CRST Tansport

i started there in 1990. You can show up on a Friday and be learning to drive a truck on Monday with no out of pocket expenses, no long term commitments even though I think they have your ### for a year, and loans in the thousands. The downside was team driving. Once you are out of training they pair you up with a lead driver who in many cases has only been driving about a year and eventually a co-driver.

You have to team drive with this ####### Lead driver and because of the nature of CRST's freight which is time sensitive coast to coast freight, the truck will run 24 hours a day. One of you sleeps and the other drives.

When you are done with the Lead Driver you have to go with a Co-driver and it could be anybody. I had some good and some real awful ones; one who smoked crack in the truck, a few weird ones.

Get used to not seeing home with CRST. The huge downside is you aren't LEARNING anything either by being essentially a steering wheel holder for extremely long hours. You don't get good sleep in a moving truck and there is the occasional occurrence where your co-driver runs the #### truck off the road and kills you and himself. I know of one occasion where a co-driver rear ended a Schneider sitting on the shoulder at 65 mph killing himself and his co-driver and another where a Lead driver was seriously injured and burned in a truck wreck. He lived in Cincinnati and had to work in Cedar Rapids at HQ during recovery for a mere pittance of what he was making and they let him go after he recovered. CRST won't take you if you have had workman's comp claim. They will take anybody else; DWI's, Felony convictions and just about anyone.

Because of the nature of the way CRST tells people to show up in Cedar Rapids, IA (they used to anyway) there are people who show up wanted by the law so occasionally local law enforcement shows up at the school to pick up someone on an outstanding warrant.

I would not go with CRST and if you can avoid it.

 

Maverick doesn't seem to be neither is Crete if you can get in. At Crete at least you have a driver awake with you at all times teaching you and you're docking the trailer just about every day.

 

You're first year will suck, no money - nothing like what they advertise.

Goes for any company that "pays to train".

Community college trainees fair better, but the pay is still low with no experience.

Have a lot of extra money to live and pay bills the first year.

I would say pay for your own training ... then shop around.

 

I am not "qualified" to give advice on any of these companies,as I have never been to any of em,(thank God) but if even 20% of what I have read here in the last 2 yrs is true.......find a way to avoid them at ALL costs....it is not worth the pain and B.S. you will have to endure....Believe me,-and this I do know,-Truckn is TOUGH enough even when with a good company..,dont sign on to get cheated out of $$ and screwed to.................................................What I would do if in your shoes,P.M. drivers on BOTH the good and bad threads,and make up your mind then..Remember,dont wishful think it wont happen to you,-cause it will........Lastly,dont listen to a recruiter....PAID LIARS.....

 

If you're serious about a career in trucking, you'll avoid carriers such as this at all cost.

 

I would hardly call that a downside. It's not a totally fair comparison, because my husband was my trainer when I started, but he saved me from running the trailer over curbs, squashing another truck, and running under a low bridge, and he taught me how to back the trailer. I know there are some trainers who don't train, but the carrier that I run for tries to weed those people out.

Let me think, umm....yeah! That's how team driving works, all right.

Learning to sleep in a moving truck takes a little time, but it can be done. It's not good sleep, but I'm old and I don't sleep much anyway. I've found that once I get to sleep, I wake up if the truck stops. Team driving is really the only way you can lease a truck and make good money. It's better than being a company driver, or driving an old piece of junk, in my opinion.

That's kind of odd, because I was rear-ended by another truck a few months ago, and it pulled some ligaments in my back. I didn't file a workman's comp claim, didn't want it, but the workman's comp insurance company called me day and night, sent me all kinds of letters, threatened that I would lose all of my rights if I didn't get them involved, etc. I laughed at their antics, but I can see how some people would be talked into filing a claim that they wouldn't have otherwise.

 

I never drove for CRST,but if you need training look into your local labor dept,they usually have a list of schools who get paid by the state to train drivers,also if you are a vet you can go to CDL school using your GI bill,but watch out for those schools that say you will have your CDL in less than two weeks, that usually means a class "B" not an "A". If you decide to go with a company who trains,do a lot of research,as a new driver you will be promised the world by all recruiters,ask if you have to pay back any roomand board after training,w/the transportation cost to attend training etc...and get all this in writting.Home time will be very sparse your first year,so if this important to you look at the carriers frght lanes to see if they get into your area often.When I first learned to drive,I was recruited by Schnieder(I can hear the snikers now) after I got out of the military,they paid 100% for the training,transportation and also gave a meal allowance during training,the school was 2 1/2 weeks but it was from 8am to 5pm every day except wknds. Remember,trucking is a job and can become a rewarding carrer if you approach it in that manner,but what ever you do stay away from the urge to buy your own,at least for a few years until you learn how the frght lanes work. Heed what Zentrucking also had to say.What ever you decide,good luck to you.

 

OH! Pick my silly old arse off the floor before I laugh a needed part off! Thats the funniest thing I've read today! Sorry, but I'll call BULL on that one! LOL Read or just go to the attachment at the bottom as this is proof that this one sentence has got to be an attempt at a comedy skit! http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ckers-advice/108869-my-25-week-w-2-proof.html

Vets
STOP
DO NOT WASTE YOUR GI BILL ON THIS CESSPOOL CALLED DRIVING SCHOOL!

Pay it out of pocket at a Community College or trade school OR look for that state paid training but do NOT waste your GI Bill on truck driving training!

Use the GI Bill on some REAL schooling! I'm a Vet and I will advise any GI to NEVER waste that right of yours on this industry! If you so want to be a trucker then go through the state or some BFI and get their company screwing errr training and let them screw your paycheck with bottom of the barrel pay called "training" pay and low income!

Read up in here and other trucking web site about this so called driver schooling and company training and what happens to most of those who fall for this scam called driver training!
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