CRST Diaries... Part II "A New Experience"

[Nitro Express]

Hey all! I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with the "CRST Diaries" thread that ended up on a bad note. I thought I might make a Part II and see if things go any different for me. I'm currently in the middle of my class A training and I'm set up to start with CRST after I graduate. I was really discouraged after reading the original Diary so I'm hoping my story has a much better outcome.

A little about me:
I'm a 41 year old married guy living in Southern California. I'm currently going to a school that contracts through CRST and Swift. CRST has an on site certified tester which will make things a little less complicated when it gets down to the skills and road test. I paid for the training up front so I'm not obligated to work for anyone. I just decided to try CRST. Tomorrow will be the beginning of my second week there. Friday was our first day of street driving which was pretty fun, aside from the trainer and one of the students butting heads. Not the trainer's fault though. The student is kind of a bullheaded jerk. I've got my endorsements for Tankers, Doubles/Triples, and Hazmat out of the way so all that's left is studying that air brake test and the walk around pre-trip inspection. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I really need to work on my shifting. I didn't get much wheel time because I did TOO well and the instructor spent most of the time with the other three students.

I'll continue to post my progress as things move along.

[Nitro Express]

Less than two weeks of training and tomorrow is my DMV test. It seems like such a short time to learn what I need to know. I'm doing pretty well with my shifting and my skills. 16 years of driving trucks around a facility that I used to work for is definitely paying off. It turns out that I will be going to the DMV instead of CRST's on site testing. They only do that if they are paying for you schooling and I paid up front. I guess it's just as well. I heard that the DMV can actually recall you to take the driving test again. They do that to make sure CRST isn't handing out gimme's to everyone. It seems kind of unfair to the drivers but I guess they have to keep CRST in line.

We had a guy join us for some road time this week. He already has his class A. He's supposed to go to work for CRST like me. They require you to take a brush up coarse before they will hire you if you've not driven in a while. He asked me if I would like to team up with him at CRST. I said, "sure, no problem." Now that I've seen his driving skills, there's no way I would drive with him. I can't believe he actually got his class A to begin with. He can't shift the truck! He's so busy jawing that he isn't paying attention to the road either. He smokes and I don't, so I'm just gonna tell him I want to partner with a non-smoker. If I wasn't such a nice guy I would just tell him straight up that his driving sucks.

Well, hopefully I'll be posting my next installment with my class A in my pocket, then it's off to CRST for orientation.

[Nitro Express]

A great day for me! I pretty much "ACED" the day! My air brakes and walk around I managed 100%, my skills I got 1 point and my driving test was perfect! I'm really excited now. I called the CRST recruiter and now I just have to fill out the application and turn in my K4 DMV printout. It looks like I might be starting the orientation on Monday. It's 3 and a half days and then I hit the road for 28 days with a trainer. My wife isn't too thrilled about that part though. That's a long ass time to be away from home.

[Sheepdancer]

21 days plus out is pretty normal for an OTR job on the west coast. Your wife might not be happy for a long time. Does she understand for about the first 6 months of your career you arent going to be home much?

[Nitro Express]

21 days plus out is pretty normal for an OTR job on the west coast. Your wife might not be happy for a long time. Does she understand for about the first 6 months of your career you arent going to be home much?

Yeah, she understands. We've discussed the issue quite a bit and have accepted that it's going to be a sacrifice we have to make. I know it's going to be harder on her than she realizes though. Hell, it's gonna be hard on me too! I'm not too happy being away from the wife. I could see if we didn't get along it might be a pretty good situation. If it get's too hard I'll just have to stop doing it and try to go local. My plan was stay OTR for at least a year for the experience which will help me land a good local job, or even a regional type of thing where I'm home every few days. That would work out great. My long term plan is to get myself into the Heavy Duty wrecking business, starting out working for someone and eventually owning my own wrecker truck. That's the dream anyway.

Just to update, I am confirmed to start orientation on Monday. I went down to the school where the CRST rep is and gave her my DMV printout and filled out the application. It didn't take them long to approve me, just a few hours.

[Nitro Express]

My first day of orientation begins tomorrow morning. I'm a little nervous but in a good way. My wife and I drove by the terminal just to make sure I know exactly where to go. I definitely don't want to be late. This is an industry of being on time, so that would look pretty bad if I showed up late.

I spent a lot of time today picking up supplies for my 28 day training run. Walmart was the only place open today being Easter Sunday. It turned out good though because I found everything I was looking for. I even found a huge duffel bag. I'm thinking I should be able to write a lot of this stuff off as job related expenses. Anyone have any advice on what I will be able to write off?

[flood]

keep track of EVERY thing you buy ((EVERYTHING..!))and find a good bookeeper one that KNOWS TRUCKING not some H&R block.. if thay don't know trucking thay will miss alot of things. trucker can write off things you would not beleave

you have a laptop so get something like ms money, quick books, to keep records (have the same program loaded on you home systen also) when you have your own truck get a small all-in-one printer/scanner, you will not beleave how handy it will be. scan everything into the laptop (that way you can print a copy IF you need one) if you have a picket HD or flash drive when you get home just copy to the drive and when you are in the house you can copy everything to your home system..

btw you can write all this off to... like i said find a good TRUCKING bookeeper. truckers are the only ones that can write somethings off. keep a record of every cent you spend.. keep all your log books (you'll need them for you der diem write off) and also keep up with what city & state you spend you 10hr break ( some city's the per diem is more)

now best of luck as you start your new life on the road..

[scythe08]

I used to file my taxes with Jackson Hewitt. I'm in SLC, UT, but I'm pretty sure they're a national company. They always did a good job. But now a CPA who specializes in trucking opened up 3 doors down from them and he's cheaper. But I never had anyproblem with them.

Best of luck

[Nitro Express]

For anyone who may be interested at this point, I'm not on the road yet. Yesterday was the last day of orientation and a few people were sent out with their lead drivers. My lead driver was in Arizona. I got my official Fleet Manager/Dispatcher and she's very nice to talk to. I got my Comdata card for fundage and fuel, my official employee ID number, and misc other necessities like a calculator, log book, road altas, and truck stop guide. The atlas, guide, and calculator are given to you at CRST's cost which is 20 dollars for everything. CRST also put us up in a motel for the night at no cost to us.

This morning I got a call from my lead driver. Very nice and professional over the phone. He advised me that he has to reset his hours, which is when you've reached 70 hours within a week, you must take a 34 hour break before your 70 hours resets. He said if I want to kick back at home until Sunday it's cool with him. He's going to be at a local truck stop so I'll get a ride over there on Sunday and we'll be hitting the highway.

That's it for now. I'll try my best to update while I'm out on the road. I'll be bringing a camera too. My first trip is kind of special and something I'd like to remember. If I get some good shots I'll post them up too.

Nitro

[Nitro Express]

Well it's been a while since I've been able to get online at all. I picked up a laptop and I'm taking advantage of a wifi connection here at a truck stop.

So far after 3 weeks of over the road training, my opinion of CRST is good. The dispatcher we have is excellent. She does whatever she can to help us out. We've kind of been stuck on the East Coast running up and down between Florida and NY. It's fine with me but my trainer isn't happy with it. That brings me to my main issue. My trainer is an ass. He's rude, erogant, and a complete whiner! He bitches about everything! His driving is horrible. He would be dangerous in a car, let alone a semi. In traffic he's aggressive and very impatient. I can honestly say I'm a better driver than he is. Less experienced but better all around. I keep my line, I leave plenty of space, I don't make hasty lane changes.. he rides the car in front of us to keep anyone from getting in, he whips his lane changes, he constantly yells and screams at drivers and uses the air horn excessively. He claims to be CRST's best driver. OMG this guy needs a good ass kickin'. It's all I can do to keep from cleaning his clock. We've butted heads of course and I even called him on a log book issue that I thought he was wrong on. He had to call the head of safety to "end this once and for all" as he put it. He was wrong and had to eat crow on that one. I loved it. Let's not even talk about the fact that he has only taken one shower in three weeks. That's nasty in my book. I'm used to a shower a day and have had to cut it back to one a week in order to keep on schedule with our loads.

I love the driving and there's plenty of work with this outfit. I'm just really anxious to get off this truck and get into my own with my co-driver. This trainer has been the biggest downer in this entire experience. He really shouldn't be a trainer IMHO. One thing I think CRST would benefit from, would be to screen their trainers a little better. Not just anyone should be given the job of leading a new driver into the company.

OH! One more thing. Is it pretty much the norm for drivers to piss in bottles? I'm more than sicked out by this, especially since this clown saves them up until there's about 6 or 7 bottles before throwing them out. If I gotta go.. I'm just gonna stop. I don't know what to think about this one. Opinions?

[Smokeeater]

Well, I admire your tolerance. Only thing I can say is you only have 1 more week of him. Good luck and hang in there. He sounds like a real gem !!

[coalregion]

Sounds to me like this guy is u$ing you to make himself more $$ off of your back. :shock: 1 shower in 3 weeks? Your a better man than me bro. :wink: Hang in there.1 more week of Stinky McFunkerson and you'll be done.You definitely should mention to safety about his aggressive habits behind the wheel if your asked how he was as a trainer,as it sounds like he's a major accident just waiting to happen.

[devildice]

Sounds to me like this guy is u$ing you to make himself more $$ off of your back. :shock: 1 shower in 3 weeks? Your a better man than me bro. :wink: Hang in there.1 more week of Stinky McFunkerson and you'll be done.You definitely should mention to safety about his aggressive habits behind the wheel if your asked how he was as a trainer,as it sounds like he's a major accident just waiting to happen.

What he said!

[Nitro Express]

Sounds to me like this guy is u$ing you to make himself more $$ off of your back. :shock: 1 shower in 3 weeks? Your a better man than me bro. :wink: Hang in there.1 more week of Stinky McFunkerson and you'll be done.You definitely should mention to safety about his aggressive habits behind the wheel if your asked how he was as a trainer,as it sounds like he's a major accident just waiting to happen.

I'm back home until Monday. Got in early last Friday. I spoke with my dispatcher and she's gonna hook us up with a tractor on Friday. My co-driver and I are going to meet up on Saturday to inspect the truck for any maintenance issues, clean it up, and move our stuff in. I hope we don't get a junker, that's all I can say. If it's bad I will probably just request another one. It can't hurt to ask. Most of their trucks I've seen aren't that old. They use the Freightliner Columbia now and they aren't too bad.

As far as the loser trainer, I talked to dispatch and gave them the low down. I was his fourth student and I'm pretty sure none of the other ones had the balls to say anything. They just did their time and went on from there. I personally don't want to get him in trouble but after what I saw, it's just something I have to do. He needs to be re-trained himself!

Anyway, it seems as though the rumors of bad CRST trainers isn't too far off. I will also say that my co-driver's experience wasn't so bad. His trainer was good and actually showered too! So there's some good ones out there, it's just the luck of the draw. I would consider becoming a trainer but I don't think I could deal with someone new every month, and then having to trust their driving skills enough to sleep behind them. No thanks!

[BigWheels]

this clown saves them up until there's about 6 or 7 bottles before throwing them out....

Ya got yourself there a quality trainer that's fer sure!



When I started out OTR, I had 2-different trainers and they never used a pee bottles. They were experienced, professional truckers who showed me the ropes sans the pee bottles. And we stopped for showers every few days! Having a good trainer(s) certainly makes your start in the industry a positive one.

[Big Vince]

I'm new and looking to get into the Trucking business too. I'm out of Upland Ca and will be keeping an eye on your experience with CRST to help me make my decision. So thanks for the insight.

[Nitro Express]

I'm new and looking to get into the Trucking business too. I'm out of Upland Ca and will be keeping an eye on your experience with CRST to help me make my decision. So thanks for the insight.

That's exactly why I'm doing this. Glad I could help!

[Smokeeater]

Keep posting Nitro, hell if I dont like a particular thread, I just don't open it.The ability to air our differences of opinion is what this country is all about.

[Nitro Express]

I'm a little bit discouraged. I was hoping that once I got on the road with my co driver that things would get better. I guess I may not be cut out for team driving. I'm too particular when it comes to organization and procedures. My co driver seems to have been taught a few things that contradict what I was taught. That's fine - we can deal with that. He isn't the best driver I've seen, but then he is new so... it's to be expected. What I have a hard time dealing with is his habits of whistling and singing while he drives. He's a slob and quite clumsy and tends to spill shi@ everywhere. I'm very neat, clean, and organized so you can see the dilemma. Compatibitly with your co driver is essential. Me? I'm probably going to go with Knight Transportation after I get 4 months on the road. They have no training period but four months is required to get a job with them. They have nice, clean trucks too. CRST's terminals are all dirt lots and it's rare to find a clean CRST truck. Ours was no exception. I'm also getting kind of tired of hearing these other drivers bitch at us because we're too slow. We're maxed out at 65. I just tell them, "it's called a governor! Call CRST and bitch if you don't like it!" It seems the CB is just a tool for whiners to bitch and moan. I'm probably gonna shut it off from now on.

[Smokeeater]

Well hang in there Nitro. I agree with you on team driving. You have to be very compatible for that to work. I guess going solo has is advantages. There is not much room to get away from an irritant in that cab. Best of luck!!