i like it at celadon

He says Celadon made him never want to be a truck driver again. I'm wondering if he was ever a truck driver to begin with.

 

Those mechanics in Greensboro rock! They're really nice, too.

I also switched DMs. Nothing personal against the one I had at all, I just got along with another DM extremely well while my other DM was away. I had to go up the chain of command to switch though. I was really nervous talking to the Director of Operations but he was really nice and easy to talk to so that made it easier. By the end of the day I was switched to my requested DM's board. For what it's worth, I feel a lot more comfortable working with her than I did the guy I had.

Some women don't like having a female DM. I'm not one of those people.

 

I was with Celadon for around 6 months. The company itself was pretty good; they did everything they said they were going to do from orientation all the way to how they ran me. My two biggest problems were with the undriveable piece of junk they assigned me, and (subsequently) with their maintenance department (specifically, the Indy yard shop). My truck was never able to give me more than a couple weeks' service without breaking down someplace. With all the downtime (usually 3-4 days at a time), I was unable to earn a living for myself, let alone support my family. I called it quits after being out for 6 weeks (three breakdowns) and burning through the remainder of my savings to keep my family afloat. I AM NOT SAYING THAT CELADON IS AN EVIL COMPANY; FAR FROM IT! My dispatcher was the only reason I hung in there as long as I did. I am only saying that anyone going there should be very careful before they accept a truck (I don't even know if you have a choice). Once you are assigned a truck, it is YOURS until they sell the thing, no discussion. I believe if I had gotten a decent truck I would still be there and probably loving it. Check out your truck well if you go there.

 

Just a little head's up. If you're headed to Laredo and dropping a trailer in the other yard, get ready to be amazed at how many trailers are no longer there. I think there was a sale or something because what was once a nearly full trailer lot now feels like a ghost town with at least 4 rows of trailers gone.

..at least this will make finding your loaded trailer a lot easier!

 

Wake up dude!!!! Everything at celadon is for sell. If they find someone dumb enough. They will sell the truck it driving now. And from what I understand.

 

Haven't been on posting for awhile, but I agree with what Captain Zoom said. Most of the DM's are great, but that's if you don't include weekends. Mine work M-F 7-5, so I have someone else on weekends, and I can tell the difference. No matter what the regulars do during the week, weekends takes a whole different approach. I was fortunate enough to get a new truck, but it has it's "quirks". International/Navistar doesn't have the bugs worked out with their new MaxxForce diesel. And the truck's quality, well, it has electrical "issues". They won;t fix them, even tho they are covered under warranty. Seems that our President is also more interested in attempting to buy out another company (USA Truck) than he is about making the one he has now better. American Eagle was a good acquisition for us, and them. And having to restart my 70 all the time, I love it! I stayed out 5 weeks this last time, and did 4 restarts. They have the miles everyone else claims to have. But, be careful about your "old" truck if you're just coming on-board here. If it has problems, you're stuck with it until they decide it's "grave" time. So far, Celadon has been a "thumbs up" decision for me.

 

Someone told me that with the American Eagle acquisition, half of it (equipment and freight lanes) went to Celadon, half of it went to Con-Way.

 

Well, I'm sitting in Indy now. That nice new truck has proven itself to be a maintenance nightmare. Not even 30,000 miles on it and they've had to send it back to the dealer here to be diagnosed and repaired. Problems? All electrical. New MaxxForce engine doesn't perform as represented by Navistar, things like to turn on and off by themselves going down the road, AutoStart/Stop system has failed on the truck (it's what starts the truck to recharge the batteries used by the "NoIdle" APU system), etc.....All in all, my old ProStar was a better truck with 350k+ miles on it. Now, I've been out 2 weeks and only have been able to get 3400 miles. They sent out a fleetwide QComm msg saying that freight has dropped off sooner than expected this year. So why, then, are they still running 100+ new hires thru orientation each week? Obviouslt, they're a trucking company just like every other one. All the perks go to the upper management while the drivers are treated like mushrooms; kept in the dark and fed......well, you get the picture.

 

I could work for Celadon but fail my road test bc I hadnt drove a standard in 13 months. So they sent me home...

 

Happy New Year! It's 2012 and now things have gone really dead. Anyone else having trouble getting miles? But I have other reasons to not get miles right now and they have nothing to do with my truck or Celadon for that matter. I'm at home right now with chest pain. Just got out of the hospital late yesterday, and the doctors (all 3 of them) wonder what Celadon was thinking. I came out of the house after Christmas, got a relay to take and deliver in Atlanta. Okay, made that. Chest bothering me for 2 days but nothing bad. My doctor calls and tells me to get my butt back ASAP. He didn't like what he saw on my EKG. Yes, annual check-up time over Christmas. On Friday, my DM got a plan together for me to head home right after doing a local. Hey, everyone going to Atlanta should figure on doing a shag. That was Friday. Saturday, weekends and the rail yard can't find the trailer. Oh, it's still on a rail car setting outside the rail yard. Rail yard (Austell, GA) says open 24/7, so we all figure it can be picked up the 1st, as they didn't post anything saying they'd be closed. WRONG. They were closed. I can't pick up. Weekend dispatch decides that I'm just not wanting to make the pick up, un-dispatch me from the load, and immediately put it on another driver, who also can't make the pick-up. Monday I call and get someone else, who puts me back on the load because they read the notes. I get the trailer, no problem so far. Now, a DM wannabe decides to withhold the release number for 4 hours! Now I can't get off the rail yard in time to make it home the same day and that totally screws up the relay the next day for on-time delivery. My DM comes to work and has to scramble since he knows nothing of what transpired. Nights/Weekends/Holiday crew left no notes on anything. LACK OF COMMUNICATION CAN BE FATAL! Luckily, not in this case. I get to the doctor, have another chest pain that sends me to the ER and then gets me admitted to the hospital. 2 days later still unsure of what's causing the pain, they send me home to recover from the HEART CATH, and come back to the doctor on the following Monday. I don;t know when exactly I'll be on the road again, but Celadon isn't harassing or pressuring me to get back to work.
KUDO's to my DM, and to the female DM (I never got her name) who got me back on the load that got me home. To the DM that threw roadblocks in the way, SHAME ON YOU! I won't forget what you tried to do to me! But, I will still pray for him and ask God to shower him with blessings. Got that Carey?