Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

I really don't think the Centrel guys have much to worry about to be honest. I've known drivers at Swift and they say that while we make fun of them, they are really not all that bad to deal with.

 

I once saw a swift driver standing at a fuel desk complaining to the wrong person. The problem was his card was being declined for a scale ticket. From what I gathered listening to the conversation he has called swift 2 hours prior to have a scale charge approved so that he could charge it to his corporate card.
The fact that swift messed up isn't the end of the world; central office staff has their own share of mess-ups. The problem is that he had to call at all. When a central driver wants to scale he/she just does it. It doesn't matter if the load is 44,000 lbs or 4,400 lbs; if a driver isn't sure they are legal they can scale with no approval.
It's this kind of bureaucratic micromanagement that is most concerning to me. I don't think any of us got in to this line of work to have the boss looking over our shoulder all the time.

 

Wow. Call for a scale? Wow.

 

Swift buys Central Refrigerated for $225 million
Swift Transportation Co., headquartered in Phoenix, Ariz., has announced it has purchased Utah-based Central Refrigerated Transportation Inc. for $225 million.

Swift’s acquisition of Central Refrigerated, a privately held company, will make it one of the largest temperature-controlled freight companies in the U.S.

According to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s SAFER website, Central Refrigerated, which is headquartered in West Valley City, Utah, has 2,616 power units and 2,322 drivers. Swift has 15,212 power units and 14,300 drivers, according to SAFER.

Jerry Moyes, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Swift, is also the principal owner of Central Refrigerated.

 

Is his daughter still running Central Freight? When I was at Central Reefer her husband was the boss.

 

... and how does this tie in to Knight and Knight Refridgerated? I thought his daughter was running those.

 

Daughter's husband is the CEO, John Isaacson. Since I've been there, there's never been a woman in the higher up parts of Central. That's not to say she's not involved, I just haven't seen a woman's name, especially an Isaacson on a desk or door there.

 

As far as I know, Knight is run by cousins of the Englands. Wikipedia mentions it too.

From what I can gather on the internet, CR England was started by Chester England. The England family still runs it. Pride is run by another England, looks like a grandson of the original guy. Knight is owned and run by cousins of the Englands, who used to work for Swift.

Carl Moyes worked for England, then started his own company with his sons that eventually became Swift. Jerry is one of those sons. One of the Knights was a partner in the business, and was eventually bought out, so he started Knight Trucking.

Dick Simon had Dick Simon trucking, and his son Kelle was involved. And I've been told that Jerry Moyes wanted to buy Dick Simon when there was financial trouble, but he wasn't allowed to. So he gifted Central Freight to his daughter as a wedding gift. Central Freight created Central Refrigerated, bought Dick Simon,split CRS off, and gave Central Freight back to Moyes. Dick Simon is still around, but only a few trucks, and Kelle created Kelle's Transport Services.

So, most of the big trucking companies, especially those in Salt Lake, are all tied together through family ties and history.

 

Well, I had a bolt go into a drive tire and I got to sit through a yearly safety inspection on my trailer. It was only expired for 2 months!! Now I'm sitting in southern KY to avoid an overnight stay in Nashville. It's weird, the longer I'm on the big road, the less patience I have for big cities. Whenever I venture out on my own, I'm sure I'll be one of those drivers that only sees the truck stop when it's time for fuel. But for now, I'm gonna hobble on into this peelot and see if I can get sum grub! Looks like 2400 miles my first week with Kraft and they haven't even seen me work yet. Plus, I'll be able to tighten up my ETA's when I get better acquainted with these CX's. Are we suppose to wave at all the Swifties now?!

 

NO!! Have some pride man!