Bumper, THE SKUNK "SWEET SIMON" Maybe reborn??? :shock: I know PD loves SKUNKS!!! :lol: HUH JON? :lol:

Yes simon is back, When you pull out of the gate to leave the utah yard the first thing you see is a big banner facing centrals driveway recruiting drivers, KTS is the trucking companies name I guess, although I think I saw a sign also that said sweet simon transport. That still use the skunk for the logo though but its wearing goggles now and looks like its moving fast. The trucks I have seen on the road with the KTS logo has blank trailers but they have a few trailers in their lot with KTS logo's.

Now that Central Fright is owned by swift I wonder about Central Reefer? Hmm...

Anyways, I am done with central now! My truck was returned and they kept their word in getting me home. No major gripes except I never did get paid for 2 sets of load-locks I bought. But I didn't ever follow up on it, to much work and not enough time.I think they count on that, talking to other drivers payroll 'forgets' things allot. and until you call them and bug them and prove it they wont fix it.

Central doesn't have any more freightliners, they won't sell any to a Jerry Moyces owned/affiliated company. Only ppl with them I guess is ppl with 10 yr trucks or owner ops who own them from before.

That is a very intersting tibit ... Jerry owns Freightliner of Phoenix. You mean he can not order any more trucks for his business? That would be a change ..

It has to do with SWIFT trying to DEFRAUD Freightliner over phoney warrantee claimes I saw on another board.It started when Freightliner changed presidents. The new German guy wouldn't play ball with swift.So Swift changed to Volvo.

Hey cockroach, thanks for all the information regarding Central! I have read through all 14 pages of this post and have found it to be very interesting. In reading these forums I have deduced that ALL of these companies have some good qualities and some bad. I have come to the conclusion that you need to be able to overcome and adapt as well as work well with others.
The way I see it, when you are a rookie with any company you will need to pay your dues. This means getting the crap runs that others do not want, staying out for at least 3 to 5 weeks at a time, and being pushed hard by dispatch so they can see what you are willing to put up with and for how long.

I have looked at a lot of the "Training companies", and I still believe that Central Refer is the one for me.

Well good luck Ford 690 power.

Not sure if this has been mentioned but if you look at this court decision it will make it obvious why Central is not purchasing any new Freightliners!

http://www.kscourts.org/ca10/cases/2005/06/04-4058.htm

So, being someone who has not even been near a Volvo 600 series, are they really all that bad?

I think there nice. I got my CLass A on thursday an ran into a Central driver, he had a 03 black volvo 670. i talked to him an he let me look inside, i think there pretty roomy an nice inside. i like how they have a choice of black or white volvos as a company driver.

Central Ref is an allright comp to work for. i am currently in their LP program with a 2006 KW. so far so good, no lies were told to me, and the dispatcher has acted like he was on crack one time with me so thats good. payments are off the chart as with any lease deal, but im only doing this untill i can get a 5000 down on a truck i can actually buy then i will lease that truck with them. out of the other 3 companies i have worked for Central Ref is the only one who hasnt given me a line of BS so i will stick with them untill they do.
the way i see it is if a company doesent BS you around then why change.

I agree. I am probably going to buy my own Columbia or 770 and lease it back to Central for the rest of the year and then decide if I want to go to Landstar. I have a cousin who is a broker there and I might do that.

I was not given a choice of color for my Volvo. I was given a black one and that was that.

yeah ive been thinking about landstar also, just want to stick with central for a little longer before i decide to go or not

I saw a Central truck at a local restaurant this morning and it was white. Gotta say, I would choose black if I have the choice cause that white one was just a filthy pig.

So far I havent heard too much bad about central Ref. Course theres always guys griping about someone, but overall, they seem to be pretty solid for a training company.

Starting at Central Ref tomarrow
 

Well I just wanted to say this post has been interesting. I was going to do local driving in Portland, Or. you can start directly out of school at about 16.50 h/r, I wanted to do local because I have a wife and a son. However I wanted to get a little expierence behind my belt first, and I wanted to have the expierence of going over the road. At my previous job I was a locksmith making about 40k a year. It just wasnt enough to provide a good life for my family, I have friends and realatives in trucking and I think it is a good career. I started training at IITR Truck driving school on August 14th and graduated on September 8th. Several companies came to the school to try to recruit us, and Central seemed like the best over the road one. I liked it because they said I can easily be home every 9-14 days which sounded great since I have a family. Gordon was every 21 days. central says I can easily make 55k my first year. Which after reading this thread I wonder if that will really happen. Cockroach's post about his wages in the beginning like 2-300 a week take home I hope that doesnt happen, I understand during trining 425 the first 2 weeks and 500 the second 2 weeks. but solo I could not survive on that pay. I did notice that central paid .26 a mile in his post now they start at .29 with an additional .01 per mile if you average at least 10500 miles a month. My recruiter said I could easily get about 2800 to 3500 a week running legally. 3500 he said is easy to do. Hopefully this is realistic. also $650 per quarter bonus for no preventable accidents/freight claims. hopefully I will be able to get those bonuses. So I guess I will see how it goes I leave in a few hours for greyhound to salt lake city. Shoud be on the road sometime after friday. Every company I have looked out someone had complaints about so there is no perfect company out there hopefully this one will turn out well.

I dont know if anyone still reads this board but It was a great information source for me. I would love to hear opinions.

i'll check in later

gordon is every 14 days or longer if you want to stay out... 21 days in False

Best thread read
 

Thanks to all that contributed to this thread and hope it continues with Central Refrigerated drivers, past and present weighing in. This was the best and most informative thread about driving situations i've read and i've read a lot of them. Hope to hear from cockroach when he returns from Iraq to know he's allright. This has saved me from going with Swift or Werner and to go with Central Refrigerated. They sound the best so far for a newbie. :D

Good luck to ya. Be careful and you will do fine. Even though I no longer work for Central I still have contact with my trainer driver and we are still friends.

What happened Bumper?
 

Read you left after 7mos.due to a home time issue. Still driving? Fair and nice that they pro rate training fees if you leave early. Could you tell me about Riverside's accomodations... the hotel and room, how many to a room and how many in the class? I recall that you learned fast and your otr training was only 3 weeks so did you feel it sufficient and if so, that possibility is nice and better than the 6wks teaming with a potential nightmare at Swift and Werner's 275hrs.... Thanks Bumper and bol

I agree with Rokk on this one. Trainees need to remember that running the extra miles is what makes training worth doing! My husband trained for CR England for about 6 months. And yep he made quite a bit of money training. Of course when he ran solo for them he hardly made anything! But we decided it was not worth it. Long haul driver trainers have a very high mortality rate of being killed by some stupid crap their trainee does. Remember that a trainer actually pays the company an amount to have the extra person in their truck so the truck can go the extra miles. So if you think that a trainer can afford to sit up there in the drivers seat and just watch you drive the whole time. You really do have something else coming.

Central Ref is a very good reefer outfit.Most guys I talked to are very happy.As they have EZ-PASS TOO.

Cockroach, This was a great thread!!! You back with Central? Or still in Army?

I just got back from Iraq, I'm still in the national guard though. I applied for a local job but if I don't get it I will probably return to CRSI.

yeah, by law they have to take you back I believe.

this thread has ALLOT of great info, i go to training with Central Sun to start on MON here in Tx,


hope to see you out on the road

C.W

I hot linked it to a dif site so others could benefit from it

They are going to call me back tomorrow, they say I will probably go through orientation again although I'm still technically an employee, but I think I will go right out in my own truck.

If you fail a test.
 

Only 3? wow! crazy. The school I went to in oregon has like a 95% pass rate. Isn't the crsi school only a week long?>>>

What happens if after the training at Central RSI you fail the CDL test? How many attempts do you get with the company? Do they send you home after so many attempts failed?
How do companies that offer their own training usually do this?

So, what happened when you went back?

Enquiring minds want to know....;)

Hope your doing well!!!

Hey cockroach if you still work at central are you still enjoying it. I'm set up to start on Jan 3rd. I looked at a ton of companies and they seemed like one of the best. Plus I love those volvo's.

You wont after you spend 2-3 weeks at a time in one...they get real small inside real fast. If I go back out OTR after new years I am going to go with a company with bigger trucks this time.

Best of luck with Central and be careful in the snow!!!

Hey Cockroach, Update? Did you go back? :shock:

I sure enjoyed the subject because I am suppose to start school with them Central in Riverside Oct 15th 2007

So maybe between this and my new Blog I am starting we can comtinue the story.

What happened to Cockroach? I hope he made it back from Iroq OK.

This will be a whole new adventure for me and my wife. We are enjoying our 40th Anniversary today and we need something else in our lives to continue on and stay young.

We have already tried sailboats (3) Harleys and cross country trips (4)
Now been fulltime RV'er for past two and a half years.

Packing all my stuff and if I pass my Dr's BP test on the 10th I am good to go to school and take another BP and DOT Phy.

Hey, yeah I made it back from iraq fine, but I had a small company call me up right before I went back to central (only one truck small!) wanting me to go work for them, hourly pay. It was a GREAT job while it lasted.

After that I went to work for knight, they really are a really great company, except looking for emptys sucks and night support can suck sometimes. I had to sit in LA once for 5 hours because my dispatcher didn't send a trailer number with my preplan. It took that long to get ahold of someone because it was thanksgiving and they forgot to have someone man the afterhours phone line apparently.

I got tons of appologies and the home #'s of all the dispatchers the next day, haha.

I am considering going over to McLane though. I have read good things about them on this board, and heard good things of them from other drivers.

I got a call from them last week. Aparently they got my info from a previouse employer. I have already had both my interviews with them, They told me the position is mine if I want it. I really don't like to jump ship, I am really happy with knight, but McLane drivers make allot of money and I would be home more (2-3 times a week vs 1-2 per week w/ knight).