My year with CRST

I started with CRST last year after leaving the computer industry (long story, don't ask). I have always liked driving and my wife thought it might be a decent job while the economy improved, so I looked around and decided on CRST as my place to start. My decision was based on reviews here, research into other training companies, and talking to some drivers out at a truck stop in the valley. CRST was not the most highly recommended of companies I considered, but I didn't want to go out of state for my training, so that left CR England and CRST. CRST won out because they paid a bit better to start and had a shorter training period. I also decided to pay for my training up front and not be tied into an 8 month contract. By doing this, I got my recruiter to give me a single room. I think she intended to have me pay the difference, but it worked out that I never had to. CRST students stay at the Claremont Hotel in Claremont, CA. It is NOT the Four Seasons, but it's a #### sight better than the place the CR England students stay.

Training Week 1
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CRST uses a couple of schools on SoCal. I happened to be sent to the Premier school run by CR England. The training was VERY fast, and solely set up to get you a CDL as fast as possible. Your first day will be spent filling out tons of paperwork and getting your physical and drug screen out of the way. The remainder of the first week is spent reviewing the actual answers to the several different versions of the CDLtests, finishing up by going to the DMV and getting your permit. My instructor offered us the "study materials" for the other endorsements, so I opted to take them all at once. Remember, if it has been over a year since you've taken a written test for your class C, you'll have to take that again as well as class M if you're a biker too. I ended up taking 7 tests that morning: Class C, Class M, Class A, Air Brakes, Hazmat, Tankers, and Doubles/Triples. I figured I'd get them all out of the way at once and save money too (you have to pay the license fee again if you add endorsements later). Even with the answers in hand, we still had some people fail the test... several times.

Training Weeks 2-3
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With CDL permits in hand, we headed over to the CR England yard in Mira Loma and started working in the actual trucks. This part can be a lot of fun, and I enjoyed it. The trainers work with you on the skills you need to perform for the DMV examiners: Pre-Trip, Air Brake Check, Straight-Line Backing, Parallel Park (yes, you really have to do this with a big ol' truck, and it's surprisingly useful), Measured Turn, and Alley Dock (this is the most difficult skill to master, but also the one you will use most often). You will also take the trucks out of the yard and begin to learn how to drive them in the real world. Depending ont he school, you might be offered the opportunity to come back and practice after hours. Several members of my training class came back nightly and it helps a lot to practice while not under the scrutiny of a teacher. The DMV test was fairly grueling, mostly due to nervousness. When I passed, I promptly went into the bathroom and threw up.

Orientation Week
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Orientation is standard new company stuff: filling out aplications, learning their policies, and getting ready to go out with your OTR trainer. I've heard SO many stories about people being stranded by their trainers and such. All I can say is that they are the gatekeepers to working for CRST, so keep your head down, do what they tell you and try to learn what you can from them. Some of them I'm sure are decent, while others are horrible. My own experience was mixed in that my trainer was a mysogynistic racist cretin, but he knew how to drive, so I payed attention and learned everything I could from him. My 28 days was unpleasant, but bearable, and in the end you're going to be out with a team mate, not this person. I was also lucky in that he had a decent record and we made good miles. If you don't drive enough miles during your 28 days, they WILL send you out with another trainer. School taught me how to drive a truck, but my trainer taught me a bit about being a truck driver, good and bad.

Driving for CRST
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I'm not going to go into all my differing experiences driving with several team mates. I was lucky enough to mostly get good ones, and I believe that was partly due to just trying to have a good attitude. However, this gets very difficult when dealing with CRST'
s idiotic dispatchers, crappy equipment, poor hometime, and low pay. A word about CRST's pay; it's a TRAINING COMPANY, people! They aren't going to pay top wages when they have a 200% turnover rate. My dispatcher was pretty dense and tried to have me run unsafely a few times (pulling unloaded during a Denver snowstorn was one of them) and illegally others (overweight at loading... "well, most of the weigh stations are closed lately, you should be okay", missing placards on a drop & hook... "just make it to the closest truck stop and get them"). The trucks themselves aren't terrible, but they're hardly top notch, and the slip seating is ridiculous. I never went out on two trips with the same truck. Possibly due to my association with the trainer who had a good reputation, I often got put on air freight loads, thus making LOTS of miles, but at $0.22 per it was a pittance. Once you hit the 6 month mark and get up to $0.31 the paychecks a much more substantial. I finally reached the limit of my tolerance when I was partnered with a guy who could NOT stay awake while he drove. I caught short naps right after he woke up and watched him the rest of his shift, then driving my own. During my hometime, I could not find another team mate I liked so I applied and went over to Marten, when I currently work and am very happy with them so far.

Conclusions
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The bottom line is that CRST is just another CDL meat grinder. You can read hundreds of other posts here telling you about all the bad stuff they pull, and I would tend to believe almost all of it. The thing to keep in mind is that they are a means to an end. If you want a CDL and you want to get some experience, CRST can be just as good or bad as any other company. You're trading a good work environment for a chance to get some experience in a field that a lot of people are using to fall back on in this economy. I hope you find this post useful, and feel free to PM me with any questions.

BubbaMan