Either Lead or Be Lead

4noReason · Oct 13, 2013

i just saw crst local driver chicago. had no idea they had local

BiggDogg · Oct 13, 2013

Miles,

Thanks for the thread. I decided to make a career change, spent the last two months looking hard at all the info I could find on companies. Just got the CDL and was looking at the numbers of team driving vs. solo. I realize you are working as an o/o rather than a company driver like I will be doing but, anything you can share not in the brochures and recruiter sales pitch is appreciated!

milesandmilesofroad · Oct 13, 2013

The only difference between myself and you is I own my truck and it's all on me and my son to make it turn a profit. I believe that no matter who holds the title, it still needs to be treated as a business.

I believe many company drivers think of this as just a job and don't hold themselves accountable for the truck and everything that goes along with it.

milesandmilesofroad · Oct 13, 2013

We drive a 2011 Volvo VNL780. We bought it in December 2012. We haul Van out of Cedar Rapids, IA. We were running Freightliners for years, then when CRST started running Volvos on the regular, we took the time to visit a few Volvo dealers to get a few different opinions and see our choices.

We were going to go with Western Star, but just couldn't get a good feel for whether we really wanted to spend that kind of money. We paid just under $70,000.00. We funded the purchase in cash from a lawsuit we won when my brother was killed in a oil field accident due to faulty equipment on the well site.

I saw a Gordon Truck the other day, nice equipment, and the driver was neat in appearance, friendly and looked happy. You don't see happy too much at truck stops unfortunately.

milesandmilesofroad · Oct 13, 2013

Tell me what you want to know???

BiggDogg · Oct 13, 2013

I have consistently heard good things about Volvo's. Earlier I saw mention of a "black eye" for CRST, but didn't know what that was referring to. I was also wondering if their CSA score has improved? And if you had any idea about the quality of their training. I wasn't sure if you had any observation or experience with that given your an o/o with many years experience. I agree with your comments about being professional and treating the job as a business (not just as an o/o). For the company drivers, what does home time look like since they drive teams rather than solo? Thanks for your reply.

Nightwind8830 · Oct 13, 2013

Threads like this give prospective drivers food for thought . After reading many of the threads on this forum seems like succeeding as a driver is a matter of accepting that you are not just changing careers,you are changing your entire lifestyle.Thats a huge consideration,time away from home,long hours,learning a whole new skillset and accepting that its going to be rough at first. Asking questions,reviewing the opinions of more experienced drivers,going into driving with the understanding that you will be the new guy with alot to learn seems imperative to suceeding withing your first few years.this forum is a treasure trove of info, i feel like it gives new drivers a pretty good scope of what they should expect and how to prepare,and also there really is so much more that goes into the career than I ever thought.Good stuff overall. I recommended this forum to my CDL classmates because so many base their career choices on the recruiters that come in and what the class owners tell them as opposed to research and advice from people who have been doing this for years. Lotsa good info here.

milesandmilesofroad · Oct 13, 2013

BiggDogg:

hometime I hear for company guys and gals is pretty good if you live in freight lanes that have a huge CRST customer base going in and out. If not, then I hear it's usually 4 to 5 weeks out. Big difference between 3 and 1 off that recruiters are selling.

CRST has a 20/10 program, 20 days out, 10 consecutive off rotated among a three person team. With the Volvos, we really like this tractor, it had 156000 miles on it when we picked it up. It was a solo driver tractor and a short term team truck that quit the business. They owed a note on it and we got it for the balance due.

its a 13 speed truck which is a bit overkill but it leaves us options for other types of work such as heavy haul if we decided to leave here.

Regarding CSA, I don't know, however, it's like anything else in trucking. Once your on someone's radar for even the slightest short fall, it's hard to recover fast.

The black eye I referred to was the negatives that are sometimes valid and the non valid ones blown out of proportion.

aimhigh · Oct 13, 2013

milesandmilesofroad said: ↑

I am older than many here and over the course of time, I have come to realize that in this life, you can either lead and do it by example or you can be lead around and be nothing more than a follower. Too many newbies come into this industry and cannot cut it. They enter into a carriers training program for any number of reasons, ranging from the cost of a outside truck driving school is too costly to they are enticed by the potential for a job, in a economy and society where jobs are far and few and for those available that are any good, have way too many people competing for that one job opening.

Newbies usually get so far along before something goes wrong, such as not being able to learn to clutch and shift, or any other failed skillset and they get sent packing and that usually gets them in here, talking about how negative their experience in trucking was for them, and then that blows up here and gets everyone talking. They ended up a follower, because if they were a leader, they would gear up and find another training program to get into.

If you listen to any recruiter, they almost all sound alike. Good miles, great pay, nice equipment, regular home time, all the buttons that are pushable on someone just entering this industry. Very few can tell you anything more because truth be told, most have never driven a truck, so they just don't know.

To be a leader in this career, you have to get past all the negatives and look at the positives of driving a truck for a living. Lets look at pay for a minute. Most trucking companies are going to pay someone new without experience somewhere between $32,000 and $37,000 per year. Some would say these are slave wages. What is the alternative? one is to be unemployed getting that unemployment check for a lot less than $32,000 per year and atleast a truckers paycheck comes weekly and is steady where as the alternative is only for as long as your permitted to get one.

One of the reasons many get into driving a truck is consistency in life, something that is steady and atleast allows you to live, even if it's not to a standard you would love it to be. Leaders make a decision and follow through. I have found over time, that the positives to doing this for a living far outweigh the negatives.

The negatives are vast, I won't blow smoke up your ##### and tell you they don't exist but the negatives are all on the job things. Having to agree to work for a company that took you in and trained you is a commitment and leaders have no issues with commitment and following through, followers quit like so many before them and then when the company wants their money, they all of a sudden have an issue with following through on the commitment they made and try to weasel out of it. Main reason Is I was promised a job after training and I did not get it. Well lets see, you did not get the job as promised because you didn't finish the training.

If you do your research and all the negatives haven't derailed you, be a leader and follow through on the commitment you made. If you can get through the first year you can make it in this career.
Click to expand...

I think you mean to lead or be led around: Interesting topic.

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