Central Refrigerated Truck Stop III

I've been dark for a while because there is probably someone from Central/Swift who monitors this board. I've had it up to here with Swift. Central was a good company and I would have been happy to retire there. But Swift has turned it from an industry leader to a bottom feeder in a few short months. Miles are down, gripes are up, and you can't get anybody on the phone any more. Nothing goes smoothly, from getting assigned to a load, to picking it up, to delivering it, to getting paid. Everything is a fight, and I've had enough. I turned my truck in last Friday about halfway through the lease, screw the consequences. I'll take whatever cover is available to the plaintiffs in the class action - the lawyers have gotten Central to back off all collection efforts against drivers who walk away from leases. For more info, see:

http://getmansweeney.com/current-cases/central-refrigerated-forced-labor-minimum-wage

They also have a case pending against Swift, so the merger does not change anything. For a list of cases see:

http://getmansweeney.com/current-cases

These guys are serious, and have won all contested hearings so far. I don't expect to get rich, but getting out from under the lease is a blessing.

I already have a better job, in a 2015 Cascadia at $.43 per mile, and it starts next Tuesday. If anybody wants details, give me a shout.

For you new guys, good luck. Swift sucks.

 

That was about right before Swift took over, but my pay dropped way off after the switchover. The buzz is that of the 850 O/Os as of Feb 1, 650 have quit. Make that 651, I turned my truck back last Friday. Swift sucks.

 

When I started leasing in 2012 the pay was $1.07 per mile plus fuel surcharge, and mine averaged $.22 per mile. There is an escalator on the per mile, I was up to $1.085 when I cashed it all in. If nothing goes wrong with the truck, $.40-45 is doable. But there will be weeks with negative settlements. Then there was that day last February in South Dakota when it was -43* and the fuel froze up. Tow bills and repairs were $1667, no revenue for a day, and it all came out of that week's paycheck. Could have frozen to death too, shortly after the engine quit the batteries did too. So the bunk heater didn't work. It was a Saturday, 1/3 of the fleet had the same problem, and there were only 2 guys in OTRM to deal with it. I had the recommended type and amount of anti-gel in the tanks too. You just cannot predict all the ways that your paycheck can be sliced and diced.

 

When I started leasing in 2012 the pay was $1.07 per mile plus fuel surcharge, and mine averaged $.22 per mile. There is an escalator on the per mile, I was up to $1.085 when I cashed it all in. If nothing goes wrong with the truck, $.40-45 is doable. But there will be weeks with negative settlements. Then there was that day last February in South Dakota when it was -43* and the fuel froze up. Tow bills and repairs were $1667, no revenue for a day, and it all came out of that week's paycheck. Could have frozen to death too, shortly after the engine quit the batteries did too. So the bunk heater didn't work. It was a Saturday, 1/3 of the fleet had the same problem, and there were only 2 guys in OTRM to deal with it. I had the recommended type and amount of anti-gel in the tanks too. You just cannot predict all the ways that your paycheck can be sliced and diced.

 

There's always been the knowledge that people from the company read the boards. I think most people know it coming in, or figure it out pretty quick. I think the reason the boards are dark is because a number of folks have quit, and the rest of us are preoccupied with work. I don't have a whole lot to chime in with right now.

 

The buzz I heard in May is of our 2200 drivers, they'd lost close to 800 of them. That's company and lease ops. In theory, we're down at least a third of who we had in January. Some of that's normal turnover, we had a rate of 140% or more, and I doubt that's changed, but I'm sure many quit because of the changes.

 

White Shadow, you're going from North Carolina to Salt Lake for orientation? Do we not still do orientation and training in our Atlanta terminal?

 

i read somewhere its for Georgia students only now.

 

That's too bad. It would be a lot closer to home for you.
The main thing I remember about the Conley (Atlanta) terminal is there was a strip club nearby.

I guess it gave a bad image for our trucks to be parked at a strip club, because posted by the door was this big sign saying,

"Any Central driver parking his equipment here will be terminated immediately!"

It must have worked, because I never saw any Central trucks over there.

 

idm the bus ride i much rather do that and flying, i hate flying with a passion Z.Z