CRST Van Expedited, Inc. - Cedar Rapids, Ia.

It's old video Mack - he stopped for a light ACROSS the trax- along comes the train (moving quite slow, 10 -15 mph) and pushes the rig right along, tearing open the trailer and pushing the mess into a bunch of cars that were also stopped. OOPS!
Personally, I think the commuter train demolishing the reefer (in Salinas,CA) was better, but they are both important lessons to us drivers.

 

thats funny i just talked to a driver that works there and he said he was makeing a whole .29 a mile. i told him he might as well go work at mcdonalds

 

Well, I don't know what CRST06 went through, but I just started with CRST, they put me through the worst possible CDL school around, then took every advantage possible. Thye first thing I found out was that while CRST would "pay" for my tuition, and that it would be "free" for me; I would have to pay for transportation, fees incurred in testing, meals provided and lodging at the school. This is taken out at a rate of $50 a week.
I'm told by some of the older drivers that it used to be hard for a new driver to get their home time, but I haven't had that problem. The only thing I've found out is that CRST takes that $50 a week whether I work or not.
Furthermore, whi8le I would normally get paid around .30 cents a mile, I'm being paid .22 cents, which they calim is to pay for my tuition. I could have sworn that was supposed to be free.
As for not getting paid. I had to go after them for my last week of over the road training pay.
They have managed to stick us with some pretty snotty trucks. The first was leaking diesel. We took it to the shop, and they put us on a load to OK (from PA) with heavy time constraints, kno9wing that the truck was in the shop. Then it turned out, halfway there, that they didn't actually fix the problem.
They let us change trucks in OK, while giving us a load that required us to travel at 53mph. We had to change trucks AFTEr getting the load, and it turned out the new truck has starter problems, and battery problems, just to name a few.
I'm so happy with this company, I could just ************.
Dave[/quote]

My partner and I went through a lot with CRST also and NO! the tuition :smt065 is not free they started me off with .18 cents per mile for about 6 months, so that they could be reimbursed for tuition costs.

CRST also put a hold on my partners paycheck after it was deposited to "comdata" when he tried to give notice of quiting. and then put a hold on both our comdata accounts when he would not accept a broken down, dirty truck. :smt100

Another problem I had with CRST was that they would give us a load that is already a day or more late and tell us to get it there the next day, when we would have thousands miles to travel.

Please don't disagree with CRST or report anything they don't want to address, a friend of mine did that, and found that she and her new partner (who had nothing to do with the issue) were given very little miles, for months. the only way they could survive was living week to week off of advances.

My friend and her co partner were forced to cross every mountain in sight to get to a delivery when their truck was in very bad condition and should have been in the shop. She and her new partner said they were lucky to come out of that one alive, and quit soon after, when thier 6 months contract was up. Do not quite if at all possible before, your contract is up, or you will find yourself oweing CRST $3000 plus, even though the 2 week class is only about $1,400 going through the community college. The contract is about 8 months long now. You will get very little driving time before hiting the road with your trainer. usually the next day after orientation you will be driving, one time around the yard and then out into the streets, with the school instructor. It is very scarry.

I knew CRST could get down and dirty, but never thought they would stoop that low

 

You are so right, CRST added and additional amount to my w-2 for tuition reimbursement that I never received, so that I could pay taxes on it. I asked about it, and payroll explained it this way "if you were to get a bonus you'd have to pay taxes on it, this is the same thing". I tried to explain," But I never received reimbursement for tuition", Tuition was deducted from my pay, but I never received any of it back. I was then told to talk to dispatch, I called dispatch who told me to contact payroll. yada, yada, yada. Enough SAID

 

I am shocked to hear this stuff. My dispatcher is kinda dense, but he hooks us up.
I dropped a load in covington, GA (east of atlanta). They had no empties for me to take. I had to go to the other side of atlanta to get an empty. They paid me an extra stop, and 47 out of route miles upon request (i set trip meter every time i do any driving to know if I am being paid accurately). They always pay me what I ask for. That same trip to covington qualcommed 730 loaded miles. It was 818 trip meter. I sent a message to the dispatcher saying that this is more than 10% out of route, and he paid me trip meter miles.
One thing I don't like about CRST is they route you around tolls. This means taking us routes sometimes and stopping at a bazillion lights.
Recently, They routed us around a $12.00 toll. It was 43 deadhead miles, and the route around the toll was 174 miles tripmeter. I told the dispatcher this, and he says, "it's not that far, i'll give you 100 miles". This was before we took the stupid route around the toll I was arguing with him about how far it would be. Finally, he says "just tell me how many miles it is, and i'll pay them". That's what I did. But I called the driver hotline, and a bigwig from orientation answers the call. He admitted that it was a pis-poor decision, and he went and chewed out my dispatcher, and my dispatcher's boss. We got paid every mile.
I watch every mile I drive and document it, and CRST has been pretty cool with me so far.
I think maybe they stick it to all their contract signers or something. I did not sign a contract.

 

never worked for CRST but i have heard alot of bad stories from other drivers out on the road. i have heard from several drivers that they screw you out of your pay quite often.
Smurf>>>>>>

 

I sure hope you challenged this with the IRS. What they did there was patently illegal. They cannot claim a debt as income to another party, if unpaid.

If you were not paid any tuition reimbursement, then you received no income to that effect.

The same thing applies to tuition in general. They cannot claim that you were "paid" money, simply because they have a contract for something that is owed to them, from yourself.

They are double dipping, I'll bet. The IRS allows them to claim a deduction for unpaid debts, under some strict guidelines. If they are claiming that tuition amount as income that was paid to you, then they are likely taking a deduction for that too.

Now, in your case, the tuition you paid, through payroll deduction, is tax deductible from YOUR return.

If this has all happened within the last three years, file an amended return to correct this, and claim your rightful deductions. If the W-2 is incorrect and includes tuition as income to you, I'd march right on down to the nearest Internal Revenue Service Center, and report them for a false W-2. That's tax fraud.

Have at the very least, your final paycheck stub with you, and evidence of the tuition contract, to verify the figures that appear on the W-2.

 

My partner and I went through a lot with CRST also and NO! the tuition :smt065 is not free they started me off with .18 cents per mile for about 6 months, so that they could be reimbursed for tuition costs.

CRST also put a hold on my partners paycheck after it was deposited to "comdata" when he tried to give notice of quiting. and then put a hold on both our comdata accounts when he would not accept a broken down, dirty truck. :smt100

Another problem I had with CRST was that they would give us a load that is already a day or more late and tell us to get it there the next day, when we would have thousands miles to travel.

Please don't disagree with CRST or report anything they don't want to address, a friend of mine did that, and found that she and her new partner (who had nothing to do with the issue) were given very little miles, for months. the only way they could survive was living week to week off of advances.

My friend and her co partner were forced to cross every mountain in sight to get to a delivery when their truck was in very bad condition and should have been in the shop. She and her new partner said they were lucky to come out of that one alive, and quit soon after, when thier 6 months contract was up. Do not quite if at all possible before, your contract is up, or you will find yourself oweing CRST $3000 plus, even though the 2 week class is only about $1,400 going through the community college. The contract is about 8 months long now. You will get very little driving time before hiting the road with your trainer. usually the next day after orientation you will be driving, one time around the yard and then out into the streets, with the school instructor. It is very scarry.

I knew CRST could get down and dirty, but never thought they would stoop that low[/quote]