Answers from a driver who stuck it out. 1 year with CRE

At the same time, if there's no loads then there's no loads. I'm sure drivers don't choose to sit.

 

You'd be suprised ... some (a lot of) drivers will use any rational to sit.

 

Johnson has disappeared..... Wonder what happened?

 

You have tons of options after you get your cdl. Look for companies that require 1 year of experience- not all that otr only crap.
Call them and tell them your situation.
This forum has a job search engine......

 

Well then I guess that's on them. I enjoyed my downtime after a long day on the road but I would never refuse a load. I became a truck driver to DRIVE. I always tried to keep a positive attitude too. Trucking helps people, if it wasn't for truck drivers, we wouldn't have the things we need.

 

Yes, yes it is ... unfortunately they don't know or believe it. They will blame everyone and everything when they don't get the miles. Everybody wants to get 3000 miles week, but not everyone wants 3000 miles a week.

 

These people are taking for granted what they have. I want to get back out there bad but my incidents 3 years ago and lack of time behind the wheel are making it very difficult and I'd rather not go with Cr Enland but they have been the only company to give me the time of day

 

Well .. good luck, you can make CRE work. At least long enough to get you positioned to look for other opportunities.

 

It's almost 2 years now and I've learned a lot about CRE and the industry.

1st- No matter what any, and I mean any trucking company says, when it comes down to the final bottom line the driver gets the hardest hit.

2nd- CRE isn't an evil entity. Far from it. They present an oppurtunity to learn and it's up to the individual driver to figure it out. The resources are there, but you gotta dig and fight to access them.

3rd- Driving a truck is a feast or famine endeavor. There are weeks where I clear, as an IC, really good money, in excess of $1,000 and even approaching $2K. Then there are weeks of $56 or thereabouts. Just hope the bad weeks don't happen when you didn't think to sock some $$$$ away for those days.

4th- Don't complain about your trip assignments. Accept them and take them and run. Get ahead of sched'd appointments and the load planners will notice and have you swap out a trailer and keep you running.

5th- Watch your fuel. Averaging 4.65 paid MPG? Dude that's a horror show. Right now, in the middle of winter where I've had to sit because of closed roads I'm still averageing 6.5 MPG paid.

6th- The driving is the easy enjoyable part of this work. It's watching where your money goes that makes it a job.

 

Answered in red ...