The Truth About CRST... And, what a surprise, NO... Its not bad!!!!

I've been here at CRST for just now 11 years. I started my career here after graduating Smith and Solomon in NJ. I was working for Ferraro Foods in Edison NJ as a order puller and they paid for my schooling to get my Class A license and after a falling out, I moved on to driving OTR.

What bought me to CRST was they were hiring. I applied to Werner, was told they were not actively looking for anyone in my part of the country. I chose CRST because it seemed like a good choice and I never second guessed my choice.

My team runs 5500 miles per week average and were lease drivers. We have never had a seriously bad tractor and we have not had issues because we are both anal about keeping up with maintenance. My co driver used to be a diesel mechanic and instructor at a tech school, so if something isn't right, were on it. We've been towed one time and the irony of it is that it was in Cedar Rapids, three blocks from the yard.

Weve always ran on the side of just do it the way it's been taught and everyone will be fine. We have a great support team in Cedar Rapids. I don't really care what anyone comes here and says that's negative because chances are that they got their information while sitting on the hopper in a truck stop or at some fuel island.

If new people want to listen to negative people who claim to have walked in the shoes of every CRST team and driver, go ahead, it's your choice.

 

some people will be treated ok, but some will go through complete hell. Notice how most of the stories about being treated well are from either owners or people who have been with the company for a long time.

CRST's plan for you is to do your contact, then quit, sometimes not even finishing the contact period. I think their prediction was somewhere between 80 and 90% of their hires quitting within a year.

The point of your contact is cheap labor for CRST. If you stay after that contract, from talking to other drivers here, it's really a different world. They follow their end of their home time policy, assuming you have a record of being on time, you get priority on getting loads... But on a contract, that's where you're hearing all our stories, like being sent across the country the day before our scheduled time to be home, sitting for days because apparently there's no loads out of where you are, because they won't deadhead you to get a load Because long distance deadhead is reserved for making site you're nowhere near home when your home time is over, then you'll deadhead 200 miles for a load.

The problem is, if you have a clean, safe record, why would you stay after that contract when getting a job at a better company is as easy making a phone call? Most people who read this thread will never get to that point of this being a stable job, because you'll be looking for a job with higher pay, better miles, better home time, and better trucks, way before your contact is even up.

And we have very low standards for hiring. You probably will be teamed with an extremely dangerous driver, bit when you try to get off that truck, there's somehow no drivers available from your area, because keeping that manages tricks moving outs more important than your safety. They'll do whatever they can to keep you on their fleet, even if it means putting people's lives at risk.

 

Rock star,
I'm sorry you have real problems. In some ways I see that life is not easy for contract guys. I guess in ways being a O/O here is worlds apart.

My grandson is going to go to an outside school, get his CDL and then jump onboard so he doesn't start at low pay and if it doesn't pan out, he can move on.

 

24 cents a mile? Wow, and I thought 34 cents was low.... ouch

 

OK. Interesting . . .

 

You will find that at any company. there are too many young and inexperienced drivers on the road today. Ones that have no ice and snow experience in a big rig. Before being cut "loose" to menace the road way they need to be trained longer than 28 days. Also there should be a safety person on the road to monitor their driving habits.

 

well the problem with ice and snow is that you can't be taught on a dry road... so more than 28 days worth a trainer in the middle of the summer accomplishes nothing when it comes to driving in the winter.

People just need be more responsible. show down, take your time, and dint be top embarrassed to ask for help, or just park for the night.

The only thing that'll teach sometime to drive in the winter is actually doing it. You blame the instruction, but that's not it. the problem is that this company hires people who shouldn't even be allowed on a bicycle. A bad driver will be a bad driver no matter how long they're with a trainer

 

ah bull...someone else in the company

 

Shown below, I had only asked the questions or made statements that are highlighted, as shown below. The questions or statements shown in between the 2 highlighted areas were not mine to begin with; it is a copy and paste job from someone else's quote.

mje said: ↑
$0.24 a mile, would this be for beginning drivers, intermediate experience drivers, advanced experience drivers, or for all 3 groups?
Ok this is my questions i will like to know if crst hire me with no experience at all and i dint complete my full 200 school hours . i only payed a partial of what a school charges to get a cdl cause they only helped me passed the driving portion of cdl so i dont habe school... Will crst hire me? Which other company will? I know western express will but iknow that company sucks.. Will pam transport hire me? Does anyone knows about a company that will hire me ? Crst?
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