Just got my W-2 from CRST...MUST READ!!!

Guys, laugh all you want at the money but go home, try to get a job and see what you'll earn. I see it all the time, some guy gets a job and it pays 12.00 an hour, well at 40 hours that's $480.00 a week before taxes, then deduct healthcare and taxes and child support if you owe it, then see how many bills you can pay on what's left oh and by the way, that's mighty big if to getting 40 hours

 

Here's what I'm thinking.... While you're new, yeah, CRST's pay is pretty crappy. I'll make what I make in 8 hours a day for 5 days, by working up to 11 hours a day, with no days off... But after a few years of doing it, it has to really pay off. You look at all the people who own their own truck. These people are driving $100k trucks, while most people can't even afford a $20k car.

At minimum wage, working 60 hour weeks just to afford my rent, car insurance, and gas, it's really hard to save any money at all. A private school is just not realistic for me. These guys are gonna get me in classes for my cdl, train me, get me the experience to be able to work for someone that pays a lot more and lets me drive solo (not a fan of putting my paycheck, and safety, in someone else's hands).

The first 6 months is gonna suck. I'm gonna be struggling to get by, especially if I can't find a co-driver who sees driving as a job, and not a sight-seeing joy ride. But just like how at 8.25/hr I just brought home a paycheck that grossed over $1k, with the right partner, I'm sure I can make some great money as a new guy with these guys. I'm already used to working 16 hour days, working 7 days a week, only being home to go to sleep then wake up and do it all over again. I haven't had a day off in months. The grayhound ride to Iowa is gonna be my first full days to relax in a long time.... I'm in that perfect position to be that guy that'll drive wherever they tell me, just shut up and do my job, do it right, and safely, and become that person that they'd rather have do the work over other people.

But I also have that business background from working with a lot of friends who ran businesses, and from making an attempt at running my own. I see this training for exactly what it is... Trading free school, training, and experience, for a lower pay through the contract to pay for it. Yeah, they make more money by doing it this way, and we make less than someone that went to school on their own, but that's the whole point. They're in business to make money.

I've read all the bad, I have no idea how much to actually believe. I'm going into this ready for one of the worst work experiences I've ever had, but I'm ready to just deal with it, work my year, maybe a second year to have some more solid experience, and then decide if I'm staying or finding a new company to go solo. Right now, I have to wipe grown men's ##### and bathe them... And clean up their accidents in their beds... for minimum wage. How much worse could this company really be than what I do now?

 

You seem to have a very strong work ethic so why not go to a better company like Central or even Swift? Why settle for the lowball pay CRST offers?

 

Driving record, and work history issues that I've had (that I didn't know got resolved and I didn't have to say I was fired) they're only ones willing to give me the chance. But it's only a year. The alternative is making the same amount with no raises at all. The 9 cent jump after 6 months will help a lot.

 

yes it will go on your dac and it will be hard to find a driving job with that on your dac belivie me i work for them in 08 and my co driver jump ship when we got to miami fla where he lived i sat there for 7 days at the shippers calling every day telling them they had to get me out of there and to find me a co driver so at least i could shower and all never did find a co driver but they did send a team to take my truck and a other team to take me home and they put on my dac that i left my truck so now no one wants to here my side and i have the shipper phone no to back me up but the only good thing that happen while i was sitting at the shippers i stop a majior theft thats was taking place and they were very happy that i was there to stop it but sixs years later no driving job for me and its been to long out the truck so there it is it will follow you where ever you go good luck to you

 

OK, if you truly did nothing wrong, you had a nice libel / defamation lawsuit being handed to you on a silver platter.

But honestly, I see it more as you got fired at the beginning of that 7 days. It really seems like your co-driver didn't bail on you, he just got a new partner, and they parked you until they can go get their truck from you. It's a common thing in jobs with company cars, they fire you AFTER they get their car back.

There has to be more to the story. While at-will employment lets them fire you any time they feel like it, there's actually laws about what can and can't go on public records. Intentional lies tend to be on the list of "can't". So either you were fired, you're lying, or you need to learn how to call lawyers.

 

there is a law suit going on as we speak and yes it still on my dac am not the only one they have done this to

 

CRST does have a few good things going on, but I'm mostly impartial to most of what they do.

 

I'm amazed that you guys go with these big companies and then are surprised when you aren't making any money especially when there's posts on here to that affect.

 

I'm amazed about the first guy complaining about 20k in 6 months. That's 40k in the first year as a rookie. That's pretty good in this industry. So many young people expect to make top dollar right out of the gate these days. Never willing to start at the bottom and work their way up. You have to take the beating before you can give it in the working world.