Summing up CRST Malone

I answered an ad on Craigslist, and got an email from a broker at West Ohio Transport who told me about a trucking company and never mentioned their name. In his email is an app for CRST Malone and since I heard some bad things about them from other truckers, I thought I'd look them up here, and you just confirmed what I had already been told. So I will stay far away from CRST Malone. I had pretty much the same thing happen to me with Nocona Transport in Wichita Falls, TX. The first week I came home with $600 out of a $2200 trip, the second week I came home with $220 and the third week I had a $0.00 paycheck, so I quit. They take all your money for leasing their truck and you end up broke. Thanks for your post! Hey to other truckers.....are there any good companies out there???

 

I too have decided NOT to go with CRST Malone.. I have always told myself NO on leasing a truck through a carrier. It has been a tough battle this past month, trying to convince myself that I can do the lease. Reality has hit, other things have come up, and I have decided to just go back to team driving with the wife until we save enough money to buy a truck. I like CRST Malone's load board, agents and the fact that you can get loads from just about everywhere but, starting out broke is NOT the way to start a lease. Also not being able to pick out the truck your going to pay on is just too much for me to ignore. I am going to get my own truck/trailer and build a trucking company big enough to create a stream of income to take care of my wife and I,,,,God Willing that is!

 

I live in Northern Illinois and I've been leased to Malone for a year. The best freight rates around here are out of Northern Indiana so you are definitely in a good location. Not sure what the recruiter means by "local" but I doubt you can make moch if you're going home every night. Watch the board as much as you can to get an idea what the backhaul rates are. If you run IN, KY, IL, and OH you should do better than 2.00 loaded both ways. Get to know the agents that have the good freight. When they know the loads you like, they'll call you if one comes up. Don't let anybody dispatch you. Keep your options open. I'd advise you not to go to ND, SD, MN,KS, or IA west of Des Moines or MO west of St. Louis. I never go East of OH so I'm not familiar with the rates out that way.
Flatbedding is very hard work and you will get filthy. Tarping in the winter is miserable. You may want to start out with a side kit if you can find one. On the bright side, you rarely have to worry about axle weights and you'll never have to slide tandems.
Good Luck

 

We spent time with CRST. We averaged $15,000 as O/O, for 2 years. We took some crappy back loads, we had to pay for a load board, to find the loads. Our agent wouldn't let us stay out and make money. Overall, we left because of the safety rating. We couldn't book a broker load, because CRST's safety rating was awful. Our dispatcher sucked, so even if I found a load, I couldn't book it.

We've been asked back, at least twice. Landstar is more difficult, but we're working it out. Those $2.80 loads? Yeah, we had those. They were oversize and never hit a load board. Those loads went to an agent's truck, or experienced people. Could you haul oversize? Frankly, lease trucks didn't get those loads.

We also had to haul $1.50 loads, occasionally. Some of our buds grossed $260,000. They'd been around 20 years. Old timer's first question, "You own this truck?" Those guys are the one's who have the pull.

I'm sorry you had a hard time. I just wonder why you thought you deserved higher paying loads. Did you pull a flat, SD, or van? In some offices, we never questioned an $8000 load going to a guy. It's mostly seniority.

You had a whole 8 months and thought you deserved the same loads, as guys who'd been around for 20 years? Dude, it just don't work like that.

 

Has anyone worked with crst and NOT been a lease operator. I have my own truck equipment and would like some info on them please. Thanks

 

We ran for CRST as O/O's. We were the minority. We had a subscription to OOIDA's load board. After the first year, I couldn't book a load. What else do you want to know?

 

Have you by chance looked at the Malone loadboard thoroughly? From personal expeirence I would highly suggest running midwest short hauls. Yes its more loads at smaller pay per say but at the end of the week you will have more money. Watch out for the deductions at the beginning as they will get you a little behind while you are trying to find your niche. You should try to purchase your own trailer rather quickly as their $740 per month is a bit high.

 

This guy is right. We can get loads in MD, DE, NJ, NY...because we stepped up. We get e-mails about loads in IL.

My husband takes loads out West. I don't know why he does it, he swears he won't do it again, then he booked a load to Nevada, this morning. I heard "Nevada" and my head almost twisted off. I'm so mad at him! I found another load to pair with his load to Nevada. If we could afford it, I'd leave him out there for a week, in the desert!

 

$60,000 in 5 months is not running hard thats only $3000.00 per week

 

We get 65% with Landstar. We used to run for CRST-Malone. We actually made more money, with CRST-Malone. They're calling every week.

If I can find a load, I've never been told our safety rating is too bad, with Landstar. I just need loads to gross $17,000, to pay our bills.