Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Ya, that's my home away from home. As much as I love red, it would match my car, the W9 looks best in black. I'm just a poor company driver. I have mixed feelings about leasing, fortunately my logical thinking keeps me as a company driver.

 

Keep doing the Logical thinking

 

1Bad is a Co. driver. Ask him. Him and Widow lost their home. car, you name it. I am not whining. I am trying to warn new drivers who plan on going to Central to be prepared to lose their home and belongings. If you are the main bread winner with a family, your family may end up on the street. We came in just trying to stay alive. No job in sight and this was our only option. Making $200 a week was more then nothing. We ended up homeless and living with family. He took every load he was offered. Mostly short miles. The end came when he got 800 miles for the week. All we are saying is, don't come in with great expectations, you will be let down. Be realistic. Expect about $150-300 a week. If you can raise a family on it, by all means go for it. It's funny i see people coming on here putting down the others who are trying to warn them and tell them like it is. If you wanna be a ### that is your problem. Just know what to expect. I will be waiting patiently to see you reply to this thread in 8 months. As for the comment about not getting out of the seat. Well, my hubby has. This thread was made to help Central drivers and a place to get info. If you just wanna bash people who are trying to help....Go make a happy thread of your own. I feel sorry for the drivers who are stuck at this company. We got lucky and got out. I am hoping for better things for everyone.

 

I hear ya there buddy.. I wanted to lease.. But to be honest with you.. The thing that detours me....... I want my paid week off.. Well that and I like to make paychecks sometimes!!! Either way. Look.. You can take my truck and ill give ya ten bucks!

 

Seems like quite a few Navy folks here. What did you do for those long years?

 

Ok after all the crap my body has been through in the last 5 days I want to post something I have learned to live by. If there are misspelled words please over look them as I just ate and took my pain meds so the screen is a bit blurry with my glasses on. Yes 1bad and I have had the worse year of our life in 2009 and 2010 isn't off to a much better start but stop and think just for a mintue. There is always someone who has it worse off than we (any of us) do. We live in atlanta and I see daily homeless people begging for food or just a cup of noodle soup anything to eat so that the hunger pains go away. And yes as broke as we are I have been known to dig in my wallet and pull out a couple ones and give them to someone or pick up a hot dog at the gas station and hand it to them as I pass them on the way out. 1bad thinks I'm crazy but I believe that you get what you give. And in the last year we have had to get alot more than I ever thought I would have to. That's just part of life. Everyone falls at some point in their life. The key to making it back is being able to pick yourself up and dust off your jeans. All I am saying is there is always something out there to bring you down if you let it. I know since 1bad got me on this site before leaving for WVC last January I thought my world would crash and burn and never be able to brush my jeans off again. But there are great people on this site that have helped me through the darkest of nights and people I know that I could call and just cry my eyes out and would just listen and to me that goes a long way. I think JJ's point in starting this thread was to do just that help people. And it appears to me that things have gotton off track. I have only met one person face to face from here and that is JJ but I know I can count on Jess, Pan, Lady, wolfden and several others if I ever need to talk to them about anything. So my simple request to everyone new and old on this thread is simply this. How bout we get back to the way things used to be. Getting on saying "OH CRAP I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE I AM AT IS ANYONE ON THAT CAN HELP ME FIND MY WAY?" OR "YA'LL AINT GONNA BELIEVE THIS ONE.................... (FILL IN WHAT YOU LIKE). Let's just get back to being friends and enjoying the chat and time we can chat! Sorry if this seemed like a rant it truely wasn't meant that way at all. I just know I have been steering clear lately because of all the bashing going on and quite frankly I have always been here to educate myself and make friends and I have been able to do that but just fell like that part i slipping away. So that's all I have for now. Good god the meds are kicking in and the backspace button is getting more action than anything else so I'm done for now. One thing before I go to my Central thread friends I love you all and Jess, call me I found my phone and you are the one I miss the most but I think you really knew that anyway!

 

Good post Widow and your right it has got of track!!

I think I just get tired of the enthusiastic posts from Newbs and then after they finish training we never hear from them again.

Guys and Gals if it doesn't work out at Central let us know, don't just stop posting ur welcome to come on and say Hi.

I will try stop everyone from saying I told ya so!

 

The only reason i am going with central is....i just got laid off. The area i am from is very hard hit by the economy. A job is very,very hard to come by. I don't have many bills an almost 0 debt. I do have a family but I have to provide for them. If I can make 400 a wk i will be absolutly grateful. Central said i can come down as soon as i want. They may not be a good company but if I can get a pay check it will be better than nothing at all.
Here is what i face getting a job were I am from. A knew restaurant opens and they are looking for 140 positions to be filled, they get 1400 applicants for 140 positions....not a very good chance. So if I have to put up with a bunch of bs for a while to get a pay check I will. I have had my own business for 8 yrs. I no what it takes to put up with all kinds of people and Im not trying to toot my own horn. Just willing to do what it takes to make a dollar.

 

Best of Luck..
Hope you can make that $400 a week.
Many do NOT !!!!

 

Well I used to have amazing things to say about Central really. I was a company driver dispatched out of ATL. No accidents at all ran hard and didn't turn down any loads. My issue started when i came home for Christmas was sitting probably 40mi out of the house and my girlfriend calls and tells me my daughter was very sick and being rushed to the hospital. So with being a safe driver and one of my kids sick DOT and Central can blow it out there rear end. Im headed home. Well I then find out after sitting in the hospital until 4am that she has pneumonia......Guess who else had pneumonia but that is another issue. I will get to that soon. I was sent a preset prior to getting home which I did not accept because I had blocked off a certain amount of time which was already set.....another problem but oh well. Prior to getting home my last week I was running up to KS. Well prior to that run I had been in the terminal in Conley GA.....Just so you know I knew Central inside and out so I did not play games and MAC33 every problem I had with my truck know your MAC's and use them......doesn't matter because they don't look at that in Conley. I wrote a bible up on this truck.....had an extreme airleak in the frame....oh by the way was a volvo 07 with 550,000 miles. ( Just by the way don't know you guys well enough to lie to you. So why would I. ) The front end shook you #### near out of the seat due to the fact that it needed an alignment. This probably would not be a problem if you could run your steers on less than 4/32's but you can't so......by the way this was also 33ed to cover my rear end. Smelled diesel about half way up through TX and the truck had been clunking and acted as though the fuel was gelling. Advised OTRM of the issue and they told me the fuel is gelling...which i would have believed if the temp in texas was low enough at night to gell fuel. Told them it couldn't have gelled but why listen to the driver-----what do we know. So on the premise that the fuel was just gelling headed out of texas on up to KS....... well next morning tell these characters in OTRM i am smelling diesel fuel again asked is this a problem that occurs when it gels. Was again assured no issue just gelling fuel. I make my drop and head on over to dodge city. Well I get there and then buy antigel,oil and antifreeze out of my pocket. Well wouldn't you know it I put oil in the truck and then head into to the truck stop to clean off my hands....I come back out and have what looks to be a puddle of oil under the frame. Bad enough that other drivers are telling me about it but its called a PTI i did em everyday I knew already. Well contact OTRM...... i guess when faced with a engine possibly locking you can get some help. Well mechanic arrives. Real nice guy.... tells me to follow him down to the garage. Which is right across from the pickup.....so great. Well the mechanic tells me i should go play the lotto because I should have been blown up 100 miles ago cause the thing is leaking diesel but from the pump and not cause it had gelled. Well okay I should have been blown up about a week ago but o well. No problem. That gets fixed. So at least the truck won't go boom now. Then the mechanic also makes mention have you seen your tires. I told him sure have been asking for new ones well before i went through conley. Guy mentions if I got pulled over into a scale the truck would be sidelined... which I knew. Frustration level real high at this point I get my hours back find my load and start running. Well I decide with CSA2010 coming I ain't rolling the dice. Pull into the TA in Lebo KS alert OTRM I need new tires. They say let TA know and pull it on in. No Problem.....! Yeah it was...... the TA mechanic says hell yeah you got a problem here we'll let them know. Well guess what Central does OTRM calls the TA and tells them to tell me to drive the truck to Conley GA. Just for Reference I was in (Lebo KS wanted me to drive it to Conley GA) Not happening......okay I had to layover in Lebo anyway. I decide to re address the issue in the morning because obviously the nitwits I was dealing with on the weekend were not professional. Get up at 3am start running again contact OTRM again and advise of the issue finally get someone with common sense. They telll me to take it to the Oak Grove Petro. Finally new tires were put on the thing. Well I still ended up losing the load because all these stops ate into my hours. And I know what you are thinking why didn't you call safety. Up until this point Central had usually been responsive to an extent so I figure I would see how it played itself out. Throughout all of this I failed to mention to you guys my bunk heater did not work at. Well I take that back would over heat and burn itself out then would not cut back on. All of which I 33ed. And when I did arrive in conley I signed into the truck book. See Conley doesn't run like Salt Lake if your truck is running anywhere close to a PM or something it gets red tagged and you sit until it gets fixed in Salt Lake if you have ever been to Conley it like a self help Jiffy lube. Although it is a pain to get red tagged the issues might actually get addressed. Conley could give a hoot! you may sit there for years before they can even get to you and any Central driver who is man enough to tell the true will be honest and tell you the same. So after swapping loads and finally getting back to the east coast I get the call about my daughter. Well after finding out what is going on I go park the truck at my moms. Because I live in a high crime area. (Mind you the address I park the truck at is the address they have on file for me). Leave everything and run back up to my girlfriends house. Well while staying at home with my daughter I am feeling a little thin in the skin. Well wouldn't you know it I got pneumonia and get hospitalized. All this occured prior to the new year. I then get a call that there is a guy at my mom's house ready to tow the truck. I call Central and tell them I was in the hospital had documentation and everything. They advised I quit which was #### interesting because I had not even turned in my last trip pak. These dopes stated that they had not heard from me since the 23rd which was even more interesting because I was still sending in my 3,6, and 9's at this time because I hadn't made it to abeerdeen yet. So now with all my stuff still in the truck and the truck sitting in my yard at home they tow it. Said I abandoned the truck......looks like the truck abandoned the driver. Called and advised that I had my hospital documentation and was advised it did not matter. What a crock of crap. Here I have run my butt off for these people and they screw me. Now I am not sure if they did this because I didn't want to drive crap equipment or get silly tickets on my CDL or what..... but as soon as I made it my job to ensure safety Central got real funny acting. I didn't abandon anything. Too #### bad I got pnemonia.....maybe if they fixed the #### bunk heater I would have been okay. Now I ain't bashing Central I am just giving my look at it and yes somedays you will be living off of hotdogs and chips. And I know several drivers who have lost everything working for them. If you are doing good with them then thats great. I know this is supposed to be about your favorite truck company. Well Central used to be my favorite but they have attempted to tear my Professional truck driving career apart by putting a truck abandonedment on my DAC. I was never late, never refused a load, wasn't scred to drive in whatever weather. I was a professional and conducted myself as one everyday I ran. What do I have to show for it a absolute lie on my DAC. I been up and down every incline in these 48, with 42,000 pushing me down, scaled out to the point if I ate to much at the buffet I would be over gross. Some individuals at Central could give a hoot. So if we are going to have a Central thread lets just keep it real here people. That's all I am asking for I was a hard runner 2500 - 3000 a week solo. I could edit a E-log with the best of them and still got screwed.....Let's just give the students coming into Central a real look at life there. And I want as much feed back as possible about this cause I lived it so you can't tell me a #### thing. I believe in personal accountability and just find it hard to believe that I must be the last of a dying breed. If you don't have any real bills to pay and just graduated high school sign on you can live on 150-300 a week but if you can't don't do it. This ain't a company that respects hardworkers or professionalism. Im only being real. The only part of Central that believes in safety is the safety department. I take my CDL #### seriously and before I kill myself or some family I will make sure that they fix what is wrong with the truck. Just hurts when you are fired for it. And by the way they said I quit. Came to my house and took the truck but I quit. Last I heard how do you get fired when you are on hometime??????????? Anyhow although long winded. I am telling you so you know what you are getting yourself into be forwarned. Apply at ones own detremint