CRST International reviews

well first off I wanna start off by saying hello. I come here often to read and learn from many of you. Lots of useful info here.

Anyway as the title states I'm gonna post my gods honest review from someone who has work ethic and doesn't just want to get paid for nothing.

I come from a background of trucking, i was driving trucks for 2 years with no cdl, got caught and the officer was real cool about it. I was 20 years old and couldn't get a cdl in my state so he told me once I turned 21 which was in a 60 days or so, to go get it or he'd fine me. Took all my information down and I got his to send a copy of my cdl to him, once I got it. At this time I had no choice other than Cr England and Crst.

So I call Crst they promptly send a bus ticket (which is horrible, fly if you can). I get to the terminal and immediately start orientation. I was tired but wanted this to get done asap. So I got through orientation, flew threw the written tests, and got to driving. Coming from real world to "dots way" is quite a change lol. Anyway I do there pti then backing and driving. All said and done I was in and out in 17 days. Got the dumb white hat and gave it to a kid who got sent home. Went to dmv got my cdl and faxed a copy and the Iowa paper work to the officer. Boom in the clear, that's all I cared about.

Now onto the trainer, they gave me one trainer, who was a complete slob and had poor hygiene and snored while awake, so I refused it, got into a little argument with my temporary fleet manager, brushed it off and found another one. Cool guy, young with only 1 year experience, doing the lease op here at Crst. Like I said super nice guy, but doesn't have what it takes to hang with o/os. When your an owner operator you have to have some serious capital or just be a savage. He made me drive 60mph the whole time which sucked, but I made about 375-425$ a week. Crst does have some serious miles. After I got off the truck with the trainer I went home for my girls birthday, and her sisters wedding. Took about a week off, got back to Cedar Rapids and got with my co driver. I'm making 26cpm at this point. Me and my co driver decides to run for two months out to make up for the money lost during the trainer and home time. Well, even at 26cpm I made about 2400-2600 per month. I went home with about 3100$.

After that, during the holiday rush, I got bumped to 28cpm. We're currently running 1300 miles a day between he and I. Usually running about 7500-7850 a week. Well you do the math. Pay checks aren't so bad now. We've had 1 of 22 late loads, and are always keeping Crst updated with etas and when were empty. I've never been empty for more than 18hrs unless we're doing a 34hr reset. Now this is the holiday season so freights moving quite a bit now, so I'm sure it will slow down here pretty soon.

Now I'm in this little fiasco. Our freightshaker blew a clutch with 182k on it. Gotta love Crst drivers (can't really shift today). So we waited and waited it took them about a week to 100% diagnose it, then we got impatient and demanded a new truck politely. They quickly got us this turd Volvo I'm currently sitting in broken down. The truck was supposed to be a trade in, and Crst needed to get us rolling because we actually make them good money. Also I have home time coming up where I have to take a flight. Which is in 5 days and I'm in Idaho, 2600 miles away from home. The Volvo ate an egr and I'm sure that they'll get us another truck, as we've been down for almost 8 days.

Is it the companies fault? Absolutely not. They're doing the best they can even though it's New Years and the weekend. I think Crst gets so many lazy people who don't want to work, so they smoke em with garbage loads and garbage trucks until they quit because they're liabilities. I've talked to many teams who sit for long periods of time, and complain so much it's ridiculous. "I don't make any money wahhhhh". Well maybe if you delivered the air freight load you just got on time you might have another load. But nope. This company is filled with lazy ### people with the iq equivalent to a hair dryer. Crst didn't hire you to pay you 40$ a day and maintain a body tempature. Get your ### to work and see how it actually operates. I get whatever I want from these guys and make decent change while I'm at it. If you don't want to run hard, and don't like to work, and would much rather sit in the truck sucking down chicken fingers, then stay the #### home. I don't hate crst and I don't like them, but they got me out of a bind, they pay me well and keep me rolling. i cant ask for a whole lot more with only a few months of "verifiable" experience.

The reason I like the CRST option even though I hear so much negative feedback; Is the fact I don't need to pay for training, and even though my pay would be crap initially I'd be gaining experience, educations, and a decent salary after 6 month mark all at the same time.

I appreciate all the knowledge guys. Thanks.

My CRST application was accepted, but I won't be making any decisions until I "put all my ducks in a row".

I did ok with CRST as far as running miles. You have to stay on top of them though. You and your co driver have to take it serious, aND if your Co driver doesn't you need to replace them. I went through 5 with my time there. My problem with them as now that I have completed my contract and moved on they are still trying to bill me for anything they think I will pay. .. Yep that's right I played their game by their rules on their terms and still they are trying to charge me.

My husband started working for CRST Dedicated, running a flatbed. He has worked for the company for a few months now and we are both happy with the company. I'm mainly happy because he likes his job for once lol.

From the day he put his app in it only took a day or two for someone to give him a call back. He then spoke to a great recruiter, Shonda, and she had him an email with his hotel, rental car and orientation information within a couple hours. She was very helpful and had an answer to every question. Then he went to Ashland, KY for orientation (which was 3 days), to pick up his truck and meet his dispatcher Mike. And although i dont know a lot about the over the road side of the business i do know enough to know that Mike is an excellent dispatcher. My husband has been home EVERY, yes! EVERY weekend since he has started. And even though i ride with him its one of the things they make sure of.

In the 3 months he has been working for them not only has he been home every weekend but he has already got a .05/mi raise, paid loaded or empty, guaranteed 2000 miles a week, no issues getting a load and plus insurance(eye, dental, vision, 401k, etc)from day one and more. Basically if you can't tell we are happy with the company!

Please note this is from our experience with CRST Dedicated flatbed. We have no clue about any of the other divisions of the company but we are always hear about how "horrible" CRST is to work for and that has not been our experience at all so I thought I would chime in. I mean there have been a few different drivers tell us to get away from them but we honestly currently don't have any complaints about the company and besides when it comes down to compare pay with "those^" drivers their company doesn't even come close to the pay. And as my husband would say, "Chrome don't pay the bills!" Either the truck or the paycheck can be pretty but not both usually, lol.

I have been driving with crst for about 6 months now, during my physical at the start of this mess I was requested to take a sleep study before these 6 months were up. My dispatch being what they are never got around to getting me around to hometime before these 6 months expired so they had my co-driver drop me off over here at their riverside terminal where I could begin the process of getting my sleep study taken care of.

Initially I was dropped off to one of those scammy take-home-equipment places that charged me 100$ cash to take one of those overnight tests, they told me I would have to have a doctor look at the results of this test. In order for me to see a doctor I'm having to get my insurance transferred over to this county which could take 20 or so days from now.

So right now instead of sheltering me while I take care of trying to find a doctor to see or if there's some other insurance I should sign up with they decided to basically kick me out of their terminal, leaving me with 200$ to get a rental car or a bus ticket with.

I need a rental car for my amount of things I have with me, but I'm short on money in order to get one with, alternatively there's a terminal with swift just down the road. Soo right now I'm torn between getting shuttled with my things to swift, or beg/borrowing money from home in order to even get home and finding a job more suited to my needs.

And about the sleep study thing, I don't have issues sleeping, I don't doze off when sitting, I'm usually pretty well rested and alert after getting up after 5-6 hours of sleep and I'm a nighttime driver. My 'need' for having sleep study is purely based on the speculation of one of CRST's physicians.

CRST- Mainly poor reviews (I've heard positive reviews from every company except this one). Team trucks. Newer Freightliner Cascadias. Not so good safety record. Below average pay. Trying to address issues with driver fitness (CSA) but who's waiting? MUST live on a truck with somebody else for a min. of 8 months to fulfil contract.

*I've met 2 drivers who trained with them recently and both left shortly after their contract was fulfilled.

I am a L/O and I am not a brand new driver. Lease is not available for new drivers (for good reason). Therefore, a new driver is most likely going to be required to be a team company driver and make peanuts.

Secondly, CRST's organization and communication capabilities leave much to be desired. A driver with a year or so experience can probably deal with it. OTOH I cannot imagine a brand new driver who knows nothing about nothing trying to deal with these issues.

There are much better organized and new-driver-friendly companies to choose from than CRST.

30 Years of CRST: Some Insight For Consideration

First let me start by saying, I am not a recruiter for this company and never will be. Secondly, I am a Owner-Operator but at one time was a company driver, then a lease driver. I've also been a driver trainer here as well.

I wanted to give those who are here searching for info on CRST with the hopes of coming onboard CRST some insight from a veteran driver, based upon experience.

The first thing you need to come to realize is that we are not the holy grail of companies even if recruiters paint that picture. We have issues here that other companies also have, so with that said, don't expect to have a heaven on wheels ride all the time.

Recruiters here have one job and that's to bring people in and with that said, they may not give you all the right information, so when you arrive, expect the worse, this way, when you see things that bother you, the shock is already worn off.

Realize that your training is going to be at a school that is contracted with CRST to provide training to you and others. CRST isn't going to mandate they have certain equipment, certain age ranges, that they are clean all the time. Your not going to ride in the rolls royce of trucks during school and probably not until you buy a truck.

Understand this, whether the tractor is a Western Star, Volvo, Freightliner, 5 years old or 10 years old, should not matter because every tractor does the same thing, it moves, you shift gears, you back up, you dock, etc. Your going to be learning the skill sets it takes to move a 60,000 to 80,000 pound vehicle at 55 to 65 mph down the road. Your in school to learn what you need in order to do this job and it's a start, which many desperately need in this day and age.

Your going to start at wages that seem like nothing because when you take into consideration the fact that your not getting paid by the hour but by the mile and some are accustomed to earning a decent per hour wage, anything less seems poverished. However, some fairly new drivers are making $800 to $900 a week, which is more money than most are earning in this day and age. Majority of non executives will never see $800 a week in their lives.

Let me say this to you, you will have weeks that are crap. Miles will be down, freight is slow in the region of the country your in at a given time. You must realize that you need to take the bad with the good, it is what it is.

Some have written here that this is a training company and CRST gets Government Subsidies for training people, well if that were true, all the other training companies would as well. Realize this, who cares at the end of the day if CRST is getting a subsidie, because your not paying up front for training, housing, bus ticket and there is a risk in taking you in because you could quit on day two. CRST is no different than any other company in Corporate America that hires inexperienced people. Training still has to take place!!!.

CRST is a huge company with lots of drivers and trucks and is a no nonsense company. As a company they have a low tolerance level to BS!!! They are not your friend, they are your employer!!! If you get through the training and are released to drive, your expected to do your job and to follow policies and you won't win when it comes to doing anything less.

Lack of home time is a problem for many. You have to be out weeks to get significant home time. Right or wrong, it is what it is. This is not a career for those that need to be home to hang with their home boys and home girls, go clubbing, go to the mall and shop. This is real work and can be demanding at times.

I will say that this is not a company for a lot of folks. If your coming here just to get a license and move on, that's fine but don't express that and dont let it shine through because you will be out the door.

From my experience I've learned this. If your a hothead and have a chip on your shoulder, you will not have a good experience here. If you have accidents you will find your existence at CRST will be short lived.

If your constantly late, they will begin to examine closely how you operate your truck to find out why and they won't tell you and you'll find out fast that you will not be considered for anything that requires a lot of trust, meaning really good loads and opportunities.

If you can't keep good records and logs, you'll find out the hard way, just how tough safety can be to deal with. My point in all of this is to point out that there is a price to be paid for not doing what you need to.

It has been said that we have one of the worst safety records and I don't know about that. I will say that if your not doing pre and post trips, watching tires, watching simple things like windshield wipers, lug nut covers, monitoring brakes, reporting issues before the truck brakes down, then you will be sitting on the side of the road. You are expected to keep your truck in good working order but obviously not being a mechanic.

Now do trucks go down just as a result of things happening outside a drivers control, yes they obviously do, and no one will ever in my experience beat a driver up over that, but not monitoring tires and failing a DOT Roadside or weigh station inspection is all on you, it's your fault not anyone else's.

Not getting reimbursed for expenses happens, but it's your responsibility to handle your business and your truck as a business even if your a company driver and be on top of it.

As an experienced driver, I will say that you need to understand this is no 9 to 5 gig, it's stressful, it's more than getting in and driving, it's more than just a job.

Being at CRST is not a gift, it's an opportunity to work and support yourself and a family at a time in your life where such opportunities are not readily available. Just know going in that hundreds and hundreds of drivers, lease operators and owner operators roll day in and day out, year after year that have none of the problems and issues others come here and talk about.

Keep that fact in mind when you think about passing on CRST.

I drove there nearly 2 years on the company side. Made decent money. They aren't the best. They aren't the worst. I lurk silently in a lot of threads in the individual company forums just to see how experiences compare to mine and as far as the mega's go they aren't any better or any worse than the others. The team driving was an issue. If I were to ever team with my wife I would consider working there again. Wouldn't be my first choice but if you know how to communicate effectively it's not horrible.