Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Ok, permission to drop at a yard is not that hard if you have enough extra time on the load. Most times more than 24 hrs. If you are less than that it is not worth it to them to drop and split the loads. The other issue is as a driver knowing where the drop yards are. I have been here over 2 years and I am still learning of new ones.

The maitnence account is taken from your check automatically. You can chose how much or how little you want to put in it. The major thing when you have warranty still is tires. If you lease with brand new tires, you may not need them replaced. But keep in mind when you turn the Trk in it needs 50% tread. Same with the brakes. If you lease with used tires like I did, you may need to replace them before the end of the lease. I would gladly share what I spend on maitnence, but it won't compare as I have no warranty left. There are some things (charge air coolers 250,000 miles) that fall off warranty before the end of the lease that are not cheap. I just had my charge air cooler done and it was $1600 for the part only.

As for the short haul pay, it is much better than it used to be. More loads qualify and in the long run you get more money. I did not lease asap, but was close. I was company for 4 months. I had a friend who had leased for 2 months before me so I was always asking him things to see if I wanted to do it. This was my first lease with central and it was for 18 months. Would I lease again, personally I would not. Nothing against central, but I prefer to own the Trk myself. I did buy it back in September, so I won't be re leasing. A friend of mine is on his second lease and is doing decent. My first year I only made .32 cpm after all business expenses. That is what would compare to company driver numbers. To me if I had known, not really worth it. It is a big risk for not much return. Training helps, but makes your hair gray fast. One last thing on fuel, yes you can keep fuel cost below $1.20 without much trouble. I could write a 3 page essay on how but will reserve that for if your interested.

Any other questions feel free to ask. Good lick with your trainer.

 

Well I am going "to the dark side" LOL I got approved to become a trainer. I use to be a trainer at Central. So I will be a trainer now with Werner.

Now on this Walmart account I'm on,they don't give trainers any differnt runs, or more miles than SOLO. So I really only drive 1500 miles a week (what I don't make in miles I make up for in multi stops), my job is pretty EASY. So I figured out a way to make my job easier, basically I'll be getting paid NOT to drive

 

Good luck and God Bless. Hope you have only the safest of students

 

Not in a Central Truck.. Best I could do was 2200 in 4 days solo in a Central Truck.

 

I did do 1396 in 2 days legal o/o elogs. 708 the first day just by the skin of my teeth.

 

I did 632 miles once in one day. Got lucky with traffic and zero construction delays. I am happy when I get into the 500 range with all the construction and traffic..

To do 2200 miles in 48 hours he 'd have to push his 11 right to the wall and maintain 81+ mph..

 

rrrrrrrrrr

 

You mean rent op? There are several people here who have. Keep in mind, the odds of you owning your truck at the end of the lease are slim to none. Central doesn't want you to own it, if you make it that far.

 

Central supposedly has the best lease program of any of the big companies. by best, I mean the one with the lowest break even point. However, no lease is a good program.

There's no scam, it's just that you aren't going to own your truck. I won't say never, because a few people do manage it, but I would guess that 95% of the folks who lease a truck never do. Either they quit or get in an accident or get fired before the lease is up, or if they're part of the rare group that finishes a lease, they jump into the next new truck, and rollover all the costs associated with the previous truck into the new lease.

I've only met a couple people who've paid their trucks off, and most of them I met a few months later, and they were in a new truck because the old truck had too many problems. The exception that I really remember is a guy with a black W900 that had 1.2 million miles on his truck. He'd had it like 8 years.

It's not in Central's best interests for you to own your truck. They won't help you get financing for that last 40-60,000 you owe. They may suggest places you can go for financing, but that's about it. And, most truck drivers being who they are, lack the credit rating to be able to get financing of that magnitude. Most drivers don't sock away extra money to make a lump payment at the end either.

As far as drops go, whether you can get a drop all depends on what you're hauling, where you're going, and how early you are. If you're not at least 24 hours early, you won't be seeing a drop. If you're headed to the middle of nowhere, you won't be getting a drop. If you're under a meat load, you won't be getting a drop.

None of this is 100% set in stone, but it's pretty certain. If you want a drop on a load, you need to run hard with it, and start asking as soon as you get it if you can drop it. It's much easier to get a load dropped if you're way early and at the nearest drop yard to the receiver. You eventually learn where there's a drop yard and where there isn't.

Meat loads are high value, so they're usually not dropped. Our drop yards are pretty much all secure, there are a few exceptions. That doesn't stop someone from breaking into one, especially if it's a shared facility, and taking a load.

I'm not a lease op, which actually has worked to my advantage. I'd never have the position I do in the company if I were. However, I've seen plenty of lease ops come and go over my years with Central, and I know for most of them, it doesn't work out.

 

Are you trying to find out if you're a lease op if you'd have better luck with the Fred Meyer fleet? I don't think that's the case, there's no lease op requirement to be on the fleet.

As far as I know, the Fred Meyer fleet doesn't have any openings. It's run by the northwest planner, who's a nice guy most of the time, although he doesn't take crap from anyone.

If you want to get in good with him to be considered, then don't ever screw up any load coming out of the northwest. Don't even be a jerk at the northwest drop yards. They're shared yards, so be nice, stay out of the way, and don't mouth off to the other companies. Don't park your truck in the way.

Don't screw up loads coming into the northwest. Make sure you deliver on time, and anything you drop has plenty of fuel, the bills are in it, and the lock isn't on the back.

If the planner asks you for a favor, do it. Offer to handle that local delivery when his locals are too busy. Don't complain to him about that 8 drop nursery load you haul out in the spring. Take the lousy loads with the good.