Question:
Anyone ever worked for them. Looked for opinions on them. We had one of the recruters come to the school last week and I'm trying to deside on who to go with. I currently looking at Werner, Central, Swift, and maybe Covenant. With Central we were told that we would have a choise right from the start of doing 11 western states or all 48 states.
Anyone have experience with them. Looking for the good and bad.
thanks
bob1056

Answer:
Best place to start in your decision making would be this; "what type of trailer do you think you'd be most happy pulling"?
Both Swift and Werner have vans, flats, and reefers.
Central is stricktly reefer.
And Covenant has vans and reefers---and from what I understad a few flats that run I-95 corridor only (don't know if that's true but a Covenant driver said so).
You will find people that like one type and despise another.
You can search the archives here and look at some pro's and con's on each type of trailer.
After you decide the trailer type, then you can look at all the other aspects. i.e.-pay, benefit, home time etc...
_________________________
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Answer:
Originally posted by bob1056:
Anyone ever worked for them. Looked for opinions on them. We had one of the recruters come to the school last week and I'm trying to deside on who to go with. I currently looking at Werner, Central, Swift, and maybe Covenant. With Central we were told that we would have a choise right from the start of doing 11 western states or all 48 states.
Anyone have experience with them. Looking for the good and bad.
thanks
bob1056
Actually you are looking more at SWIFT, SWIFT, and Werner. In case you are not aware of it Central Ref. is owned by the same guy who owns Swift. Technically it is a different company since I believe it does have a different board and management staff, but the main taco is the same at both companies.
All I can tell you is this: Central Ref used to be Dick Simon trucking until Jerry came in bought up a bunch of stock, got on the board, and help push it the rest of the way into bankruptcy and then he turned around and bought the company.
Only two things I know of are infinite. The universe and human stupidity, and I am not real sure about the universe.
Answer:
Yep, Uturn, said it correctly.
As a matter of fact...I only found that out a few mnths ago b/c I was thinking about going with Central.(until I found that out....formaly Dick Simon & now a subsidery of Swift)
I wondered Why those black trks looked sooo familiar.
I'm still looking for a good Reefer carrier to sign on with.(yep, I'm one of the "weird" ones that actually Like pulling Reefers.)

Answer:
The only real difference between Swift and Central is that the central trucks arn`t goverened like Swifts. They fuel at the same terminals (Swift), which means they route you thru thier terminals, but pay the straightest route.They also pay per-diem, which in most cases screws the driver at tax time.They start at 23/cpm plus per-diem.But again, it IS a training coumpany like Swift, so, stay till ya get some experience, then fly to better ponds.I wouldn`t pull reffers, cause I HATE food warehouses.
fishman

Answer:
Thanks everyone for the inputs.
This is all going to be new to me and just hope i'll be making the right choise with the company and the type of trucks to hall.
I have been sitting at a desk for more then 20 years and I know I'll like driving. I'm just not sure how well my poor body is going to do with the phyical part of the work. I hope I'll be able to ease in and slowly until I get back in shape. I 've never had to load or unload a truck before.
thanks
bob1056

Answer:
I had called Central a few months ago and couldn't seem to get a recruiter that actually new anything about the company.I talked to 2 different ones and couldn't even get an answer on the simple questions like pay,hometime,etc.To confusing for me so i looked elsewhere.

Answer:
Originally posted by saltrodbuilder:
The only real difference between Swift and Central is that the central trucks arn`t goverened like Swifts. They fuel at the same terminals (Swift), which means they route you thru thier terminals, but pay the straightest route.They also pay per-diem, which in most cases screws the driver at tax time.They start at 23/cpm plus per-diem.
fishman
What exactly does it mean to fuel at the same terminal but pay the straightest route? they make you go to their terminals but pay you for a route that would have been shorter? and can someone please tell me what per-diem means?

Answer:
LoriAz,
Do an archives search here and you'll find all you need to know about per diem (Latin for "by day").
Any driver can claim per diem at tax time by taking the number of days gone from home (justified by log book) by $38 and subtracting that number from taxable income to get to AGI which is what you'll owe income tax on.
Per diem screws a driver by decreasing the amount of SS taxes paid which means smaller checks from SSA after retirement. Good for company, not good for driver. BOL

Answer:
Choclit
Have you checked Shaffer? One of the better reefer outfits out there. They are part of the Crete family.
Daytripper
"We have met the enemy, and he is us." pogo

Answer:
bob,
we must be going to the same school. i'm in the 5:30 class. i was impressed with central 2 but i'm not sure i understand this per diem thing. are you in the 18 week class or 4 week?

Answer:
Swift just bought out Central Refrigerated. Swift CEO just bought it for his daughter to run it. I see their trucks being refuel on the Swift terminals all the time.

Answer:
Choclit......yes definately come on over here to Shaffer will welcome you with open arms
Ive been here almost a year now and couldnt be much happier......we just got a .02 pay raise which makes it the highest paid reefer company also.
Greg.....truck #82348.
"Hakuna Matata".....Greg
All for the love of a good woman.