Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Bil

Welcome to the forum. As you have already figured out there are a lot of very helpful people on here. Best of luck with your decisions.

 

i leave 2day at 5:45 pm for SLC!! THANKS FOR ALL THE GOOD ADVICE BEFORE I START MY NEW CAREER!!

 

I am a laid off project manager from a construction company and have been runnin around the country for the past 8 months and am now enjoying myself finally these past two months. I am also from the fontana terminal and wore down two dm's before they finally got me one that can keep me loaded. As of this morning I had a load on the back and two presets in the qualcomm. I delivered the one, got the second picked up and go on a short run before I get the last one for a run into az. I am company driver and am running close to 10k miles per month now. Finally!! If they keep the loads coming, I will stay on, if not as soon as the school is paid off, I am gone. They are bugging me weekly now to lease and I send a message back telling them they are still on probation. I have no intention of signing a lease. There are many reasons not least of which is that thwy will not allow a lawyer look at it before I sign. This is a good company, I like it here and hope I can afford to stay.

 

Central is a good company; I suggest you look hard at any lease before you sign. Central or any other company! The tough part of a lease is that you pay on it weekly even if you had a bad week for whatever reason. Negative paychecks suck and the electric company doesn't understand anything but money. I strongly suggest that before you sign, save enough money to have 3 months living expenses stored in a bank or your favorite mattress. That will see you through the times when freight is slow or you need extended hometime.

Dont get me wrong, I like Central. I have a tendency to look for the best and plan for the worst. I didn't plan to lose my last job and start back driving after being away for almost 30 years, but it is a good job to come back to. They are pretty straight with you, but make sure you save copies of receipts. Sometimes they get lost in the paper shuffle there and you need to make sure you get paid for things. I had some issues with that early on.

Good luck!

 

I am a laid off IT System administrator. At least you have military background, for me it was a huge change getting use to the lifestyle of driving a big truck. I worked for Central for 2 years, got off the road for 6 months tried to work in an office again, and went crazy. Now I am driving for Werner doing Walmart Dedicated, yes driving is stressfull, but my stress level is so reduced that I really like what I'm doing. I can't imagine sitting in an office all day, at a call center talking to idiots all day who just want to Biotch. Once that diesel get's in your blood it's hard to get out. Sure there are days that I wonder what I'm doing, but over all I like my job and wouldn't want to do anything else. Of course my family (parents) hate the fact I'm a trucker, and they know I like it, but they don't think it's a good life. But it really fits me.

With that being said, I know some guys that have done this for 30+ years, and while I like what I'm doing I don't want to be that guy. I am in the process of getting divorced, I have no kids, filed bankruptcy, and my house is getting forclosed on. So I am starting over, and frankly when that happens I plan on being voluntarily homeless, just living in my truck, put my crap in storage, and going back to OTR and let my settlements pile up in the bank, because I will have no bills except cell phone, storage,and insurance on my car.

 

I used to work in a cubicle too! Then retail pharmacy and now this. Best decision I made! I definitely don't regret it.

 

Thanks,Dave. Get a move on! Can't crank out the miles unless those black round things are in motion...
Take care and be safe.

 

Thanks,Lady K. It's the best feeling, next to ...well, a lot of things. Hope to sit down and have coffee with you and your Klingon soon.
Take care and be safe.

 

That is great to see other people who have gone through this type of life change already and are feeling good about it! I am getting geared up!

 

You make a very good point here.

The first six months are definitely the hardest, and it gets so much easier from there.

In fact, here is the best advice I ever got at Central:

Promise yourself you will stick with this for at least six months. Promise yourself that-- even if it seems tough. You will be glad you did because after the six month mark, you will start to get to know the shippers, recievers, and scalemasters and it makes life so much easier.