CRST Malone (Flatbed Division) SUCKS!

Discussion in 'CRST' started by Chiricahua, Aug 27, 2007.

  1. Chiricahua

    Chiricahua Light Load Member

    240
    114
    May 21, 2007
    Great State of California
    0
    Good luck to you two also. Keep in mind if it's an approved broker by the time they get their cut and Malone gets their cut you get whats left. Unless you have a bad record you might consider Landstar. Even though they also aren't paying historically decent rates and with their lack of frieght i still think you would do better. But good luck to you none the less.
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. kc8vje

    kc8vje Light Load Member

    138
    15
    Jan 8, 2007
    East Point, KY 41216
    0

    Thanks for the good luck wishes.:biggrin_25514: I'll do the best I can. Lloyd seems happy and seems to make good money though.

    As for the trucks. Lloyd's is super nice... Even though it's gold. It's a 2008 model. I have made the decision that I'm gonna buy a used truck from a dealer and do it that way. I found a super cool 2007 volvo that has all the creature comforts including APU. My payments will average somewhat less than the lease payments per month on a truck for CRST. I'll probably rent a trailer off them for the first bit, until I find out if CRST is my bag. If not, I have another gig lined up for the truck with an OTR end dump outfit.

    You are right... CRST may not be for everyone, but I somewhat disagree that no one can make it with them. It takes a true businessman to be an owner operator. That's not saying that you weren't, just that typically it takes someone with strong business savvy.
     
    Nasir1988 Thanks this.
  4. skinner_trucking

    skinner_trucking Bobtail Member

    14
    3
    Dec 16, 2009
    Fadette, Alabama
    0

    All you have to do is get the agent to call your fleet manager and do a credit check, If they pass then you can haul for them. Me personally I wouldnt want to haul for a company/agent that couldnt pass a credit check.
     
  5. truckfam

    truckfam Medium Load Member

    458
    138
    Aug 29, 2009
    Frederick, OK
    0
    Our experience with CRST-Malone has been good and bad. It was tough at first and my husband wanted to jump to Landstar. I nixed that idea, as long as CRST-Malone had claim to money from us. We've worked hard over the last 9 months and learned alot.

    We are currently averaging $13,000 a month, down from $15,000. We started with an assigned agent and a leased trailer. We were truck poor with our own tractor, a new hopper trailer and a leased trailer. We had to make payments on everything, had deductions for all the stuff my husband signed and he was taking advancements.

    I considered strangling him a few times. Instead, I kept us booked, we sold the hopper trailer and adjusted.We have paid off all deductions, purchased our own trailer and we run on our own money - no advancements.

    I run with my husband and book our loads in advance. I know our cost per mile and take loads that pay us. I have a phone list and good rapport with some agents and dispatchers. I have a loadboard, personal phone list and we rarely take anything from our dispatcher. He's an idiot. I can book loads with outside brokers, if I wish. I have an "approved broker" list, plus I can get brokers approved. It takes about 2 hours, but I'll push it through, for $5000.

    We've been turned down by some brokers because of safety rating, CRST's habit of marking through contracts, etc. It's infuriating, but I work around it. We take 76 percent and stay loaded.

    I'm looking forward to a $20,000 month this summer.
     
    tammyj67 and canadianredneck Thank this.
  6. Chiricahua

    Chiricahua Light Load Member

    240
    114
    May 21, 2007
    Great State of California
    0
    Yeah those dispatchers. I'm happy for you.
     
  7. Roscoe123

    Roscoe123 Bobtail Member

    14
    2
    Mar 19, 2010
    Claremont N.C
    0
    Well I know one thing, I started with them 1 month ago and I wasnt making any money, just paying my payments. Then My wife took over getting me loads and I am making the money now. Like everyone saids you can get a dispatcher to find you loads but you are at the bottom of their list and you will get crap! If you want to make it with CRST you really have to take controll of "your" company. Remeber you have to take care of #1!! YOURSELF!
     
    tammyj67 Thanks this.
  8. deeproller

    deeproller Bobtail Member

    25
    14
    Apr 12, 2010
    SW Arkansas
    0
    On the other hand, you can have a really good dispatcher who'll do his or her utmost to help you. But I wouldn't rely on just the dispatcher. There's the company load board, there's the agents, and if you're smart, you'll get a GetLoaded.com account, and a computer that you can use with wifi and/or mobile broadband. CRST Malone doesn't really have any of its own customers anymore, and you, therefore, have to do ALL the work of finding loads.
     
  9. hillbillytrucker

    hillbillytrucker Bobtail Member

    Chiricahua - I'm just curious about how you can come to the conclusion that they were trying tobankrupt you and have you owing them money after having worked for them for 1 month and having talked to 2 lease operators. HillbillyTrucker
     
  10. truckfam

    truckfam Medium Load Member

    458
    138
    Aug 29, 2009
    Frederick, OK
    0
    When we started, I was unhappy with the administration of the company, but we had a good agent with a great logistics guy, and a couple of super ladies in the office. I got really frustrated after about a month and called Eric Thrasher in contractor relations. I chewed that guy's butt about payroll and everything else. Then, I looked for ways to get what I wanted.

    I started on a truck when I was 7. My dad had the best dispatcher - ever. I know what constitutes good trucking and we try to incorporate all those lessons I learned while growing up. We have addressed the most frustrating issues and we are doing well.

    I have settlements split 60/40 between the personal account and com card. I have laptop, mobile broadband, agent list, approved broker list, no-load list, personal phone list of the really good dispatchers who work for agents, the discount fuel, good accounting software, and the ooida loadboard.

    We own our own truck and we used to lease an agent trailer. We purchased our own trailer for 2 reasons. Our agent complained that we ran too much and we wanted control over maintenance. Instead of paying 750 a month for a sketchy trailer, we pay 569 and put the rest in our maintenance account.

    We opted for BT ins., so our deduction is 30 a month. That's it. I will cut a check for our 2290, just like I did last year, on our own authority.

    Our logistics guy just told us he needs help. They had to let go of 5 drivers. I love CSA:2010. The company is washing out drivers with points. That will also make our lives easier by improving Malone's safety rating. More A-list brokers, better loads, and I can haggle with brokers.

    Yes, I haggle, wheedle and try for more money, when booking loads. I can do that, because we are developing a reputation. We are timely. We have only been late, once. That was a white-out in ND, highway shut down and we still made the second drop on time. That agent finds us good loads and will give us part of her commission to go get them.

    In our time at CRST-Malone, I hear the most complaints from lazy people. They don't look for loads. The old-timers say the company was great, until they took on "gold trucks". Anyone who buys a Van-Ex tractor is not the sharpest crayon in the box. One can buy a low-mileage truck that's 2 years old, for a song, right now. We owe more to the bank, than what our truck is worth, and our payments are still lower than those gold things - and it's a really nice truck!

    I've talked/listened to and watched many CRST drivers, of all walks. My personal conclusion is, if you don't make money with this outfit - you don't know what you're doing, or you are lazy and expect others to do it for you. My husband is the lazy variety and will readily admit I'm the driving force in this team. If I'm not on the truck, he's like lost puppy. That's the comments I get.

    Trucking is so much more, than driving. You get back what you give and if you give your best, you will be rewarded. CRST-Malone is a company. I deal with agents, dispatchers and others, as they come. Some, I can do business and we work it out.

    Our current load was a nightmare. The shipper used substandard packing methods. (I hate that!) Plastic straps over lumber, one 16-penny nail in pallet, plastic strap broke, nail split wood and the lumber twisted out. It happened 5 minutes after we did a load check in a rest area. We found a telephone pole to use as a winch, realigned the lumber, and three straps on that pallet. I prayed, all the way home, especially when a DOT looked at that back corner, with all the straps. My husband wouldn't say much about that, other than, "We don't haul for them, anymore." I will definitely call the agent and I might call the shipper. That could have come loose, on a bad pothole and gone through a 4-wheel windshield.

    Two lessons for flatbeds today, wrapped in one. Bad loads - Cedar fiberfill, wrapped in "Saran Wrap" should go on vans. Lumber on plats with plastic straps, look at the platforms. Ours had steel straps around the base of the platform. Couldn't see the crack, until the lumber shifted and the steel strap lifted, allowing the nail to back out of said crack.

    How many lazy drivers would have let that go and endangered others? The same ones who can't make money with CRST-Malone? The ones who sit in the truckstop, ######## and moaning? The ones who just got let go, because of bad points on CSA:2010, so we have more loads?

    My husband has been driving for 25 years. He told me he drove a truck, but he was not a driver, not because he didn't know how, it just didn't matter. I expect my husband to be a professional driver, a gentleman and he is surprising me.

    All I have to teach him is to stop at a truck with triangles, instead of asking on the radio.

    I would like Malone so much better, if the driver's were "old-school". My dad raised me with common courtesy, common-sense and horse-sense. I think Malone would get a green light by cleaning out drivers with points and having courses in "trucking".

    This is a rough profession, on many levels. I LOVE CSA:2010! Bad drivers get weeded out, our safety rating goes up and I'm not sure why CRST hired so many substandard drivers that we lost 5 from our office. It's a huge boost for us.

    I hated trying to book after a guy who showed up 10 hours late. The company isn't bad, they just haven't been selective. I'm pretty happy with the way the company is trying to go. I want us to be the wheat, not the chaff. We're willing to work for it.
     
  11. truckfam

    truckfam Medium Load Member

    458
    138
    Aug 29, 2009
    Frederick, OK
    0
    I still wouldn't buy a gold truck, even equipped with a CPU. We can get a used CPU, removed and installed, for $1400. Having to hold off because my DH bought a nice Pete from a shyster in 2008. The tires were 8 years old and the guy at TA acted like we were trying to rip him off. Did I mention my country-boy, hubby has no business sense and I inherited this truck and payments when I married him? My horse-sense is an attraction, in addition to my being raised by a trucking family and drop-dead, good-looks.

    I saw a 2007 Pete for sale for $23, 000. Personally, I would NEVER buy equipment from CRST. I saw trlr 305218 last week in a rest area. Back 4 on right tandem had NO tread, whatsover. I would have left that where it sat. I hear from all the Van-Ex drivers how they never get things fixed. Why would you buy a gold truck and pay 1200 a month, when you can get a real truck for half?

    It's good you see the issue. Make payments to your bank, build a rapport with your banker and get a better deal. It comes in handy when you need costly repairs.

    We have a friend deal worked out with an ex-peterbilt mechanic and a shop with an ex-boss. My husband plows fields, hauls a load, for the use and expertise in exchange. We usually save a $1000 for labor because we work on the truck.
     
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.