There are several reasons for C. R. England behaving badly these days. You could actually make a good living at one time as a independent contractor/leasee with them. The greatest reason for them being so tight is the increased competition in difficult economic times. Loads are harder to find and it is sometimes necessary to take very tight loads. Ofcourse, it is the driver's fault if the load is late. You will be accused of poor trip planning, or you failed to notify your DM that there is bumper to bumper traffic in Chicago for several miles during peak hours that the load planners failed to consider. But, never turn down a load.
They have obtained loads heading east from Chicago for me several times. The required arrival time for the load means having to take an unapproved toll road ( no reimbursment for toll fees). I was basically working for free after deducting the incurred cost. Did I begin rejecting such loads? Ofcourse. I will not work for free but C.R. England will try to make you a virtual slave.
A lady in Portland, Oregon suffered a seizure and hit the side of my new 2010 Freightliner. There was atleast $1500 in damage. Without seeing the damage, I was told by the insurance obtained through C.R.England that the damage was less than $500 so it would be deducted from my maintainance fund. I was too broke to afford the downtime for repairs and have seen not one penny of my money in that fund ($3500). You will see little if any of that if you break the lease.
C.R. England basically encourages team driving which requires, in most cases, that you become a trainer. I played the game. Let me tell ya. Even though you may get lucky and get a good trainee, you dont he is exceptional for atleast the first week. Try sleeping well with one eye open while learning to trust your new 2nd seat. I will not elaborate about the horrifying experiences that did happen. Yes, I drove while being exceedingly tired for 10 hours.
C.R. England is so intent on squeezing all they can out of their drivers that they have lost sight of their primary mission. That mission is to deliver freight safely and on-time. Their new mission statement would be this:
To lease a truck to our students thru our leasing company and have them purchase our insurance
and work them just enough to barely get by until their loan is paid then starve them out and make
room for another student.
Many times my students made more than I.

When I began prior to signing a lease agreement, I figured on driving an average of 500 miles per day everyday. That is 3500 miles per week. Not a bad check even now. I sometimes would sit in a truck stop for two days waiting for a new load though plenty of hours were available. One week there were only 1800 miles driven and my settlement indicated a negative balance of 125 dollars to be deducted from the next settlement. Try and live on that.