Bunny at Celadon!!!!

..DirtDart havent u read the "bad company" posts about SWIFT here?! u said you've had other offers too, why go with one of the 'worst' to start out with? Most new drivers leave b4 their 1st year is up, why go thru that & have the possibility of them putting bad info on ur DAC which will make it even harder getting hired on with a new carrier? I wouldn't give SWIFT a 2nd thought, please reconsider ur options b4 making a decision that u'll regret & might affect ur future job offers if u decide to quit early..

 

hi Bunny, hope u will continue to post how things are going at Celadon so we will be aware of the good, bad & ugly.. just a few questions though, u didnt mention if their trucks are governed & at what speed if they are; do they hav idle restrictions & if they do how do they penalize u; warnings, points, pay? Have u had any layover or detention pay yet & was it the amt. u thought it should be? Thanks for any other info u can include that happens to be of intrest that we might not be aware of that makes this a good company to work for; right now they seem to be above the avg. trucking company.

 

Bunny, I have been sort of looking at Celadon. I am mostly happy where I am now, but it's a small company and freight is drying up. While this is true pretty much everywhere, I am not sure how long we can hold out. Missing paychecks because of no loads is a bummer
SO... the wife and I are intrigued by the Celadon deal. Have you had a vacation yet? According to the site, and some of the other threads here, you do actually get a week of vacation every 30,000 miles. That SHOULD be every 3-4 months with good running. And the $1,000 vacation bonus along with it sounds awesome. Do you get home other times as well, or do you have to wait till your 30k miles?
I filled out the link for a recruiter to call me, but apparently they were all off for Thanksgiving and nobody called me back.

 

Back away from Celadon--they are not a very driver freindly company not even close. I drove at Celadon almost a year. Their customers will put you at the back of the line on purpose. That $1000 bonus is so the drivers dont gripe about the low mileage pay that they are getting. The instituted that while I was there. Their terminals are dumps, even the one in Indy because they dont keep it up. The hodgepodge bunch of junk trucks they got over there doesnt do anything for them either. I could go on about them hiring the terrorists and so forth but that information is all available if you look for it. Stay where you are, you will thank yourself in the long run for it.

 

Well, I can counter you on a couple of things. The trucks are not junk, as most of them are no more than 3 years old. None of the drivers my hubby has ever met would even remotely be considered a terrorist, nor would the office staff. Their mileage pay is comparable to just about every other company out there. A couple of the terminals are dumps, but those are probably ones that were taken over by other companies. My hubby has been driving for them since March of this year, and still is, so this is current information.

Currently, miles could be better, but that is a common theme at this time of year and in the current economy.

 

Facts are that they hired a guy(Pakistani national) about 2 years ago under one name, and then he quit and they rehired him under a different name about a year later. This shows BTW, how well they do background checks. And anyhow this guy is now under arrest and serving time for funneleing both money and information on American transportation to Al Queda--look it up if you dont beleive me.

I live in Indy and see their stuff all the time. Celadon's equipment has always been a hodgepodge lineup of equipment. I know they give a 1/2 cent for every 60,000 miles driven and say there is no cap--that I know for sure is wrong the cap is actually $.44 per mile, just ask them. And the guy that runs the place, Steve, we wont even go there--this guy has ran all of his people off over the years because he is a nut case. If you are an O/O over there, they will lease you a truck(actually double lease)then by the time you pay it off, Celadon will tell you that it is to old to be in the fleet, then they will make you lease another-and it is on-going. I have known many lease guys over there and none have ever paid off the truck. BTW, most of their long time people are inside, very few drivers stay with them very long. The reason that they give all those bonuses is so the drivers stay, but that still doesnt make them stay. It just gives Celadon one more thing to hang over your head. SOme people I guess have a good run over there, but most I know did not. ANd yes the main Terminal in Indy is a dump--was one when they built it, and still is.

 

Think what you want everyone has an opinion I think they are a good company

 

The Indy terminal is a renovated juvenile facility that Celadon bought.
That was info that my hubby found out from drivers, not office personnel, that have been with the company for 8, 10, and 16 years. There are plenty of guys at Celadon that have been there long term as company drivers. Not very many trucking companies have terminals that are 5 star hotels.

Did you know that Steve has been quietyly selling off his shares of the company and is now the sole owner of the Mexican fleet Jaguar?

Anyone with a clue doesn't do a lease-purchase deal with a company. That's the biggest way to get screwed in the industry.

Not every company is the right fit for every driver. That is one statement that has been repeated time and again around here. Celadon is better than some of the other options out there.

So they got duped by some crook. That happens plenty out there. Your initial statement about them hiring terrorists made it sound like most of their drivers were. The guy is now behind bars. There may be others like him at other companies out there. I wouldn't doubt if there are. Look at all of the training schools and government officials that have been busted for selling CDL's over the years.

 

J B Hunt got busted for giving away CDLs