CRST Malone (Flatbed Division) SUCKS!

I actually filled out the application on line.... I am hoping this company I am with now will be better for my goals in the near future...

 

If it were me, I would give them a call to make sure they have received your application, especially since you filled out an application online.

 

Why don't you just stop? Malone is completely different. You haven't been around in years. Yes, they have a load board. They also have agents who have trucks. Guess which trucks get loaded first? The agents' trucks. All of them. A great load goes on the board for 30 seconds. It was booked, before it went on the board. The best agents work together and Malone thought about getting rid of them. We were assigned to an agent. We liked another agent, who didn't like our agent. We cooked, cleaned, bought groceries, loaded trucks and did laundry at his place. We had friends and we got loads. I guarantee you, his people never got a load from our agent.

For that matter, we got in trouble for getting our own loads. Some of these guys are "system" drivers. They've never met their dispatcher. We had one of those dispatchers take a load from us. Some dude named "Dr. Pepper" called and said he wanted our load for his driver. The agent gave it to him. I was so mad...that agent went on the "DO NOT HAUL" list.

You haven't been around Malone in years. You really don't know how it works. They give you an agent list, that's about 10 years old. When one signs up with Malone, it's work. When we signed up, we didn't have a load board. We got a load board with OOIDA and went to town. Our people gave us a "Do Not Haul" list, every month. Then we got the CRST load board. We also had access to another board. We worked all the time. Then, CRST's safety rating sucked and it was hard to find a load. We went to Landstar. You were already there. That was 2 years ago.

I could find loads all day, with Malone. I couldn't book them. No driver can. They have to be approved, then there's the contract and confirmation. It all has to be approved, by Birmingham.

Stop telling these drivers you could do it better. No, you couldn't. We didn't rely on our dispatcher, either. We still couldn't get past the credit department, if any one was willing to work with Malone.

Landstar is a different world. I see a load, call and book it, if it's available. We don't have a dispatcher, credit department or any of that crap. We do keep in touch with people at CRST. Obviously, you don't.

 

We own our truck and trailer, picked our insurance, paid our plates, taxes and didn't take advances. We grossed $12,000 - $15,000 a month. Our first year, fuel was $75,000. We lived on the truck and didn't have $2200 take home, a week. Some weeks, yes. Mostly, no. Our tags run $1800 for the truck, for a year. CRST charges $2100? Does he own his own trailer? If not, that's $185 a week. His truck lease is $300-$350 a week. Most guys take the fuel advance. We're O/O, haul OD loads and currently gross $5,000 in a week. That's before fuel. We do well to clear $2000 after fuel, insurance, maintenance, etc. We generally get 40%.

We grossed $165,000 our second year with CRST. Generally, that was 3 weeks on, 1 week off. Plan to stay at home, Thanksgiving to January 5. Save money for Christmas and take off for 6 weeks. We had some friends who made $220,000 to $250,000. Those were guys with 20 years, or 2 trucks, or both.

If we hopped around Indiana/Illinois, we could gross $20,000 in a month. We'd have to be careful about HOS, as well. We might could take home $3500 a week.

I think the guy is mistaken about his take home pay.

 

so your now with landstar hows there flat bed side doing this yr I was gana git on with landstar but I ran into problems and then got begged ta stay with Malone and well its not paying the bills at all this yr

 

Does Mercer have a load board or agents or do they dispatch you? Are the rates comparable to CRST? You're deductions are of course relative to rates you're getting so some may do better with Malone even with the higher costs. I do O.K. with Malone but I'd really consider switching if I can buy a trailer instead of pizzing away 185.00 a week.

 

I've been doing flatbed for about two years and realized I've never seen a Landstar flatbed where I load. You guys got some secret exclusive freight?

 

The biggest problem with CRST is their CSA scores. Their response has been to cancel your lease for just about anything including an error on an internal log audit. They've even hired guys to follow you around and corner you at truck stops who do level 1 inspections and securement inspections. If they find anything CRST will cancel your lease. One of the office guys told me they're not increasing the number of trucks but heavily recruiting to replace all the guys they're getting rid of. This sadly is the stategy used by most carriers these days. Don't know what they figure on doing after they've fired every drver in the country.

 

I am not sure what you want me to stop, talking about my experience with CRST Malone? There is no need to be hostile. If things are as you say, then things have changed considerably from when I was leased to them. As I recall, if I found a load from a broker that they were not working with, they did need credit approval. That is pretty common with most carriers. I check credit on any new broker before doing business with them. If their credit doesn't check out then I don't haul the load. I would not expect Malone to be any different. It sounds like you were working with Al in Fontana. There is one person that is still with the company. She moved back to Dallas from the corporate office several years ago. She does recruiting and I have seen her at the truck show a few times since I left. I have seen some owner operators who are still with the company who have been leased on for some time. One has been with them for 16 years and says he is still doing well with them. There are a lot of carriers and there is not always a good fit. I understand what you are saying about agents who have their own trucks. Debbie in Atlanta has a husband who owns several trucks. If you cannot contact agents directly, then that would not work as well for me, if I were looking to lease on to them. I did meet my dispatcher, but I still found most of my own loads. If you are currently with Landstar and doing well, then I am happy for you. Not everyone does well with Landstar. Some do very well.

 

I have not heard anything about others following owners around and doing inspections on trucks. That sounds rather strange. There are some major carriers who have been following company trucks around to see if they can spot problem drivers. This is the first that I have heard about Malone doing anything similar. I would not want anyone following me around. If there safety score is really that bad, then they probably had to do something to weed out those who are causing the problems.

I am glad that I run my own authority so that I don't have to deal with this sort of thing.