that policy is still in effect. company solos dont last long these days. Back in Nov of 2009, they ILLEGALLY changed their contract with their IC's, resulting in over 80% of their drivers turning in their trucks. Some of the basic changes made to our contract were to be paid less per mile for empty miles, all ICs having to pay for their license, permits etc. and my personal favorite the phase 2 "babysitter" (AKA TRAINER) having to pay their student $0.12 per mile rather than $0.10 per mile.

They utilized a clause in our existing contract that stated either party may terminate the terms and conditions of this agreement at any time for any reason provided 30 days written notice is given. The choices that ICs were given were to basically sign the new contract, or give them back their truck and be without a job. As for the trainer, I have heard a lot of horror stories and not a single damned one of them make CRE look like a good company. I will say there are a number of very good people within CRE's ranks many of which frequent this site, but as a whole entity, they have some work to do. Their training program in and of itself is a joke all the way around, and was actually changed December of 2009 to their own liking so they could get their precious lease trucks out on the road. Since then there has been a number of tweaks and changes to the training program. It seems every 3 months, some kind of new decision comes down from the top, which changes training policy. It has gone from a prestigious 3 month training program (regardless if you were going to lease or go company) to 30 days phase 1 and 12 days phase 2, down to 15k miles and 30 days in phase 1 with an option to lease, and phase 2 being solely reserved to starve company drivers into going lease, all the way to their most recent change of 14k miles in phase 1 and 18k miles in phase 2. for those unfamiliar with team driving, thats a little over 2.5 weeks (on average) for phase 1, and roughly 3 weeks for phase 2. Totaling roughly 1.5 months of training to get these guys into their own brand new trucks. And yet the safety managers are still scratching their heads wondering WHY CRE has one of the worst safety records (in terms of CSA scoring) on the road right now. I guess it is also no coincidence that the 47 rollovers last year weren't due to lax training standards either. Maybe I am missing something here.....

Their csa score is horrible! I actually took my truck and am now with landstar. Did that middle of June. Much happier now pulling landstar freight with my blue England truck...and actually buying my first trailer today!

i have seen newbies get left at truck stops. after talking to them i see why the trainers did so. as far as his personal stuff i think that it is theft and that sucks for the newbe driver.

driver trainer is a tough job that i would never do.

taking off with there personal stuff backfired on this trainer.

With the above quote, i was a C.R. England driver, i was also wanting to be a company driver/lease purchase and they canned me after 3 months employment.

Learning companies are needed, who else knocks your mirror on his first "trip" to a wide open loading area?????

id'e say theres still better training companies out there other than england even though theres really no difference than the dot numbers on the truck and the color and some don't force you to lease eathier.

IN this time where information is readily available about all trucking companies, I have come to this conclusion.

This is the fault of the driver who was left behind. If he had taken the time to research CRE, he would have known what kind of company he was dealing with.

I am so tired of listening or reading stories like this one that I have decided that if you don't do some form of research about a company that you want to hire on with, it's your own fault when things like this happen.

By now, there is more than enough information about all companies to make an informed decision. Don't be so quick to dismiss any info that drivers take the time to share.

Having an informed driving base in America is the best way to get companies like CRE to close down.

i have to agree with ya cluggy. newbies should take there time and do there research before jumping in. with the internet theres lots of info on trucking companies.

I think some of us were expecting something of this sort, atleast the more experienced ones amongst us.
Such plans are always in favor of the company, and not us. Like windwalker said, “If you don't play their game, they don't want you”.