My Year and a Half with CRST

I started with CRST Van right out of CDL school. They were pretty much my only choice since I live in South Florida. I figured teams would be good for me since I was brand new. That feeling wore off after while though.

Orientation was a piece of cake. They will do everything within their power to get you hired. Just don't leave anything out, even if it's something like a tiny fenderbender. They will kick you out for stuff like that. The only thing paid during orientation is the motel room and transportation, sort of. They do charge you a $75 "transportation fee" that is taken out in $25 installments.

The training period went well. I was in a rental car and headed to my trainer after the last day of orientation. My trainer was a very nice guy and I learned a lot. After training I had to go to the OKC terminal and watch a video because I had gotten an out of service in Washington state for a trailer flat.

I got to go home from OKC, but it was on Greyhound. I was given a list of possible co-drivers to call. It took awhile to find a co-driver. People are very inconsiderate, not answering their phone or returning calls.

All in all I had 5 co-drivers. Only two were good, one was ok and two should not have been driving. Recently CRST changed it's policy and they will not run you solo unless it's to get to a new co-driver. Even then they pay considerably less per mile. This is hardly fair when it's not your fault that your co-driver bailed. Make no mistake, they will bail eventually. The company has a 150% turn over rate. That is why I quit. My last co-driver decided, after working there over a year, that he didn't like OTR. I did not want to have to go through the whole finding a new partner thing again. You never know what you are going to get.

Once you are an established team you can get some pretty good miles. If you don't have hazmat you better get it or you will not do well with this company. Number one speed rated hazmat teams are put at the top of the list. Of course if the team breaks up you have to start all over again.

One annoying thing about this company is they hire a lot of idiots. They treat all their drivers like the lowest common denominator. It's best not to take that personally. If you do well your fleet manager will remember you, but they quit or get promoted often. I had three, not counting the one I had while training. The first was not that great, the other two were excellent. Night and weekend dispatch will do very little for you. Get in good with air freight and you are set.

Starting pay is kind of low, but that is true of most training companies. I think their pay for experienced drivers is on par with most. They have a forced per diem. I like per diem, but I don't like losing .02 per mile to get it.

They now have e-logs, but I did manage to stay off those.

Except for some of my co-drivers I had a pretty good experience with CRST. Now I'm ready to move on to something solo. They gave me no hassle about quitting.

 

You have no idea what I'm doing. You are only making ASSumptions.

Besides, only a complete and utter fool would rely on SS income for retirement. In the meantime, I take my tax savings and invest it in my future, at a much higher return rate than FICA.