Learn the Whole Experience of CRST NOW

Discussion in 'CRST' started by mdolan0821, Mar 6, 2014.

  1. mdolan0821

    mdolan0821 Bobtail Member

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    So im heading out Tomorrow for the CRST School in Waterloo IA. I have seen a mix of good and bad things to be seen about CRST. So I figured I would make a Facebook page and track my entire experience from the bus ride out to the school all the way through my 8 Months actually working for the company........ If I last that long lol. I figured it would be a good tool for future employees and students of the company to see first hand exactly what I dealt with. If your interested in following my page it will be here https://www.facebook.com/mytruckingcareer
     
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  3. Puppage

    Puppage Road Train Member

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    Good luck.
     
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  4. mdolan0821

    mdolan0821 Bobtail Member

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    Thank you I appreciate it
     
  5. Dinomite

    Dinomite Road Train Member

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    So what's your pain threshhold? How long can you go making chump change, and driving with a complete stranger who can't find his way out of a wet paper sack? May the Force be with you Daniel Son :)
     
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  6. mdolan0821

    mdolan0821 Bobtail Member

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    Chump change doesnt bother me right now. I have enough saving to live off of for a few years. Im doing this for the adventure and the license. I have done many different odd jobs from working on a tree farm in the freezing cold of canada during the winter. to building a school in mexico during the summer. This is just another chapter to add to my life.
     
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  7. Blacktop Junkie

    Blacktop Junkie Light Load Member

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    You have this thread in the wrong part of the forum. Although, the majority of CRST trucks I see, stay parked at truck stops so you might be in the right section after all. Good luck Driver
     
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  8. mattbnr

    mattbnr Road Train Member

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    I worked for crst. They are based outta Cedar Rapids not Waterloo. They many smaller yards scattered across the us. Cedar Rapids is the best one. You will live on chump change and no sleep. Dispatchers will run you into the ground. The trucks are old but for the most part reliable. I got lucky and teamed with a long time buddy. Once he quit I finished my contract and quit the exact day it was up. It was a terrible experience and I learned nothing from the "school". They teach you just enough to pass the dot exam. I think we drove maybe a total of a hour in the 2 weeks. Hope you get a good trainer and not one that just treats you like a team runner. Best of luck. You'd be better off going to a trucking school and signing on with a better company like Schneider or Stevens.
     
  9. mdolan0821

    mdolan0821 Bobtail Member

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    i have heard just as many bad things about them as well it really just depends on each ones individual experience. i appreciate your input though and we will see how it goes for me ill be posting updates on my facebook page daily
     
  10. rockstar_nj

    rockstar_nj Medium Load Member

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    3 hour wait for your motel room. Sounds like they forgot to book your rooms for you, just like they did with my class.

    Some advice. Watch videos on backing, read the advice on these forums about it. While way too many of the long time drivers on here just want to flex their muscles cuz they drove longer than you, there's some who are really looking out for new drivers and will give you good advice. The school isn't going to teach you this stuff, neither is your clueless lead driver. Backing into trucks is one of the company's most common accidents.

    In only a week after when I quit and took a local job, I learned more from the guy training me on my route than I did by my lead driver, and the company's safety guy in CA. Most of it is just little things, like ways to get better MPG, or get your trailer's landing gear to last longer, but I went from needing 2-3 pullups to back a trailer to almost getting it into a dock in one back, and you need to be into those perfectly. The guys on this site helped me A LOT with that. Once you pass your test and get your CDL, get a headstart and start asking the guys here about every little thing: Shifting, going up/down hills, backing, dropping trailers...

    You're only going to be taught the bare minimum, and odds are so was your lead driver. Stay active on the forums, and you'll learn a lot and become a great truck driver.

    And good luck. CRST will drive you INSANE. It's only 8 months. Find a good codriver, and just get through it, and then you'll be able to move on, and make a lot more money, and get home more... Just make sure when it comes to finding a codriver, you don't just settle on the first one you talk to, find out everything. If they drive at night, when they shower, how loud they play their music, if they make walmart stops. The hardest part about CRST is your codriver. Find a good one, and that time will go fast.
     
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  11. mdolan0821

    mdolan0821 Bobtail Member

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    besides the bus ride and the 3 hour delay at the hotel everything else has been really good. The instructors so far have been very helpful stopping to answer any and all questions that any of the students have. However this was just the classroom time and not the range tomorrow we go to get our permits and start in the simulators and on the range
     
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