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My time at CR England's CDL School & 9 month experience / review

Discussion in 'CR England' started by TexasBoy, Jun 3, 2015.

Page 6 of 17
  1. Jun 8, 2015 #51
    Lekwid

    Lekwid Light Load Member

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    Jan 4, 2013
    New Castle, DE
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    I also see that Schneider hires company at 3 months exp? If true I would just go there at 3 months and once at the required time switch to lease. Has to be better than england right?
     
    Lekwid, Jun 8, 2015
    Lekwid, Jun 8, 2015
    #51
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  3. Jun 8, 2015 #52
    freightwipper

    freightwipper Road Train Member

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    That's on you to make the call.
    While yeah anything is better.. building some kind of record of safety and job stability as a driver is important also before trying to go elsewhere.
    That's something you have to weigh the value of for yourself.
    For me personally I waited 6 months before looking to see who else would take me.
    I originally wanted to wait a year before switching jobs but still working for cheap while I saw I had wayyyy better value as a driver after 6 months won me over.
    That decision had me earn nearly double in my pay checks while I was a company driver at Crete vs my first OTR job.
    Working for cheap bugged me.. heck other drivers that stay working for cheap really bugs me too.
    Drivers that work for cheap hurts us all in the end.
     
    freightwipper, Jun 8, 2015
    freightwipper, Jun 8, 2015
    #52
    TexasBoy Thanks this.
  4. Jun 8, 2015 #53
    Lekwid

    Lekwid Light Load Member

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    Jan 4, 2013
    New Castle, DE
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    Hmmm so sni took you after 6 months with crappy otr and the 6 months with Crete? I might look at Crete after 6 months. I cannot do a year of england 6 months tops lol
     
    Lekwid, Jun 8, 2015
    Lekwid, Jun 8, 2015
    #53
  5. Jun 8, 2015 #54
    freightwipper

    freightwipper Road Train Member

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    Nah..

    Here's the story...
    I started out working for .26 and I'd unload trailers at a crap rate also. It was all OTR.
    Per 7 days I've average $450-$650 a week. It was terrible.
    After 6 months I saw that Crete would pay me higher than everybody else.
    They put in writing .43 practical mile, $30 for extra stops and extra pay for loads under 200 miles.
    I went on their reefer side of the company called Shaffer.
    While I was there I'd earn on average between $1100-$1300 per 7 day week all while having less than a year experience AND I could bring the truck home.
    If I stayed just another couple weeks I would have gotten a raise to .48
    After I got one year experience I came to Schneider and leased a truck for the reasons I wrote a thread about.

    That was my journey.

    If I as noob OTR driver could earn that much as a company driver anybody can.
    Drivers are getting ripped off because they allow themselves to be taken advantage of.
    I had no trouble getting miles with Crete, while not a perfect company at least I got paid wayyyy better.
     
    freightwipper, Jun 8, 2015
    freightwipper, Jun 8, 2015
    #54
    TexasBoy Thanks this.
  7. Jun 9, 2015 #55
    TexasBoy

    TexasBoy Light Load Member

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    May 27, 2015
    Thomas The Trucker
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    Hey yall, so it's been a long 2 days. Been driving the truck at the range yesterday and did some OTR training today. Been a little tired so I haven't posted... you know, it being 110-115 out here on the tarmac lol getting in and out of a truck for 8 hours taking turns, been a #### show lol but I'm surviving. Not too much too complain about.

    So yesterday they had us practice parallel parking all day. We would go up all the way from one parking spot and parallel to the next one. Gotta admit, it is pretty confusing once you get started on it but once you get the hang of it, it goes right in. I'll tell you what though, it looked like a #### show out there. Trucks getting close to jackknifing and trucks going way past the makeshift curb line. But hey, we're not all perfect to start so it was all good.. of course the trainers and instructors would see how far they would go before they told them to fix it, and probably got a good laugh to when we weren't looking. There's 3 total instructors on the range, a main instructor and then the other 2. One of them talks crazy funny, an older Russian guy, but real stern when helping lol supposedly he was jet pilot for another country that I cant think of right now in his younger years, so when he gets mad he get mad.. bad part is, when he does get mad for someone messing up the parking or messing up while paralleling to much, he'll pull em out of the truck and tell someone else to go in... Not too good for people that just need a little help, but oh well, most of them were able to get it down by the end of the day so props to them.

    Today June 8th:
    They had us 3 - 4 to a truck with a training instructor who taught us how to shift properly, downshift properly and turn including 2 way turns and turnarounds on the side roads by the school. The people that didn't have parallel parking down all the way we're sent back to the range to practice with the range instructors while we went with our trainers. I have to admit, it is pretty #### exhilarating to fully get behind the wheel of one of thode bad boys on the road! Our trucks are 8 speeds, so it wasn't to hard to get used to. I'm used to driving standard cars so it wasn't that bad, I did have to get use to double clutch but that only took me about 10 minutes. For me, the hard part was downshifting and getting to the right rpms to do so. I figured you could just coast in neutral to a stop sign but I guess it's Illegal in the state of Texas after 3 seconds or 50 feet our instructor said so oh well... When we got it down we just did a quick route for an eval and we all passed in our truck. 5 people total in ours, 4 students so you could only imagine.. things got a little bumpy for a bit. Definitely didnt need a massage afterwards ha ha but yeah it was all good yall, just wanted to checkin in, I knows it been a while.

    Well it's time to get some shut eye. .no more studying books for this guy, just straight driving for now until DMV license tests. So I'll message yall and let you know what's going on. Thanks for listening brothas and sisters :headbang:
     
    TexasBoy, Jun 9, 2015
    TexasBoy, Jun 9, 2015
    #55
    Vilhiem and HotH2o Thank this.
  8. Jun 9, 2015 #56
    Lekwid

    Lekwid Light Load Member

    159
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    Jan 4, 2013
    New Castle, DE
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    I wish the days would go by already, class time is so boring
     
    Lekwid, Jun 9, 2015
    Lekwid, Jun 9, 2015
    #56
    TexasBoy Thanks this.
  9. Jun 9, 2015 #57
    Lekwid

    Lekwid Light Load Member

    159
    118
    Jan 4, 2013
    New Castle, DE
    0
    Frieghtwipper thx. I called Shaffer told them my situation. They said once I got my 4 months give them a call back. .43 cents a mile refeer work. 21 days out over 1000 a week vs england 5 weeks out forced training for 6 months 500-600 a week. No brainer. I'm used to reefer all I drove when I was with prime 4 years ago. Can't wait lol
     
    Lekwid, Jun 9, 2015
    Lekwid, Jun 9, 2015
    #57
  10. Jun 9, 2015 #58
    freightwipper

    freightwipper Road Train Member

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    Two things..

    Crete will make you go on training again with less an a year experience.. at least they did with me.
    However when I there training pay for drivers with previous experience was $600 a week which was more than I was making anyway lol.
    My "training" was 3 weeks when I joined.
    I'd highly suggest doing Crete vs Shaffer. The pay is pretty much the same but dry van is mostly open window drop and hook appointment vs the reefer lifestyle of crazy appointments and live unloads.

    When I was there I stayed out 3 weeks and took the truck home for four days.
    What's even better now is they have guaranteed detention pay which I've heard is $15 an hour after two hours.
    Would have been nice for those times I took my ten hour breaks in a dock lol.
     
    freightwipper, Jun 9, 2015
    freightwipper, Jun 9, 2015
    #58
    Vilhiem and TexasBoy Thank this.
  11. Jun 9, 2015 #59
    TexasBoy

    TexasBoy Light Load Member

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    May 27, 2015
    Thomas The Trucker
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    Ha yeah man, all I can say is study study study man.
    Make sure you get your tests out the way. Then worry about the next week.
     
    TexasBoy, Jun 9, 2015
    TexasBoy, Jun 9, 2015
    #59
    Vilhiem Thanks this.
  12. Jun 9, 2015 #60
    Lekwid

    Lekwid Light Load Member

    159
    118
    Jan 4, 2013
    New Castle, DE
    0
    That training pay will be about the same as me company driving for cre lol I'll take that. I'll look into crete.
     
    Lekwid, Jun 9, 2015
    Lekwid, Jun 9, 2015
    #60
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