Hi guys,
This morning I was doing some homework and I called Decker of Fort Dodge, Iowa, Crete and Werner.
Grocery Thrower told me to call Crete up and I trust Grocery Thrower and I called Crete and really Crete made a very good impression, the recruiter was nice, he said the school that I go to Crete recruits out of, he was honest and said sometimes some weeks at Crete are better then others, but over all they do a good job of keeping you moving. He said training at Crete was 8 weeks so almost two months long and they make you the student pretty much do everything which is how it should be. He said Crete has a diverse customer base and they have a lot of big name brand customers, which is what I figured, but I had to ask and make sure. 90% drop and hook at Crete also, so that is not all that bad.
Crete does not run trainer student teams when you are out of hours as the student your trainer is out of hours. However they do put the trainers in the bunk towards the end of training because they want you to get used to being in the truck by your self, which makes sense and I can respect.
I asked the man at Crete if the trainers they have are any good, how many times do we hear about student trainer horror stories, the man said at Crete the trainers all have 2+ years of experience with the company and most are ex military so they take pride in producing quality.
As far as Decker goes the man at Decker was also very nice, he said they do hire students but only out of certain schools and because Decker does not run a whole lot up here in Cleveland, my school was not on the list. I kind of figured that, but I had to call and ask any how, right? I mean it could not hurt. Decker is more of a place you go if you have OTR experience and want to be a career OTR driver.
Any how if I had to choose an OTR company to go with I would say that Crete would probably be worth a shot, they made a nice impression. The man at Crete said Crete is more of an OTR company you will be going all over the place. I did ask Crete how it worked between Shaffer and Crete, and if they mix the two up, he said once in a while you may get a Shaffer load, he said if you are on dry van they try to keep you on drive van, but now and then they may have to put one on the other to keep the freight moving for the customers. Really it doesn't matter Nestle has two big facilities in Cleveland the one is the Stouffers plant in Solon, Ohio and the other is the Nestle Minors plant I know for a fact Shaffer drops trailers at the Nestle Minors plant which is about 10 minutes down the road from my house so Crete & Shaffer both are good options, I think if I have to go that route I would choose Shaffer just because I know for a fact they have a customer in my area.
As far as Werner goes I just wanted to get the scoop on their refrigerated division and Werner doesn't do refrigerated in my area so, that's out.
Any how were not their yet I have decided the best course of action is go to school like I am currently going, keep applying at the food service companies Sysco Cleveland flat out says on their web site "when market forces dictate we reserve the right to hire out side of our "requirements" meaning if they need people bad enough they will take you.
Also like a couple of the other guys have said on the other threads, go and apply down at Estes, YRC, Old Dominion with a valid CDL and them being hard up enough for drivers, well you know begger's can't be choosers.
Any how I have sometime, and I'll get it figured out I know that as the weather warms up restaurants will get busier the food companies will need more help and by that time I'll have a valid CDL and they will definitely have to polish me up as far as driving skills go, but I'll be honest and they know this, the instructor at our school said same thing Double R said just because they say 1-2 years doesn't mean they won't take you. Apply any how tell them your new, be honest if your honest and tell them your new they will know how to handle you.
Any how thank you for your time, thank you for all the good advice and thank you for your commentary over the past few days it really means a lot to me. I am also sorry for monopolizing this food service forum, it's just I went to truck driving school with the goal of being a food service driver, because I felt that was the best for me and my personality. As you can probably tell by all my long typing I like people and I like to talk and I like talking to people who are interested in what I am interested in, of course that can probably be said about anyone.
Like I like Pizza and would eat it almost everyday if it was healthy to and that's another thing if you guys ever want to talk about pizza I'll be more then happy to ha-ha!
This morning I was doing some homework and I called Decker of Fort Dodge, Iowa, Crete and Werner.
Grocery Thrower told me to call Crete up and I trust Grocery Thrower and I called Crete and really Crete made a very good impression, the recruiter was nice, he said the school that I go to Crete recruits out of, he was honest and said sometimes some weeks at Crete are better then others, but over all they do a good job of keeping you moving. He said training at Crete was 8 weeks so almost two months long and they make you the student pretty much do everything which is how it should be. He said Crete has a diverse customer base and they have a lot of big name brand customers, which is what I figured, but I had to ask and make sure. 90% drop and hook at Crete also, so that is not all that bad.
Crete does not run trainer student teams when you are out of hours as the student your trainer is out of hours. However they do put the trainers in the bunk towards the end of training because they want you to get used to being in the truck by your self, which makes sense and I can respect.
I asked the man at Crete if the trainers they have are any good, how many times do we hear about student trainer horror stories, the man said at Crete the trainers all have 2+ years of experience with the company and most are ex military so they take pride in producing quality.
As far as Decker goes the man at Decker was also very nice, he said they do hire students but only out of certain schools and because Decker does not run a whole lot up here in Cleveland, my school was not on the list. I kind of figured that, but I had to call and ask any how, right? I mean it could not hurt. Decker is more of a place you go if you have OTR experience and want to be a career OTR driver.
Any how if I had to choose an OTR company to go with I would say that Crete would probably be worth a shot, they made a nice impression. The man at Crete said Crete is more of an OTR company you will be going all over the place. I did ask Crete how it worked between Shaffer and Crete, and if they mix the two up, he said once in a while you may get a Shaffer load, he said if you are on dry van they try to keep you on drive van, but now and then they may have to put one on the other to keep the freight moving for the customers. Really it doesn't matter Nestle has two big facilities in Cleveland the one is the Stouffers plant in Solon, Ohio and the other is the Nestle Minors plant I know for a fact Shaffer drops trailers at the Nestle Minors plant which is about 10 minutes down the road from my house so Crete & Shaffer both are good options, I think if I have to go that route I would choose Shaffer just because I know for a fact they have a customer in my area.
As far as Werner goes I just wanted to get the scoop on their refrigerated division and Werner doesn't do refrigerated in my area so, that's out.
Any how were not their yet I have decided the best course of action is go to school like I am currently going, keep applying at the food service companies Sysco Cleveland flat out says on their web site "when market forces dictate we reserve the right to hire out side of our "requirements" meaning if they need people bad enough they will take you.
Also like a couple of the other guys have said on the other threads, go and apply down at Estes, YRC, Old Dominion with a valid CDL and them being hard up enough for drivers, well you know begger's can't be choosers.
Any how I have sometime, and I'll get it figured out I know that as the weather warms up restaurants will get busier the food companies will need more help and by that time I'll have a valid CDL and they will definitely have to polish me up as far as driving skills go, but I'll be honest and they know this, the instructor at our school said same thing Double R said just because they say 1-2 years doesn't mean they won't take you. Apply any how tell them your new, be honest if your honest and tell them your new they will know how to handle you.
Any how thank you for your time, thank you for all the good advice and thank you for your commentary over the past few days it really means a lot to me. I am also sorry for monopolizing this food service forum, it's just I went to truck driving school with the goal of being a food service driver, because I felt that was the best for me and my personality. As you can probably tell by all my long typing I like people and I like to talk and I like talking to people who are interested in what I am interested in, of course that can probably be said about anyone.
Like I like Pizza and would eat it almost everyday if it was healthy to and that's another thing if you guys ever want to talk about pizza I'll be more then happy to ha-ha!