I have been sitting here for the past 2 hours reading the posts about Celadon Trucking, and although I can't believe some of the things I have read on here, fact is, I'm experiencing most of what I'm reading.
First of all, Celadon SUCKS!!! This company puts a new meaning to the word suck! In 21 years of either driving for a company or owning my own equipment, I have never worked for a company that treats drivers the way Celadon does. Driving for Celadon is one step above slavery. And yes, I am in the proccess of looking for a new employer.
I am currently employed by Celadon and I have never hated working for a company as much as I do here. I started here in Jan I called the recruiter, and I won't name her, no point in it, most recruiters are the same. So I call the recruiter and ask questions about the company. You know, the usual questions, hows the mileage rate, equipment, benefits... Ect. And of course, over the phone, she made it all sound good.
After Celadon excepted me into orientation, and I excepted them as a company I would work for. So after getting my travel arrangement settled to get to Inianapolis, which by the way, this was the first in a series of lies, being told I would be flown to Indy then I end up with a bus ticket, I venture out the door for the nightmare called Celadon.
Everything the recruiter told me on the phone was crap, except for the vacation policy She did lie about the vacation pay). The week I started orientation was the week that Celadon CUT all the new hire drivers pay, vacation pay, and whatever else they wanted to cut.
I was told by the recruiter that with my experience I would start at 36 cents per mile, That's per diem, NOT! Not only did I find out that Celadon has never started a driver at that rate, I was started at 30.5 cents per mile, with 21 years of driving experience, and being at my former employer for 6.5 years.
Next thing was the amount of money paid for vacation pay. I was told that after 30,000 miles that a driver gets a week off and their paid either $1200.00 with haz-mat or $600.00 without a haz-mat endorsement on the license for the weeks vacation. NOT!!! They cut it to $600.00 with a haz-mat, and $300.00 without.
I was also told that they have there own on sight hotel that the drivers stay in for orientation. Well, It turns out to be a 2 story Dorm type building. And when I arrived at the dorm desk, which reminds me of a 7/11 store in the hood, being that the very unpleasant person working behind the counter was all glassed in with a little pass thru hole to give you paper work and what not, I was given a key card to one of these dorm rooms. So I go up to my asigned room and open the door and was amazed at what they called a hotel room. The room consisted of 4 concrete block walls, 2 cots that maybe would fit a 10 year old kid, and a door that I was holding on to, to keep from collapsing. What a fricking joke!!! I've watched these reality prison shows on tv, and the the guys in prison have nicer cells than this room!
So I go back down to the counter and Im told that these are the rooms they have for us, and if I didn't like them that I could go to the hotel but it would be deducted from my 1st check. Ok, so deduct it from my 1st check then.
So I go thru orientation, and there was only one person during the orientation that welcomed the new drivers to Celadon and that was the owner, Steve Russell, who has to be the cheapest Brooklyn J* there ever was. He puts a new meaning to the stereotype "cheap j*". He really gives Jewish people a bad name.
There is a lady here at Celadon named Felicia, she has top be the biggest &itch to walk the planet. She's rude, arrogant, won't let you ask any questions, and if you do get to sneak in a question about payroll, she will cut you off and embarrass you in front of everyone. And the shop manager isn't much better either.
So you go thru orientation and you get asigned a truck. Celadon has atleast 10 acres of empty trucks, oh the red flags were going up over this. When they give you the keys at the shop to the truck, and you ask them where the truck might be parked, they pointed out the door and said "have fun, it's out there somewhere". So after walking around the property for an our, with all my belongings in tow, I found the truck. Oh god did I find the truck. I opened the door and it was a mess. Filty, nasty, and disgusting on the inside. So I walk back up to the tractor assignment office at the shop and tell them about it. And istead of being told that they would have the detail guy take care of it the lady asks me.."Is it at our stantards and just not up to your standards?", That floored me! What the hell do you mean stupid? There should only be one standard for the truck and that should be CLEAN!!! I live in the thing, not you! Hell yes it should be to my standards.
I know I'm dragging this on and on, and I am leaving some of it out, because you would be here for a week reading it if I touched on everything. Just bare with me, hopefully I will help you decide not to come to prison (work) for Celadon.
When Steve Russell came into the orientation class he did let drivers ask some questions. One of the main quetions was why won't they put APU's on the trucks, since they won't let the trucks idle for more than 3 minutes. His response was that the "company is doing research on this and so far they dont see where it would save the company anymore money, plus they would have to train the mechanics to service the units and that would cost even more money". OK, Why does Wal-mart have APU's on all of their trucks if it doesn't save money? Why does Marten Transport have APU's on all of their trucks if it doesn't save money? Quick answer for you Mr. Russell, You're just to damn cheep to spend the money so drivers can have some kind of comfort in the truck while their out on the road making your cheep ass more money! Research my fat ass!!! Then you tell us if it gets below 20 degree or above 70 degrees the truck will idle, bull$hit! And when its 65 degrees outside on a nice sunny day, what do you think the temp is inside this aluminum and glass coffin I'm trying to get some sleep in? It's alot hotter than 65 degrees.
Another thing, Celadon is to cheep to get EZ-Pass for the trrucks to pay the tolls. And if they knew anything about EZ-Pass, most toll roads give you a discount on the toll for using EZ-Pass, like the Illinois Tollway for one. But no, I have to fork all the money out of my pocket, or get advances and hope to God the nitwit in payroll will reimburse me my money. Oh yeah, by the way, someone needs to get it thru payrolls head that most of the toll roads have raised their tolls in the past 10 years, that they need to get an updated list of what tolls cost. West Viginia turnpike now costs $6.75 per toll booth, Not $4.25 like it did 10 yrs ago!!! Oh yeah, Celadon only reimburses what they think the tolls should cost, not what they actully cost u on the reciept you turned in, so you have to watch them on this too!
You get $40.00 to unload a trailer here, they pay a lumper whatever they want. Steve Russell told us in orientation that Celadon pays for lumpers, drivers don't unload, yet everytime I have needed a lumper i get the run around for a comchek to pay for the lumper.
This place is just a joke! They should be investigated from ceiling to floor. They don't pay you for what you do, and what they do pay is below standards. I just can't wait to get out of here.
Cleadon is a great place for a union!!!
0 comments