Need The Truth On Celadon Quality Driving School . Any Truth Will Help Guide And Build My Confidence.

Name is Richard Collins and for over a year i have been searching/ researching many trucking companies till i found Celadon . i love what they have to offer someone who hasnt gotta a cdl. Everything is paid for . yet my question to anyone who went before me , after training do u go out with a trainer to complete either 120,000 or 240,000 miles plus your contract agreement ? Help me please because i feel discourage and let down .

Thank u very much ....

Hey there, I'm with Celadon right now. I did their contract option and I'll be honest with you, they are so confused with what they're doing. When I signed the contract, it was for 240,000 team miles. That means that in order to fulfill my contract, I have to team drive, and ALL miles the truck turns (actually meaning all miles that you get paid) applies toward your contract. So if you and your teammate are paid for 5792 loaded miles in one week, all 5792 miles count toward your agreement.

The problem began when I finished my training and was told that instead of being paid a set cents per mile for 240,000 miles, I'm now expected to drive for even less cents per mile but for only 120,000 team miles. I was going to be a **** and hold them to their original agreement because when it comes to someone holding a $7200 tuition repayment plan over my head, DONT MESS WITH IT. However, I made them reprint a contract with the lower miles and we signed it, so that kinda worked out.

I'm about 70000 miles through my contract. I can tell you the following piece of advice:

Don't expect to be assigned an actual team truck. You'll likely be given a truck that has no 'team amenities' aside from 2 bunks.

Richard, welcome to Trucking Truth!

While Celadon has a great history of being a fine trucking company, they are having some issues at getting their new training program off the ground. Let's just call it growing pains - they will get past these problems and will eventually get all the kinks worked out, but it does seem they have bitten off more than they knew how to chew for the moment. I can't answer your actual question, but I would say make sure you have the requirement in writing from your recruiter if there is some ambiguity about the actual numbers required.

We have some great information available to you about Company-Sponsored Training programs if you are interested. Check out that link and see if you can find some others that meet your needs.

Also the Truck Driver's Career Guide is filled with all kinds of valuable information for someone lokking to jump into the industry.

How much are the leasr purchase payments? I start school tomorrow well lol today and am really interested in it. Better yet what's the average miles You run? Cause i figure if u cut the cpm in half for ur truck payment and insurance i still need to bringing in at least 400 a week

Instead of going into a long post about why it's not a good idea to lease a truck especially for a rookie because it is late and I am tired I will tell ya this......Trucks can and do break down all the time. It's apart of truck. It's not a question of IF you break down....it's when you break down and for how long. Simply put the lease companies do not care that you have been broke down for a week. You still have to make the truck and insurance payment regardless of you having the money. Can't make the payment they will take the truck back.

I am a very happy company driver at a large carrier. I am on goal to reach $50k this year. Let's say everything for you went perfect and you ran max miles and had no break down. Guess what you will make? Only 3% more than me. So for an extra $1560 dollars you are willing to take the chance in leasing a truck and guarantee that you will have zero break downs?

A 3% profit margin make absolutely no business sense other than to say you did it. I have been there and done that.

Perhaps I am speaking out of turn. Since I can tell nothing about your experience in driving a truck is it safe to assume you are a rookie? If not I apologize. If your not a rookie then you have the needed years of experience to judge where the best freight lanes are and the trends in the supply and demand chain?

Or is it that you are completely new to trucking and know nothing about freight lanes and supply and demand and while trying to learn all that you need to know to run a successful trucking business you will also be learning how to drive?

Richard V. here is the problem. Going on the fact that you have only two post on the forums and did not fill out the rest of your profile I will assume you are new to trucking. If i am wrong I will admit it.

A little background on me. I have had two of my own trucks before that I have leased. I was successful with both trucks. So I do know a bit of what I am talking about. Most truck payments are right around $700 to $800 a week in most lease programs. The insurance will run you another $200 to $400 a week. I will let you do the final math on those...............Got "Sticker Shock" yet? Now add in, if your running hard and doing all the miles you can, another $2500 in fuel for the week. Then through another 10 % each week into a maintenance fund so you can afford break downs (ie tires and oil changes and the like. ) Now add in another 14% for fuel tax and heavy truck road tax. Do you understand these numbers? If not you better get to finding out what these means cause they WILL make or break you in less than 6 months.

Now all the while trying to run a numbers crunching business you are also learning how to develop you skills as a driver.

So now we are talking about putting two very stressful things together (learning to drive and learning to run a business) and all the risk involved and let this be very clear YOU are taking all the risk. Not your company you are leased to.

Now you are going to be doing all this while I am driving my company truck the same as you and I have no risk at all so do you think all that extra work and stress is only worth $1560 dollars extra a year?

Remember at the beginning of this post I said I was not going to go into a long post? Well I didn't do a long post. This is a very short post concerning leasing a truck. Believe me I could literally do a post 30 times as long as this one and not have to repeat myself once on all the things you would need to know about leasing in order to make it as a trucking business owner.

I know you wanted the specifics of the Celadon leasing program but a one or two line response could not convey the information to you. I hope to god that this has scared you away from the thought of leasing.

Brother I am not jumping on you because of the question you asked. Everyone here on the forums knows that I will tell you how something is regardless of weather or not it's answer you will like. I know you were only curious about the leasing program I but I felt you needed more than a one line answer.

Weather or not you thank me down the line for saving you from a really bad headache I felt you needed to know the truth about leasing and sometimes the truth can suck but at least your eyes are opened a little bit more now.

This is something that causes many rookies to stumble. I never really worry about it. There will be times if you are savvy, that you will beat the system.

I've always looked at the paid miles as a contract between me and the employer. Every time they send me a load they tell me how many miles it pays. They are not telling you how many miles you will drive. One of the negotiating tactics in logistics companies is that they will negotiate the amount of miles they charge the customer rather than the rate. It may seem like splitting hairs to you, but it is one way for them to maintain a decent rate for their services. Some drivers feel they are being cheated, but I've always come real close to having everything average out pretty fairly when you look back over a month or two of work.

From talking to drivers from different companies and talking to recruiters themselves. It seems to me that there are three basic systems out here that companies use.

The smaller, more family orientated companies pay actual miles. They only have a few drivers. Each one is known by their first names as the saying goes. They pay what miles the truck is actually driven.

The next system both medium and large companies use. Practical miles. Those are the actual routing miles that the company routes you on. Address to address and any out of route miles.

Then there is the third system. Any company can use this. The shortest truck route possible from the edge of of one city to the edge of another city.

That is the one where the driver gets cheated. Yes cheated.

I don't get many trips where I have to make more than on stop on a single trip. But it happens once in a while. The reason I know I am not paid for miles driving in the same city. It has happened to me more than once.

For example, one load I had I dropped on one side of town. Went across town to swap trailers for another load, 27 miles. And I was not paid for those miles. That happens on a regular basis if we have a terminal in the same town our load drops.

Old School my friend. You said it is like a contract. I understand what you are saying, but in an actual contract, both sides have a say so in the wording and how the contract is written. And what is acceptable. Company drivers don't have that option.

I don't know how Western does it, but at Celadon, I, as a company driver have no say so what so ever. I am sent a load. Told I can't refuse it. And they pay the miles they say they are going to pay.

I have kept note pads with every load I have ever been assigned. Even the ones that I couldn't do and was unassigned from. There is an old saying. Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. If you don't have the paperwork it didn't happen.

So I have everything since I started. I took a two month time period this past winter when it was slow. I don't see it averaging out. Sorry my friend.

When I was training, both my trainers told me. When I receive a load and start figuring miles. Take 10% off right off the top of the actual miles. Sometimes they short you 8% sometimes 12%. But on average, use 10%. That way you won't be disappointed when you see you paycheck differ from the actual miles you drive.

It seems to me that if they can figure how many miles it is from Post Office to Post Office, they could figure out to the address.

No company could pay actual miles. There would be enough drivers out here to cheat the company enough the company would be out of business.

But also, the companies could be a bit more fair. Pay from address to address. And if they send you out of route for fuel, or to avoid tolls, just pay the extra miles. Stop cheating the drivers.

And if you don't see it as cheating the drivers. When you worked an hourly paying job, did you ever work off the clock because your boss told you to?

And you can look at it how ever you want. You can say it is different till the cows come home. You are just fooling yourself. Getting paid to do a job, no matter how or in what form is still getting paid to do a job. The only difference in trucking, we are at the mercy of what the company "allows".

Even the FMCSA says that the system most companies use is unfair. They have pushed for hourly pay or some kind of a split system for years. While the system is unfair, it is not illegal. Yet.

Keep it safe out here. The life you save might be your own. Joe S.

Greeny, welcome to Trucking Truth!

You are right about there being a lot of useful information in this thread, but boy you sure changed that trend with your last post. Look, I know you are a green horn, and I'm glad to see your handle reflects that understanding, but you seriously need to do your homework before you start making statements like this:

The lease options works best because you can get most of their money.

The whole purpose of the truck leasing programs is to transfer most of the company's expenses over to the lease operator. So, what the driver ends up getting is most of their expenses, not most of their money! If you think that team pay at .20 cents per mile is low, just wait till you get a taste of that .90 cpm along with the expenses of fuel and maintenance, and God forbid any major repairs that might just happen to come your way.

Keep studying and reading in here, you'll get a masters degree before you even get started good, but PLEASE don't let yourself get suckered into anybody's lease program until you absolutely understand what you're up against. And hopefully, by then, you'll know better than to try that anyway.

Hey there, I'm with Celadon right now. I did their contract option and I'll be honest with you, they are so confused with what they're doing. When I signed the contract, it was for 240,000 team miles. That means that in order to fulfill my contract, I have to team drive, and ALL miles the truck turns (actually meaning all miles that you get paid) applies toward your contract. So if you and your teammate are paid for 5792 loaded miles in one week, all 5792 miles count toward your agreement.

The problem began when I finished my training and was told that instead of being paid a set cents per mile for 240,000 miles, I'm now expected to drive for even less cents per mile but for only 120,000 team miles. I was going to be a **** and hold them to their original agreement because when it comes to someone holding a $7200 tuition repayment plan over my head, DONT MESS WITH IT. However, I made them reprint a contract with the lower miles and we signed it, so that kinda worked out.

I'm about 70000 miles through my contract. I can tell you the following piece of advice:

Don't expect to be assigned an actual team truck. You'll likely be given a truck that has no 'team amenities' aside from 2 bunks.

So let me get right : i gotta team drive with someone who i graduate with. And do these miles till we fulfill the required miles .. Im confused / lost ..

So after ur schooling instead of getting a certified trainer and u and him learn the ropez from him . hence the confusion and condriction I'm reading / feeling from them .

Richard, welcome to Trucking Truth!

While Celadon has a great history of being a fine trucking company, they are having some issues at getting their new training program off the ground. Let's just call it growing pains - they will get past these problems and will eventually get all the kinks worked out, but it does seem they have bitten off more than they knew how to chew for the moment. I can't answer your actual question, but I would say make sure you have the requirement in writing from your recruiter if there is some ambiguity about the actual numbers required.

We have some great information available to you about Company-Sponsored Training programs if you are interested. Check out that link and see if you can find some others that meet your needs.

Also the Truck Driver's Career Guide is filled with all kinds of valuable information for someone lokking to jump into the industry.

You will go through schooling which I think they advertise as taking 6 weeks now instead of 3. Then, you'll attend a 3 day orientation. Then, you will wait to be assigned a trainer who will take you out on the road and train you for six weeks. You are supposed to return to the terminal in Indy every 2 weeks for a review on your progress.

Once you've done the 6 weeks and your trainer feels you're ready to be graduated, you'll return to Indy to do a road test just to prove that you can drive the truck. Then, you'll wait to be assigned a truck. You're expected to find your own teammate if you choose, but if I am not mistaken they can find you one. Yes, they "want" you to do all them miles team driving but if you go out and drive solo while waiting for a teammate, those miles will count as well.

Now thats does make sense because you could get with a person who well have annoying personalities and u dont wanna hurt ppls feelings . but if they cant find a teammate i would rather keep rolling as solo driver , regardless if finding me a teammate

Hey there, I'm with Celadon right now. I did their contract option and I'll be honest with you, they are so confused with what they're doing. When I signed the contract, it was for 240,000 team miles. That means that in order to fulfill my contract, I have to team drive, and ALL miles the truck turns (actually meaning all miles that you get paid) applies toward your contract. So if you and your teammate are paid for 5792 loaded miles in one week, all 5792 miles count toward your agreement.

The problem began when I finished my training and was told that instead of being paid a set cents per mile for 240,000 miles, I'm now expected to drive for even less cents per mile but for only 120,000 team miles. I was going to be a **** and hold them to their original agreement because when it comes to someone holding a $7200 tuition repayment plan over my head, DONT MESS WITH IT. However, I made them reprint a contract with the lower miles and we signed it, so that kinda worked out.

I'm about 70000 miles through my contract. I can tell you the following piece of advice:

Don't expect to be assigned an actual team truck. You'll likely be given a truck that has no 'team amenities' aside from 2 bunks.

What do you mean by "You'll likely be given a truck that has no 'team amenities' aside from 2 bunks" ?

I think you typed that wrong or misunderstand what a team truck is. Just to clarify that a team truck is a full size truck with 2 bunks. There are no extra amenities for teams. It's the exact same full size truck a solo driver has. There is nothing extra and nothing special.

Celadon tries to offer their teams a couple more amenities compared to solo drivers. Before they decided to bring on 'too many' drivers and run out of trucks, especially 'team' trucks, teams were supposed to have a couple extras provided in their trucks such as a fridge and power inverter. We're actually getting a bunch of KW T680s, one of which I'll be receiving, that are set up specifically for teams. They don't give solo drivers the installed fridge and inverter - just one of many examples of how they favor teams here.

I suppose I should've just went with the 3x longer reply I was going to write out at first.

Celadon tries to offer their teams a couple more amenities compared to solo drivers. Before they decided to bring on 'too many' drivers and run out of trucks, especially 'team' trucks, teams were supposed to have a couple extras provided in their trucks such as a fridge and power inverter. We're actually getting a bunch of KW T680s, one of which I'll be receiving, that are set up specifically for teams. They don't give solo drivers the installed fridge and inverter - just one of many examples of how they favor teams here.

I suppose I should've just went with the 3x longer reply I was going to write out at first.

Oh OK those are team perks specifically for that company. I thought your were talking as a general rule across the board.

Nope, apologies for not being clear from the start.