Contract Freighters, Inc. - Joplin, Mo.

I'm not going to say as to whether or not what he went thru with trainer is true or false but theres always 2 sides to a story.

Second, I find it quite ironic that he feels CFI is racist against hispanics when if you go to the CFI headquarters.. you see the American and Mexican flags flying.

Third, My Recruiter was hispanic.. the orientation Manager was hispanic and in the course of it all I met many more hispanics who had been working in that company for years, all of which were very pleasant personalities and content with where they worked.


Mind you, I only worked with CFI for 1 month and then had to leave because of a family emergency with my grandmother becoming terminally ill and she lived with us. After 6 months and her passing away I decided to go back to trucking but I didnt have to think if I wanted to go back to SNI for whom i drove 2 years or any other company.. I am going back to CFI.

When I was leaving.. I told my fleet manager that I had to leave because my grandmother was terminally ill now.. he said.." Oh thats ok it happens all the time.. I just had another driver this morning call me and his grandmother was terminally ill too so no worries."

Obviously trying to be sarcastic but thats fine I didn't take it to heart cuzz you'll always have an ahole here n there.

I went on to tell the head of Ops that I wanted to let them know ahead of time so they could have me leave the unit at a Terminal of their liking and not in Otay Mesa because then it would be hard for company to get someone out there to get it.

They were happy with my care for the company and gave me good amount to get a flight to my home out of Dallas. Very nice company and thanks always Sundance. You guys are the best.

Anyways man, For all of you out there that would be interested and are looking into it.. this guys post has no credibility. It seems he is more confused than anything. I find it a bit ironic that he could get under his trainers skin and then under a customers skin and under the company's skin and yet they're to blame not him. Not even a little bit. He's totally innocent?
Right.


Don't get it wrong.. CFI has weak links here n there but then what compnay doesn't? This is trucking and if you cant park a truck or make a delivery on time with as much time as CFI gives you lol I don't know where else you can make it.... Oh yea maybe Heatland.. I hear they give you days to wait on getting a load.. and days on waiting for appt to deliver them lol.

 

Well first of all, anyone that is in a truck with somebody that is always wanting to fight that way would not want to go to sleep for fear of something being done to them in there sleep. Second of all, I know a lot of CFI drivers and have heard that CFI would not tolerate something of that magnatude going on if they where told about it when it STARTED!!!

Most companies will try to make things out to be the drivers fault, just as most drivers will make it out to be the companies fault as well. This holds true with people in general as well. We all know that as professional drivers as we see and deal with it each and everyday to one degree or another.

Now on the other hand, the deal with the customer getting hatefull, etc. I can believe because I have had it happen to me, just not to that extreme and it was not because of anything that I did to the guy (it was the yard hostler/jockey that got hatefull with me). The only thing that I did was drop the trailer where HIS SUPERVISOR asked me to so that he (the yard truck) could put it where it needed to be because it was hard to get a W900 into that spot. But that is another story for another time.

David "HIGHLANDER"
"There can be only one"

 

Problems with CFI.......dang that leaves two or three good trucking companies....some say life is tough

 

Well we (team) have been with CFI for 7 yrs and I do believe the gentleman is correct. Now if your one of the brown noser drivers you have it made

Just be glad you didn't get hurt on the truck .... they fight you on the WC do not get you medical help then since they are self insured with WC and their health ins they keep you from getting care that way as well. The ploy is the health ins will not cover you until CFI gives you an letter saying they will not cover it under WC but CFI will fight you until they do not have to cover you under the health ins (time limit is 90 days for an injury)

BTW I would tell you it is a great CO to drive for as well just for the money plus it is like all other COs they treat you like poop just have to figure out which CO you like being treated like poop for. I figure the one that offers the best benefits and CFI does not fall into that they will deny your scripts and a lot of testing !!!!!

 

As much as I dislike CFI.... I have to say/think this guys (original poster) post is total BS !

And would ask the mods to remove it.

If you check my post. I feel I have been even handed with CFI. I have stressed as much positive, as I have negative...well maybe a bit more one way or the other.

#1 Trainers "take the slack" when trainees can't make appointments.

#2 If they were running as a team. He was a "second seat" trainee. An experienced driver that they were simply checking out for a couple of weeks, before placing him in his own truck.

#3 Racist?? Towards Hispanics?? That's total BS ! Just show up at their Laredo terminal for 15 minutes. You better know some spanish, or you're about to get screwed by dispatch.

#4 Customer problems ?? BS...I have witnessed customers getting an *** chewing over "some little issue". Even to the point of losing an account, because the customer wanted the freight at another location, a mile down the road. And they refused to pay the differance.

#5 The only authority a trainer has with a student/trainee at CFI. Is the authority to quit if he wants. The trainee is there to learn...willingly. The trainer is there to assist...willingly. While both trainer and student can request a change, it rarely happens.

#6 "Did not allow a walk around" ?? We are talking about grown men here, aren't we? Not children who "mind" or do as they are told.

I do agree with the other posters. If you get hurt...you are screwed. Never was hurt when I was with them. But I spent enough time in Joplin to witness first hand how they treat ANY driver who might apply for WC.
.
.

 

...ended up fired, no bills paid, it happens, trust me...

 

No I am neither...if you do as I stated above, check my other post, you'll see I have a huge distaste for CFI regarding their treatment of "experienced" drivers. And, their treatment of me just before I left.

I do however recommend them to students...because of their pay and training policy. They get students up to speed quicker than most regarding pay scale, and they spend their first week...at Crowder College, with skid pad training, and advanced driver training...before they are even allowed on the truck with a trainer. If Crowder recommends failure, the student never sees the inside of a CFI truck.

NOW, with that said. I used to train for CFI. And, I know for a fact, that a lot of the posters comments are blatant lies. A trainer of that type would have been almost immediately pulled from the program (trainer). And, had he requested another trainer. They would have questioned why, but not blatantly refused to allow him to swap. They also give trainers "mental" evaluations. It is of course voluntary...but all the same.

Meetings with "supervisors" are typically one on one, unless they feel there is a possible threat involved.

The trainer and student are require to sign off on "safety issues", such as a pre-trip.

If I had to do a "racial" profile of CFI. I would have to say they are about 65% white, the rest are Black, Hispanic, and other. From the truck, to the office they hire people from all racial make-ups.

Company policy is very plain and strict regarding racist treatment and sexual harrassment. It is also very plain about fraternization, with several people (dispatchers included) being let go during my tenure with them.

The only access his wife could have possibly had with anyone would have been drivers in the drivers lounge, or cafeteria. She would have gotten in the cafeteria through the use of his security badge. No other way...period.

I say again...check my past post. I have not, nor will I ever recommend CFI to anyone experienced who needs to make money.

I stand by my original comment.

 

CFI isnt all bad but if its such a great place to work why are they still hiring drivers
when the economy is so bad.After all why would anyone want to quit working there
if its such a great company to work for.When i worked for them it looked like teams
got preferance over solo drivers.I felt like i was just another number on the board.I also think the Kenworth T 600 was like living in a coffin.I decided to quit when a dis-
patcher told me if i wasnt preplaned on a load on Friday that i was going to wait till
monday to get a load.After all the weekends i sat at some truckstop or a Conway
terminal at last someone told me the truth.If your looking for a perfect job in this
businness good luck.If you like sitting in your truck with your microwave,TV and your
pet poodle listening to your XM Radio then go work for Conway Truckload.

 

CFI/ConWay Truckload is about as good as anyone else, just don't show them you have a backbone. They like to hire sheep (ie, just do...don't ask). I had problems with their load planners making "illegal" unload times (sometimes I'd have to unload during my 10 hr break). Some may say that's trucking, but I say it's poor planning by lazy people. Their home time sucks!! Every company before this one got me home on the day I wanted home, give or take a day. These people are too lazy to figure that out. You tell them you're ready to go home then they get you there within 7 or 8 days. I add the "or 8" because one qualcomm message announced the new hometime requirements and said 8 days, but all the fleet managers still said 7. The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing...and really doesn't care. I got along with my FM and all the others that I talked to. My ex-FM said he knew where I was coming from when I complained about things in the company, but I guess he never passed it on. Their equipment is ok. The shop in Joplin is medium at best. They can be slow, but I never had a problem...they are picky tho. Any little thing and you are shut down until they fix it. You might sit a couple days if they send you to Laredo. Bottom line, don't question their way of doing things...even if you're right. I will say this much for them... they didn't screw me out of my vacation. They gave me the axe after I had put in for it, and I did get paid for it. On a scale of 1 - 10 , I'd give them a 5.5 based on the experiences I had with them.