More Info on CR ENGLAND

[topfuelabd]

I'm suppose to be going to CR Englands 3 1/2 day orientation on the 25th. I would like to get more information on the company. I've heard good stuff and bad stuff about the company and was wondering if anyone on the board has some thoughts.

I just got out of Driving school and was wondering how good there training programs are and how good they treat their drivers.

Thanks for any and all info

Hawk

[Doctor Who]

Well, here it goes again!!!

That's what this forum is here for. Having said that run, don't walk from them. I have never talked to a driver who had a good story about them. They really push the lease/purchase program, which is an euphemism for why don't you drive for us for a while and then actually owe us more money than you will ever make here. Your doing your homework, which is good.

My opinion, if they were the last trucking company in the world I would get out of the industry.

The gentleman who wrote that is correct, and if that's not enough.. There are at least three other threads regarding England and none of them are favourable...

Save yourself a whole lot of HEARTACHE!!! Find another company to hire on with. Schneider would be at the top of the list, followed by CRST, Werner and Swift, and as much as it pains me to say even try JB. You'll be glad you did.......................

[kreeper01]

Dr. Who, i'll have to disagree with your posts on subject like this. There are going to be crap loads of hate for each and every trucking company there is, not one trucking company is immune to hate threads. It'll have to be up to the other rookies to figure out which trucking company to go for. As for me, i worked for CRST at .18 cents a mile, now i am going to work for C.R. England at .87 cents a mile, an increase of .70 cents per mile starting out.
Now tell me what kind of hate is that?

[Night Rider]

hey Doc let me take this one!


Kreeper it has nothing to do with crap loads England sucks period.

You're going to pull loads for .87 cents a mile are you crazy, Let me guess, you signed up for the Lease/Purchase deal didn't you????

Ah yes another sucker mesmerized by the thrill of owning his own truck, yet can't get enough miles to make the truck payments.

.87 cents a mile for 500 miles don't add up to much and another driver falls victim to the largest scam in trucking.

The Doctor and others, such as myself, have been around a long time and have seen the results from drivers who fell headlong into the Lease Operator trap and for what, just to drive a big RED truck.

It is quite possible you may do well, but the odds are stacked against you and I do hope the recruiter that signed you sends you a Christmas card.

For the guy who started this thread, do what Scoe had suggested RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN. You'll be better off!

[lifespalette]

Run .. don't walk from England unless you have a very good lawyer on retainer. As for CRST..... I just finished their orientation and spent my two weeks OTR with lead driver... (who has a total of 7 months driving experience)... he had a week of HT scheduled ... so I'm home for a week. I very seriously doubt I'm going to go back......first, a former design partner of mine called this weekend to ask me if I would be interested in working with him again for 6 - 8 months (pretty hard to turn down a $65,000 gig for just barely surviving on the road)........Second, the recruiter and orientation instructors painted a very positive picture of working for CRST.... (Rule #1 Truckers are good at lying and B.S ing, Rule #2 Dispatchers are better at it.) The realities out on the road are totally different then what you will be told. Dispatchers are only concerned about their tally boards and the load, period. You as the driver are nothing more than an expendable resource.......easily replaced if you leave. As a matter of fact during orientation you will be told that out of a class of 25 - 30 drivers......... only 5 are apt to still be with the company after the 28 day training period. That should have caused red flags to pop up. During the first 2 weeks OTR, I learned several things rather quickly. #1, the odds of getting the average miles they will quote you are not good. The system disorganization and poor dispatch planning almost prohibit it. Out of the first 5 trips dispatched... the directions were so erroneous or incomplete as to result in approximately 8 hours of wasted driving time. #2, dispatchers never look at or have very limited abilities in map reading, so never never never take their directions to a pick up or drop off to be correct, always route your trip out yourself, being sure to confirm restricted roads, etc........#3, life OTR is neither glamorous nor easy, especially if you're married and have kids.......#4, while in training you'll make enough to cover your road expenses and almost nothing else, so make sure you have enough in savings for your family to live off of. It will help for you to live out of your supply box and cooler and stay out of the truck stops as much as possible. But face it......the first 6 months are really rough as far as money.........be prepared....if you get close to the $30K - $35K they say is possible (remember Rule #1) the first year.....almost 70% of it is going to come in the last 6 months. #5, dispatchers care very little about your available hours, your personal needs or functions... just remember they don't get the ticket you do. You will find your scheduled or planned pick up and drop off times or for that matter even your load, can change in the blink of an eye or dispatcher shift change. In orientation you'll be told the company policy is a break after 5 hours driving.....OTR, you may very well get Qualcomm'ed as to why you're stopped and taking a break to eat etc., etc........

The equipement is pretty good, (the governors suck) and the benefits aren't bad.....as a matter of fact I was fairly impressed with the medical insurance plan. I would recommend though if you can ... bypass the bridge policy they will offer you.....it's pretty expensive for the benefits you get and is only ment to get you through the 6 months until your regular BC/BS policy goes into effect.

How they compare to other companies I can only guess, but I would be willing to bet they aren't that much different........it's quit apparent trucking companies make more profit when they have a bunch of drivers in training and are getting paid such low CPM rates......keeping enough of them coming through the process can only improve the bottom line....

Whichever way you go... remember no one other than you and your team partner (if you're driving team) and maybe some other drivers out there (and there are alot of good ones out there) will be looking out for you. So always CYA...........and be safe. Make damn sure you can deliver or pick up the load in the hours and manner which keeps you safe before you commit to the dispatcher.......I quickly learned to live by one of my oldest rules........"Lack of or piss poor planning our your part DOES NOT constitute an emergency on my part." Good luck and God's protection for your out there.

[Silver Bullet]

Dr. Who, i'll have to disagree with your posts on subject like this. There are going to be crap loads of hate for each and every trucking company there is, not one trucking company is immune to hate threads. It'll have to be up to the other rookies to figure out which trucking company to go for. As for me, i worked for CRST at .18 cents a mile, now i am going to work for C.R. England at .87 cents a mile, an increase of .70 cents per mile starting out.
Now tell me what kind of hate is that?

It's only a matter of time before you will be back here posting about how CRE screwed you, lied to you, cheated you, etc. It you just left CRST @ .18/mile (student pay) for CRE @ .87/mile, you really have no idea what you have just gotten yourself into. You obviously didn't even make it out of training with them, because when your training is complete, you go from .18/mile to .22.mile. I know, I was a trainer for them. All I can say is you made a mistake.

[Doctor Who]

misery is a choice

Yes it is....

[bluebeetle]

and it loves company!

[Mittster]

Save yourself a whole lot of HEARTACHE!!! Find another company to hire on with. Schneider would be at the top of the list, followed by CRST, Werner and Swift, and as much as it pains me to say even try JB. You'll be glad you did.......................[/color][/quote]



Dr Who is there a reason you left Stevens Transport off here? I would have to say right now I have it down to three companys CRST/Schneider or Stevens. But am wondering if Stevens is not a great company for a starter since you left it out of the list there.

[Doctor Who]

NO actually an oversight, I don't know much about Stevens except what I heard from their recruit staff

For newbies with no experience, I recommend one of the following training companies: www.Schneider.com, www.Roehl.Net, www.MillisTransfer.com
.
CRST is basically a team oriented outfit.
JB Hunt requires 6 months OTR experience.
Werner does not have their own school but accepts PTDI school grads.

[independent recruiter]

Stevens has a pretty decent program, onsite training school, follow up training program and decent pay.

give me a shout, we'll talk...lol

[TheRoadCrew]

Some insight to CRE: The teacher I had, Jim ???, was really positive and helpful, even though we had a few airheads, disgruntled drivers from other companies, and a few "SuperTruckers." I did my reasearch almost an entire year before I came up with a short list of companies I would apply to... the list was as follows.. Number 1 - Stevens Transport. (they sold me on their awsome website, detailed information, and good fleet of rigs. I have never seen a poorly kept/damaged/abandoned/broke-down Stevens Rig... Number 2 - C.R. ENGLAND ( Growing up in Idaho I would see these cool rigs all the time, and after extensive research via the web and forums, I found VERY LITTLE to discourage me. Gene England actually shook my hand at the Orientation and expressed his "Deepest thanks and appreciation" [his words] for all the new drivers. He also expressed that CRE needed us and would do what they could to keep us. Also, the teachers are REALLY helpful and patient. They only problems I could forsee for any newbie would be to SAVE MONEY AND BE PREPARED FOR PINCHING PENNIES. It WILL BE TOUGH getting adjusted to the financial situation, but if you go in with a "I didn't come here to fail" attitude [my personal mantra during my stint] you should be fine. Also, come ready to disclose every and any illegal or character "mark" against you as you WILL BE INTERVIEWED BY A REAL FBI PROFILER. Mine was named Proctor, he was old, intense, and if you went in to see him and didnt come out, it was understood that you lied to the Recruiter about something in your past. Just a warning. Stay away from driver trainer Larry F. I dont want to get in trouble by slandering someone, but he was not in any position to train. I needed help on backing, trip-planning, and just general knowledge of the roadlife, but he was useless. All he kept talking about was his marital problems. All-in-all, CRE was a fun and interesting experience. You will run into people who despise the company you drive for, for whatever twisted reason, but that is not to say there are genuine bad feelings for a certain company; dont let others mistakes discourage you, learn from them. Be positive, Be THRIFTY with your money (DONT SPEND ANY AT TRUCK STOPS> THINK CHEAP!!!), and ALWAYS DRIVE SAFELY!, and you should be fine on the road.
And Number 3 - Schneider. They offered a cool Skid-pad training segment in their course which should be taught by every company. Other than a goverend 55mph organge truck, they seemed like a pretty reliable company thru my research and speaking to a peer whose mom is still a driver for Schneider.
My suggestion would be to THOROUGHLY RESEARCH all companies based on what you really hope to accomplish thru trucking, then ask questions till you turn blue.

One side note: the only thing I can say about CRE is thier Credit Union One, which is the financing company they use. The loan is actually for $5,500.00 at a high 22%-24%, approximately. Which was higher than I was told. They start off deducting about $45 dollars per check for about the first month, then it drops to $35 per check. If you stay on for one year, the debt is forgiven, and you will recieve a $1,600.00 return (but I am forgetting the details on this one). I was planning on retiring from CRE, but for me, things went south in the family sector, and I was unwise with my spending habits. But I am seriously considering coming back to OTR because I LOVED IT! and I am DEFINATELY looking into CRE again. I only hope they take me back.

[NYRaze]

Read this website. It will give you all the insight on CR England...

http://www.ripoffreport.com/results.asp?q1=ALL&q5=cr+england&submit2=Search!&q 4=&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0

[NYRaze]

http://www.ripoffreport.com/results.aspq1=ALL&q5=cr+england&submit2=Search!&q4 =&q6=&q3=&q2=&q7=&searchtype=0

[NYRaze]

The website works better if you cut & paste it. Do not click on it.

[NYRaze]

Cut & paste the website link. It does not work if you click on it.

[OverTheRoad]

This post is 3 years old

[NYRaze]

You just have to read them. When you get to CR England, remeber these articles and see if your situation relates to these articles. Thats all. That is your decision to make.

[kreeper01]

I left Crap Rolling Every New Guy Leaves After Ninty Days after being there exactly 90 days in mid November of 2003.

The company stated a bunch of things that sounded good, but failed to back it up, So i was left holding the bag.

I am with a really sucky company now, however, i need only 2 things:
1) A paycheck

and

2) Experience behind the wheel.

The International Botherhood of Teamsters gave me a call about the time i left Crap Rolling stating once i get 1 year experience i'll be starting out at $17 an hour and .35 cents per mile. I'll have to see if this is true by giving IBT a call and going to work for Yellow.