Celadon

[Malaki86]

Just wondering how things are going at Celadon nowadays. I worked there for a short time a few years ago and am considering going back. I talked to a couple of their drivers on the road last week & this week - they seemed really happy. Just want to see if anyone else has anything to add, whether good or bad.

[Orangetxguy]

Just wondering how things are going at Celadon nowadays. I worked there for a short time a few years ago and am considering going back. I talked to a couple of their drivers on the road last week & this week - they seemed really happy. Just want to see if anyone else has anything to add, whether good or bad.

White trucks....64 mph....lot's and lot's of them go to Laredo and Brownsville.

[Piece Of Work]

The Celadon drivers in the nice, newer trucks are the happiest. But there are those stuck in the old Internationals that grumble a bit. There seems to be 2 classes of Celadon drivers...

[geeshock]

I have a friend that is with celedon and the same holds true for him, he loves it. he averages 3k+ miles per week. Those that have older trucks aren't in to bad. They will get the next new truck soonest. Also, celedon allows for inverters as long as the one person they trust wires it in. As with most companies they are sticklers on idleing.

[Malaki86]

I talked to them yesterday - they don't allow any hard-wired inverters whatsoever. Only plugin ones now. I guess they had a truck or 2 burn down.

[bentstrider]

Well, another one I could add to the "go-to" list as the 3yr mark approaches.

Seems to me that most of the larger carriers are the same when it comes to basic rules.
As long as there's no hint of being run past hours and the "you should know where it is" attitude, then they're all good in my book.

[Joey Shabadoo]

White trucks....64 mph....lot's and lot's of them go to Laredo and Brownsville.

That's right...Celadon is big into cross-border freight.
I think it was their CEO...Stephen Russell if I recall...who said he wanted to get rid of all his American drivers and replace them with Mexicans.
Now there's a class act.
All that run-for-the border freight means long wait times.
Have fun trying to win Celadon's idle reduction contest in 100 degree south Texas weather.
Then try to make miles in a stripped-down 64 mph company rig.
Ay Carumba, where do I sign up?

[Malaki86]

That's right...Celadon is big into cross-border freight.
I think it was their CEO...Stephen Russell if I recall...who said he wanted to get rid of all his American drivers and replace them with Mexicans.
Now there's a class act.
All that run-for-the border freight means long wait times.
Have fun trying to win Celadon's idle reduction contest in 100 degree south Texas weather.
Then try to make miles in a stripped-down 64 mph company rig.
Ay Carumba, where do I sign up?

Ya, you're right. I should stay where I am, in a 6 year old worn out 65mph POS Columbia that our shop has cut their budget to the point that they won't even replace the batteries, even though if I shut the truck off for more than 4 hours I have to have a jump. Even though I can (well, have to) idle, my A/C isn't working because they said it's an unneccesary luxury. I could also keep getting these great percentage loads that pay the truck under $1.00 per mile, as well as the joy of running hundreds of miles deadhead for $0.00 per mile.

BTW - I talked to them this morning and I start there on the 29th.

[Mr. Ford95]

Hope things go better for you at Celadon and yeah your right it can't be much worse than what your experiencing even though CFM/Joey/whatever other names he uses says different.

[Malaki86]

I've talked to 4 or 5 of their drivers in the past few days. They're all averaging between 2,700 & 3,500 miles per week, every week. They've got so much freight that they've asked all of their drivers to not take any days off in March. That's gotta say something.

[Joey Shabadoo]

One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Ain't life a hoot?

[repete]

One man's trash is another man's treasure.
Ain't life a hoot?

Your just jealous

[RostyC]

Good luck Mal. I hope it works for you.

[Jackrabbit379]

Best of luck, Malaki.
Hope it works out for ya!

[Malaki86]

It might end up being worse than where I'm in, but they'll have to try REALLY hard to beat the crap I already deal with.

[Malaki86]

Quick update:

I started orientation on the 29th. Finished it up and got my truck yesterday on the 1st. Within 1/2 hour of telling my dispatch that I was available for a load, the had a load for me (well, 2 actually). I picked up a preloaded trailer at the yard and took it to Columbus, OH for delivery this morning. Got that done, drove 7 miles for my next pickup (where I'm sitting now). When they finish loading, I'll take the load to the house. It delivers Monday morning in Richmond, VA.

I absolutely *LOVE* my truck so far. It's a 2008 Prostar Eagle. *NICE* truck. In fact, the few people in orientation with me that received Volvo 780's were complaining that they'd rather have gotten the Prostar.

Now the fun part of getting the truck setup for me and the wife (she's just riding along, not driving).

While in Indy, it was very nice to hear basically the same thing from 95% of the drivers I talked to there. They've been running great miles and little to complain about with the company. In fact, the #1 complaint I heard was that they didn't want to run as many miles as the company is throwing at them on a consistent basis. Of course, there were complaints about the shop being slow, but I think that's a requirement of every company. There were a few drivers (maybe 2 or 3) that was saying that they're not getting any miles, but after hearing how many ARE getting great miles, I'd say that's got to have something to do with those 2-3 people and their work ethics.

Because of Greyhounds setup & West Virginia, I rented a car to drive to orientation. The rental cost me a total of $175. Celadon paid me $160 on the 2nd day of orientation to reimburse me for it.

There are a couple of things that made the orientation less than perfect:

Probably the worst thing about orientation there would be the ULTRA dry air coming from the vents in the dorm. I don't have sinus problems whatsoever, but when you wake up in the morning and blow your nose only to find it full of blood, well...

Following that in a close 2nd would be the quality of the food they serve in the cafeteria (free for orientation, 3 meals per day while you're there). Let's just say that everyone in orientation was making more than their fair share of trips to the restrooms.

And lastly would be the mens showers - for whatever reason, they have pretty much no hot water in the showers. The sinks in the restrooms have water hot enough to burn the shell off of a snapping turtle, but I guess it doesn't share with the shower. It was a nice feeling while in the shower to hear the toilet flush, though. That meant one thing - HOT WATER is on it's way to you for a few seconds.

Will this company be perfect? Probably not, but I doubt that the perfect company actually exists. Will I make the most of what I can get out of them? Most definitely.

Besides, what other large trucking company has the founder/CEO of the company come to the orientation to greet the new hires?

[Orangetxguy]

Good luck Mal. Keep up with the updates as you go along!

[Mr. Ford95]

Mal, saw one of your old Thomas trucks Thursday with a Now Hiring sticker on the back. It read: Home Weekly, Great Pay, Call Now

[Malaki86]

Heh - yup. At least they got one part of it right: Home Weekly, but the 2nd part should read "Paid Weakly".

I talked to one of my former coworkers from WST yesterday while I was setting up my truck. He lives in the same town as me and knew I was going to Celadon. I also talked to him on my last day at WST. They wanted him to seat into the truck I was getting out of, but refused to until they repaired the very audible air leak on the firewall, which I'd wrote up for 6 months. After a round of arguing between him, the shop, the manager and the owner, he told them to go F themselves and walked out. Before all of this had taken place, I was telling him about me going to Celadon, their pay, time out, etc.

Well, he called Celadon when he got home from quitting and spoke to the recruiter. This was on wednesday. They called him back Friday morning and he's now set up to go out there for orientation on Monday. He even tried to get the recruiter to give me the referral bonus, but since I hadn't even started orientation yet, they couldn't do it. No biggie there. It's payment enough to me knowing that they lost a 2nd driver to Celadon in a matter of an hour or so.

Oh, and I made a mistake on the truck. It's a 2009, not a 2008. Teams have it really nice. The team trucks all have inverters and true refrigerators built in. All teams hiring on there get a brand new truck. Every year after that, they get another new truck. Also, right now, because of the 2010 engines and them upgrading the fleet, the average age of the trucks are 1.5 years old. I think my truck has another 160k of miles left on it until it's set to trade in, at which time I'll get a new truck.

[Orangetxguy]

Heh - yup. At least they got one part of it right: Home Weekly, but the 2nd part should read "Paid Weakly".

I talked to one of my former coworkers from WST yesterday while I was setting up my truck. He lives in the same town as me and knew I was going to Celadon. I also talked to him on my last day at WST. They wanted him to seat into the truck I was getting out of, but refused to until they repaired the very audible air leak on the firewall, which I'd wrote up for 6 months. After a round of arguing between him, the shop, the manager and the owner, he told them to go F themselves and walked out. Before all of this had taken place, I was telling him about me going to Celadon, their pay, time out, etc.

Well, he called Celadon when he got home from quitting and spoke to the recruiter. This was on wednesday. They called him back Friday morning and he's now set up to go out there for orientation on Monday. He even tried to get the recruiter to give me the referral bonus, but since I hadn't even started orientation yet, they couldn't do it. No biggie there. It's payment enough to me knowing that they lost a 2nd driver to Celadon in a matter of an hour or so.

Oh, and I made a mistake on the truck. It's a 2009, not a 2008. Teams have it really nice. The team trucks all have inverters and true refrigerators built in. All teams hiring on there get a brand new truck. Every year after that, they get another new truck. Also, right now, because of the 2010 engines and them upgrading the fleet, the average age of the trucks are 1.5 years old. I think my truck has another 160k of miles left on it until it's set to trade in, at which time I'll get a new truck.

Ooooooooooh WAAaaaaaaaaaa!!!







In another 160K, I will run the math and see if I can afford a new truck......based on the revenue.