[swab11]

Well! Made up my mine to go ahead and go with Celadon,heard some good,bad,and ugly and thanks to all for their input,but, guess I'm like most truck drivers,got to find out for myself,I can put up with a lot and as long as the miles average out to about 2500(more I hope)a week and I get a week off plus a $1000 every 3 months,I'll keep driving their truck for them,should get into Indianapolis about 1800 tomorrow and be ready for orientation Wed. morning,they told me the first thing they do is give you a physical and a road test,if you don't pass those 2 then I guess you're on your way home.Hope they will send me back through the house to get all my stuff,soon as I can I'll get back on here and let all know how its going,be safe out there.

[Malaki86]

Originally Posted by swab11

Well! Made up my mine to go ahead and go with Celadon,heard some good,bad,and ugly and thanks to all for their input,but, guess I'm like most truck drivers,got to find out for myself,I can put up with a lot and as long as the miles average out to about 2500(more I hope)a week and I get a week off plus a $1000 every 3 months,I'll keep driving their truck for them,should get into Indianapolis about 1800 tomorrow and be ready for orientation Wed. morning,they told me the first thing they do is give you a physical and a road test,if you don't pass those 2 then I guess you're on your way home.Hope they will send me back through the house to get all my stuff,soon as I can I'll get back on here and let all know how its going,be safe out there.

The road test has a couple fairly tight turns on it. Just take your time. They're pretty easy going on that. My first load after I got my truck took me through the house so I could finish loading up my stuff. Just make sure you tell your dispatcher (you'll meet them in person) that you need to go through the house.

Good luck to ya and hope ya like Laredo - you'll see plenty of it.

[Cat6869]

I hope you enjoy Celadon . I will be one of your instructors during your orientation and feel free to ask about the site .

I am not scared

I will say they do expect you to run legal on your logs and be legal at all times and to deliver freight on time. If you can run like a driver (legally) and do what is expected you will have a great future there .

That's just a tip. Talk to me on smoke break .

I have been there many years and have seen ups and downs, but if you stick through the ups and downs you have senority and that pays off sometimes . Good luck and enjoy the boring 3 day orientation, but do LISTEN AND STAY AWAKE as many things you will need to know.

[swab11]

Got most everything packed and about to hit the sack,thanks for the 2 replys,plane leaves Augusta,GA tomorrow at 1410,change in Atlanta,arrive in Indianapolis at 1800,was going to rent a car,but, it was only a few dollars more to fly,by the time I paid for the rental,gas,and drove for 10 hrs, decided it was worth a few dollars to get there in a hurry,besides they'll reinburst me the price of a bus ticket,so it not all that much.Talk to y'all later.

[headborg]

And to think, you could have joined Crete/Shaffer and had just a short ride up to Marietta, Ga and did orientation. Oh well, You win some......Some get away.
Now remember you promised us a "play by play" honest update on how it "really" is over there. Many of us are "looking" at Celadon still....scratching our heads and wondering "maybe"...Looking forward to reading your stories.

[Malaki86]

Originally Posted by headborg

And to think, you could have joined Crete/Shaffer and had just a short ride up to Marietta, Ga and did orientation. Oh well, You win some......Some get away.
Now remember you promised us a "play by play" honest update on how it "really" is over there. Many of us are "looking" at Celadon still....scratching our heads and wondering "maybe"...Looking forward to reading your stories.

I wasn't at Celadon for a long time - maybe 3 months (I left to take my current job for more hometime).

I had absolutely no issues with them. They kept the truck moving with an average load of about 850-900 miles in length. The only time I did any sitting waiting on a load was an average of 12-18 hours at Laredo. You'll come to love the guaranteed detention time. As long as you're at the destination on time and send in your Qualcomm macros, you WILL be paid detention for it. I've been paid 24+ hours of detention on one load. In fact, the detention pay was higher than the mileage pay on that one.

I also had no trouble at all with my hometime. I was home when I requested it with no problems whatsoever. Also, I only made ONE trip to the north-east. The most common area I drove was the southern half of the country.

Like I said, I didn't work there very long, and that was a year ago. Even when I left with a weeks notice they paid for my rental car to return home.

They may not pay the highest rates in the biz, but things went good for me there.

[swab11]

headborg....I did work for Crete before and didn't like it that much,they make you put up a deposit for everything,they give very little to a driver,I purchased the Pre-pass and it never did work,the worse part for me was their trucks,OPTIMIZE ITLE,that thing woke me up all the time,drove tired most of the time,Home time is something they don't believe in,if you don't stay out 3 to 5 weeks they don't like you, I'm thinking you might be a recruiter the way you keep lifting them up so high , but I'm sure they still have a few good drivers,but ,not me :lol:

[headborg]

Recruiter? Hardly?

In fact if they read to many of my posts here...they might decide to "fire" me--I was worried earlier when I kept getting Banned messages that---management might have decided--I had made too many posts
critical of one of their biggest Sponsors/Advertisers.

I came here/found the site looking for a possible Escape from Shaffer/crete.

The problem is: I'm making really good money here at .465 cents per mile.
And so far in the last 2.5 years---it's been probably the best move-money wise that I've made. Considering I live in BumFRACK, Arkansas. They so far haven't moaned and groaned hardly at all when I bounce the truck 200miles to get home(fuel cost). There's alot of good things about this company.

That's were the rub comes in----THE PARENT COMPANY --CRETE---so times MAKES ME WANT TO SCREAM....PULL MY HAIR OUT/
big company- big company attitude
there's the right way---and there's crete's way---or there's the HIGHWAY

That's what pisses me off the most- when you can see 'what could be' a fantastic job/ company.-----but, the shiny pearl is covered in bullshit.

I just suggested Crete- because it seemed like a pretty short bus ride to good pay, and other "commonly valued" qualities. I had no idea you had
tried it before and it didn't "fit".

p.s. I made my peace with the "opti-idle"( actually I came up with a full proof method of getting around it) the auto startup just before the batteries are discharged to a point where it won't start--i find now is a great feature.

[mbadriver]

I like Celadon's vacation plan. It's a good deal. The mileage pay was a tad low. Also I didn't want to be out for a minimum of 2-weeks. Good luck, you could have done a lot worse.

Originally Posted by swab11

Well! Made up my mine to go ahead and go with Celadon,heard some good,bad,and ugly and thanks to all for their input,but, guess I'm like most truck drivers,got to find out for myself,I can put up with a lot and as long as the miles average out to about 2500(more I hope)a week and I get a week off plus a $1000 every 3 months,I'll keep driving their truck for them,should get into Indianapolis about 1800 tomorrow and be ready for orientation Wed. morning,they told me the first thing they do is give you a physical and a road test,if you don't pass those 2 then I guess you're on your way home.Hope they will send me back through the house to get all my stuff,soon as I can I'll get back on here and let all know how its going,be safe out there.

[swab11]

Telling me I could have done a lot worse is true,because I've had better/more cpm than Celadon offers,but, I'm looking at the big picture and down the road,if I can average about 2500 miles a week,get that week off and $1000 bucks after every 30,000 miles, that should keep me content and able to take all the other crap that goes alone with trucking,I'm sure y'all know what I mean,stay safe all.