CRST and the LIES and "pay"

You will not get good training. The requirements to being a trainer is 6 months working and being able to back. I know, I became a trainer at the end of my contact to stall some time. You're going to be taught by whatever idiot you get randomly picked for.

Now, van trailers are in no way hard. If you've ever pulled a trailer of any size with a pickup, it's just bigger, but without that experience, it's a gamble. You'll either get someone that can teach you how to steer it, or you'll just be a glorified team. Solo companies tend to require you learning how to steer and back, because you have nobody to help you.

 

Its a training company. You certainly get an education working there, my son just finished his 8 months there, his trainers name was Chris and OO great trainer.

He had a couple of real winners for co drivers, that did teach him not to whine and cry to dispatch , this will result in you getting loads that are less than desirable.

Keep your head down, mouth shut, if you get a bad co driver dump them and move on.

The first years sucks, but it gets your ready for the future.

 

tURNS OUT THEY THINK HE HAS 9 MORE DAYS TO GO, DONT KNOW HOW THEY FIGURED THAT, BUT HES GOIN BACK OUT 1 MORE TIME TO WRAP THE CONTRACT UP.

 

Don't GO!!! I just finished my 8month contract in June and couldn't leave fast enough. The whole time I was there, we had to get every trailer we pulled repaired, which means sitting at the TA 4-6 hours waiting on CRST to approve the work that only takes 20 minutes to do. I figured with all the repairs, and I am not joking about it being every trailer we pulled needing a repair, we lost over 24hrs a week because of it. That meant we only ran about 4,000 a week. We were no slackers either, we ran very hard when we weren't down for repairs . Also, when you take your truck in for it's pm's , it usually comes out of the shop worse than it went it. Our steering alignment was off by about 10 degrees to the left and after they "Fixed" it, it was off 45 degrees to the left. So in order to drive straight down the road you had to turn the steering wheel 45 degrees the left.

After saying all that, you might get lucky and find a good trainer who teaches you how to do the stuff you need to know and you might get lucky and find an amazing co-driver or you could go through a new one every week. You'll also be lucky to make net $500/wk. And don't think about trying to run solo at CRST, they pay you $0.21/mile and that's assuming you actually get a load running solo, otherwise while you are looking for a co-driver you are sitting still making no money!

If I could do it all over again, I would not go to CRST. I would go to Prime. They train you well and are one of the best training programs out there. While in training they pay you a guaranteed minimum $600 each week. Right now I net average each week $900-1000 running solo at Prime! I don't care what other people on here say about Prime, they most likely have never driven for them or they were to lazy to cut it at Prime.

Don't get me wrong, CRST might work great for some people and be what they need, but when they treat you like nothing more than a number and don't focus on the drivers at all, that isn't a company to be with for long term. I was lucky and got an amazing trainer (he quit CRST last month as well), I was lucky the training school they sent me to was a community college and not one of the puppy mills they use at the Riverside terminal or Cedar Rapids terminal. I was lucky I only had 2 co-drivers the entire time. My first co-driver got fired for drinking while not on home time and not reporting back to the truck for work. We were at Riverside for our truck to go in for it's PM and he decided to go into town and do some bar hopping. He never returned that night or in time the next morning for the load we had to pick up. No one could reach him until 3pm the next day and he admitted on the phone he had been out drinking. My second co-driver is like a brother to me now and we were together for 6 months until I left. His contract ended last week and between the time I left and last week, he went through 4 co-drivers and sat in NYC for a week waiting on the power steering pump to be replaced after it blew up on him. Mind you this was the next day after it had been in the shop for it's PM.

There is a lot you have to leave to luck at CRST, including your safety! Remember you have to sleep in the back of the truck rolling down the freeway at 65mph while your co-driver is driving. How much do you trust them and feel safe?

Look at Prime and other training companies out there. It is well worth the time doing the research and making sure you pick the one that will work best for you. If you can, take a couple afternoons or evenings and asking other drivers at the truck stop who you should go with for getting your CDL. Look into your local community college, there a lot grants out there for people interested in becoming truck drivers. Good luck out there and be safe!

 

First off, Thank you for your service!

Two things I would recommend you do. First, go to your local community college that offers a CDL training program and see about the grants you can get to pay for the course there. Second, do not go to CRST! I just posted a reply to another person in this thread, please read that and you'll see why I say stay away. I am not a complainer, I work my but off and want to make it in this industry. Like I said in my other reply, check out Prime or some of the other training companies. I wish I had known about Prime before I went to CRST.

If you have any questions, please let me know. Good luck out there, stay safe!

 

thank you for the info on prime being better than CRST. Is there any other good info you can give about prime or any other company for someone that wants to get their CDL but cant pay for training?

 

Ya, they just have is all a raise last week and increased the training pay for the students to $700/weeks. Which is still more then you'll make a week at CRST. This is the fourth raise in 3 years they said. The company drivers who are in light weight trucks are now making ¢43/mile. I am bringing home net after taxes and all each week between $900-1,000.

 

wow 700 a week is really good when they are training you! how long is their training program, how long are you usually on the road before you get some home time, and where is their training held.

 

There training program is 40,000 miles that you complete with a trainer. That can take a couple months usually, but you'll be with a trainer one on one the whole time so it's a good experience that most companies don't do. CRST you'll be with a trainer for 4 weeks and that's assuming the trainer actually trains you. With Prime, you'll be tested on simulators and a course before they upgrade you to an "A" seat status, which means you can drive solo .

There main training area is Springfield, MO. Here is another topic in this forum that will answer a lot of your questions about Prime and the training.: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/showthread.php?t=78715

There are a lot of topics in here about Prime and what to expect but that one is a good one to start with. If you have questions, let me know. Good luck

 

Yup that's crist for ya had 5 friends go there and they all had bad things to say no money sitting for a long time forced to team up same old song run away before u go broke like they did