New Career With CRST Van Expedited

Received the official word a short time ago I was officially hired with CRST Van expedited. Before I posted this I read a few postings here on this site at by CRST, some positive some negative. Yes compared to other companies the starting pay per mile is very low. I looked at this way I am under contract with them for 10 months. I plan to finish it out and probably stay a full year. As far as I am concerned even though I will be considered a rookie driver here soon, I just moved on to a more in-depth, advance CDL school.

My take on the cpm thing for brand new drivers... It appears to me that companies that pay less tend to get you more miles and it all pretty much evens out in the long run. I also have heard from other long time CRST drivers that the pay is excellent once you complete your contract so if you like teaming, you might want to stay much longer than a year.

Oh, I forgot to add, I've never worked for them. Perception is everything lol. The company I do drive for is right beside CRST and we tend to stay at the same hotels in CR so I run into CRST drivers often when I'm in CR when I'm there for a weekend or the rate occasion that shop work takes more than a day.

I worked for them for about 5 months. I will say this. Your co-driver will make or break your experience. I went through 3 in about 3 months (other two months were spent training) each one of my co’s were horrible. One said I was a unsafe driver after I asked several times to drive days instead of nights. One would literally get in my face and force me to lend him money and the last one would constantly call our DM and curse her out because we would occasionally have to do city work. (Like less then 2 hours worth of city work) then he just quit in he middle of nowhere AZ and causing me to miss thanksgiving.

Moral of the story is to be super picky about who you choose to drive with. At the end of the day. They will take over driving for 12 hours and your life will be in there hands. If I were in your shoes first question I ask a potential co is how much experience do you have? You want at the very least 8 months. And keep it real with them. Hey I have difficulty with this or that or backing... CRST doesn’t take backing accidents lightly. Not only should get out and look. You have another set of eyes 5 feet behind you. For the most part they are a good company. I would request Alex as a Dm she is very sweet and will look out for you.

I worked for them for about 5 months. I will say this. Your co-driver will make or break your experience. I went through 3 in about 3 months (other two months were spent training) each one of my co’s were horrible. One said I was a unsafe driver after I asked several times to drive days instead of nights. One would literally get in my face and force me to lend him money and the last one would constantly call our DM and curse her out because we would occasionally have to do city work. (Like less then 2 hours worth of city work) then he just quit in he middle of nowhere AZ and causing me to miss thanksgiving.

Moral of the story is to be super picky about who you choose to drive with. At the end of the day. They will take over driving for 12 hours and your life will be in there hands. If I were in your shoes first question I ask a potential co is how much experience do you have? You want at the very least 8 months. And keep it real with them. Hey I have difficulty with this or that or backing... CRST doesn’t take backing accidents lightly. Not only should get out and look. You have another set of eyes 5 feet behind you. For the most part they are a good company. I would request Alex as a Dm she is very sweet and will look out for you.

Danny, Wow sorry to hear your problems. I was actually the first person in my orientation class to get a lead driver. However about twenty minutes before that I had been sent to see my recruiter and was told I would be going home to get my CDL License. About thirty minutes after our orientation ended I actually meet my lead driver/trainer. He wasn't exactly the most friendly guy. We started out playing phone tag. When we finally meet I approached and went to shake hands. He glared at me, then my hand then me. For about thirty seconds he just stared at me, glaring. I kept my eyes locked on his, didn't blink, didn't smile just stood there. I was coming close to telling him he had better fix his bleeping eyes really quick, but then I let it slide, I took into consideration he was probably tried or just having a bad day, he actually turned out to be all right. He told me where we were going to be headed for and then He told me he absolutely hated driving at night, he explained his last few students didn't like driving at night either. I said I love driving at night! When I said that he actually smiled. He asked so your not a day time driver? I said night time, day time, afternoon doesn't matter I like driving. He started to smile and then asked what the catch was? I then explained about going back to Nevada because my permit was expiring in a few days. So now I am California wait for a trainer. I am a pretty laid back guy, polite easy going, I can get along just about anyone

My take on the cpm thing for brand new drivers... It appears to me that companies that pay less tend to get you more miles and it all pretty much evens out in the long run. I also have heard from other long time CRST drivers that the pay is excellent once you complete your contract so if you like teaming, you might want to stay much longer than a year.

Hi Susan D. When I went to sign my contract with CRST, I was told my starting pay was 30 cents a mile😕😐. I was about to tell the lady I can't work for 30 cents a mile, that's unacceptable😠. But then I started to do some rough math in my head and realized depending upon the miles I drove that day that 30 cents in hourly pay could be $12 0r $20 an hour😐😀😐. When I got to the riverside terminal a driver told me and another student the pay was actually 15 cents a mile because you're splitting miles, that raise some red flags, some serious red flags. While some might see that as a sign to jump ship head for more money and deal with the loan situation. My approach is I am going to take the next 10 month's minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. I am going to focus on the training and getting experience. With time and experience will come the opportunity to earn better pay.

Joseph, Old School started at Western Express at 25 cpm and wound up making over $50,000 his first year. You're splitting 30 cpm but that's team miles, so in the end it's the same as 30 cpm solo driving.

Trust me, you can make great money if you hustle. The amount of money you make isn't going to be limited by your mileage pay. It's going to be limited by how much you hustle, how efficient you are managing your time, how well you solve problems that get in the way of getting work done, and how well you develop a relationship with your dispatcher.

Don't forget, you're going to get raises during that first year also.

Way to go Joseph, I was wondering how things were going for you.

Joseph, Old School started at Western Express at 25 cpm and wound up making over $50,000 his first year. You're splitting 30 cpm but that's team miles, so in the end it's the same as 30 cpm solo driving.

Trust me, you can make great money if you hustle. The amount of money you make isn't going to be limited by your mileage pay. It's going to be limited by how much you hustle, how efficient you are managing your time, how well you solve problems that get in the way of getting work done, and how well you develop a relationship with your dispatcher.

Don't forget, you're going to get raises during that first year also.

Hi Brett, I know they (CRST) mentioned something about pay raises. I know I have seen you mention hussling before and it's a term I heard the instructors at CRST and CR. England use constantly. I know things will be rough at first, going through the learning phases, the rookie first year. Learning the in's and out's of the trucking business. I know I am going to run into problems and issues on the road, my plan for dealing them with is have a contingency plan in place. I know I can't plan for everything for the unexpected I will deal with them as they come.

Way to go Joseph, I was wondering how things were going for you.

Hi Sandy how is CDL schoolgoing for you? I have been planning to get back to my crst training dairy and update it.