Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

I read sarcasm in your text!!

LOL!

 

Have them check your batteries... We've had to have our complete set of four changed out twice in 390K miles... And we don't do much idling!

 

buy em from autozone. they last 7 years. not 390k miles.

habnging out in WVC.

 

Well, I have an update. Better late than never I suppose. If you were talking to me during Jan of 2012 you know I was going to Central. Got through CDL school and OTR training. Had two great trainers. First one got fired after me being on his truck for a week, previous trainee reported him for having a beer on a 34 during training. Second one was a relatively new trainer and I guess its good I knew what I was doing when I got there. I was solo company from 03/2012 until 05/15/12 when I leashed. If you remember, you know I had said I wasnt gonna do it. Worst mistake of my life. I was a solo l/o until 09/25/12 when I quit. I was in one of the five Pete 389s Central has. 18920. Truck came with an APU and few other goodies already in it. Long story short, I was running 3k mi+ weeks and still bringing home maybe $150 on a good week, usually negative. They said it was a combination of my idle time and bad choices in fueling, which I dont see possible considering I had an APU and used it every chance I got and used the daily fuel sheet to find cheapest network fuel.. not to mention averaging 6.8mpg. If you can believe it, I was actually told I idled almost 900 hours in two weeks. I'm no math whiz but Im sure you can see the humor there. I attribute my failure as a l/o to the new pay package they are pushing so hard but then again, I aint pointing no fingers. When I quit, I gave a one week notice and turned my truck into the Conley terminal; without any help of Central. Once I had turned in my notice I did not receive another load. Luckily, I was smart enough to send the notice in when I was at home. I sat there for a week waiting for a load to Conley and finally I just deadheaded the whole way to turn the truck in and head to orientation for my new job. Naturally, Central put an abandonment, under a load, with no notice on my DAC and after much debate with HireRite and Central big wigs, it is now off of my record. They also trashed me with a preventable accident (trailer was tagged somewhere in Alabama and apparently I couldve prevented it in my sleep) and that as well is off of me now.

Its interesting, I had heard stories about this kind of thing happening to people quitting other CDL mill companies but I had not seen anything of this practice coming from Central. I was totally blindsided by it but I guess its off of me and is all water under the bridge now. Of course, everybody's experience will be different so use YOUR AND OUR judgement, not just ours.

I started with US Xpress on 9/26/12 and have been here until current. I know this isnt the forum to talk about them but its so far been a far better experience than Central. As a company driver at Central, I made around $350 per week running around 2500 miles. Here, I make $700-$900 running 3000-3500/wk. Again, I'm no math whiz but.... Its alot better for me anyway. If there is a US Xpress forum, you will find me on there from now on. Just wanted to drop in and say hi to all the people I was talkin to last year! Shout out to Lady K, celticwolf, snowwy, jj, and all of you others and for anybody looking to go to Central, GOOD LUCK AND GOD SPEED haha!

 

For those who need the math help above there are only 168 hours in a week so it's impossible to get 900 hours of idle in 2 weeks.
Also $0.28x2500mi=$700 so I don't know what deductions were being taken out. Any help with that? Maybe an old check?
I'm glad your doing well at us express and wish you well

 

Hey PSUMoose,

The 900 hours of idle in two weeks was what I was told by some moron in lease ops, it was more or less the straw that broke the camels back and made me decide to finally leave there. That was when I was a lease operator, of course. I know there are only 168 hours in a week but apparently I'm one of only a few, including yourself, that work(ed) at Central that understand that. They were trying to prove to me that I was at fault for my failure as a L/O and that was the primary reason they gave: too much idle, 900 hrs in two weeks time. One week was 2600 miles and the other was 3000+ miles. Nothing they told me ever made sense and it seemed as if nothing I did made a difference in my weekly pay. There was always some unexplained charge, overcharge, or just didn't break even that week. During my 5 months as a L/O I made $2350 or so, after all expenses and before you figure taxes in. According to profit & loss statement by ATBS, I was $8k in the hole when I left and according to Centrals last settlement, I'm in the hole for $29,800. (Apparently the 2012 Pete I had needed an overhaul after I got out of it with only 150,000 miles on it.)

The $350 was a mistype. I meant to say $450 and that was after taxes came out. During that time I was a company driver. I was also in a W900 and as you probably know, they have no idle control like Icon or any of the others. I was always around 45% idle because it was a black truck and my time as a company driver was during the summer of 2012. Well, that and the lack of idle control. This idle charge and the other expenses incurred during that time as a company driver (CDL school which I did not need, lock kit, load locks (seemed like they had me buying one every week when I never actually received one from them), and other things would sometimes bring my profits as low as $300 on a bad week and $600 on a good week. So the $450 was more of an average in weekly pay. And as I said earlier, the $350 was a mistype. Actual average weekly income after taxes as a company driver was $450.

 

Sesstexas... SO glad you found a place that you are happy, and you are SO right you have to watch your settlements!! When we first went L/O I was calling our payroll clerk and Xpay weekly! Some fights I won, others I didn't (re: detention mostly)... I think it is MUCH harder for a solo to lease than a team, just because of the static costs and you HAVE to stay rolling with NO down time! That's why so many go to training (whether they should or not). We also have been weighing our options... We have one more year on our lease, and are already at 400K in miles... Our warrantees are running out, and is is where it an get EXPENSIVE!! However, we have gotten ourselves into a good 'loop', so we'll see where this circle takes us

 

im about to do one that is only 22 miles

 

Forget Wonderbread!!!!! !!!!TWINKIES!!!!

 

Can a 389 really avg 6.8 mpg? That's pretty impressive; I'd always heard 5.5-6 mpg for hoods. Kinda makes you wonder what all the fuss is about with the cascadias and prostars.

Just wanted to throw my .02 in on leasing. Leasing is not for someone who doesn't like their company truck. Leasing is not for someone who's not making money as a company driver. Leasing is not for someone with dollar signs in their eyes. Leasing is not for someone who's sick of the 30% idle rule.

Who does that leave? Who is leasing good for? Workaholics with a good dm who are never happy if they're not playing the money game. I've never worked for an hourly wage. I've worked mostly straight commission, as well as a management position that was salary plus bonus. I also owned a couple businesses. Every job I've had has been a numbers game; do it well and make good money, do it poorly and apply for welfare. If anyone is considering leasing for any of the reasons I said in the above paragraph, don't do it! It takes a level of commitment and appetite for risk that can put you in a world of hurt.

Just wanted to throw that out there since I've seen people lately talking about signing a lease either because they weren't making money or because they didn't like the equipment they were assigned. This is the path to the poor house.