My Experience With Celadon

[Grinder]

I decided to go with Celadon. Here is what is happening so far. Orientation is supposed to last 3 days.

There are rooms provided at the terminal in Indy. They look small, and it is 2 to a room. What they are like inside, I dont know. You also have a choice of getting a hotel room if you want a room to yourself. You get $150 orientation pay, and an option of a $100 advance to get you started after orientation.

If you want the motel room they will provide it for free if they have no dorm rooms available, or you can have the money taken out of orientation pay (they give you a voucher), or you can pay for it yourself.
The Knights Inn at the 465 x4 down by the J. It is not worth the $50 per night, imo. They do have wifi access in some rooms and you have to ask for it.

There is also internet access at the terminal, but I havent hooked into it yet.

Orientation starts at 7am. all meals are provided in their cafeteria. The food is OK. No complaints, it's all free.

Day 1 is physicals and drug screens 1st thing in the AM, on site, and road tests afterward.

There is a little paperwork, but so far everything is already filled out for you, you just sign and date after you verify their info. That is nice.
There is also a joke (IMO) of a hazmat test.

From what I have seen of their terminal, it's nice. They do take care of the equipment. Driver facilities are nice. Roomy showers, cafeteria, game room, 2 TVs with cable, laundry, 4 computers w/ internet, 2 coffee pots, and probably other things I haven't seen yet.

Everyone there seems OK so far. No obvious problems with the corporate culture yet.

On the down side: Drug screens and physicals took way too long. There was too much dead time. If there is a good reason to have to wait 2+ hours to **** in a cup, I haven't come up with it.

 

[2xR]

Stuck in Laredo...

I got parked in Laredo, once, for three days. It's not such a bad place if you have a lot of disposable income. :spend: I didn't. I told the carrier (Koch) to dispatch me to the location they wanted the truck returned. We were done.

 

[Grinder]

Are you still with them?

Nope. They fired my ass beginning of Oct. Idle % was "too high". Sitting for days in Laredo and Wax be damned. They did me a favor, and I will have many sips of Hennesy and a nice cigar when they go bankrupt. Because that is where they are heading. Anyone doubts me and think I am biased or just bitter (I'm neither) ask some of the "old timers" in celadumb trucks. They will tell you how it was a great company, but isn't any more.

 

[Mike]

Hate to hear that. At one time, I was seriously considering this company. That was quite a while back though.

Now they are considering buying out Continental Express, so if they do go under, they may end up taking even more drivers with them.

 

[Grinder]

Damn 1st post got lost in cyberspace somewhere.

I dont want the drivers to have to pay for the corporate dweebs mistakes. I want those in monkey suits to pay for their own mistakes.

But what I want or dont want doesnt mean squat. When the crash comes, we'll all feel the pain.

 

[MarkWilde]

Well, things are turning to sh@#. I get called in by dispatch after I got back from hometime. They are complaining about my idling. Never mind that I spent time in TX, FL, I10 in general, etc. Just never mind that. Never mind having to sit in Wax for 3 days, Laredo for almost 2 days, and while the last hurricane came ashore between me and my last drop and I had 4000 in the box I sat for 2. No way I was going to chance that, so I waited it out. FL was just a bad area at a bad time, not Celadons fault, and not mine either.

They are firing people due to idling at what they consider "too high" a percentage.
I don't care. I was looking for a job when they hired me. I don't mind leaving the same way.

I told my dispatcher she could fire me right now, if she wanted to, and that I will give up my AC when she does. I know she is not responsible for having to talk to me and many others on her board, but she was there and so was I, so I told her.

We'll see what happens. But now is the time to start looking at another carrier because I am not going to put up with that crap, period.

But right now, from what I am seeing, I dont recommend Celadon to anyone.

No new posts from Grinder, so I was curious if he stayed. I am considering CELEDON now

 

[Grinder]

I didnt leave them, they left me. They did me a favor.

If you go with them, I hope you are really really fond of Laredo and Waxahatchie. You will spend days at a time there. They are real good at getting you down there, they suck at getting you out.

I dont recommend them to anyone. If you get the chance, and you think I am biased in any way, talk to their drivers, especially those that have been there for a while and not the excitable newbies. Without exception I was told that the company has gone downhill, badly. I talked to a lot of drivers.

Celadon was a good company, but not anymore.

I did a lot better at CRST.

If you go with them, I wish you luck.

 

[patriciajnsn]

Let me guess u went to a broker in Lareado? A company I was with also sent me to Larado and I was stuck there for days many times when I was with them.I wonder if it's all companies that the drivers get sent to Larado and has to sit.I spoke to drivers from the truck stops there at that exit and they all said the same thing,they all were waiting for lds.Whether it's Celadon or whoever,the dispatchers and ld planners should start looking for a ld while you're under a ld so u don't have to sit.

 

[Grinder]

I delivered to brokers, but never picked up from them. But most loads were dropped at celadon yards.

The problem is that there were always too many celadon trucks there, scattered at the truck stops, terminal, and in town waiting for loads. I would count on sitting for at least 2 days in Laredo, and at least 3 days in Wax and DFW is RIGHT THERE. THEN they bitch about idling in the summer, while I was sitting waiting for any kind of load to get me moving again.

Then there are the slow boat loads that cannot be delivered early and you end up sitting some more. I had quite a few loads that I could deliver on time by driving 300 miles a day.

I dont miss them any more than they miss me.

 

[patriciajnsn]

There ya go,I don't like big companies anyway.All they care about is u getting that load to laredo then U the driver sits for a couple days.The company I drove for was the same way.I'd get there and there were alot of trks already waiting for lds so here I am sitting for days because i'm at the bottom of the list.I spent alot of my time at the Walmart there lol.

 

[MKeefe]

anyone that says celadon is a good company is got brain damage,my wife and i thought it was a nightmare,picked up our tickets and a 18 hr.bus ride arrived at 0700,and with no sleep was expected to be in class and almost forced to take a road test,then the night mare began wife and i were falling asleep in class and was told if we couldn't function that we would be sent home,decided to resign before it was all over...

 

[BlackCow-in the nightime]

Thanks Grinder,

And congratulations. Sounds like you picked a good one.

What is the downside of going to Canada?

Thanks.

BC

 

[Grinder]

Huh?

Try reading the entire thread.

I don't know about CA. I never went there.

 

[MaverickHeritage]

Do you HAVE to be able to run Canada? I'm not a "felon" in America but I am in Canada Mexican and Canadian divisions. There is a lot of freight going from Laredo straight into Canada. The NWO is alive and well, for now... Can a driver just haul out of Laredo?

 

[MaverickHeritage]

[
---
There is a NEW T. A. and Flying J at exit 13 on I-35 across from the toilet of the Pilot. They ALL charge to park unless one either gets Fuel or spends $20.00. The first 2 hours of course are free. There is IdleAire and Burger King on the T. A. site.
It is difficult to miss, however there are Drivers that blow past it.[/QUOTE]

T.A. Charges Flying Hook doesn't but get there EARLY the lot fills up fast. I was just stuck there early Oct. 09

 

[Grinder]

Do you HAVE to be able to run Canada?

Yes.

Thats one of their requirements, never mind what your recruiter might have said.
IIRC they do have drivers that are dedicated into Canada, but you have to be ready to go yourself.

Can a driver just haul out of Laredo?

Maybe. If you dont mind sitting for days waiting for a load along with the other 200-300 trucks

 

[Jmurman]

Yes.

Thats one of their requirements, never mind what your recruiter might have said.
IIRC they do have drivers that are dedicated into Canada, but you have to be ready to go yourself.



Maybe. If you dont mind sitting for days waiting for a load along with the other 200-300 trucks

I've noticed in some of your posts that you don't care to go into Canada? May I ask why?

 

[Grinder]

Getting across the border into CA is a PITA from what I've heard.

I will not get along with the US border nazis. I'd rather let the US granny gropers twiddle their thumbs instead of harassing people, so I encourage people to not even come here.

There are not many truck stops. Unless CA has its own truck stop guides.

I'm not familiar with their regs.

I dont speak french and have no desire to learn how to.

It's just too damn cold.

I dont want mexican trucks here, so it would be a little hypocritical for me to go into CA. National sovereignty for all, I say.

I"m licensed for driving in the US, and that's good enough for me. Don't tell me what other countries I have to go into because you are at the mercy of their legal system. Ours is bad enough.

Freight was good getting into CA, and **** poor for getting out. Even worse than being stuck in Laredo from what I heard from others.

 

[DockMan]

Wow Grinder, I just finished reading the entire thread and found the whole topic interesting. I'm just a shipping dock worker so my observations and opinions are that of an "outsider". As much as I love trucks and trucking I can't say I envy you professional drivers. You guys have always had my respect for taking on such a miserable profession and sticking with it. There was a time I considered having a trucking job lined up as back up in case the local economy got flushed away. After hearing some of the stories about abuse and misuse from the companies I decided to save the $60 and let my CDL expire back to a plain old driver's license, I have never missed not having it.

My brother was an OTR driver who drove for several different companies. Someday I’ll tell his story but not here. It wouldn’t be very encouraging to a lot of folks and off topic anyway. What I will say is that the “lifestyle” of an OTR driver used to seem like a tough way to make a living; I’m inclined to change the description from “tough” to brutal.

My long time friend Larry used to be an OTR driver. The outfit he worked for, Penn Empire did some real grimy things to him. He took a load south and they left him sitting in some swampy, backwater town in Louisiana. The AC didn’t work and the mosquitoes were eating him alive. He was covered in welts and sick. Out of desperation he had the AC repaired and charged it back to the company but the damage had been done by then. He was there for a week without food so the day he had the AC fixed was day 6. On day 7 he tried to get out of his truck to get some water and he was too weak to stand. A passerby found him and took him to an Emergency room. The guy was to broke to call for anyone here to wire him some money and he would starve himself to death before he put someone else in jeopardy. He had no family to help even if he did ask and he knew the jamb I was in and wouldn’t ask. Ultimately a stranger fed him and put him on a bus home. Predictably Penn Empire withheld his pay to cover the cost of the repair. When he got back to town he looked like a prison camp survivor, skeletal and jaundiced to an awful shade of yellow.

What I started out saying was an observation of mine. I spot trailers so I move everybody’s trailers around the yard. The equipment IS the business, not just an asset. It’s what the public sees, it’s the main advertisement of the company or the trailers wouldn’t need all the logos and paint schemes. If the company can’t or won’t take care of the equipment, which as I said, IS THE BUSINESS, they certainly don’t care about the drivers. If the trailers are rusted and battered into rolling junk, patched on the sides and roof and wearing mismatched tires with barely legal tread they send pretty clear message about the state of the business. Since drivers are secondary to the equipment they shouldn’t expect to be treated any better.

It seems like the industry is flooded with newbie’s these last few months and a lot of the regular drivers we used to see week after week have quit and moved on. It’s clear that there just isn’t enough work to keep the seasoned drivers going. For most of them everyday they drive is another day deeper in the hole.

We get newbie’s in our facility very frequently and it becomes apparent very quickly that the company they are driving for didn’t see them as valuable enough to invest more than the bare minimum training on. Sometimes we try to keep the atmosphere light with some mild teasing but we get drivers here who can’t back a trailer into a dock without a dozen tries. We’ve had some who finally gave up and asked if they dropped the trailer if we would back it in for them. We sometimes hear comments when we tease them like “Awww, give me a break, I’ve only been doing this for a few months”. Many of them admit they only got the training they needed to get licensed and then sent out on the road with a vague promise of more training when the timing was better. One guy dropped his trailer so we could back it in only he forgot to crank the landing gear down. He had over 30,000 pounds of engine parts onboard; we were surprised there was no damage to the trailer.

Celedon’s SCAC code happens to be CDNK. To remember that code I think of them as Celedoink. Their trailers seem to be some of the worst and their drivers poorly trained and miserable. Swift is just as bad. The guys on the receiving dock have an acronym for them “So What’d I F@#$up Today.” On the other hand the trailers from CFI/Conway are usually in good shape and the tractors are in very good shape. Quite often I have noticed that the tractors are labeled “Million Mile Club”. While no trucking job is easy the guys from Conway seem about the happiest ones.

 

[Grinder]

What I will say is that the “lifestyle” of an OTR driver used to seem like a tough way to make a living; I’m inclined to change the description from “tough” to brutal.

Actually I enjoyed it, and I'm hardly masochistic. I enjoyed it in spite of Celadons bullshit since it's the only company that ever gave me crap.

It's being on the road that I like. But the newbies coming into this have no real idea on what it is like, they just wanted a job. It's not a job, it's a lifestyle. Therefore they get a very rude awakening. Most don't last long.

Many of them admit they only got the training they needed to get licensed and then sent out on the road with a vague promise of more training when the timing was better.

Holy crap.

What you are saying is that after 2 weeks of school and hardly any road time, they are on the road by themselves.

That is not good.

Celedon’s SCAC code happens to be CDNK. To remember that code I think of them as Celedoink. Their trailers seem to be some of the worst and their drivers poorly trained and miserable.

Thats interesting. I'll say this for them, they did take good care of their trailers. Every time I went into a terminal, which was often, they had to inspect them before I could drop them. I never had a problem with a trailer.

Maybe things have really gone downhill for them and they are cutting corners they shouldn't cut.

 

[rclosure]

How long is orientation?