CRST Van Expedited, Inc. - Cedar Rapids, Ia.?

I was in cedar 5 weeks, met plenty of drivers doin the Lease op. Some were kicking butt with it, some were sitting for a week with truck repairs.

You can make some money, but make sure you get a good rig. You will probably get a Columbia with over 600k miles. And some are beat. and I mean beat.:smt021:smt075

Just be careful

 

CRST like any of the other large carriers are what ever you make them out to be. You know they are a team driver operation? If you can sleep while the truck is moving and don't mind taking a shower when your partner wants to it can be a good place. They are not inherently evil, they do have a few DM's that care about their drivers and getting you home, but to most you are a number and the more you run the more they make.
Good luck.

 

I like that, they never did me wrong either. I got my CDL on my own so owed them nothing and have been there twice now, just do not like the whole team thing.
Good luck.

 

As I said, I have been there twice and not one trip into NYC. We did do Chicago and LA so they do go into big cities, just the teamsters own NYC so you drop outside and they deliver, they can have it. Also no Canada unless you both have visas, it's team remember? I have Hazmat but neither of my team mates did so no Hazmat.
Good luck

 

05.17.2011

EXCUSE ME!!! I guess that my privately messaged words of encouragement to you have paid off handsomely, bikegoon!

I had absolutely no idea (while serving my [possibly deserved] days of banishment), that you had become a CRST driver and therefore became fully qualified to dish out advice to prospective drivers!

I couldn't agree more. Thanks for putting all the whiners in their place.

Ummmm....no. Could you joggle my memory?

 

05.19.2011

Oooops! Guess that I spoke too soon!

#### it!!

 

i started in august of this year. it has its ups an downs, find brokers for certain area's (i.e laredo, west of 35) i've had consecutive weeks of over 1,100 in profit. also had weeks of 350-500. don't turn down loads if you run crst's boards. you'll sit longer and the rate starts dropping. my truck is decent, was dirty as all get out when i first got it. cleaned it out, previous owner i think had a wreck bumper is a little torn up, but its getting replaced with a chrome wrap around on my dime. their maint program is excellent when you figure that in, figure it at .14cpm(after each quarter they re-figure at .12cpm if you do run too many miles you'll owe, run less they owe you, after i finished 3rd quater i came out ahead, also came in at tail end. let ya know in jan) both dh and paid on the q/c.
their actual maint program is awesome, for first two years everything but glass, wiper blades and wiper nozzles (don't ask idk what their thinking is) is covered. after year two heavy line drops off ( motor, trans, turbo, rear ends, etc.) but all the time you've been running that .12cpm is building up in an account for such things (unfortenatly if you quit they keep that).
try an have your fm set you up with a load that runs through weekend or if you deliv on sat or sun, get one pre-planned or broker on thurs or fri for p/u at dest, as weekend dispatch is flippin worthless.
as far as dispatcher the one i have has been great, i typically have a load set up and sent to me a few hrs before delivery or right as i get there, if i'm heading to a deadzone i call brokers a day or two before arrival and set my own up. its pretty good so far and i'm enjoying every second of it. got my wife, an we just keep trucking.
oh ya they will pressure the heck out of you to either train or hire someone, don't feed into their lies, you can make money. just sometimes you HAVE to WORK for it. lol, it is a job after all not a vacation.

 

I was with Cedar Rapids Stunt Team for about a year, and we were in NYC a couple times a month. We set for 3 days one time in downtown Queens, NYPD made us move our truck for 15 minutes every 4 hours. We were out on Long Island constantly. Actually only did LA 3-4 times in that year, into Chicago alot. But that's what you have to do if your going to haul general freight OTR.

 

Crst is in my opinion a place where the bodies just keep flowing through. No one has ever stayed there.

 

Wrong, we have alot of 10 year driver will million safe miles.
You can make crst a home as long as you know how to work the system.