now remove myself from the soap box and place myself in the seat to drive and hope to be able to find an empty in conley.

Btw, chompi you didn't offend me but you did offend lex

 

Kind of the same thing with our class...
There was suposed to be 8 (small class, started just before Christmas).
Only 7 that started the class.
Then one washed out in the middle of class and one re-cycled to the next class because he was having trouble with PTI.
Five of us came to Fontana I know four of us are still here. Not sure about the fifth one.