Just About To Start My Career And Go To CDL School

I've talked with different recruiters from a couple different companies and done a pretty good bit of research and I've decided to go with Central Refrigerated. I'm still trying to figure out which day would be the best for me to start school, but I know it will be the middle of the next month out in salt lake.

After doing my research through this site, man...this site helped me a lot so thank you SO MUCH....and doing some personnel research about their equipment (nice and new) their freight (refrigerated, so generally longer hauls) and my lack of desire to spend any significant amount of time at home (long story) I think they will be the best fit for me. I really don't want to drive team and I like to drive at night so I figure the nature of their long hauls will better afford me to haul overnight and get some things done during the day.

I saw a lot of reviews about a lot of different companies and in the end I decided to disregard all of them and go with what I thought would be the best choice for me. Obviously people are going to have grievances that are personal that would never have any effect on other employees, some people don't want to do the work the job requires, and some people just flat have a stick up their butt for whatever reason. I'm pretty excited to head out to salt lake, a first for me...one of many in the coming months I'm sure!

Does anyone else work for central or has anyone else been through their school and stayed on the campus there? Just looking for a little insight of what to expect. People, living conditions, instructors, etc. thanks a lot! Make way for another rookie!

They're going to shove leasing down your throat, just don't listen to their bull****.

Does anyone else work for central or has anyone else been through their school and stayed on the campus there?

Daniel B. started with Central, and now works for Prime.

Here are a couple of his older topics that you may find interesting:

My Central Refrigerated Trucking School Diary

The Adventures of Daniel B.

They're going to shove leasing down your throat, just don't listen to their bull****.

Yeah, I'm not interested in anything like that until I know for sure that I'm even going to continue my career past getting the training paid off. I'm pretty sure I'll like the job though, I love to drive and I love exploring. It seems like you liked central ok, can I ask what convinced you to make the jump to prime?

Rule 1. Do not trust anyone until it has been earned. 2. Never keep your eggs in one basket. 3. Risk = Isk

They're going to shove leasing down your throat, just don't listen to their bull****.

Yeah, I'm not interested in anything like that until I know for sure that I'm even going to continue my career past getting the training paid off. I'm pretty sure I'll like the job though, I love to drive and I love exploring. It seems like you liked central ok, can I ask what convinced you to make the jump to prime?

The fact that it pays much better. I started at Central at .28cpm while Prime pays .43cpm. That's 280$ for every 1,000 miles versus 430$ for every 1,000 miles. Do 3,000 in a week and that's 450$ extra in a week.

I also got extemely fed up with the constant nagging for me to lease a truck. I woke up to Quallcomm messages about it. I never been so annoyed in my life.

The fact that Prime also has APU/Inverters on their trucks. Central wanted to charge me 450$ for an inverter installation.

I simply cannot list one thing Central has over Prime. But I'm not company bashing, they're a good first company to start off with. But you did ask so there's my opinion.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

That's a pretty big difference. I will probably get pretty annoyed with it too, and for you to pay to have a unit installed on a truck that they own is pretty silly. Mine will just have to idle. Strangely, when I applied to several different companies...prime, cr England, central, knight, PAM, etc...prime was the only one that never got back to me. I've never been convicted of a crime in my life...never so much as gotten a ticket in over ten years, and I'm pretty well educated and have a nice employment background. Odd that I never heard back from them.

That's a pretty big difference. I will probably get pretty annoyed with it too, and for you to pay to have a unit installed on a truck that they own is pretty silly. Mine will just have to idle. Strangely, when I applied to several different companies...prime, cr England, central, knight, PAM, etc...prime was the only one that never got back to me. I've never been convicted of a crime in my life...never so much as gotten a ticket in over ten years, and I'm pretty well educated and have a nice employment background. Odd that I never heard back from them.

Recruiters have over a hundred applicants every single day. It's very easy for your application to go unnoticed and collect dust. It doesn't mean that you weren't accepted or qualified, it just means that your application is sitting on a giant stack of applications.

You need to be calling the recruiters on a daily basis. Make them know you and make sure they know you want the job. Do not ever wait for them to call you.

Maybe I should try to find a prime recruiter to talk to before I make anything absolutely final. Do you have any suggestions?

As far as not waiting for them to call me, I didn't wait long at all for any of the others haha...they called within 24 hours of me saying I was interested. But I haven't gotten an email or anything from prime with a number to call so I don't know what to do with that.

Maybe I should try to find a prime recruiter to talk to before I make anything absolutely final. Do you have any suggestions?

As far as not waiting for them to call me, I didn't wait long at all for any of the others haha...they called within 24 hours of me saying I was interested. But I haven't gotten an email or anything from prime with a number to call so I don't know what to do with that.

I will send you my recruiters name and number. She was awesome and one we actually got together on the phone she was calling me every few days for follows to see how I was doing and if I had questions, etc.