Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

will anyone who has time, please let us know how long you were out with your trainer and exactly what was involved in the upgrade to going solo? also, about the insurance for having a rider in the truck with you (me going with my husband)thanks

 

Hi Everyone. Been reading this forum along with a few others. I have narrowed my choices down to Prime, Swift and Central. Prime informed me today that they will not take me on... no reason given. Clean MVR, Clean Background, etc. I was wondering how is Central's Training and after reading the horror stories on compaints board and such... how much do I take w/ a grain of salt? Thanks for your replies.

 

sparky leasing can be good and it can be bad. Lots of o/o will tell you to wait a year or wait a while or whatever. I say why wait, take the next step. yes it can be a little scary at first cause you always think about the what if. Everybodys situation is different, mabey they have kids, a house, lots of bills mabey they want to go home alot and not work. what is your situation, how many miles have you been running, just be smart with it and get a good truck and tell them you want to keep your dm you have now you will be just fine........whats left of your classmates are waiting for you to be o/o like them.......NO RISK NO GAIN BAHHAHAHAHA

 

havnt been on here 4 awhile. finally finished my training a few weeks ago n upgraded in fontana ca. got a prostar n a decent dm n so far i have had a few bad days n a few rookie mistakes. but so far i think this job is pretty sweet. everything seems to be going just the way it was explained to me from the very beginning. but i do have one complaint about the drivers who seem like they want u to fail. but like the old saying goes " misery loves company " LOL!! i have recommended central to a few of my friends. i'm not gettin the HUGE miles but im not doing to bad for only being solo for 2 weeks. i'm making more money now than i was at my warehouse job i left to come n do this.

 

Hey Hungryone, you are either out of your mind or you are making money off of newbies leasing trucks. Nobody in their right mind would press a new driver toward leasing a truck.
Heck, most new drivers never make it past a year. The first few months everything is shiny and new. A little scary, but new.
It is that 6-24 months where it starts getting to you. And you do not want to hit that point while looking at an 18,000 dollar a month truck payment.

 

It will take a while before you start to see big miles.
They cannot afford late loads. If the company starts to have more than 5% of loads late they risk loosing the account.
Plus it will take you a while to really get your trip planning down, and get use to knowing if you can complete a load as assigned in the time you have (again planning).

Take your time and get use to it. As your faith in yourself gets better so will your dispatchers and planners faith get better. And that is when you will get more miles.

Keep an eye on preplans though. They will throw some at you in the beginning that you cannot do. You want to catch those before you accept them.

On your comment about drivers wanting you to fail. I really have not seen many of those around. Maybe you take it that way, but I doubt it was meant that way.
Most do not make it a year. This is not necessarily failing. It is just realizing that the job is not what you expected.
I believe the new drivers on the forum are much more aware than the average driver getting into the field. But still only 30% of them maybe, make it a year.

 

hey chrome dome. I might be out of my mind just a little bit but I think we all are at times. let me ask you a ?. are you o/o? did you lease? do you even work for central anymore? Just so you know I went to school with sparky, hell right after training we teamed up for a while. I am an o/o now and I love it so far. I run 2800-3300 every week. one week I ran
2150 miles and still made more than i did as co. I leased used FOR 18 months and got a truck that was less than a year old and had less than 90,000 miles on it and I pay 794 a week for everything out the door where you got 18000 a month from i dont know. when you lease everything is already done for you, except taxes and keeping recipts other than that its just like being co with more pay. all I said was "no risk no gain" I also said "everybodys situation is different" and I said " be smart"
I have no wife, no kids, no bills and I live on the road everything is going great for me.

HELL YEAH SPARKY LEASE AND CALL ME UP AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU GOT

 

Well,it hasn't done any good yet to send messages every day to safety,hr or payroll. I got hit with anothe $130 for excess idling. That takes the total to nearly $700. Plus,I am still being charged for the lock kit and the $40 per week truck security deposit. I should have paid both of those off a few weeks ago. Both my dm and payroll gal say they are looking into it. I am headed to WVC today and think I will "look into it" myself. Maybe the fact that I am sleeping in my Sherpa lined Carhart coat means nothing to CRS,but I am going to try to convince them it means I am NOT idling like they think. The Qualcom isn't registering idle time that I can see. Wish me luck....

 

just want to thank all the drivers on this forum for all the advice i got before cominf to central. especially ChromeDome.. i really like it here at central so far. i think i got a good recruiter and trainer. (the second one.) who were honest with me up front. lots of guys i hear complaining about recruiters must not have asked the right questions. or maybe had false expectations. (like money coming out the vents as your driving) LOL!! mabe i'll meet some of you drivers OTR now. i got a red prostar truck# 00145.

 

Unless something has changed, and they are leasing trucks for less than the normal payments on a new or almost new truck in a lease. Then the payment is close to 1800 dollars a month. If they lease for much less than that they are loosing money. Since in a typical lease, even from a lease company, that is about the payment on a newer truck. That you will not own.
You are painting a rosy picture, but it is not the full picture. And that is not your total monthly cost not counting fuel. It may be your weekly cost. But not monthly.

No I never leased a truck from Central. I did the math and realized that I can make close to the same money as a company driver. Without the risk. I worked for central for around a year and a half. And that was over 3 years ago now.
I stick around here because I have been asked too, to help out and answer questions.
Notice that most I answer are not totally company related. But more industry related. Because I know that many things at Central have changed since I was with them. Mostly losses in pay and benefits.
They are still not a bad starter company. Compared to the competition. But if I wanted to be an owner OP I would buy a truck and make much more money than a rental owner. And it would be my truck. And it would be with a company that
1. paid more per mile.
2. paid FSC for all dispatched miles, loaded and empty.
3. Took care of all fuel tax and permits (many do this, no charge to driver).
4. Had a more open policy on age of trucks leasing on. judge trucks on condition and not on age.
5. Did not charge back on any load related issues to the O/O (most do not). And many other little things that add up to losses to the owner OP.
6. Had a lease to own program (if that is what I was looking for) without a buyout at the end of the lease. Centrals is equal to the full market value of that truck at that age with those miles. Minus your overmilage that you paid into escrow. As a hint. If you go to a dealership you will not pay close to market value. If you are smart.

I made well over 50k a year with Central as a company driver. That was enough for me. I actually would have stayed on with them longer, accept my wife wanted me home more.
Now I am home most weekends. I still make in the 50k range. And no headaches.
Sure. I would make more if I bought a truck. If I got a good used one I could make allot more. A newer one not so much. Price is just too high. And the emission issues cost too much to fix.