Working For Central Ref.

I might have only worked for Central Refrigerated for 7 months before I was let go due to accidents but i have to say that over all I was treated really well and loved working for the company it really is a good company to work for getting really good miles

 

i'm supposed to start school in about a week for central. anything i should take besides the $70 for my permit and clothes and toiletries? how's training? i'm going to school in dallas, is that a good facility? what's home time like? i have a nine month and one on the way, but me and their mom have split up. will i get good home time? and the pay sounds awesome, is it all they make it sound like? i've seen the negative reviews and i work for wal mart, anywhere you go you're gonna have negative people. i want the real truth please. i'm quiting two jobs just to start this one. i wanna know, me being 26 and still kinda young if it's worth it. please please please help me out. thanks for your time.

 

hi, i'm starting training with central refrigerated on nov 3rd, in salt lake city. I have a few questions for you drivers.
1:Whats an average weekly paycheck like?? take home..
2:who are the major accounts with?
3:average wait time for load/unload
4:If any of your are trainers please let me know the schedule, as far as do we team during mentoring? and just some specifics, the average day in the life of a trainee..

thanks alot guys, your imput will be much appreciated

Jason

 

Pay will start to come slowly.
For school you will need allot more than 70 dollars. Unless you do not plan to eat much for 2 weeks. You will need a couple hundred for the 2 weeks so you do not have to worry about money.

As I started to say, pay will come slowly. Once solo it will depend on you, your dispatcher, and the load planners, as to how much money you make.
They are swapping to electronic logs now. So I think it will take them a few months to work the bugs out of the system, and start getting drivers good consistent miles again.
I would guess you will average around 600 a week for the first month or so, then go up from there. My wife always depended on 800 a week. I was averaging around 1000 a week for my last 6 months or so with them. This is take home by the way. The way they do there per-diem, your take home will be almost the same as your gross.

As it is now, the planners like to pawn off loads that they messed up on to drivers. Loads they should have had set up with trucks 2 days before. They set a driver up with this load, the driver accepts the load before they realize they cannot do it in the time given.
Too bad for the driver. If they accepted it before letting anyone know they could not possibly deliver on time, it is now there fault when it is late. When the real person that should have been blamed is the planner that did not dispatch a truck on a load when they should have.

This will not be able to happen with the electronic logs. The planner will hopefully be required to check hours available before sending the load. This will not always be the case, because sometimes they will book you with loads a week in advance. But when that happens it will be the drivers fault if they do not work there hours before hand.
It is hard to try and look into the crystal ball to see how it will go.
There planners and many dispatchers out in SLC are very over paid and very under trained. They are young kids right out of college, and they have no concept of how there every little whim affects there drivers.
Does this make them a bad company? I do not think so. It just makes it so drivers have to really pay more attention to what loads they accept and there HOS. Planning is very important. It will not be done for you.

 

Do they fuel in SWIFT Terminals?

 

Hey lyle,

I guess I'll be seeing you Monday, then. I start training in Irving in 6 days. You will need living expenses; at least food. And bring warm clothing. It actually does get cold in Texas. lol

I was directed to this company by a recruiter for a DIFFERENT independent school. She knows the companies and considers this one of the better ones for unlicensed people. It wasn't my first choice, but it looks to be the best option available to me.

I was told at Central that I would be getting .29/mi. after the first 4 weeks and I don't expect more than 2500-3000 miles a week. But for me, that's fine. And for someone on Walmart pay (you), it should be pretty good.

Good luck.


I hope to meet Lonesome Dove. Sounds like a decent sort.

 

is central really going to paper less logs when is this happening?

 

I know over half the company is already on electronic logs, i know I am. But I would rather be back on paper due to when your 14 hr window is up and your within minutes of a 99 or HOME then you go into hos dot violation. But other then that its really easy and nice to work with.

 

Im training with central right now and i am ok and hav ing a good time, I am writing a blog about all the things that happen and where i am its pretty cool u should go check it out, hit me with a comment or post

 

NO PETE FOR US. BEEN THERE DONE THAT! This KW900 is the best ride we have ever had with the best fuel mileage ever! No maintenance problems, and hauls a load up a mountain like it wasn't even there.