Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

1bad, im from the dfw. Dallas is by far 100 times nicer than FW, but you only see I-20 of Dallas, or a few minor shippers. And You see the same of FW, but to each their own

 

well, I wouldnt want to help buy my trainer a cold soda, I do have another friend who is leasing and I could say refereed me.

 

that is true each to their own ive been around the areas before northside southside east west inner cities and i like fort worth a lot better just seems friendlier and more family oriented out there to me and i do like the grand prarie area from what ive seen of it which really wasn't much i spent a good amount of time over in hazlet where a buddy of mine lives and really enjoy that area

 

I hate to do it but have to warn newbies about the overwhelming negatives for choosing Central as a training ground or employer. I went with Central 6 months ago, had not driven for 20+ years and had to start over at the bottom, did research and did not find too much negative info on the company now i think that's mostly due to the lack of community that prevails in trucking and society as a whole. Stop and rethink ever working for them, they are as bad if not worse than any CDL mill outfit operating today. You will make the absolute lowest wages in this industry and to make matters worse you will spend more uncompensated time at shippers & receivers simply because you are hauling refrigerated cargo since it's the least common product for drop & hook and because the pay at Central is at the bottom in trucking. You hurt yourself by choosing them over a company with dry freight due to that not to mention the typical hours for delivery being from midnite to 0800 and deliveries in big cities being scheduled at or near the worst possible time for rush traffic. I had a great DM with Central, kind of guy you feel loyalty to just because he was smart and worked really hard to help me get the miles, wish i could take him with me to less brown pastures. You also have to deal with trailers that can sideline you with problems and the absolute worst shops, outside of Henderson, in trucking that you will ever encounter. Their terminal shops are disgustingly bad, my truck ALWAYS came out as bad if not worse than when it went in. Go somewhere else, make more per mile, spend less time at shippers/receivers and possibly help the poor guys at Central get better pay due to a lack of competent drivers.

 

I don't agree with a couple things you say here.. (only a couple... lol..)
1st. there are companies out there that pay less. I have a cousin that is only making 12 cents a mile as a team driver.

2nd. with dry box, you can only haul dry loads. In some areas that is bad becuause it is hard to get loads out of. With a refer, you can haul dry, frozen or anything that requires temp controls....

my 2 bits

 

I will tell you there were several things I had to fight to get reimbursed for. I am truly the whiny wheel, but that is how you have to be. 48 states you get a lot of crappy pick up and delivery and idiotic multiple drop times. We experienced the difficulty finding dry van loads in some areas when we ran coors, and trust it is not fun. My cousin works for the sister company, and believe you me he doesn't make as much as even half of what we do. Lextec ran flatbed from 92 through 96. Even back then, he made on one load (granted he was escorted by troopers the whole way) more than what a team can make in one week xompany. Now those loads were rare, but it is possible. But, you have to fight for everything. As I have said, we go on load boards if we need to get out of an area. You try calling brokers and see how easy it is to get freight and then you talk to me about it. If you can do better, glad you left.

Lextec did quite a bit of research before we left, and there wasn't much of a difference in pay on the starter schools, and as of when we left, the school was the cheapest. We started at the bottom, and you will when you make ANY change in industry. This isn't the first time we have done this sort of thing (changed industries). You do what you must to take care of your responsibilities.

As to the shops, absolutely correct. However, I will tell you rush in albuquerque put fuel in our oil to try to force our hand to replacing items not covered by warranty. At least central doesn't pull that. I will also say that is one of the reasons we went o/o was so we didn't have to tolerate idiot mechanics that don't do their job. The amount of crap we went through in the first year is unreal, but we are still here. We are loyal to our current dm. I have worked for dying companies until the last day because of loyalty. While our days at central may be coming to a close it is because of a dream coming true one step at a time. We don't take a step forward into the dark without knowing our foot is going to fall on something firm, and we didn't do so when going to central. I would recommend it to anyone, as long as they are right for the situation.

Now again, I will be seen as a cheerleader, so I will shut up so I can be bnashed my birthday weekend.

 

Oh and on a non central note, thank you so much TA in Effingham for making me fight to get a clean shower. Love it.

And, at the stupid beer place in Dallas, we strapped the doors and one of us sat up with one hand on the phone and the other on the tire bat until they opened the gate. Fort worth, not so much

 

Concider your self bashed! (with a peice of birthday cake)

Happy Birthday....

 

Thank goodness you didn't smush it in my face. Thanks Gary.

 

I made it home so that I could spend the day tomorrow with my wife on her birthday.
So happy birthday to you and to her lol.

of course I came home with a load to deliver on Monday. Then took a cab to my house.
Not 15 minutes after I got here I got a call from dispatch that they needed that load to get another driver home. So I will have to go back to my truck later and meet him to swap.
Which means no beer till I get a call.
I really need a beer lol.