advanced driving school for crst

CRST and advanced driving school. Isn't that an oxymoron??

FYI you are paying for that school with 8 months of endentured slavery..

My son works for them and wants out badly, but his 8 months are not up. He has seen a pay check yet that was over 2K miles. He on his 3rd team driver or will be when they find him a truck..

His first teammate spent all of his own money and half of what little my son made. His last team mate wouldn't drive at night because of glare from oncoming headlights.. boo whoo. They make glasses for that... with or without a prescription..

People wonder why I prefer solo. I won't even team with him.. neither of us handle bs or stupid well..

 

in order for there to be "moles" one must make a formal complaint...

so instead of telling us, why don't YOU make that complaint..??

oh, i know, the "typical trucker's response" here will be, "i ain't got the time, i'll let someone else do it"....

and it NEVER gets done.....so YOU SUFFERED because NO ONE ELSE stepped up to the plate......

 

I started out ASD in Fontata. I lasted 3 days before the state of California put a hold on my license. They were more than happy to take my money from me (I paid for it out of pocket), but it took forever to get a partial refund. I had to get my license cleared up in Nebraska, so I just went through a school down here. This one was 160 hours (4 weeks). Even 4 weeks doesn't prepare you as well as I'd like.

 

It's kind of a mystery, really. But the big problem started when I went to get my hazmat endorsement. Just about everyone knows that when you get your hazmat, you have to go through a TSA background check. I think what happened, is that when TSA looked at my record, I had a Nebraska license, and a California license. I never had a Cali license, but they did issue me a Cali number. The letter from Sacramento said otherwise. It wanted proof of an alcohol class (I got a DUI 5 years ago), proof of financial responsibility, and proof that I had a valid license when I got the infraction. I talked to dozens of people in the state of Nebraska and California. No one could decide on what they wanted, and the DMV in Lincoln told me that they could not provide me with any proof that I had a license at the time of infraction. I printed off my driving record from the DMV's site, and they told me that "that doesn't mean anything". I got notarized copies of the same letter, and the same. When I moved back to Nebraska, I thought the worst was over. When I went to apply for my commercial learners permit, the guy asked me "Mike, have you ever been to California?". ####! It took from the middle of November 2010 till the end of January '11 to get this straightened out. One day I called Sacramento first thing in the morning. I talked to a lady named Eleanor. I was on the phone for 5 minutes, and she reinstated my license. I went back to take the test, now I was off the Cali "s" list, but I was still on the federal list. I then called back and (obviously) got another lady. She said that I needed to pay a $55 reinstatement fee. They don't take the card over the phone (why in the hell would they - it's only 2011, and we put a man on the moon 40 years ago), and said that it would take 4-6 weeks to process after they got it via snail mail. I called the Nebraska Trucking Association, the California Trucking Association, and a few truckers firms. I did talk to one guy that told me they would deliver it in my behalf, but for a $250 fee. I was about ready to buy a train ticket to Cali, when he looked up my number, and said that there shouldn't be any fee I need to pay. Went back to the DMV... This time it went through.

It really comes down to California being understaffed, and people simply not caring. Luckily, a friend of mine that I went to HS with worked in Rancho Cucomonga. He got me across the border to AZ so I could get this straightened out. I was valid in all other 49 states, and probably Canada and Mexico. #### that was a nightmare.

 

i went to a "normal" truck driving school when i was younger.. "back then" they actually taught you something..but sadly as time went on, and the CDL was coming up, that very same school mind you cut back on the many teachings it once did...however, given the length of time the trucking company schools have you go thru their training, DOES SCARE me too as we all know the barren or arid way they teach...i still believe that in most instances, a "regular truck driving school" is far better than a trucking company's so called "school"......

it is so easy for say a student to complain to say, the state department of business regulation, the secretary of state office (who typically provides the corporation papers), and to a lawyer for absolute results in getting some kind of action taken against a "regular school".....

did you know for instance that a trucking company school MUST BE state certified to teach..??? at least this is what has been told to me by my supervisor....as very soon now, it will become MANDATORY that ALL entry level truck drivers have attended an actual licensed and approved CDL school...and if a trucking company cannot get state approval, they CANNOT TEACH.

you went thru a rather quick course from what i gather. then you had problems, but yet because NO ONE said anything BEFORE your problem, it was allowed to fester, and WILL CONTINUE to do so till someone speaks up..


when it is a trucking company sponsored training program, what one may want to remember is that the company gets money too from the feds for your training, and they get tax breaks as well... all one has to do is "graduate" and get hired on, work maybe all of one day, get fired, and the company still gets to keep the money, a nice little profitable way to get money, at YOUR EXPENSE....

years ago, and i mean YEARS ago, JB Hunt was doing something like this too.....but they (JB) was signing up people that weren't even ALIVE....!!!!

i wish you well, and i hope you "survive" this debacle, and who knows, you could be one of the very few that might actually stay at CRST for a long time....