crst,cedar rapids,ia

been with crst for 4 years and never never had a problem with my pay check
maybe if some of u would look at yourself and just maybe u cause your own problems the way some of u act at the yards it is no wonder some of u could not have a normal conversation without making an ##s out of yourself if your truck is in the shop that much mybe u should learn how to take care of it and your truck would not be in the shop if u don't like crst leave that will leave more miles for the rest of us and we will see who is the last one standing as we go throught this year and as last year has shown trucking co. are going by the wayside and the good drivers at crst will be employed and making a living and the rest will be saying dam should have acted like an adult and still providing for your family see u down the road losers

 

I'm not a recruiter btw. I just drive for crst and never #####ed about it. Its amazing what can happen.

 

lol you know what i learned in this truck driving business
you DAC is your life lol
and if you have a real bad DAC some real good companies wont hire you
that why companies like crst are up and running
that why people stay at crst for years
check their web site.
and youl see they will take any one felonies and all
try to keep it clean and youl have a real job later

 

i worked for crst premier out of indi and lemme tell you what a joke 1800 miles a week which by thier lack luster pay scale at the time meant i was taking home around 400 a week i would always end up sitting for a day during the middle of the week, which when your only out for 5 days at a time means your pay potential just went down 20% ....i quit after 2 months could not handle the damage that was being done to my bank account. to the current steering wheel holders employer at this joke of an outfit good luck and god bless

 

What's wrong with giving people a second chance at living a normal life? My brother has been out of prison for almost 8 months searching everyday for any job and nobody will hire him. Its stupid. Also at crst ur required to have hazmat. U have to be be done with parole and prison and all that for SEVEN years before you can get hazmat, so people who have been out of prison for seven yéars can apply. Know ur facts instead of just bashing a company and looking stupid.

 

The only problem I have had with CRST is with safety for stupid log violations like averaging 88 mph when I average out at 63 and weekend dispatch who don't do #### like right now I have a crappy load I pick up on Monday and deliver Tuesday and it's only 720 miles. Other than that haven't had a problem.

 

How can u average 88 mph in a 65 mph truck??

 

That's what I've been trying to find out. But safety also said I was on duty for 19 hours when it was a total of 10. So my fm said don't worry about it.

 

Okay, to start off I am not a trucker and I do not work for any trucking company. I am just a girlfriend of a trucker and have been for a little over a year. My boyfriend was a trucker before we met and has been throughout the entire year that we have been together, so I know how hard it can be. He is currently working for CRST & so far so good. I can't say a whole lot about the company because he just started there about a week ago, but we have reading the forums since he was offered the position & have been laughing our butts off at some of the complaints that have been made. I have also searched CRST reviews online & have found no other complaints except from ex-employees. Not saying some of you don't have a reason to be upset, just saying maybe you should sit back & really think about what it is you're complaining about. For instance, some are complaining about home time. That's OTR trucking, you have to expect to be away from home more than you're home. These companies that pay better than Walmart, Mcdonalds, or some other local companies are out there to make money & when the truck isn't moving they aren't making money & if they aren't making money, guess what you aren't making money. These people have families to support too & they also have the responsibility of making sure their company doesn't go under, they have more to worry about than whether or not their employees have had enough time with their families. Things happen that they have no control over & they technically work for their customers & when their customers say they want something delivered by a certain time they have to figure out which trucker is going to get it there the fastest, so they may have to delay your home time to cater to their customer's need, just like any company you work for. They have to please their customers before they can work on pleasing their employees cuz the customers are what makes them money which in turn makes you money. That's with any business you go into. There isn't a single company in this world that is there to cater to you, this isn't a perfect world & right now you're lucky to even be able to get a job period. If you are worried about being home with your family & don't like missing out things than you don't need to be in the trucking industry, you also don't want to be in the military, or any other big corporate, high paying job cuz I gaurantee you will not be home much cuz the jobs that pay well don't care about their employees personal life, they care about their business & weren't put on this earth to give you what you want when you want it. They didn't go into business to help their employees survive, they went into business to make money & that's all they are concerned about. My boyfriend used to work for McKenzie Tank Lines & they were famous for telling him that after this load you can go home, but than he would call me later that day & tell me that plans have changed & he wasn't coming home cuz they have another load they need him to haul & & it would upset me cuz we could never plan anything cuz we never knew when he would be home or how long he would be home. Sometimes he would be home 3 days & sometimes only a few hours & we were trying to buy a house at the time, which was difficult cuz he wasn't there to sign papers, but we worked around it & crammed everything we could in the short time that he was home. He missed bdays & holidays, but we just celebrated when he got home. I spent our 1st Vday alone, but he stopped at a truck stop & got me something really beautiful & we celebrated when he got home. We tried not to let it get to us by reminding ourselves that the longer he was on the road the more money he was going to make. His best friend drives for Stevens & has been gone for 6 months straight without any home time, but he had a whole lot of money when he got home. So, complaining about not enough home time doesn't make any sense, if you need to have more home time than get a local job, but be prepared to not make as much money as you think you are going to. Now about the complaints on getting paid. First of all there isn't another company that pays you twice a week, most only pay you weekly or biweekly, also they don't pay you crap for driving empty. When my boyfriend worked for MTL he made 34 cpm loaded & only 12 cpm empty, so be thankful for the fact that it doesn't matter if you are empty or loaded. There was also a complaint about not being paid based on the living expenses for a certain state, a job does not base your pay on where you live. As far as getting paid very little. Whether you are in trucking or working for Walmart you are gonna get paid based on your experience with some companies & some you are gonna start from the low pay scale right from the beginning cuz you have to prove that you are worth keeping around & paying the big bucks to, prove to them that you are gonna be an asset to the company. Even if you have been in the business for years doesn't mean you are going to start right from the top. Welcome to the real world. As far as solo driving, if the company is strictly team driving than you can't expect to drive solo. My boyfriend was told from the beginning that this was a team driving company. If you want to drive solo go to a company that is solo. As far as constantly having to change drivers all the time, well that's bound to happen cuz people are gonna decide that this isn't the job for them & want to go home, but you aren't helping the situation by constantly requesting to drive with someone else, it makes it really hard to pair you up with someone when everytime they do you request someone else cuz there is something you don't like. You are going to be spending most of your time with this individual so yes you should feel comfortable with that person, but you could make things easier on yourself by trying to work something out with that person & making the best of your situation. The company is strictly team driving for a reason, they deliver to 48 states & most loads are time sensitive, so they figure they have a better shot at getting things there on time if they have 2 drivers cuz each driver, by law, is only allowed to drive 11 hrs, which keeps them from getting a fine for their drivers breaking the law & driving longer than 11 hrs to get their load there on time. Some dispatchers may ask you to drive longer, but that doesn't mean you have to. My boyfriend doesn't care if he pisses a dispatcher off, he will not break the law & lose his license. He will tell that dispatcher that he will have to let the customer know their product is going to be a tad bit late & if he starts using his personal feelings against his professional life than go above his head. For all you know the reason the dispatcher is behaving that way is cuz he is in a panic cuz he has this load that needs to be delivered asap & he can't find anyone else to load plus they have so many drivers to keep track of, he may not realize that you are getting ready to pass your 11 hrs. Plus he may be acting irrational towards you cuz everytime a load is not delivered on time the boss man hears it from the customer, the dispatcher hears it from the bossman, so now the dispatcher is upset & blaming you for him getting into trouble, even though it may have been his fault for not getting you the information in plenty of time. My boyfriend used to be a solo driver & they expected him to get from one end of the country to the other end in one day knowing that he could only drive for 11 hrs. No one is perfect, I'm sure you make your fair share of mistakes too. As far as being stuck somewhere for a few days without a load that is going to happen with any company you go to. You have to remember that there are lots of trucking companies out there & a lot of drivers. So they have to find a load that is going to be able to fit where you are located at & get to their customers on time & every company has their incompetent employees that don't do a very good job, do you're bound to get a few lousy dispatchers. My boyfriend sat at a truck stop for 3 days waiting for a load all because the stupid dispatcher was sending his load information to the truck that he was previously driving even though my boyfriend was sending them messages from the truck he was currently on. As far as the complaints about your trainer or codriver being disgusting, yes some of them could take better care of themselves, but some are so busy driving that they don't have time to clean up or don't have the money to pay to take a shower, I mean the truck stops have to make money too. Now some of them could stop for 5 minutes to wash some of their parts in the sink or carry some baby wipes with them, & some of them could keep their truck a little cleaner, but you could also talk to them about it or clean it up yourself cuz you never know some people get embarrassed that you are cleaning up after them or that you are clean & start doing it themselves. My old man has memberships to some of the truck stops so that he can earn a free shower. Like I said most of them don't have time & are more concerned with making good time, so they don't want to stop. Again no one is perfect, & you kind of have to make the best of it. No one was put on this earth to make your life easy or to conform to your wants & needs. Now about the shape of the trucks, you're the one that is with that truck more than the company, so inspect your truck before you leave anywhere & catch the problems before they become worse, & let the company know right away, don't get upset with them & go off half ####ed, you are less likely to be sitting waiting for the darn thing to be fixed if you catch it right away. Plus every vehicle is bound to get warn down when you drive it as often these trucks & are gonna need to be fixed. The company is not going to run trucks that are unsafe cuz they will lose money if DOT catches it or something happens. As far as the company allowing drunks to drive. Let's see the company may not know about it cuz they don't really see the drivers, it's not like their is a supervisor in the truck with them watching their every move & unless they get caught driving while intoxicated the company isn't going to know, & there is not a company around that is going to fire someone based on what someone else tells them cuz you could be angry with that person & tell them some crap just to get them fired. As far as trucks being overloaded all the time, well that's not CRST's fault they dispatch the trucks to the loading company, the loading company is the one suppose to make sure the right amount of product is loaded into the trailer & it's the driver's responsibility to double check before they leave. My boyfriend had to drive overloaded a few times cuz it would have taken up more time to unload the excess amount & in turn cause the load to be lat, however, as long as it's under DOT standards it's okay cuz again the company would lose money if that truck went thru the weigh station overloaded. As far as CRST having several wrecks, you have to remember those wrecks are not always the drivers fault, non truck drivers become idiots when they get near an 18 wheeler. When my boyfriend hauled hazardous materials he was told that if something jumped in front of the truck he would just have to run them over cuz slamming on his brakes would have been more dangerous than if he was to just ram into them & stop. You have to understand that it takes 18 wheelers longer to slow down than regular vehicles cuz they have all that extra weight behind them & if you slam on those brakes than you take the chance of the trailer rolling the truck or sliding into a whole bunch of other vehicles instead of just the one. All of the complaints that I have read on here are about things that the company has no control over, are where people expect things to be perfect, or make no #### sense cuz the company wouldn't still be in business. As far as the schooling & having to sign a contract , well DUH, you have to pay that loan back just like any loan & the company has you sign a contract to protect themselves from losing money by putting faith in you. Be grateful they give you the time to pay it back. As far as them making it where you have to get cash advances so they don't have to pay you as much, I would be thanking them cuz I've never worked for a company anywhere that would give me an advance. You wouldn't have to take so many if you budgetted your money better & instead of eating at truck stops buy your food ahead of time, or buy the cheapest meal on the menu or get an account with the truck stops to earn free stuff. It is not the companies fault if you don't eat or if you take too many advances out that you can't get caught up on them. It is not their responsibility to make sure you have enough money to take care of yourself. About the tolls, no trucking company has EZ Pass. As far as pay checks getting messed up, well that happens at any company you work for, they are human & make mistakes. It is your responsibility to keep track of your miles & keep your receipts, no company is going to reimburse you without a receipt cuz you can make up an amount for them to reimburse you. Make sure you log everything. You want to get paid correctly than keep things up on your end & let them know calmly that they have messed, show them what you have on record, & stay on them about it, quit expecting to have everything done for you or just handed to you on a silver platter, & quit putting all the blame on the company as a whole cuz someone else messed up. Most of you sound like you went into this thinking it was gonna be an easy, laid back, cushy job & now are disappointed cuz it wasn't. Trucking is a difficult industry to work for, but instead of ######## about it you should be thanking them because if it wasn't for them you wouldn't sipping on that refreshing soda, driving that beautiful car, or posting on this forum with that great computer. Get out of your fantasy world & start living in the real world where everything is not about making you happy & everything is definitely not perfect.

Now for those of you that considering CRST or any other company you must sit back & think about whether this is really what you want, can you handle being away from your family, ask your family if they can handle it. The ones who lost everything probably didn't think about it. You are gonna start from the bottom so plan things ahead of time, budget your money properly, & make sure your family can handle things while you're gone. Remind them that you don't make money unless the truck is moving. This is a hard business to be in for you & especially for your family, but you can make it as long as you go into it with the right mind set & it can be a very profitable business. As far as making your decision whether or not to take a job with a company. Do not base your decision solely on what others say, you need to base it on yourself cuz everyone is different & everything experiences things differently, plus you don't know both sides of the story, you don't know the whole story, all you know is what the one individual is saying. Listening to others & running from a possible job opportunity could cause you to lose out on something you might enjoy or something that is going to be financially good for you. Form your own opinion about a company based on your own experience with them or on reviews from customers not former employees.

As far as CRST, like I said before my boyfriend has just started with them, he has had his CDL since 2004 & drove OTR for 9 mo. with MTL & than took a few months off. CRST called, sent him straight OK city to orientation, no school, no refresher, paid for his rm, riembursed us for the rental the 1st week he was there & actually reimbursed us for more than what we paid cuz I get a discount on rentals, they paid us what they would have paid for the bus ticket. He went straight to lead driver, did 4 days of regular orientation, & is now doing 2 more days for lead training. Oh yea, by the way it's not the pay that is being split in half, it's the miles being split in half, which I think is fair to both drivers cuz I mean you could end up only being paid for whatever miles you drove instead of half the miles of what the truck drove. They also told him that he could drive the truck solo as long as it was just to go home. As far as students driving solo, makes sense to me that they don't allow that cuz you could drive it home by yourself & decide that you don't want to work for them anymore, & they have no one to drive the truck back.

So, I know I have written a book here but I had to put my 2 cents in & make sure to put something on here to get the ones looking for a job to think about things before they make a decision that could cause them to lose a position they may like or need especially with how scarce jobs are right now. Wanted something out here that wasn't all negative crap. So make your decision based on you & all you complainer, use your brain that's what it's there for. The ones that have had bad experiences I'm sorry that happened to you, but unfortunately that's life & you just have to learn to make the best of it.

Good Luck to all & Drive Safe!!!!!