First good sir, I have not "classed" you in any vein. If your brother drives there and is successful, I say FANTASTIC!! Its good to hear that someone is actually successful there. To tell you the truth, I generally find your posts to be interesting and of value...and valid to a point. Please rest easy.

You make valid points, and all are good. To add to your thoughts, the fellow that started FedEx put it on paper as a college business project, and his professor laughed at him and I think even flunked him on the paper...
But look who's laughing now.

But CRE presents a very different set of parameters.... you know it and I know it. They have one of the highest turnovers in the country. Why? I would venture to bet that one of the reasons is because they have a number of inside employees who don't know their asses from a hole in the ground and rather than admit they don't know the answer to a question they lie to the prospective driver or their drivers and lose scads of drivers over it.

One of my recent students had gone to CRE as his initial choice....on the second day of orientation he and two others got up and walked out. The reason: LIES. The people doing the orientation were giving them entirely different information regarding pay and benefits, etc than the recruiters did. This case is not unique. I have heard it before. We have more than just a couple of drivers working for us who have worked for CRE, and its seems that there is a common thread among them.... that CRE as a company lacks integrity and seems incapable of educating its recruiting staff and orientation staffs as to actual policies, pay packeages and such.
Their loss, everyone else's gain.....

Greatness is not one of my forte's....humble yes..that I am, and they who know me can attest to that fact. I am also capable of a full range of styles and emotions as well...but worry yourself not, I have no big ego problems especially where "anonymous message boards" are concerned.... But, any time you feel you can catch me in a proveable error...feel free to call me on it... I'm a big boy, cuz' if I'm wrong...I'll willingly eat the crow sandwich. 8)

 

Good....there is hope for you yet!! That is the safest way to go, with any company.....no matter what!!

 

Don't get me wrong folks........I'm not considering a lease program with CRE and I'm certainly not recommending them for anybody who is new to this industry. All I'm saying is there are more factors to the failure rate at CRE then just the company. The class action law suit will not be settled for sometime..........in all probability it will most likely be settled before it ever gets to court.......right now it's in the discovery stage and both sides will be positioning themselves through motions. The process is long and tedious for those involved and will involve many trips into the court room as the players (lawyers) try to get things in line for their arguments. The fact that the Judge has classified the lease as "unconscionable" is of little consequences at this time. These things have a way of changing sometimes from what is expected. In the end the only ones who will truly come out to the good will be the lawyers. I would be very surprised if any driver comes out of it with a large sum of money.

Even if it is found to be an "unconscionable" lease, it will most likely still be viewed as a binding contract between the company and the drivers........with a warning from the Court that the buyer should be ware.

This is why I have stated a number of times that the inexperienced in reality have no business signing a lease.........for a number of reasons. One they haven't a clue the cost of running their own rig. They tend to forget the variables that they have no control over, such as freight activity. Most, I would say are already in financial trouble to begin with. Add just these factors to a company lease that has been formulated by an army of company retained lawyers and you have the makings of a disaster.

I realize that the average driver out there does not have the resources that my brother has. One, he has a very good lawyer who walked him through the lease and alerted him to the pitfalls. Two he has a very good accountant who has been invaluable during this process. Three, he's of the old school when it comes to his work ethics and his sense of responsibility. Fourth, he has years of experience running his own business and last but not least, he has a substantial reserve from which he can access if the need arises............(knock on wood, so far that hasn't happened). He did go through 3 different trucks that they offered him, before the mechanic he hired to inspect them, recommended the one he's now driving. He has had one instance with them already that has now been resolved..........He snagged a driver's front bumper fairing with his trailer's DOT bumper...by about a 1/4". The other driver was even standing there and told my brother he thought he had cleared it as well. They had spent a couple of hours together working on getting the other drivers GPS up and running. Together, they put it back in place and agreed that it wasn't worth a phone call, but the consignee had already called the police, who laughed when they got there, said that it happened on private property and they didn't even fill out an accident report.....anyway to make a long story short.........CRE told my brother that they had to deduct almost $900 out of his reserve to cover the bill from the other company........unfortunately for them, my brother had already talked with the other company and had received a fax of the original bill sent to CRE..........$189. A letter from my brother's lawyer requesting per the contract for receipts for any deductions from his reserve must have gotten some body's attention because soon after he was notified that an error had been made and the deduction was only $189. I can only imagine what the outcome would have been with somebody else without a lawyer.

I am in way saying CRE is a company I would work for, what I'm saying is that given the history and the track record, IF, someone decides to go with them not all the blame can be laid on CRE................if one allows himself to be taken advantage of, if one accepts the sales pitch from the recruiters as written in granite and isn't proactive in their own discovery about the real cost.........some of the blame has to be laid in the drivers lap for not being prepared. Its called personal responsibility ..........something that we all know is way too often shunned in today's McMe society.

Personally, I think for newcomers to the industry, going with CRE is like standing in the batters box, it's the bottom of the ninth, there are two outs, you have two strikes on you already, J.R. Richards is on the mound (you old timers know who I'm talking about), he's fast and wild, and you've got your helmet on backwards..............the odds are against you that you're going to drive in the winning run, let alone getting a hit.

Can it be done? Sure, but for every one who succeeds there are a dozen who get beaned by a fast ball to the head. I think there are far better companies to go with out there no doubt.

What I would hope to see is a little more compassion for those who decide to make that jump...........maybe even some valid pointers from some of the more experienced here to help them survive, short of run for your life. Maybe that's asking too much.

 

8)

 

Occasionally I have my moments of clear thought.

 

I'm offering you a challenge. Stop posting here until you have at least 10,000 miles on your backside, the longer you stay in the saddle, the quicker you can come back and post. I bet that you will come back and apologize to everyone that "bashed" CRE or you will not have completed 10,000 miles with CRE. Do you even have your permit yet? Are we wasting our finger tips replying to your posts? You have a great opportunity in front of you. What are you going to do with it?

 

I actually have to agree with my ARCH NEMESIS on this one.

 

IMO - telling someone what they want to hear is not compassion or helping them. Give it to them straight and later when the emotion has died off and reason has returned - they tend to thank you for playing it straight with them. Trucking or "other"......


YMMV...............

 

Let's see... I will NEVER tell anyone they are right for opening their mouth and regurgitating negative and destructive comments about a company they have never worked for.

Now say I were to ask about bluejeans (stick with me for a second). Say I wanted to buy a pair of $97 Tommy Hillfiger jeans and wanted opinions on them.

I would probably see replies like:
They're overpriced, and not worth the money. -or-
My buddy owns a pair. They're junk. -or-
Why would you buy those? You can get 4 pair of Lee jeans for $97. -or-
My wife bought me a pair. They actually fit well and lasted quite a while.

Out of all those opinions, I would trust the last one. Why? Because it is a first hand experience.

So when someone posts CRE will cheat you, rob you of miles, make you run illegal, never get you home, and take your first born I tend to ignore it unless they have actually worked for CRE.

You may say "There are several people that have been a lease-operator for CRE and loss their ass." That may be true.

BUT I am going to be a company driver. Do me a favor....
find all the posts that are NEGATIVE FIRST HAND experiences from CRE company drivers.

..


..

Oh, and yes, I do have my permit.

 

Spencerain,

You were the one who came here moaning and bitching because you were "Being trained by politicians"...

Now, you are moaning and bitching because people are not telling you what you want to hear. These people are trying to help you, and your thanks is a bunch of attitude.

Go ahead and finish your training, and go drive for CRE!! (somebody has to!!) No doubt, you'll soon be back, moaning and bitching about them too, and finding fault with those who say "Toldyouso!!""