Positive things about CR England

From what Ive heard and read I agree that schneider would be a better choice of the two. But have you thought about smaller companies like central refrigerated. they haul refer and have a training program and really nice equipment. Out of the big guys, schneider, swift, werner, cre, prime I would definitely say schneider is the best call. for a new driver it's pretty much a gaurantee you WILL RUN ALL 48 unless you can afford private training and luck out on a local job. good luck out there.

 

cre has nice looking equipment. there is something positive. lol

 

and a rattlesnake has a nice looking set of fangs, but I don't want to get that close.....

 

Thanks all! I'm going to do a quick review on that central refridgerated and see what they're about. Tomorrow morning, I'll call Schneider and see what's up with them and if worst comes to worst - (lol) I'll go with my original plan.

Running all 48 states seems OK with me for now. Like I said - being totally new, I can't be picky. But besides, believe it or not, I want that at first. I want to see the country - I am single and without children, so it's no big deal. I spend a lot of time online so hitting a WiFi hotspot with my laptop for a little bit before I go to sleep each night will help me with the being alone part.

Thank you all again - and I will be probably be posting here regularly anyhow, so you'll all know what happened - and how it turns out... whichever road I choose here.

Billy

 

If you can get on with the Big Pumpkin do it Charley Brown.
England, as part of there training program put you with a lease operator for a month after your training time is done. So you will be looking at several month s before you are on your own.
They will also pressure you allot to go into there lease program, and once in it the only way to pay your bills will eather to take a co-driver or become a trainer.

I am a Central Refrigerated. I don't have any gripes about them, but the training you get in there school, or most others, is only just enough to pass the test. NY has one of the easyist tests you will find.
Once you have the license and get with a trainer then the real training starts. Hopefully you can find a trainer that knows what he/ she is doing, and will be more concerned with training you, than making more miles.
I hear that Schneiders training is better than most though.

Whatever you do, I would not consider being a lease operator at any of these companys. After a few years in the industry if you want to own a truck then go out and buy one, then lease on with a company. I have heard that the Pumpkin fleet is pretty good with owner ops too.

Whichever you choose, good luck. It takes a long time to learn how to drive a truck well, and to learn if you like the lifestyle. You will learn if you are going to hate it pretty quick, learning if you are going to love it takes a good year.
Central does get allot of old England drivers. Our main terminal is right around the corner from theres. We have a school in Buffalo NY though.

 

If your on the east coast and you go with schneider--you wont run 48 states solo most likely. I was told solo's run the east 37 states--prolly not likely to run a lot west--they save those for the team drivers so i was told.

 

Well Rolling_Thunder, I am in the same as you, though my situation is a bit more desperate. I am at risk of losing my house, so I need a short training period. From all I have looked at, Schneider and England both have about 2 -2.5 week training schools. But unfortunately, the big Orange rejected my application. Either from my speeding ticket that happened 3.5 years ago (past their cut-off), or my reasons for leaving my previous jobs. Whichever it was, they didn't like it. Which sucks. So, that basically leaves me with England, unfortunately. Although, I have another prospect that I will be going to in a few hours for an interview down in Sellersburg IN. Hopefully, their training is short like CRE or the Pumkin, and that I won't have to get a credit check (flies won't even touch my credit score), so I can tell England to cancel the bus ticket and I will go with this company. If not, then I gotta suck it up with CRE for a while, and then head to greener pastures. England can't be nearly as bad as my last factory job, or my casino job that I put up with for 2 years.
Good luck, and I hope you have better luck with the big Orange than I did. I fear I will have to go with my last resort..... England.

 

The desperate situation that you are in financially, have you figured out how much money you have to take home each month. The training pay that you receive from CRE if you choose them, or any other company, you will have to take out taxes and living expenses while on the road could amount to only a few hundred dollars a week take home. CRE has you training for 2 months with a driver trainer and don't even think about the lease program that they will try to sell you on. Good luck in the direction you choose.

 

Well, over the last couple of days I have been trying to get in touch with Schneider. Both times. Monday and Tuesday, I was on hold for over an hour. I just couldn't hold on any longer. So I went to their online site and filled out an application and then sent them an email asking them to call me.

If I don't hear from them by week's end, I will try again to call them next Monday and if I can't make any progress, I will just suck it up and go to CRE. Maybe it will be good for me to start off with them - this way, no matter where I go after that, it'll be better. lol

twilightk9, I wish you all the luck! Maybe I'll see you over in Salt Lake City. But I won't be going for a couple of weeks at least. Just have a few odds and ends I need to tie up here at home before blasting off on my journey.

Billy