Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

the story the guy gave me was weird, so I don't know how he figured the over milage. But it ended up that he couldn't afford to buyout the truck when the lease was up. It's not like central wants you to do that anyway.

I thought it was charged weekly, not at the end.

 

from now on im refusing all loads going to new england. Walmart F-ed me again by taking 3 hours to unload 8 pallets. was there 2 and a half hours early for my appt. at 1630. They made me come back at 1530. got into a door and then sat for an hour before they even started. other trucks came in after me and left before me! they started unloading at 1630 on the dot and paperwork was ready exactly 2 hrs later. That looks kind of hincky right there. EVERY service plaza from Albany, NY to Worcester, MA was over full by 1900 and i spent 4 hours just trying to find a place to park with one of those hours into violation. I really liked the MA service plazas.... parking spaces for 5 trucks but there were 20 trucks in the service plaza. wtf is the use of that? all the turnouts on the turnpike all had no parking signs. again, wtf. I guess they dont like trucks up here.

 

Oh lookie.... another difficult load for me... 1972.1 practical miles for 3 days + 300 mile deadhead

 

Alright I talked to my recruiter again today and Im set up for the 7th. I was told to call her again on friday. She told me that its tuesday because mondays a holiday. Im not sure what to think and I hope I dont miss a class day due to her error.

 

The big thing is that you cannot show any lapses in work or unemployment.
You should be able to get a print out from unemployment showing that you are getting it. I had to do that for both Central and Heartland.
Also they may want a letter from someone that you know saying that you were unemployed for any period that you were.
Does not have to be too fancy. Just the statement and signature.
Any documentation you can get will help though. Otherwise you will end up going home to get it, and that would suck.

 

I'm just going to ask a few newbie questions, how much money do you estimate I will need for otr with trainer? How much do the showers cost at the truck stops? Will the trainer allow me to bring my own supplies? I heard if you sign up for membership cards at the truck stops you earn points towards free showers with gas fill ups is that correct? My recruiter told me they pay $450 week with trainer what will I average as a company driver per week? I know many have already heard these questions but I would really appreciate the help. Thanks

 

fatboy,

If your trainer is nice, he'll get the showers for you. At most truckstops, if you fill 50 gallons, you get a free shower and most will give an extra shower if you are a team taking showers at the same time. Fortunately, you don't have to share showers

If you want to pay cash for a shower or end up at some rinky-dink truckstop, they can cost up to $10.00. If you have a TA nearby, go and apply for their Ultra-One fueler card before you leave. The card will come in the mail to your house and you can pick it up if your trainer is kind enough to swing by your town for you. My trainer and I had a deal that I got the points when I fueled and he got the points when he fueled. You might get enough creds to get a free meal or two while you're out.

Pilot and Loves are easy-peasy - just go in and ask them for a card and they give you one right there. Skip the flying j's - they'll be changing over to the pilot cards from what I've seen. I think the flying j's mail their cards out as well. I know Petro mailed my card. And Petro is now apart of TA so the ultra-one card should work at both places.

Don't know about the average pay for company drivers. A lot depends on what you end up running and who does your load planning. Yes, you get paid for training and you need to be careful with that money. At the very least, you will probably spend $100 - $150 a week depending on your (and your trainer's) road lifestyle. I'm a fastfood junkie so I spend a bit on food. But I try to buy all my soda in cans from Walmart because I drink too ###### much of it to keep buying the overpriced bottles. I smoke so I'm in the habit of buying cartons in Missouri and Kentucky or Virginia where I can get Pall-Mall for about $27 a carton.

At one time in life I was a Walmart hater. Now I can't manage to get there often enough. The truckstops are gawdawful expensive for food and personal goods so you'll learn (and learn to ask) where the nearest truck-accessible walmarts are. Be careful because there are some that are strictly no-truck-parking walmarts. This is due to the land lease agreements walmart usually has to sign when they set up shop somewhere. Just keep an eye on the parking lot for where big trucks are parked. Sometimes trucks will be parked at the end of the lot and sometimes you'll find them on the sides of the lots and at a very few special walmarts you'll find those wonderfully bright yellow decapitation bars preventing you from pulling into the parking lot. Avoid those if possible.

Another piece of advice - when you get paid and you are just using ATMs and your pay card, take out everything you can in as few transactions as possible. Those fees will eat up your money fast. Also, always balance check by phone and not at the ATM. you get charged a buck for using an atm to check your balance. doesn't make sense to me but what do I know, I'm just a truck driver.

Oh, and before going to walmart on a spending spree before you get on your trainer's truck - don't. Wait until you see how much room you have to work with and how much space your trainer is going to share. He might have his entire apartment in the truck with little more than enough room to squeeze you onto your bed at night. I would also suggest asking if you plan on making any sizable purchases to ensure you have space. If he/she has a fridge or cooler, you might or might not get space to store cold items. Canned or bottled drinks are usually ok so long as you can potentially drink them warm.

Oh - and if you see the Barbie Twins frollicking in a yard wearing white wife beaters and hosing each other down doing a trailer washout - don't gawk. It is not polite.

 

Hey guys, it's a big deal for me, but I just passed my road test with flying colors here in Fontana, so tomorrow I go get my temp license, then it is only a matter of hours before I start my 5 weeks with my trainer...

 

I'm on the fence right now about who to sign with. I read a whole lot of this thread and think I found out that the company trucks don't have APU's? So do you idle a lot? What about the areas where idling is illegal? Central doesn't bug you about mileage when you idle?

Thanks

Kevin

 

they take out weekly estimated excess milage , but every forth week they reimburse the over charge. if you decide to buy out the truck at the end of the lease you can use that excess milage charges toward to down payment. of course its not going to be alots of money. you have to come up with more money for the down payment. and also this excess milage charge is not going to the centrals bank account. finance company charges the excess milage . same like if you lease a passenger car. so thats nothing to do with central. and lets not forget this. we are the 3rd party leasee . central leases the truck and we lease from central as a 3rd party. central is not a truck dealer or a finance company.