Central Refrigerated Truck Stop II

I heard they lowered pay on the Kraft fleet since I left. At the time it was .40 cpm. You would go straight from your .28 or whatever to that pay level. While on Kraft running all over the midwest and east I got around 3200 miles per week, sometimes more. Then I got a dedicated lane. And was 3200 miles per week every week. And home one night per week.

So they have the freight. They have the fleets. But you have to prove yourself. Kraft and other dedicated fleets require 100% ontime service. If you get a service failure you are off the fleet. And many times fired from the company. It is that important.

I thought of one more tip last night.
Many do not agree with running this way. But it is my belief that if I run every legal mile I can every single day. I can make more miles and money in the long run than I can trying to conserve hours running only 9 hours per day.
Some like the 8.5 per day. So they never run out of hours.
I prefer to use up my driving hours as fast as I can. Running all the miles I can. If I then need a restart on the road I take it. And run my ### off again.
Doing this. With the proper load planning I could average 3800+ miles per week. Over a 4 week period. This is the only possible way to work legally more than 70 hours in 8 days. Does not always work out. And you may end up shy of that.
But once the dispatchers see you running your ### off like that many will make it happen for you.
And after driving 11-13 hours per day for 5-6 days. You need a break. And 34 is just right.

Granted. Until you are done with school and really learn how to run logs none of this will make allot of sense. But I will later.

Once I started running this way, and talked to my dispatcher about it. She started giving me allot more drop and hook freight, or swapping with people that did not like to run, after I had run the money miles off the loads.

 

Hello everyone....new here.....I'm thinking about going to Central for their O/O. can anyone tell me about central and their O/O program.

 

think the general consensus is Don't lease. You can make more money as a company driver. And it really is not an owner op program, since I you only have about a 5% chance to ever own the truck. The buyout at the end is the full retail value of the truck at the miles it has at the end of the lease.

 

IOW, if you want to buy a used truck skip the Lease and just buy a used truck. Or am I missing something here?

 

Anyone going to Central's Fontana class this coming Tuesday, May 29th? Starting day later due to Memorial Day holiday.

 

Nope. You will pay more leasing than just buying a good used truck. Since the buyout on the lease is the market value of the truck anyway. The only thing that will help from the lease is that the over mileage charged to the lessee stays with the truck. So the person that buys it gets that money as a credit toward the purchase price.
This is overshadowed however by the fact that you have to pay full retail price for the truck. Which hardly ever is the case if you go to a dealer.

 

Rollo, first ask yourself why you are interested in the lease program? Is it for the shiny new truck? No upfront costs whatsoever and you are an O.O? Have you been an O.O before? Just the initials of the term should frighten you! (oo) That's the sound a little kid makes when he makes a mistake!

All in all the lease isn't bad. I do strongly caution you though. You first need to drive for Central for at least a year, see how you and your dm mesh, see what you are getting for miles etc... During this year keep track of everything you do as if you were an O.O. See how you do. Then make the decision if its worth it. You will know exactly where you stand. I can tell you one thing for certain, you will never, ever be able to go home! At the tune of $1000 dollars a week, no this is not what you make, its what they charge you for being an O.O! You will still have to pay this while at the house for a week! Its a major expense! We would stay out 4 months at a time and it would still kill us! Not to mention every time you come home your pay is messed up for three weeks anyway! We were a husband/wife team and could never fathom how the solo guys were leasing!

If you are willing to stay out on the road, take on being a trainer (so you can run more miles) or a co-driver, have a really, really, really good DM, and don't lease a new truck, get the oldest one they will lease you for the least amount of time, then it is somewhat possible to make money.

I don't want to bash the program itself! It is a good program for a new driver to make that step toward owner operator without loosing his butt! If all else fails you can walk away, Central will fire you and give you a truck and lease abandonment, they will charge you around $8000 and that will be that! If you buy a truck through a bank it could be a lot worse! However it will be very tough getting a job as a driver anywhere else once Central tarnishes your DAC!

I highly recommend you have about $10,000 -20,000 in the bank though before you do it. Central will advance you money for breakdowns and fuel etc... but it will quickly bury you if ANYTHING ever happens and it will! Usually the first time you take that advance its all down hill from there!

I have forseen exactly the type of drivers that will make it and the ones who crash and burn (sometimes literally)! My wife and I were mentors for Centrals Lease Program. When drivers had questions or needed business advice they would call us for consultation. Not sure if Central still does that but it was a good program and we had a lot of drivers call us!

Keep in mind, its a business! It's also a lot more work than company driving. There are also a lot more charges, fees and expenses then they will tell you!!!

Goodluck....

 

Chompi summed it up on leasing. I couldn't make it, but I got a big head and started saying I want this or I won't do that.. its MY truck. My biggest mistake aS leasing before I was ready.. I think you need more than a year at central.. I would recommend 3-5. I know it sounds stupid but then you know the company.

Btw, does Jeff Smallhorn(?) Still work in lp ops? He was a good guy and helped me till the very end.. everyone is there to help and if they dont, you can fire them for someone new(at least when I worked there). That's something that comes in handy if you and the dm aren't meshing well. I would honestly vote against leasing for anyone but its MY personal opinion and only affects me.

 

If it is a T-2000 run like hell!!!!

 

ahhh the t2s aint that bad as long as you get a good one............................. oh wait ther aren't any good ones.............