Personally, I am against this.

When container crews were set up it is under the impression that they are temporary because the state of the game needed them to house people. Although they could stay up if that is what all the leaders decided.

As far as being a pre-crew group I don't feel that is needed once we are stable enough to have people housed. Sponsors are there to teach people and I know from experience that even those who are not sponsors but have experiences do help new players as much as they possibly can.

I find that understanding the mechanics is easily done in a normal group if you are willing to ask questions and keep an open mind for those that are answering.

I think the auto-invite idea is great, I feel like it should be available at the end of the Job Boards, but perhaps have a certain amount of Jobs required before an auto-invite is available? I know thats some way off based on what you've just said Squishy, but it sounds like a good idea to me and I'd love to see it move forward.

Personally I think the "You can't leave" and "your goomba fucked up, im shooting the cl now" aspect has been somewhat gone for a long while now. I can't offhand think of the removal of any crews recently, or even in the not so recent times, shot for such a reason. I can't speak for everyone on the You can't leave aspect, but most people I know from CL positions have always been open to people leaving if they aren't happy in the family or have something more fulfilling available elsewhere such as a Hand position.

I know the last 3 or 4 crews I've run I allow anyone up to the rank of Wise Guy to walk away and join another crew at anytime as long as they discussed it with me first. I look at it as anyone earner and below is as the game calls it, an associate. they are not a part of my family until they get their button, essentially they are still just another thug, albeit doing work for my family. They are therefore free to work for whomever they like.

When I would kill someone, or at least talk to their new CL is when they just leave. That is disrespect in my mind, and I don't know of many Crew leaders in the mafia that would allow a street thug to disrespect them and live.

I'm all for the auto-invite idea. It should help reduce the number of new players doing jobs but not hearing from a sponsor and thus remaining without a crew. (Sponsors coming/going, on mobile, forgot to turn theirs off, whatever the excuse may be. It happens.) 

But to the original suggestion of permanent container crews, I'm against this. I wouldn't want to stay in a "tutorial crew" (from how you made it sound) for 5 days and then need authorization to move to the crew I actually want to join. That would really deter me from sticking around after I die - being forced to stay in a certain crew is no fun. 

Aside from that, I agree with everything Dusty said. No matter what crew I'm in, I always see people jumping to help the newer players with questions. It's just a matter of getting new players into these crews that presents the biggest issue (which is where the auto-invite idea could help).