CRST HAHA

I come out of contract in a few days. I am on home time till after I am done. I already turned in the truck and they know I am not coming back.

I spoke to Cameron (one of the hundreds of "VP of Operations") they have in Cedar Rapids about missing pay to the tune of over $3000. In fact my dispatcher flat out stole $200 from me that very morning. I told Cameron I felt like this company wanted drivers to quit at about the 6 month mark. That they pushed us harder and harder as we got closer to contract fulfillment. My feelings were that they wanted you out so they could sue you, file for losses on their taxesw and get further governemnt grants for recouping their "losses" and put another .22 CPM guy in your seat....he flat refused to deny it. He almost admitted that I was accurate in my beliefs. He went on to inform me that I would not now nor ever be paid on my missing money even tho he would acknowledge they did in fact owe me this money.

So I sent an email to Jim S. I described some of what we had been dealing with and asked that we be given a fresh start with a new FM. His answer was to pass that email off on someone else and forget it was ever sent. A week later I parked on an off ramp and refused to move the truck until I had a new FM. A couple hours later I did. Yes the new FM was better, but they company has so many problems there simply isnt enough any one person can do to make this a decent place to work.

Payroll will loose your trip packs, they will make illegal deductions, they will short you miles, they have even changed my pay rate once.

Maintenance will ask you to run unsafe, then when you do get it in they will refuse to fix things. In fact last week I was in Carlisle for repairs. The day after I dropped it off they said it was fixed....only the truck never moved from where I parked it. You got it they claimed it was all repaired yet they never even looked at it. In January I spent 17 of 29 days in the shop in Cedar Rapids. Finally got a new truck, and it broke down before I got 15 miles away. After we pushed it at 35 MPH to get to Davenport (where they told us to go for repairs) we spent 6 more days in a hotel there and never did see that truck again.

The hooror stories are all true. This company is not in the business of delivering freight. They will tell you if you ask the right people they are in the business of getting government grants. You are simply a necessary evil. A means to that end. They dont want you there any longer than 60 days after orientation.

If you are considering going into training please look elsewhere. This company will NOT train you to be a truck driver. They will train you how to live well below the poverty line. In the first 7 months there I grossed just under $6000. If they paid all that was owed to me I would have been ok.

8 people graduated CDL school the same day I did. 7 quit the company. 3 went thru a divorce over money issues. Do yourselves a favor and stay as far away from these criminals as you can!!

 

didntitellu, is there anyway you can PM me some contact info? I was on a three man team a month ago and now I am the only one left. I really don't wanna stay but I have a couple advances out so I am going to at least stay until those are paid back. I have tried to be positive about my time with CRST and my Travel Agent (FM) is a really decent guy who tries but basically admits to me when his hands are being tied about something. I have had several off the record convo's with him, one being right out front of the bldg. in C.Rapids and he is a no BS type of guy. I think I am the only one who actually did get to know my FM on a more personal level.

I wanna leave but I don't want to leave the trucking industry because I LOVE THIS CAREER! I know the lawsuit was over JB Hunt and Werner actually seeking out CRST Students but what if the "Student" leaves on their own free will? Melton said they would hire me but they are iffy about the contract.....my one partner got on some sort of payment plan with them to pay it back.

I would like to chat more with you about this because right now, I am sitting home making no money with no co-driver and they won't solo me. My truck is sitting with the Yard Apes at frickin carlisle with a broken trailer on it that they said was "OK to haul" from Aberdeen Md to Carlisle with malfunctioning landing gear. I got to Carlisle and went to drop it, as soon as the landing gear got pressure on them, the passenger side gear retracted fully and the trailer was sitting crooked on my tires and frame....they told me to just leave it, they couldn't do anything about it until morning. I am afraid I am going to get nailed for not checking the trailer, but they knew it was screwed up and had us pull it anyway, even after we told them we had to get the yard jockey in Aberdeen to get pressure off the landing gear to get them to go up because they were so corroded. We had to lower them to the point that when I backed under it, it took the landing gear off the ground about an inch and we were able to retract them. The trailer is less than two years old! The shop foreman said the trailers are screwed up because of the drivers....I informed him the the trailers were screwed up because of crappy maintenance.

Just another day at CRST.......if one day came where there were no issues I would probably crap my pants....than I could go to Werner and be a trainer....hahahahaha

 

Trust me, u dont wanna do that

 

I know, it's just a play on the title of another thread on here.....lol.

 

I cant say about a new med card other then it is SOP for most companies to get you a new one when you start with them. But the drug screen is fed reg's that you have to take one at the start of employment no matter when your last one was.

 

No issue with that, but I don't think I should have had to pay for it...they make the student pay for the cost of the drug screen and the DOT. I could see if I needed it and they had to provide it, but they make you get it regardless so in that effect, they should pay.

 

you came a long way hu lol
to now giving advice

 

Since you are a student and if you are just starting school with them then yes you have to pay for it.

I went to a cdl school and we had to pay for school,drug screen and physical if we did not already have on along with the cdl permit fee, license fees etc.

Some schools hide those fees in the tuition fee and some is up front about it. The costs is not that high so if I was you just pay for the thing.

If you refuse to pay for it then they may take that as a refusal of the drug screen and it will haunt you for a long time.

 

yep, I to now work for CRST.. i finished my Orientation today... I have been lied to by the recruiters too and there are so many things to complain about when it comes to CRST... i was honestly wanting to stay for awhile with them but after contacting a company that has a very good reputation and asking them if i can drive for them after my 28 days at CRST they said they would take me.. yeah i do have the contract too but,, im planning on doing bankruptcy anyways so they can bill me for it all they want.. i will however on my own will,, pay the school that trained me. those were some good guys and without them i wouldnt have my CDL. but screw CRST...