Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

There are a lot of state routes and us highways in wi that have 65-70 mph speed limits and are controlled access a lot of the way. Stick with their route unless someone can approve the change for you. If they decide to charge you it would be expensive.

 

If they're buying the fuel and you give them a reason to charge it to you, they're very likely to do it. There were a lot of times I'd skip stops b/c they didn't work with my load, like telling you to fill up before a beer run. There were also days I knew a faster way to drive but I made sure there would be no out of route stops and managed to stay outta trouble. $15 a stop can add up quick!

 

I hit all of the fuel stops they sent me, except I went to WVC instead of Henderson but that shouldn't be a problem. So with that and delivering on time I don't see them having a problem.

 

They could have a problem because you drove more miles. More miles=more fuel=more money, to the computers at least. I've never crossed the rockies on 70, so i'm not sure how bad the grades are, but 80 out of slc is no picnic, so it's not like you eliminated the climbs either. I never went out of route except minor shortcuts as a co driver (like not getting on US 34 near Chicago, stupid idea the computer has) so I don't know how closely they watch, but the bottom line is if they want to charge you they will, and it's billed by the mile.

 

A driver shouldn't have to put in nearly 150,000 miles a year just to eek out a meager existence but I don't think we'll get anywhere playing the "that doesn't make any sense" game! Lol. Good luck though. You're smart, at least you'll catch it the first time they try to charge you. Just keep tracking what you do and why. I've heard you can get your DM to go to bat for you if you have a legitimate reason for altering your route. But I hear a lot of things on the road that aren't exactly true!

 

Hi all central let me go early so I got a start on my new career as a garbage man lol.My first couple of days of training is good but feels weird being home every night but not complaining. I was at central over 3 years and I usually skipped fuel stops aaron and requested new ones but I usually requested them after I passed the one that wasn't working for me. If you do it as much as I did it you might get an earful every once in awhile but it isn't nothing I would run off routes a few times never heard anything about it. But in 3 years at central and I must be lucky as #### but zero service failures and zero violations. I hope you all are really safe out there and I will pop in

 

i think you'll find that most drivers will take the 80 of 70 any day. 80 is a picnic compared to 70.

 

Passion4polishing,

Yes, the truth is, anything can get good fuel mileage with the new motors. I have a friend that runs a wide open Kenworth W900 and squeezes 7.5 average out of it. The secret is all in the transmission and gear ratio of the truck. I've since forgotten his exact specs but dragging around 35,000 lb loads on average, he keeps a 7.5 in that truck, RUNNING THE SPEED LIMIT NO LESS!!! My 389 at central had a Cummins ISX 400 and like I said, I usually averaged around 6.8mpg for the month. Now, best trip mileage I had in it was on a load from Plover, WI to Forth Worth, TX. I39, I55, I40, I30 into Ft Worth and I averaged 7.9 the whole way loaded to 42,000 I believe from Americold in Plover. Ran against the governor the whole way and most likely had a tailwind haha! Point is, yes its possible but these companies will do anything to save their nickels and dimes. The sad truth is this: the 389s, W900s, 379s, etc are WAY more expensive than a Cascadia, 386, 387, 587, ProStar, etc and the funny trucks do get INCREMENTALLY better fuel mileage. and when you have 2000+ trucks, all that makes a HUGE difference.

I've ran my own business before I went to Central so I knew the drill. I leased to make money and according to everything, I should have been able to. But in recent years this intra-company leasing has become such a cut throat business, even more so than it was back in the days of Dick Simon and other companies of the sort. And you can trust me on this, if you know anybody who was driving at the time Dick Simon was around, they know how bad those guys had it. Anyways, what killed it for me at Central was just the inconsistency of what they were telling me and no matter what, there was always another excuse for why I wasn't making any money and how it would be so much better the next week. Another thing, when you lease at these companies, on average, you are making 1.25 truck payments when you pay your truck payment, not including other costs. Which means, if four lease operators make their truck payments, their lease trucks are paid for for the week and so is one of Central's company trucks. Not to mention, you're paying insurance payments to a self insured company. So unless you are having accidents all the time, every penny you pay for insurance to Central is STRAIGHT PROFIT for them. These reasons among others are why they push the leases so hard and I could go on all day complaining about it but I'm out, I'm happy, and I'm surviving now. I guess I'm just trying to help those who are looking into it there.

Arkansas Frost,

Please refer to what I wrote above if you want my input on your post. And I'm in Texas where Winter is finally over... at least until the end of the weeks forecast 78 degrees and sunny today!!

Aaron Stewart,

Central has a lot of talk about consequences for disobeying their fuel and route solutions but as of last September (when I left), I had never once been disciplined for not following it. I went out of route all the time as a company driver. I think they only look at you if its 100+ miles out of the way and not at all if its shorter than the way they want you to go. Maybe if you have an extra 400 miles that you went out of route every month they might look at you but a little here and there, most likely, won't even cause them to turn their heads.


Everybody, please be safe out there!!!

 

Dangit!! Stuck in WY again. I guess I found winter again.

 

We're stuck in Denver! I feel your pain!