Leasing at CRE: The lowdown

I have leased and been with England 2.5yrs.... Begining sucks #####.. and over time, it sucks balls...

Point being, if you see my posts from 2008, I went thru the school, only AFTER finding this site AFTER already being in CRE for 2 weeks, broke, irratated, and feeding off the hate of this board. After I left CRE with pretty much the same ideas as noted as "this company sucks" 7 months later I came back with the notion I did not give it a fair shake because I was going off what I "Hear" and what I went thru.

Anywho... I did quit...again, but after the "2nd" lease... which means I was dumb enough to complete the lease and then do it again, well, with 2 kids to feed, I would not be on the 2nd lease if they were not eating good.

England has issues, serious, forced lease, no, not full disclosure of how much you become a slave after you lease, thats the problem. I will say, If you lease, you MUST TRAIN or drive team. I went SOLO lease first 9months, first 3 months, i made in total, i'd say, $500..... yup that bad...at this point, this where you hear the numerous post about how you get jacked at CRE and thats why they quit... Well, I don't blame them, $500 in 3 months driving my ##### off.... WTF! So I came to the conclusion, I was right the first time I quit or I was doing something wrong. Both answers are correct. CRE will rape you if you let them and I was NOT prepared enough to start to try my own fate at being a so called I.C. trucking company.


Once I figured out that yes, I can get the truck from point a to point b, sure, I had to sit and sift thru what "Trucking" is and what it entails. I did, managed to understand, supply/demand, fuel costs, what loads to TURN DOWN or to TAKE even when crappy runs so it put me in a good position for the next load. For instance... Nice 2200 mile run to Florida... turn it down, y? Cuz CRE doesn't run crap in FL. so you get there and your stuck for 2-4days... turn the nice mile run down for the 500mile run, because it will get me moving.

Soooooo... 2years later, I quit (month ago) and it was because, no matter what you do, they will always find a way to screw you even if it screws them.. Makes sense huh?

My tolerance level is, or I guess in this case, 2.5 years, so for all you CRE hopefuls, you want to drive, you need to understand what it means to be a Trucker, after you ACTUALLY grab that concept, them you need a bull$h!t deflector (mines gave out in 2.5 years )... If you can keep deflecting all the crap that gets thrown your way, then your good to go. With that in mind, I made good 1xxx.xx checks weekly, 8 months later and training, without sleep, worries of the newb rolling me over while trying to sleep...stressful..... My trainer, back then, single guy, no home, no kids, trains, never goes home, fell asleep and i mean ASLEEP 1hr after meeting me ... yea right, i am up 3 days straight before i can sleep in comfort and then only for like 2 hrs...

CRE will train you, will put you behind the wheel, and will let you TRY to own your own truck free of cost (meaning... go there and then 2 months later brag to your friends "yup, i'm buying a $120,00 truck") but what comes after those word.... hah... good luck buddy..

Bottom Line: and reading this place over and over and never posting,:
-80% of all the negative posts are true
-If CRE is all you can do, then do it, but the first time you let the negative get to you, your done
-If you make it thru training and Lease a truck.. be prepared to be broke for a few months until "YOU" learn how to work the company for the peanuts
-If you go company.. (or even lease) ... SOLO you will not make much (unless all you need is $150 a week and bed to sleep in)
-There "ARE" drivers here that do VERY WELL, most of which I would say are like 6+ years in or bought their OWN truck outside of CRE.

I could keep going with CRE, but it is 5x times the work to try and always know every little thing the company is doing or planning, and all that work I put in to know that, I only knew 10% of what they are always planning and doing... Just do "you" and if "you" involves CRE, then get your boots on and ####... You "CAN" make money there, just bend over.... and then open wide also...

I think thats pretty clear. You "CAN" make it, but if you:
A: Need to pay bills
B: see any kind of family
for the first 3-4months, go elsewhere...

If you can make it past that, you "CAN" make it if:
A: You live and breath diesel
B: are ok with UP TO $1500 a month
C: still dont have the pressing need to see family
then you can make it another 3 months....

After that, If you DONT train, then look forward to the constant UP TO $1500 a month,. Think you can train? Ok, do so and you can see $900-2000 a week if:
A: You dont care if you live or die
B still don't want to see that family (forgot the kids birthday at this point)
C: If you are still alive, you don't care if you get any sleep.
Then you are golden....!! *I* made good money in my final days, afte only 2yrs I seen regular $1500/wk checks, but the last 3 A,B,C's is just too much for me, so, I quit..

This is it point blank, not from a 2 week perspective, not from a single bad experience, but "my" view overall. If there are other options, then so try them, but if this is where you are going, you NEED a good will and BIG bull$h!t deflector and boots and you will be ok..

-BTW, Going to FFE or Pride, will let ya'll know how that works in time

Will chime in more for those "newbies" to CRE, if you are just starting, ask and I will answer what I can

 

CRE... If you are IN NEED of a job, a little lazy, no family, no life, happy with work exchange (i.e: a little food and place to sleep in exchange to drive their truck) then CRE will work out just fine, and hopefully over time you will reap the rewards of the "Experience" to upgrade and go elsewhere.

Understand to the hopefuls, I am NOT saying everyone that is going to CRE is that way, i'm saying the type of people above just that they shower in b.s. everyday and are happy with it. *I* needed boots!

Don't get too perplexed, I need you sane! But, yes, both are true, I would say, my version more so by 75% ... DM's get penalized and bonuses TAKEN away from trucks in their fleet just sitting. At the same time they are "at times" trying to figure what 7 loads for the day to give to their 10 drivers... 3 ppl are out of luck. Like I said, you figure out the company, your good to go. Rooks are weeded out, on purpose, so those 3 that did not get that load are sitting, because the other 7 THE DM FEELS are better drivers (even if thats not the case) so, 2 of the 3 quit .. in time... and the 3rd, well, he leased his truck for more "freedom", is a hard worker when he works, but turns down toooo many loads because it's only 400mi or wants to go home alot. So, this is why Every Monday 100+ ppl are shipped in to go thru school.

Besides... the latter is a little true, it's the beginning, you don't make enough to keep your cell phone on to play on the internet or afford the $5/hr Flying J internet..

I've had MANY bad days there, and I have had many great days, personal and pay... I can remember getting a check for $-107.36 (yup, thats a minus sign) and I can remember expecting a check for $900 and it ended up being $1700.. (student actually drove VERY WELL and managed fuel also)

If you go, look at the trucks, if you feel to get advice from another "co-worker" make sure it is another driver and not a crying newbie or one that thinks he is going to lease 20 trucks and have a fleet, but look at the trucks, look at the passenger side for the awards sticker, try to talk to the ones with 3+ stars... 3stars running solo, been there aty least 1.5years, teams with 3 stars, maybe a year. you get the idea, the more stars, the knowledge and less b.s. they will feed you. I eventually only started asking questions from guys with 10+ stars, and I must say, there is NOT a shortage of those guys, so that made me think, these guys stay here years on years, can't be that bad ya' know?!

 

Per day fee for the student is about $37 bux... yes, I too thought this was strange, but in the eyes of the trainer, think about it. I get this guy, get him ok driving in lets say 4 days. then for the next 30-45 days he's running 4-600 miles for me (that I get paid $0.93 for) and all i have to pay is $37 bux... Even on the days we sit, and lets say it's 5 of 7, so 2 days im paying for no reason? nope, because the 5 days at even 300 miles a day still profits me for the week.. 1500 mi X .93c = $1395 - 37 a day, so even on a BAD week, paying for my student (persay) and him only doing 1500mi (like i said, bad week) student still profits me $1100

Now remember, like i said, you CAN make the money with a student, but remember A,B, and C! You will work for it..

I have trained in total 13 students, and not once have I ever had trans. probs, engine, etc... truck kept rolling. Only 2 major issues with 2 of the 13.. 1, did not fuel when was supposed to so we ended up stuck and the load was late and if you ever delivered to Walmart, they are ...holes when your late.... 2nd was student hit another trailer with our trailer trying to be super trucker.... other then that, not bad on the truck at all...

 

Ok.. here .. average week with student... before i switched from Regional to Containers..:



Now newbies, thinking of going to CRE, ok, please read the above posts and understand "YOU WILL NOT MAKE CHECKS LIKE THIS FOR AT LEAST 5-7 MONTHS" and thats only if you were, like me, determined to make it NO MATTER WHAT YOU HEAR and stay positive while bent over... Easier said than done.... all I can say... So once again, if you need to pay bills, rent, car notes, etc... it won't happen here for a few months. But everybody is different. I have met drivers that have been with england 3-4years and NEVER made over 1K a week that whole time, why, dunno, ask them, but every one is different, from DM to driver to the truck you and student...

ALL CARRIERS have flaws, it's just a matter of finding which company and their flaws you can tolerate the best. For some it's CRE, mind the million negative posts, and for others, it's local, pride, werner, swift, etc...

Truck stops, I hear more truckers complaining about Swift, than CRE, but that does not make me want to jump on the swift bandwgaon and say they suck, because *I* never been there, i.e: half of the "I hate CRE" posts.

IMHO: Central, CRE, Swift..ETC.. good places to start if your mind is ready to understand trucking, because with the bigger companies you are going to get the most B.S. you can imagine, but think, I made it thru 2yrs of CRE, whether good or bad, my mind is all ready for ANY company I go to and it's B.S. and it will roll off like water on a Rain-X windshield...

I just want ppl to do what they do, stop adding in 2cents if you never even got paid the 2cents... Manhandle YOUR experience not someone elses experience "I heard this and I heard that" hush!!

 

Wow... I'm special .... Special Ed.. LOL!

 

Never doubted you for a second!