Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

well god father i dont know about. but its not my intention to scare anybody off but to educate these new guys that this is not what it is made out to be. like ive said before a single person with no responsabilitys or a older couple who have retired and want to see things this is great. but a man with a family you will starve. the promises these companys give ya are lies. if i can keep 1 person from making a big mistake and losing everything they have worked their entire life to have i will feel good. there are so many of us on this forum ( me, jj ranch, wolfden, big rig truck driver, wife of an angel, and countless others ) who have lost a lot cause the promises of 3000 miles per week every week are not there then theres the lease scam. i know a lot of people are desperite now a days to find work and i truly understand that but truck driving is not the answer right now. yes truck driving has had its time when you could support a family doing it. but the slow freight and new dot rules thats gonna make things worse come july. the time for trucking is not now like wolfden said all your gonna do is dig a deeper hole. and theres so many familys out there that can not afford a deeper hole there ARE other options out there. i wish i had dug into it a little deeper before i signed up. now im stuck paying money back to central for them more or less giving me a job. i just dont want anybody else falling into their trap. all i can do is post and try to educate and maybe some body will read into what i am saying and save their self. but it just seems all your do is beat your head against the wall cause everybody knows more than the experienced guys. an what you say falls on deaf ears. one day when this economy rebounds trucking wil pick back up and it will be a great for a man to provide for his family. but untill then this is gonna be a single persons game. cause they are the ones who will survive since they will be able to save a little something by not having all the bills associated with raising a family. i know my previous post sounded sarcastic and i ment it to be that way. just hoping someone will read thru it and make the right decision.

 

Yeah, it's been said over and over and over... Central is a great company TO START OUT WITH. I love my job, but it's not paying the bills. At all. I like being away from this wife,(and vise versa) but miss home cooked meals too, and my dog and drinking a beer while grilling burgers. Right now I'd rather be driving a garbage truck making the same amount of money (if not more) and being home every nite with my wife (and dog). I want it to work so bad but it's not. If I got a message saying take the truck to the nearest terminal and go home I wouldn't mind at all. Except that I don't have the money to go home. I haven't been home since Christmas and looks like I'm not even gonna make it home for my b-day next weekend. I gotta new FM and it's working out great. Except that everything that can go wrong is going wrong. Gotta go to butte, mt that's about 200 miles away and am really nervous about those mountains that I never driven on yet and they be snow covered and icy. Kinda wish I'd get repowered so I can head back east for my b-day hometime. Ok, my rambling is over. Wish me luck!!

 

Fact: Trucking has lost over 200,000 jobs since the economy went sour.
That is not just drivers loosing there jobs, that is jobs gone forever.
Big fleets are still hiring.
Why?
Are there that many more trucks on the road?
Nope, they are hiring because they have starved the drivers they are replacing out of driving.
Or a very few of the drivers have found a better job.
Most, if they are still driving just went to another large company.

75% of the turnover in trucking is just new drivers.
They get trained, loose there money, or just quit.
15% or so are retiring.
The other 10% are looking for other work driving, but cannot find a good company to go to. And refuse to go to a trash company.
Sure, I am making those numbers up. Since nobody really knows the real numbers.
I am making a very educated guess though, that I am close.

They are not training drivers to replace retiring drivers, or to fill new trucks because they need more capacity.
We are still over capacity for the freight available by hundreds of thousands of trucks.
We also have hundreds of thousands of excess trained, and experienced drivers.
Something has to give.

 

good job with the numbers chrome they seem to be right on the money

 

I agree ChromeDome. I've been with Central since August and luckily never really sat around waiting on a load to come my way for more than a few hours that I can remember. But I will say that BSing at a truck stop and I say I'm making .29 pm, I just love watching everyones jaw drop. Then I tell them that the new hires are only making .28 (last I heard) and they start saying your better off going anywhere else to make better money. When you average 1200 miles a week, eat nothing but dollar menu and 2 for $2 hot dogs and barely sending enough money home to pay the car insurance... you need to start rethinking your career. And believe me I am. I said it before, I love my job!! But it's not paying my bills. As for my tuition bill, let it sit on top of all the other unpaid bills.

 

either volvo or international. If you are lucky you can get lease return peterbilt or kenworth.
No you can not choose the truck. what ever they have available thats what you get.

 

Ok, so I'm starting to get nervous, but the itch to drive is still so strong.

In December, I lost my job after 8 years. Since then, life has pretty much sucked. Unemployment got denied, no jobs to be had, holding on to my home by the skin of my teeth.

Truthfully, making $400-$500 dollars a week is very attractive to me. I still think the industry is gonna turn around, so as soon as I can scrape together the cash to survive for a month, I am off to Central.

I just wish there was a company that would advance me some cash to get started. I know I have seen a company that would do that, I just can't remember which one.

If anyone has a better idea for me than Central, I am totally open to suggestions.

 

MY co-driver and I agree, there is no way either of us would train. Mad Dog hinted that if we ever stopped teaming, he'd love for both of us to train, but that's not going to happen. And doubly so now that you have to be a lease op to train. I know why they decided to only let the l/o's train, that way they'll make their truck payments.

 

400 to 500 w week yea but with all the deductipns central hits you with try bringing home aroun 150 to 200 after its all said and done with. might as well go ahead and put the FOR SALE sign up in the front yard cause youll sure enough lose it working for central.