crst is the worst

Don't sell yourself short. You should find some place that pays very well and has a good hometime policy. Not caring about high pay and hometime will get you into so much trouble down the road.

I will say finding a company that takes cares of it's drivers was my top priority, then pay, and then hometime. I also didn't want to team drive after 8 months of team driving with CRST. So a company that did solo driving was important to me. With Prime they really do care about the drivers with things from there driver health and fitness program to the really good health benefits they have for drivers. The trucks are equiped for humans and not monkeys and your dispatcher treats you like a person, not a number on a screen. I have formed an amazing relationship with both my dispatcher and the night crew so when I call in to talk with them they know who I am already.

You are on the right track by taking your time, asking questions, and doing RESEARCH!!!! If you aren't in a hurry and can take the time you need to find the right place, do it! A lot of what happens around this industry is people are so desperate to find a job and litterally use there last penny just to get to one of these driver mills like CRST and CREngland that they'll work for peanuts and a place to sleep. That's where you hear a lot of the horror stories from on here.

Take your time and find the right fit for you!

Good luck,

Redoctober

 

$44k?? I wouldn't even think of working for those peanuts---- as a company driver at Tyson the lowest I've made was $59k...

 

So I am determined to get my CDL and I am registered to start at CRST in two weeks. I'm doing my research prior to going. I live in the Houston area. From what I am reading CRST sounds like a nightmare and I am seriously reconsidering. Where would all of you guys recommend is the best place to launch my new career. Please note when I say best I mean best financially for me, best for skill, best for miles, and best for equipment and dear god no bed bugs!!!

 

the trucking industry is in chaos any company hires out of cdl school go ltl get home everyday gig if you want to see the country go road driver with an ltl you will not regret it.

 

Odfl,abf,fdxf,upsf,.....

 

If you are registered to start at CRST and you live in Houston, TX they should be sending you to the Houston Community College on the east side of Houston for you to get your license. If you decide to go with CRST, make sure they send you to the Houston Community College and not try and send you to the crap school in Dallas where they try and get you on the hook for the hotel stay, food, and the school.

Now, my recommendation would be you check with the Houston Community college for there classes on getting your CDL. It's a 10 week class and very very good. If I had to do it all over I would take the class from the Houston Community college directly. If you are looking for a company sponsored training program that is good and you make decent money during your training and after I would look into Prime's training program.

the CDL portion of the program is a one on one with an instructor for 4 weeks learning to drive, back, parallel park, and everything else you need to pass your CDL test. During that 4 week, Prime advances you $200/week. Once you get your CDL you'll get a $700/week until you finish the rest of the training program and then you'll jump up to $0.43/mile. It's a one year contract and it is prorated for each month you are there so if you decide to leave after 6 months you owe only half of the cost, not the full cost like CRST does.

Good luck,

Redoctober

 

In a nutshell, Trucking companies have brought this on themselves, they are training people from homeless shelters to drive their trucks, they have" educationally challenged" persons training to drive their trucks. They have had to "Dumb Down" driving a truck. Instead of investing in training and retention (read wage and benefit increases) they have "Invested" millions in technology to keep their thumb on drivers. They spend millions on recruiting drivers and zero on retaining them. The saying is "If you pay peanuts you hire monkeys" has never been more true.

 

Constantly Raping Stupid Truckers

 

Chronically Retarded Super Truckers

 

Crooks and Robbers Suckering Trainees