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Central Transport | Positives about working at Central

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mothergoose

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Myself and some other obvious Central employees have been defending our company. Everyone keeps asking about positives about working here, so here are some of my own personal reasons:

1. This place is like a family and it's like you are working with your brothers and sisters. I think that's why some of us take the bashing that has been given out so personal. I used to drive for Vitran. I felt like a number. I felt like everyone from my dispatch, to term mgrs, to dock workers to even my fellow drivers were just there doing a job and I was just another worker bee. There was no oneness or feeling of belonging. You came in, did your job with as little interaction with one another as you could and went home. Central is far from that. Everyone at Central is welcoming and friendly to get along with. From the day you meet people, you feel like you've know them for years. There are always smiles on faces and it's a very hard place to feel negative. There are exceptions, but the atmosphere here is night and day from the big V.

2. The atmosphere. There is no yelling and screaming and infighting here like I saw at Vitran. Are there disagreements at times - sure. But ehy get worked out as adults without the pressure and insults I have personally experienced at Vitran. An example - we have very strict cut times on our line haul which I run. I had to be late the other day. No way around it. I called my line haul and instead of yelling, screaming and putting me down, their response was "OK, do what you can. The earlier you get here the better, but I'd rather you come late than not at all". You want to know what that did? That made me feel appreciated and I will I promise you, I will go out of my way to do extra for them. I can bet the reaction at Vitran would have been the polar opposite. I would have been yelled at, put down, berated to the point I would have showed up to work as late as possible and would have probably held a grudge and tried to screw with them every chance I got.

3. Operations. As I said, our cut times are pretty strict. Ya know what that does? Consistent start times. City and linehaul know when they are starting. No coming to work and sitting around not getting paid for hours. I come in and the majority of the time I am loaded and ready to go. When I am not, I don't have a long wait at all. Don't take this as there are never problems or hiccups, there are, but for the most part things run smooth.

4. Our checks always cash. This gets tossed around and downplayed as a bull**** excuse, it's not. How many of you guys wondered when working at Vitran if you were going to have a job in 6 mos, 1 mos or even next week? I know I did. There is no uncertainty here. Central is like a cockroach, it will survive the end of the world. This place is going no where and the purchase of Vitran only solidifies that. With the backing we have, I have no worry at all about ever losing my job due to economics or lack of money. As long as I do what is expected of me, I will get my check, and it will cash.

I could go on and on but to be truthful, I don't know how many of the negative Vitran drivers I want to convince to come over. This place in my opinion is great and don't take offense, I don't want my company turned in to another Vitran. I don't want to come to work with grumpy, complaining, bad attitude co workers. I don't have that now and it's very, very refreshing. If you guys can come over and work as a team, awesome. If you can't, please don't bother. This isn't the type of place where we want people who complain that the trucks are ugly and dirty, the terminals aren't pretty and so on. If that is your biggest concern, you got other issues and don't belong here.

Also, understand no where is perfect. I have been behind the wheel at both. For me, this is a way better company. Maybe not the newest equipment, maybe not the top of the line pay, but none the less it's a great place to work with other unseen benefits that for me, offset the negatives. I can also tell you as I said in another post, it's better than the alternative you guys were facing which was a locked gate when you showed up for work. My advice, don't bite the hand that feeds you, and make up your own mind after you personally experience it. There will be those that stay and like me think it's great. There will be those who don't and complain and complain some more. It's the way of the world.

If you have any specific questions, pm me and I will do my best to answer them. I've only been here a little over a year so I don't know everything but will do my best.
 
mothergoose said:
Myself and some other obvious Central employees have been defending our company. Everyone keeps asking about positives about working here, so here are some of my own personal reasons:

1. This place is like a family and it's like you are working with your brothers and sisters. I think that's why some of us take the bashing that has been given out so personal. I used to drive for Vitran. I felt like a number. I felt like everyone from my dispatch, to term mgrs, to dock workers to even my fellow drivers were just there doing a job and I was just another worker bee. There was no oneness or feeling of belonging. You came in, did your job with as little interaction with one another as you could and went home. Central is far from that. Everyone at Central is welcoming and friendly to get along with. From the day you meet people, you feel like you've know them for years. There are always smiles on faces and it's a very hard place to feel negative. There are exceptions, but the atmosphere here is night and day from the big V.

2. The atmosphere. There is no yelling and screaming and infighting here like I saw at Vitran. Are there disagreements at times - sure. But ehy get worked out as adults without the pressure and insults I have personally experienced at Vitran. An example - we have very strict cut times on our line haul which I run. I had to be late the other day. No way around it. I called my line haul and instead of yelling, screaming and putting me down, their response was "OK, do what you can. The earlier you get here the better, but I'd rather you come late than not at all". You want to know what that did? That made me feel appreciated and I will I promise you, I will go out of my way to do extra for them. I can bet the reaction at Vitran would have been the polar opposite. I would have been yelled at, put down, berated to the point I would have showed up to work as late as possible and would have probably held a grudge and tried to screw with them every chance I got.

3. Operations. As I said, our cut times are pretty strict. Ya know what that does? Consistent start times. City and linehaul know when they are starting. No coming to work and sitting around not getting paid for hours. I come in and the majority of the time I am loaded and ready to go. When I am not, I don't have a long wait at all. Don't take this as there are never problems or hiccups, there are, but for the most part things run smooth.

4. Our checks always cash. This gets tossed around and downplayed as a bull**** excuse, it's not. How many of you guys wondered when working at Vitran if you were going to have a job in 6 mos, 1 mos or even next week? I know I did. There is no uncertainty here. Central is like a cockroach, it will survive the end of the world. This place is going no where and the purchase of Vitran only solidifies that. With the backing we have, I have no worry at all about ever losing my job due to economics or lack of money. As long as I do what is expected of me, I will get my check, and it will cash.

I could go on and on but to be truthful, I don't know how many of the negative Vitran drivers I want to convince to come over. This place in my opinion is great and don't take offense, I don't want my company turned in to another Vitran. I don't want to come to work with grumpy, complaining, bad attitude co workers. I don't have that now and it's very, very refreshing. If you guys can come over and work as a team, awesome. If you can't, please don't bother. This isn't the type of place where we want people who complain that the trucks are ugly and dirty, the terminals aren't pretty and so on. If that is your biggest concern, you got other issues and don't belong here.

Also, understand no where is perfect. I have been behind the wheel at both. For me, this is a way better company. Maybe not the newest equipment, maybe not the top of the line pay, but none the less it's a great place to work with other unseen benefits that for me, offset the negatives. I can also tell you as I said in another post, it's better than the alternative you guys were facing which was a locked gate when you showed up for work. My advice, don't bite the hand that feeds you, and make up your own mind after you personally experience it. There will be those that stay and like me think it's great. There will be those who don't and complain and complain some more. It's the way of the world.

If you have any specific questions, pm me and I will do my best to answer them. I've only been here a little over a year so I don't know everything but will do my best.
Click to expand...
Yes guys, please PM her with questions and don't start ripping her post with confrontational BS. It is very obvious she is trying to be helpful.
 
mothergoose said:
Myself and some other obvious Central employees have been defending our company. Everyone keeps asking about positives about working here, so here are some of my own personal reasons:

1. This place is like a family and it's like you are working with your brothers and sisters. I think that's why some of us take the bashing that has been given out so personal. I used to drive for Vitran. I felt like a number. I felt like everyone from my dispatch, to term mgrs, to dock workers to even my fellow drivers were just there doing a job and I was just another worker bee. There was no oneness or feeling of belonging. You came in, did your job with as little interaction with one another as you could and went home. Central is far from that. Everyone at Central is welcoming and friendly to get along with. From the day you meet people, you feel like you've know them for years. There are always smiles on faces and it's a very hard place to feel negative. There are exceptions, but the atmosphere here is night and day from the big V.

2. The atmosphere. There is no yelling and screaming and infighting here like I saw at Vitran. Are there disagreements at times - sure. But ehy get worked out as adults without the pressure and insults I have personally experienced at Vitran. An example - we have very strict cut times on our line haul which I run. I had to be late the other day. No way around it. I called my line haul and instead of yelling, screaming and putting me down, their response was "OK, do what you can. The earlier you get here the better, but I'd rather you come late than not at all". You want to know what that did? That made me feel appreciated and I will I promise you, I will go out of my way to do extra for them. I can bet the reaction at Vitran would have been the polar opposite. I would have been yelled at, put down, berated to the point I would have showed up to work as late as possible and would have probably held a grudge and tried to screw with them every chance I got.

3. Operations. As I said, our cut times are pretty strict. Ya know what that does? Consistent start times. City and linehaul know when they are starting. No coming to work and sitting around not getting paid for hours. I come in and the majority of the time I am loaded and ready to go. When I am not, I don't have a long wait at all. Don't take this as there are never problems or hiccups, there are, but for the most part things run smooth.

4. Our checks always cash. This gets tossed around and downplayed as a bull**** excuse, it's not. How many of you guys wondered when working at Vitran if you were going to have a job in 6 mos, 1 mos or even next week? I know I did. There is no uncertainty here. Central is like a cockroach, it will survive the end of the world. This place is going no where and the purchase of Vitran only solidifies that. With the backing we have, I have no worry at all about ever losing my job due to economics or lack of money. As long as I do what is expected of me, I will get my check, and it will cash.

I could go on and on but to be truthful, I don't know how many of the negative Vitran drivers I want to convince to come over. This place in my opinion is great and don't take offense, I don't want my company turned in to another Vitran. I don't want to come to work with grumpy, complaining, bad attitude co workers. I don't have that now and it's very, very refreshing. If you guys can come over and work as a team, awesome. If you can't, please don't bother. This isn't the type of place where we want people who complain that the trucks are ugly and dirty, the terminals aren't pretty and so on. If that is your biggest concern, you got other issues and don't belong here.

Also, understand no where is perfect. I have been behind the wheel at both. For me, this is a way better company. Maybe not the newest equipment, maybe not the top of the line pay, but none the less it's a great place to work with other unseen benefits that for me, offset the negatives. I can also tell you as I said in another post, it's better than the alternative you guys were facing which was a locked gate when you showed up for work. My advice, don't bite the hand that feeds you, and make up your own mind after you personally experience it. There will be those that stay and like me think it's great. There will be those who don't and complain and complain some more. It's the way of the world.

If you have any specific questions, pm me and I will do my best to answer them. I've only been here a little over a year so I don't know everything but will do my best.
Click to expand...

You have some very good and valid points here, some of my problems I've ran into as a city driver are I hear a lot of the negativity from the customers,complaining about the central drivers not showing up ( a problem with vitran as well) freight being damaged or destroyed when delivered (also a problem with Vitran) being delivered late (once again a problem with Vitran) I think as a linehaul driver you don't get a lot of the complaining and negativity we as city drivers do, and when I personally have told some of my long term customers that Vitran was bought by Central they have hung their heads and said they were sorry, some have gone as far as telling me that their freight will NEVER be on a central truck if they have anything to say about it (little did they know after Oct 7 their freight was going on a Central truck only under a different name), so bottom line is, what we deal with in the city might be affecting our attitude a lot more than what you guys deal with in linehaul, or it could just be some of us lifers have been burned so much over the years we have no life left to give to this company,and now in my case at least being told that what my family will have to live on will be 250+ a week less doesn't make me jump for joy over the purchase. I know for a majority of my time here I have felt like Pjax/Vitran was a linehaul company that was stuck with a city division. and we as city drivers were treated like that.
 
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i agree on the treatment vitran had towards employees, i was hired by pjax and seen the decline after the purchase. glad that this nightmare is almost over.
 
thank you Mother Goose for your positive input it is quite refreshing to hear, I am also glad that you found a company you enjoy working for, I personally am i pd driver an much like fudgie hear a lot of negitive from customers about this buyout, i am not hear to put any drivers down just trying to figure out if this is the best for myself and family. Which everyone the best and do whats best for you and your families.
 
Good post and some good info as well, more than we have been getting from Central management. I will give you MY opinion as to why there is so much negativity. For the last 2+ years Vitran employees have been lied to. We have endured many changes and accepted concessions under the promise of a better tomorrow, it never came. While most major LTL carriers were turning a profit, Vitran continued to post massive losses. Vitran closed its west coast operations and had hinted that they would close the Milan territory in an effort to return to a regional carrier. While being sold was always an option it seemed as though Vitran was going to try and salvage its core area.

Central is different, they don't operate like most LTL companies( at least in my 5 state region). FedEx, Conway, OD, Vitran ect. base a large chunk of their business on overnight service, sometimes as far away as 600 miles. Central, at this point has no linehaul structure in place to do this. We have accounts that have gone to Central that are taking 2 days to move 250 miles simply because of the way Central runs its linehaul. My biggest concern is if Central will be able to keep these accounts?

I was glad Central finally "clarified" the PTO situation, it might slow down the flood of people calling in to burn their PTO days. The sad part is its been very difficult to get anything in writing from HR concerning integration.

The ball is in their court. What kind of company do they want to be? Do they want to continue to be a low cost, no frills carrier? Or are they planning to compete with the major players? The worst part is not knowing.
 
they said they would honor vac & pto but most drivers at my terminal are calling in and burning them up, either because they're leaving or don't believe what c.t. is saying.
 
Legally in Texas they must pay you for your vacation.....PTO is lost if not taken....But come on, it's November and who hasn't used those 3 days by now.
 
My understanding we still have guys whining and wanting to quit. Well word from pretty high up on that Warren, MI hill is "hey if they don't want to come, uh, ok, so be it" You come with a good attitude wanting to work and get along with everyone great, welcome aboard, you come with a chip on your shoulder feeling you're above everyone and you are better than everyone, go hang with Keylon, you and him have a lot in common.
 
i don't know how many drivers will be left at our terminal by the time we merge, they're running out of the building like someone pulled the fire alarm.
 
mothergoose said:
Myself and some other obvious Central employees have been defending our company. Everyone keeps asking about positives about working here, so here are some of my own personal reasons:

1. This place is like a family and it's like you are working with your brothers and sisters. I think that's why some of us take the bashing that has been given out so personal. I used to drive for Vitran. I felt like a number. I felt like everyone from my dispatch, to term mgrs, to dock workers to even my fellow drivers were just there doing a job and I was just another worker bee. There was no oneness or feeling of belonging. You came in, did your job with as little interaction with one another as you could and went home. Central is far from that. Everyone at Central is welcoming and friendly to get along with. From the day you meet people, you feel like you've know them for years. There are always smiles on faces and it's a very hard place to feel negative. There are exceptions, but the atmosphere here is night and day from the big V.

2. The atmosphere. There is no yelling and screaming and infighting here like I saw at Vitran. Are there disagreements at times - sure. But ehy get worked out as adults without the pressure and insults I have personally experienced at Vitran. An example - we have very strict cut times on our line haul which I run. I had to be late the other day. No way around it. I called my line haul and instead of yelling, screaming and putting me down, their response was "OK, do what you can. The earlier you get here the better, but I'd rather you come late than not at all". You want to know what that did? That made me feel appreciated and I will I promise you, I will go out of my way to do extra for them. I can bet the reaction at Vitran would have been the polar opposite. I would have been yelled at, put down, berated to the point I would have showed up to work as late as possible and would have probably held a grudge and tried to screw with them every chance I got.

3. Operations. As I said, our cut times are pretty strict. Ya know what that does? Consistent start times. City and linehaul know when they are starting. No coming to work and sitting around not getting paid for hours. I come in and the majority of the time I am loaded and ready to go. When I am not, I don't have a long wait at all. Don't take this as there are never problems or hiccups, there are, but for the most part things run smooth.

4. Our checks always cash. This gets tossed around and downplayed as a bull**** excuse, it's not. How many of you guys wondered when working at Vitran if you were going to have a job in 6 mos, 1 mos or even next week? I know I did. There is no uncertainty here. Central is like a cockroach, it will survive the end of the world. This place is going no where and the purchase of Vitran only solidifies that. With the backing we have, I have no worry at all about ever losing my job due to economics or lack of money. As long as I do what is expected of me, I will get my check, and it will cash.

I could go on and on but to be truthful, I don't know how many of the negative Vitran drivers I want to convince to come over. This place in my opinion is great and don't take offense, I don't want my company turned in to another Vitran. I don't want to come to work with grumpy, complaining, bad attitude co workers. I don't have that now and it's very, very refreshing. If you guys can come over and work as a team, awesome. If you can't, please don't bother. This isn't the type of place where we want people who complain that the trucks are ugly and dirty, the terminals aren't pretty and so on. If that is your biggest concern, you got other issues and don't belong here.

Also, understand no where is perfect. I have been behind the wheel at both. For me, this is a way better company. Maybe not the newest equipment, maybe not the top of the line pay, but none the less it's a great place to work with other unseen benefits that for me, offset the negatives. I can also tell you as I said in another post, it's better than the alternative you guys were facing which was a locked gate when you showed up for work. My advice, don't bite the hand that feeds you, and make up your own mind after you personally experience it. There will be those that stay and like me think it's great. There will be those who don't and complain and complain some more. It's the way of the world.

If you have any specific questions, pm me and I will do my best to answer them. I've only been here a little over a year so I don't know everything but will do my best.
Click to expand...


First day at CT. I asked the spotter to explain something to me and he said "my terminal manager said not to help the vitran folks. you all have to figure it out on your own." Half of the CT drivers are disgruntled and complaining. The others will not make eye contact. The mechanic call a vitran driver an MFer because he did not see the sign, and pulled to the pumps with a trailer. Yeah, this is a real friendly place.
 
mothergoose said:
Myself and some other obvious Central employees have been defending our company. Everyone keeps asking about positives about working here, so here are some of my own personal reasons:

1. This place is like a family and it's like you are working with your brothers and sisters. I think that's why some of us take the bashing that has been given out so personal. I used to drive for Vitran. I felt like a number. I felt like everyone from my dispatch, to term mgrs, to dock workers to even my fellow drivers were just there doing a job and I was just another worker bee. There was no oneness or feeling of belonging. You came in, did your job with as little interaction with one another as you could and went home. Central is far from that. Everyone at Central is welcoming and friendly to get along with. From the day you meet people, you feel like you've know them for years. There are always smiles on faces and it's a very hard place to feel negative. There are exceptions, but the atmosphere here is night and day from the big V.

2. The atmosphere. There is no yelling and screaming and infighting here like I saw at Vitran. Are there disagreements at times - sure. But ehy get worked out as adults without the pressure and insults I have personally experienced at Vitran. An example - we have very strict cut times on our line haul which I run. I had to be late the other day. No way around it. I called my line haul and instead of yelling, screaming and putting me down, their response was "OK, do what you can. The earlier you get here the better, but I'd rather you come late than not at all". You want to know what that did? That made me feel appreciated and I will I promise you, I will go out of my way to do extra for them. I can bet the reaction at Vitran would have been the polar opposite. I would have been yelled at, put down, berated to the point I would have showed up to work as late as possible and would have probably held a grudge and tried to screw with them every chance I got.

3. Operations. As I said, our cut times are pretty strict. Ya know what that does? Consistent start times. City and linehaul know when they are starting. No coming to work and sitting around not getting paid for hours. I come in and the majority of the time I am loaded and ready to go. When I am not, I don't have a long wait at all. Don't take this as there are never problems or hiccups, there are, but for the most part things run smooth.

4. Our checks always cash. This gets tossed around and downplayed as a bull**** excuse, it's not. How many of you guys wondered when working at Vitran if you were going to have a job in 6 mos, 1 mos or even next week? I know I did. There is no uncertainty here. Central is like a cockroach, it will survive the end of the world. This place is going no where and the purchase of Vitran only solidifies that. With the backing we have, I have no worry at all about ever losing my job due to economics or lack of money. As long as I do what is expected of me, I will get my check, and it will cash.

I could go on and on but to be truthful, I don't know how many of the negative Vitran drivers I want to convince to come over. This place in my opinion is great and don't take offense, I don't want my company turned in to another Vitran. I don't want to come to work with grumpy, complaining, bad attitude co workers. I don't have that now and it's very, very refreshing. If you guys can come over and work as a team, awesome. If you can't, please don't bother. This isn't the type of place where we want people who complain that the trucks are ugly and dirty, the terminals aren't pretty and so on. If that is your biggest concern, you got other issues and don't belong here.

Also, understand no where is perfect. I have been behind the wheel at both. For me, this is a way better company. Maybe not the newest equipment, maybe not the top of the line pay, but none the less it's a great place to work with other unseen benefits that for me, offset the negatives. I can also tell you as I said in another post, it's better than the alternative you guys were facing which was a locked gate when you showed up for work. My advice, don't bite the hand that feeds you, and make up your own mind after you personally experience it. There will be those that stay and like me think it's great. There will be those who don't and complain and complain some more. It's the way of the world.

If you have any specific questions, pm me and I will do my best to answer them. I've only been here a little over a year so I don't know everything but will do my best.
Click to expand...

just wondering what the holidays are like? normal days off?
 
Hey mothergoose, not to say the barn u r at isnt friendly,( in the yr i worked at ct i must have never been there), but why oh why do the employees in the whole midwest and all up n down the east, always try to get the teamsters in there? It is well documentedfor a long time now. The Dad would change the name, or move a barn that had the hourly employees about to sign cards, or just about to vote. Or maybe you can explain me this why was the ct barn in Hillside il (chicago area,northern part), once they voted in the teamsters they shut that barn down and moved there chicago operation into hammond indiana? And then they went to having mostly all owner ops peddling routes??? And the ones that went over to hammond ( the ones that didnt want the union in) they gotchecks with a differnt name as their company they worked for. And had to "reapply" but kept their pay senority and vac days.... plzzz inlighten me on how a scumbag like that would be a "great family" environment" Mothergoose you smell like management to me. Ctii is the worst LTL outfit out there. I should know i worked there, thats how i know about how "friendly" it is.
 
joebobin said:
My understanding we still have guys whining and wanting to quit. Well word from pretty high up on that Warren, MI hill is "hey if they don't want to come, uh, ok, so be it" You come with a good attitude wanting to work and get along with everyone great, welcome aboard, you come with a chip on your shoulder feeling you're above everyone and you are better than everyone, go hang with Keylon, you and him have a lot in common.
Click to expand...

I'm glad your getting some info from Michigan because they won't tell our local CT manager jack squat. Maybe they should ask why people aren't excited to go work for CT? One of my biggest concerns is your CSA score, you're at the level where the DOT is encouraged to inspect you at the scale; there is no prize for hitting triple digits. In fairness Vitran's score had been creeping up from failure to maintain equipment, due to a lack of funds. CT is owned by a billionaire, what's his excuse?
 
But its a job

Boy South Side , you really hit the nail on the head. I was much younger when I new a guy that worked at the old Ct. He was being asked how much money it would take for him to resign from the local union. I think he finally got $15.000.00 to quit. Mattie is going to do what ever he wants. Central is a bottom feeder and he just bought a struggling company which was run into the ground by management. The drivers had very little to do with the financial problems. Now we get to go to this s**** hole and be forced to work 14 hours a day. Drive and work the dock. The people who think Ct is so great is because they either never worked for a good company or have a record from years ago that prevented them from being employed else where. Hey everyone, what SSS said is the truth, take it from a guy who needs a little less that a year to retire, if your not in your late 50's you dont know first hand CT past. A leopard never changes its spots. Everyone is being told what is good to hear.from the stamp man. Two months from now we will see how many make the cut. CT is still a s*** hole.Im looking but as an old man waiting my time out I will try for a while, if it gets to bad I'll get a bad ankle.
 
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