rooky questions for a future trucker

first, if you get your cdl, there are at least 100 companies that would "eagerly" hire you. dont stop at 5 companies...compare many before making a decision.

you may be better off getting a cdl through a community college than going to a company that will school you as well. many more choices once you HAVE a cdl. jmo.

dont know aboout central refrigerated. crst and swift are on MY list of "the 3 companies no one should ever go to work for" (other one is cr england). crst and cr england have 50 negative reviews for every positive one. with swift my opinion is a little more controversial. 2 reasons i think no one should work for swift: 1. they stole money from nearly 9k drivers when they failed to provide adequate training. these drivers had their licences suspended, and swift did nothing to refund the money. fbi raided the swift school, blah blah blah...was a pretty big deal, and swift made NO EFFORT to do the right thing. theft, pure and simple imo. 2. they have new policies which require drivers to log a minimum of 30 min for pretrip, and to log on duty time at shippers/receivers. they dont pay for this time, so imo this is theft of service. bottom line is, under these policies, you will not be able to run NEARLY as many miles with this company as with any other. not opinion in this case...pure fact.

questions to ask a recruiter:

what is pay (cpm)?

how many miles does the average driver get paid for per week? (if they say 2500, its a stock industry answer, probably not the truth)

what is the average length of haul? (this will also give indication of how many miles you can expect to get...longer length of haul means fewer loads per week. each load you have to pick up and deliver, both of which involve wait times. also normally will wait for next load)

benefits?
home time (how many days out for each day home?)
401k? match?
do trucks have apus? bunk heaters? if no, what is the policy on inverters? (if no apu and no installed inverter policy, i wouldnt work there.)

those are the biggies on my list, though im sure ive left a lot out. good luck to ya!

 

Central Refrigerated has good reviews; Stevens school has good reviews.

 

The only reviews Stevens Transport has is there high dollar trucks. Other then that, no home time. If you get home, a day later, they will ring your phone off the hook.

 

Detention pay,rider policy,pet policy and everything else u wanna know.Dont forget to ask.10-4

 

That may be true, but I was referring to the quality of the school. Every company I've ever worked for called at home wanting me to leave out early. I usually did it if offered a good run.

 

oh yeah detention pay (duh). also bonuses for fuel, performance, and safety. if offered each of those 3 can mean 1 or 2 cpm if you can achieve them. (1 cpm= about $1250 per year)

and by "duh" i meant i was stupid to forget it. not meant as a slam on oldtimer. anyone with double digits in the experience column knows more than i do about trucking. specially if the first digit is a 2.

 

The CCW permit is a very good question and one that has been discussed at great length here. You can do a quick search and find lots of info. But in a nutshell, although there are no laws against carrying a firearm in a commercial vehicle, every company under the sun forbids them in their vehicles.

As for your CDL, all I can offer you is my expieriance. I started with Schneider and in exchange for free training I signed a contract stating I would work for them for one year. Had I quit I would have paid them. The way I looked at it, why would I pay for something that I can get for free? With less than a years expieriance, I wasn't going anywhere any better. A year ended up being nothing for me. I made great money and had an absolute blast. I stayed a few more years before finding a regional job with weekends off. Good luck with the journey.

 

The telephone number for driver recruiting for Central Refrigerated Services, Inc. (CRSI), is 1-877 369-7089

Also, here is additional information in reference to Central Refrigerated Services, Inc.as shown below:

CORPORATE OFFICE/GENERAL INFORMATION:
Corporate Address:
5175 West 2100 South
West Valley City, UT 84120
Phone: 801-924-7000

TERMINAL LOCATIONS:

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH (CORPORATE)
5175 West 2100 South, West Valley City, UT 84120
Main Phone: 1-800-777-9100
FAX: 1-800-777-9103

CONLEY, GEORGIA
1545 Cedargrove Road, Conley, GA 30288
Main Phone: 1-800-777-0033
FAX: 1-800-863-5286

DENVER, COLORADO
8801 Yosemite Street, Henderson, CO 80640
Main Phone: 1-303-286-7441
FAX: 1-303-286-5967

FONTANA, CALIFORNIA
15816 Santa Ana Avenue, Fontana, CA 92337
Main Phone: 1-800-777-5514
FAX: 1-800-777-5506

NOTE:
If you are living in California, it looks as though Fontana Georgia would be the closest terminal near you.

GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!
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