C.R. England and Sons, Inc. - West Valley, Ut.

Yes this was on CR England property, and it is their normal procedure for anyone who has any "problem" with the application process. I agree England has many problems. I personally paid for a bus ticket home for a guy they brought out there and refused to hire. I noticed he was gone after the second day, and 5 days later after I decided they were a bad company and got my own cab to the bus station I found him still sitting there panhandleing for money to get home. I found out later from talking to others that it is a part of their normal practice. If you weren't hired for any reason you were dropped off at the bus station and left up to yourself to get home. In another point US Express also does this.

 

Yes I still test positive, but I have a valid perscription. I am working for a company now where I am home everynight and I take home 4K a month. If anyone in the Dallas Fort Worth area is looking for a similar job. Let me know. I love sign on bonuses!

 

I have never considered England -- mostly because of all I have read here. I have read so much about their poor training and bad drivers I have accepted that this is true. Today, I talked to my roommate and he commented that as he was driving through Arkansas on his way to Texas early this am, he saw an England truck that had made his own 'wide spot' -- in the woods! LOL! He said the only thing he could see was the name on the back door of the trailer, the rest was in the woods -- drove straight off the road and there it sat. He checked to see if anyone was hurt, but there was nobody around so he went on his way. Told him that the driver must have been one of those proud England graduates I had heard so much about

 

Maybe the driver of that truck was illegal immigrant from a place like Mexico, as the super-majority in Utah LOVES to use immigrants to do its dirty work. After the wreck, he ran off bleeding into the woods.

 

LOL. :smt033

 

At least it was shady....

 

Could have been the rough Arkansas highway that caused him to bounce it into the woods. Our roads have improved but there are still some bad patches here and there.

 

Hello. I'm new here. I'm currently employed with C.R. England, but even as I write this I'm on my way back to Salt Lake City to turn in my truck and say "Take this job and shove it!" But hey. At least I don't abandon equipment like some of their other drivers do no matter how hectic things get. I'm reasonably naive when it comes to the trucking industry.

Like the ignorant sod that I was, after I completed the training process, I signed the lease and went home to convert my CDL back to my home state(because, you know, if you don't do it within a certain time period, it violates a federal law and you have to be shut down). I thought I would spend maybe three days there to relax a little and then go back to the job. WRONG! Thanks to the red tape at the DMV, I had to find the proper papers proving I was a resident of Virginia(the ordinary mail wasn't going to cut it, and I had a Virginia drivers license for years) and that I was U.S. citizen(I had lost my passport and didn't know where my birth certificate was). I spent ten days at home before I could get my CDL converted.

Before I knew it, I had started what I hoped was going to be a promising career in the negative. I NEVER recovered. I spent the next four months fighting the hole, watching it get smaller little by little only to encounter situations that would make it get bigger again. A lot of the situations have been brought on by my own mistakes(being late, idling the truck), but a lot has just been twist of fate.

The most recent one I can think of was being routed to Itasca, IL to pick up a load from New Horizon Warehouse and deliver to McLane. A lot of drivers including me were having trouble with NHW because they kept saying "We can't use that number. It has to begin with 311." So finally after much searching, my dm finds the number they were looking for only to be told that "Nestle didn't give us the delivery note." So that load got scrubbed.

I was given another load, ALSO from New Horizon. And I had to go through the number problem all over again. Then finally I get the load and head out to another McLane location. I head out from Itasca, IL rather late on the 11th and head aaaaalllll the way down to Brookhaven, MS. My load assignment says early morning on the 13th. I make it with just an hour to spare(thank god for MS's 70 mph limit). Or so I thought. When I get to McLane, the secretary told me I was supposed to be there at 2am on the 12th, even though the bills clearly state the load left on the 11th. Yeah right lady. I'd have to be flying at 200 mph to make that kind of delivery. So I was told I'd have to reschedule and wound up sitting in Brookhaven for three days. I imagine the carrier got back at McLane for that stunt, and my DM gave me $600 credit slip not to mention a nice detention. But that's still not a good substitute for a good run.

And after labor day, I just basically got creamed. Average miles shrank to about 800 per run. I'm averaging about 2000 miles per week, if not even that. That's probably enough to shrink my hole by about $200. My DM can promise that miles will pick up all he wants, but the operating costs are so freaking high, it's not even worth it. Insurance, variable mileage payment, lease reserve. Not to mention I'm living off of my cash advance of $100 per week because I'm in the negative. And $660 per week for truck payments?! Are you out of your skull?!

And it's just other little things like constantly being sent to customers that close on the weekends but that I could easily reach on the weekend or arrogant trainers that treat you like a child instead of an adult and that encourage illegal logging activities. So I've had enough. But I don't have that many options because I only have about 8 months otr experience. But I don't want a company that'll treat me like crap.

I have a holding in Swift, but after the horror stories I keep hearing, I want to find something else. Any recommendations? P.S. It has to be a company that'll let me take my wife along.

 

would you mind if i ask you a question or two........??

why would you have ever signed onto any lease program, since you didn't really know anything about trucking in the first place.......???

did they promise you the moon or something? i find it difficult that any reasonably thinking person would take such a plunge right out the gate from training.

as far as any other companies taking on a passenger with you, that's something that changes from one company to another. some require employment with them for at least 6 months before you take a passenger. some require at least one year before you take someone. some companies require a fee to insure the passenger, some may not. and then, some employers simply do not allow for passengers.

i wouldn't recommend Swift, but maybe Werner. i would also recommend that you gain many more months, perhaps years of experience before you try getting your own truck again, and this time, stash away tons of money as back-up to any foreseable problems like you recently went through.

i'm sorry you had such a horrific time at England, but really, you went o/o right out of school.......??? c'mon man, what were you thinking.......???