Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

Got confirmation from my recruiter today that I will be starting at the Central Refrig school in Fontana on December 10th. I've spent probably about the last 4-5 months looking through companies, comparing different aspects (big thanks to Trucking Truths) and talking to multiple recruiters before I narrowed my list down to three (I'll forgo listing the other two). In the end, whether it be from my choice or not being able to do one of them due to proximity, I decided Central was where I needed to go.

I'd ask questions or for advice, but after reading some of this thread (well... the last 24 pages of it, and about the first 10...) along with Big Rig's school thread (well... the first 8 pages of it...) I have either answered some of them, or realized that its really pointless to ask them until I get to the school-- A lot of questions are so obvious to experienced drivers that they probably roll their eyes and sigh every time a snot nosed kid shows up asking them. I'll get into the paperwork first and then save the tougher questions for you guys once I've gotten the easy junk figured out. (I am still wrapping my brain around the 34 hour reset that was discussed)

I am not in this for the money. I've pretty much always worked for minimum wage and have spent the last three years making house payments not only at minimum wage, but at a mostly part time salary (my last 2 years at minimum wage have been at least a minimum of 30 hours a week...). 30-35k may be a joke to some, but to someone like me, it's a career. I look forward to telling my girlfriend she no longer needs to chip in so we can make the house payments-- It's also good news that after the initial shock wore off, she has come to accept the trucking idea. Although when we do decided to settle down and start a family, I will probably move to a local job as to make things easy on everyone.

Why am I here? When I was a kid my dad and I would race boats, most of the events were local(-ish), traveling no more than a couple hours to a venue, once a year though would be the nationals, and usually that would entail driving halfway across the country (the furthest being upper Michigan with a stop in Illinois for a secondary nationals). Albeit I was not driving for those trips, (actually, my dad gave me my first touch of driving when I was 12 on Antelope Island at the Great Salt Lake, with our 'big' boat trailer in tow) but I still view them as some of the best memories of my childhood. My current job is driving all around Bakersfield, Calif and the outlying towns delivering auto parts. I find myself extremely frustrated when I've got to just run parts up the street, and when I do manage to luck into a longer run (this morning I had our longest run, which is about three hours round trip, ive actually never measured the trip in miles-- you guys probably laugh at a 3 hour delivery.) and was just in heaven. After about a year of driving our Toyota Tacoma's I kept noticing more and more 'hiring class A' signs and it slowly began to form in my mind what I needed to do with my life. One day, while heading to one of our closer out of town stops, I was stuck behind a CR England truck, and began to stare more and more at the "Train / Drive / Lease" ad on the back of the truck that my brain finally clicked. That night I went home and began my online search. No, CR England was not one of my three top picks.

I am a racer at the local dirt track, the Bakersfield Speedway. 2013 will mark the end of my 8 consecutive years racing there (3 years in a 'mini stock' Nissan 240sx, 2005 track champion - 5 years in a 'hobby stock' Camaro). Maybe when/if I go local, I'll be able to start racing again, this time dealing with the expenses rather than allowing my father to fund the team.

Lastly, and I don't want to ruffle any feathers, especially by the pros around here, but leasing is NOT on my radar. I know some people have said that but have decided to go that way anyway-- not for me-- I've read so much, here and other places, to know its not for me. I'm actually happy just getting in the truck and getting to drive without having to do all the management work as well. So what if I am a CO driver forever, Its the ride that counts.

 

if the gf lives with you she should chip in for house payments. if the two of you plan on happily ever after.

it's tough to survive on one income these days. it really takes two.

i can't imagine a house payment on 35G a year. between the irs and medical insurance. that's half your income right there. leaving half for shelter, utilities, and food. and if your lucky. gas for the car.

in utah. you'll be eating top ramen noodles

 

Well I've made it so far on 18-20k a year

the plan for the gf is instead of giving me money for the house she will just pay the utilities. She will pay a hair less than she already was and it'll help make her feel more like a partner in the house and less like atenant paying rent.

 

Hi and Welcome Aaron

 

sammons wants a clean dac, mvr, credit, 36 months flatbed, and your take home pay is roughly $500 per week on a 4 year truck loan.

 

Not that I want this thread to turn into this discussion, but where did you get that info. It conflicts with everything I've found about them. In fact, they don't even have a set term on the lease of the truck. It could be 2 years or it could be 4. It depends on the truck, how you run and breakdowns as well as other expenses. All they ask is that you keep making progress on the loan but will help you out in tough months. Your income comes out first before expenses. Below is what I found as far as requirements.

This is from their site:

Sammons Trucking is a 48 state flatbed/stepdeck/RGN carrier. Basic requirements are:

• 150,000 verifiable OTR miles
• Acceptable MVR
  • No more than three moving violations in one year or a total of five moving violations in the last three years. No more than one chargeable/preventable accident in the previous 12 months or two in the previous five years. No serious traffic violations in the last three years.
• One year of flatbed experience in the last three years

For the owner-operator Sammons has trailers available to be leased. Check into our Lease Purchase Program.

As far as the income goes, you receive 26% of 75% of the line haul before expenses come out. This means that in order to only make $500 in a week with a very achievable $1.90 per mile, you would have to run less than 1350 miles. Are you sure we're talking about the same company?

(Correction, I just noticed you said "take home" pay, so when you account for roughly standard deductions it would be less than 1600 miles)

 

Did you two go in together and buy Sammon's?!

 

So im two weeks away from completing my training with my trainer, and was thinking of trying to run team for a bit. Any suggestions? I dont plan on being here for very long and really just trying to get a little experience for a few months.

 

Does Central Refrigerated hire out of New York?

 

Where do you live? Your school has to be paid in full. You have to lease or find someone leasing willing to take you on as an employee.