The Truth About CRST... And, what a surprise, NO... Its not bad!!!!

MondoburgerHD · Jul 4, 2017

Kenlui420 said: ↑

I'm going to start a lease with CRST in ten days. They told me that I could be on dedicated lanes. But they want me to train for 60 days. I really don't want to train ppl. But that's there requirement a pond employement. So I guess I'll pay my due's for now.....
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It ain't so bad just work with the trainees

MondoburgerHD · Jul 4, 2017

nightgunner said: ↑

Just wondering. I will be starting orientation with Malone on Monday morning. It will be nice to be back there again.
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Good luck. And what is Malone?

Kenlui420 · Jul 4, 2017

MondoburgerHD said: ↑

Good luck. And what is Malone?
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I beleve Malone is a branch/division of CRST.

nightgunner · Jul 4, 2017

Malone is the flatbed division of CRST.

Kenlui420 · Jul 4, 2017

Nightgunner does CRST have tanker division, if so do you know the name of the tanker division?

nightgunner · Jul 4, 2017

No they don't. Rumors about them getting into it have been around for years. I don't expect it to happen though.

nightgunner · Jul 8, 2017

With all the negative stuff about Malone, they did step up and help me out when they didn't have to.

haulit6272 · Apr 1, 2019

MissJyss said: ↑

Now, you team up! You do need to be a little more picky at this stage of things because that's someone who you're going to be living with for as long as you are with CRST.
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So a person who wants to be a solo driver after training should avoid CRST altogether. Thanks for the tipoff. I would have found out eventually, but better to find out before even cluttering up big brother's databases with another instance of a truck driver job application that didn't pan out.

MetroPlex · Apr 24, 2022

MissJyss said: ↑

I have seen a ton of posts about CRST where they will tell you how horrible the company is, how they won't pay you, how they don't train you, how they're unfair... Blah, blah, blah, b***h, b***h, b***h. But there are always two sides to every story. When it comes to CRST, there is the slackers and complainers side of the story and then the other side where people actually do what they're supposed to.

I have been working for CRST since October of last year. I did all my research on all the different companies that provided paid training and CRST definitely seemed to be the best bet. I didn't just go by what a friend told me, what a recruiter told me, what a driver at a truck stop told me. You can't base your entire opinion on the opinions of a few. I left for training in late October and headed to Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo, IA. CRST had just recently started sending their students there to see if it was going to be a good alternative to Kirkwood. I had heard about it, simply asked my recruiter about it and he had no problem sending me there. At Hawkeye, you get hours upon hours upon hours of face-to-face time with instructors and drive time. Everybody in our class had at least a few hours of drive time every single day. The instructors are absolutely amazing, especially Bill. They make sure you know what the hell you're doing instead of just throwing you in and hoping for the best like Kirkwood. I graduated top of my class with absolutely no prior exposure to truck driving. PERIOD. You can do it as long as you don't sit around, use school time for socializing time, and actually do what you're told and listen to what the instructors have to say. Also, a little plus in Hawkeye is NO DORMS. They will put you up in a decent hotel with no bed bugs and hot breakfast in the morning. You also have a bus come and pick you up every morning, take you back to the hotel for lunch, where there are plenty of restaurants nearby, and will also take you to Wal-Mart if you absolutely need to go. Austin is the kid who drives the bus and if you do happen to go to Hawkeye, don't give that kid a hard time seeing as how he is one of the nicest, selfless people I have ever met.

Next, a 3-day orientation. If you can pass the drug test and physical, didn't lie on your background check, etc, you will have no problems getting through. All of your tests are open book tests and that should give you no excuse as to why you failed. The people who run the orientation, which I believe is now solely "Guido" who does it, are very patient and helpful. Listen to them and they will help you. When you are at orientation, you may have to sleep in the dorms or they'll most likely put you in either the Howard Johnson or the Red Roof Inn. I highly suggest the Red Roof Inn but they will only put you there if they have run out of rooms in both the dorms and the HOJO. You can always just pay for your own room, if you're set on something nice. After orientation, you will get hooked up with your trainer.

Ahhh, traning. Your 28 days of training will be however you make it to be. There are very few legitimate cases of "trainee abuse." Don't just go crying to Student Relations every time your trainer raises their voice at you, or wants you to get out of a bad habit, or gets on your case because you won't listen to them. You have to remember that when someone's training you, they are trusting you completely with their life, with their truck, with their livelihood, etc. Every single month, they have to get used to living with a whole new person and they also have to train that person and be walking on eggshells about everything that they do or say. You need to cut them a little slack. I can speak from experience because I had a HORRENDOUS trainer who I would never have been able to get along with in real life but I sucked it up and did my time and moved on. Now, if you have a legitimate problem, like sexual harassment, or any form of harassment, you do need to report such a thing so the company is able to get rid of these drivers.

Now, you team up! I was lucky in this aspect, seeing as how I already knew who I was going to team up with. You may have trouble finding someone. You may go through multiple different drivers and that's okay. You do need to be a little more picky at this stage of things because that's someone who you're going to be living with for as long as you are with CRST. Just make sure that you team up with somebody that you get along with but also somebody WHO LIKES TO RUN. If you have somebody who is going to slack off, deny loads, etc, then no, you aren't going to make any money.

CRST WILL RUN YOU. I don't know how these people are saying they maybe get 3,000 miles during a good week. As long as you do what you are told, make sure you bust your butt to get those air freight loads delivered on time, and keep on good terms with your disptacher, you WILL run 5-6k miles a week. And that is without HAZMAT.

Now, I am a female and I do run team with my fiance. If I can suck it up and bust my butt, I know all you men can do the same. Which, by the way, I'm saying in a teasing manner and not a derogatory manner so don't get your panties all up in a bunch. CRST IS a good company to start off with. They're not perfect and there may be a company out there that better suits you. All I'm trying to get across is don't believe all the horror stories just because a few people had bad experiences. Do your year with CRST and move on or stay, whatever works for you. If you have any questions, I'll be more than happy to help. I know it's hard to find someone that will give you the straight up truth because I had a hard time when I tried.

Be safe out there.
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Thanks for all this. Is CRST a teams only job? Sorry. I should have read more. Ignore this.

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