CRST Malone (Flatbed Division) SUCKS!

I just want the truth no company is perfect but can I make a living and pay for the big gold truck LOL

 

Somewhere on this forum, I posted a long reply about CRST Malone, and how it was POSSIBLE to make good money. Possible doesn't equal probable, though. Yes, you can. But you're not very likely to. When you lease-purchase one of the gold trucks, all the cards are stacked against you from the start. And after that, you may find that some people in the company like your terminal manager, your dispatcher, even some of the agents will be almost-actively working against; or at least it will feel that way.

If you are really worried about making a living by driving a truck, then L/P'ing is probably not a good idea. Become a company driver and be a bit more assured that you will make a real, steady income. When you're their employee, then there are statutory requirements from the state their based in that they can't get around. They HAVE TO PAY YOU!!! But when you're an independent contractor, all that you really have are a set of flemsy, mostly untested rules, for which there is no enforcement mechanism. So you decide...

 

Its like this, I should have ran when I knew I should have. I asked for a copy of the lease purchase and they would not give me one.(RED FLAG anyone??) I still went because I thought from "what they said" It sounded really possible to make a decent check and still drive a newer truck and control your own destiny. Own my own truck before, so it shouldnt be a problem, right? Orientation wasn't bad, 2 to 3 days, but getting a decent truck to start is a whole other story. You get sent to a location where the truck is, and when you get there, its usually beat up beyond really decent usable shape.(My definition of decent shape is alot different from theirs mind you) I worked HARD the first month..didnt go home, took advantage of the 3 week lease payment free option to get ahead. It was no good. I got a truck that needed repairs, had no fire extinguisher or required safety equipment, beat like it was in WWIII. I asked them to repair it, they said make some money, we will get it fixed. Yeah right, you build a reserve(which you will never see again) and they act like your spending their money to fix the truck, and yes, they do NOT like to maintenance the truck like it should be.(43000 miles between oil and lube changes) And fuel money is tight, for sure. Just enough to make your run, but no more, so don't idle or you may run out of fuel. And as far as buying the equopment needed to do your job, they say you can buy used, but for some reason, the conveniently didnt have any and I had to buy "NEW" equipment to make up for what equipment I needed or didnt have, and I had brought most of my own to orientation to help with startup cost. I worked for the month, made just over $14000 and saw just over $2000 of that as take home. I worked to make a strong relationship with the agents, but still, cheapass freight, or none that paid what you wanted.(either take it or not driver) I did haul some good paying freight, but it did not even come close to what they say the average was. So all in all, I agree with another poster here that you can make money, but its not likely. You may be able to do it as long as you use your own truck and trailer, and do EVERYTHING yourself. DO NOT RELY ON THEM TO MAKE YOUR MONEY!!!! In my brief stint with Malone, I gotta say, I liked the way it set up as a company, but as far as a L/P goes...its for the birds. In my exit interview, I told the man that it was my opinion that the L/P is a set to fail plan, especially for a newbie. The payments are cheap, but where they get you is the trailer rent, .10 cents to .14 cents per EVERY MILE THE TRUCK TURNS maintenance fund they require, and the fact that the rates for average freight there when you figure it out dont even up enough for you to make it as a L/P. Then comes Insurance and all the other costs of working for them. Your better off having your own truck and trailer and doing it yourself. If your thinking of doing a lease/purchase here, take all the advice you can from those that survive here. I told them Id give them 30 days, and I did, Malone just wasn't for me. Good luck to those that make it here.

 

Thanks for all the good info. I am a company driver now and have beed for 10 years I have brokers and agents that I deal with already and I know the ends and outs of trucking that's how I know there is money to be made trucking as long as you watch who you work for the company I work for was the best but now there hauling cheap fright and trading our 379s for 65 mph junk so its time for me to move along so that why I'm asking about CRST. I love my flatbed and I would like to get into my own truck

 

And you aint making money there either!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I see a trend!!!!!!!!!! LAZY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

It's this simple...do NOT lease a gold truck. If you own your own truck, you can make a dollar. If you own your own truck and trailer, know what operating costs mean/are, you can make more. This is not a company set up for pups. You can make money, IF you can run with the big dogs. O/O is a different crowd. We run as independents. Even the gold trucks run like us. Personally, I LOVE IT! We find our own loads and take our chances. We talk with the old-timers and they can't tell me much, other than they hate gold trucks. We pay our payments, got fed up being told to come "home" with trailer lease fees, so we bought a trailer. We run more than expected. I told our agent manager on Aug. 31 we'd be back on Thanksgiving. I was serious. He told me we could stay out as long as we liked. I grew up with 3 month runs. In January, we were told we travelled too much, the agent needed the trailer. We don't have kids, don't need to go home and I was pissed. We bought a trailer, because we can always work.

We make money because we don't have kids and we work holidays, while we pay off our truck.