Crete Carrier

Welcome to truck driving...

 

Maybe the OP should have started at one of the bottom feeders first...ie CR England, WERNER or STEVENS. Do you know that the majority 2/3 of the 30 percent annul turnover (quit voluntarily) at Crete is new drivers out of school (Less than 1 yr) ? Nothing to compare it to...... No outfit is smooth around the edges but the upside is better than most. GOOD LUCK

 

You mean welcome to truck driving for another junk OTR company?

 

The new drivers quit anyway, wherever they are.
You also see a lot of old drivers quitting at crete, and drivers who have been with crete many years quitting.
Crete is becoming a 'bottom feeder' company, but one with more stringent requirements to get employed with, and more annoying and useless practices to deal with.

Don't confuse crete with a 'good' trucking job, unless you don't expect much, or know much. They're just an average company, now, which isn't anything to brag about.

Newer equipment? You still end up wasting days trying to get the basic services or minor repairs done on the trucks at the few company shops they have, now.

Last month I spent 4 days at Marietta getting needed service done, and a few minor repairs. My terminal refused to pay me breakdown pay since there 'may' have been a truck there I could have swapped into. (there wasn't)

 

One way you could tell Crete is not worth a crap anymore is this... Crete never used to have to advertise to get drivers it was hard to get on with them they had a waiting list now if you're breathing and got a pulse they want you.....

All thanks to tonn ostergard

Also they used to have load select dispatch which was a great selling point for drivers to come work for them it was a good thing

 

Well said! I spent 3 and a half years at Crete. Mostly as a company driver - it was awful. The end result was that i just used them to buy a cheap - relatively so - century. The arrogant garbage they put me through to buy a second hand truck for $40k CASH was unbelievable! I stayed leased to them for 2 full months and left. As an OO I have no idea why anybody would want to stay there. The pay is terrible and you are treated like a second class citizen.
I think Tonn Ostergard is without a doubt at the root of what is rotten at Crete. The sad thing is that if you insist on being a company driver and finish up working at Crete / Schaffer you have reached the top of the tree and that ain't saying much. Bad money disrespect and ridiculous mottos on the side of the truck are about all you can expect.

 

I did start at one of the bottom feeders. CR England. I knew exactly what I was doing unlike everybody else in the 'student' class. I had my CDL already and had a year experience. It was just a way to buy my way back into the industry after a long absence for $500. I suffered for 6 months and then Crete where it was an improvement but still sucked. It got progressively worse in the 3.5 years I was there. Ostergard is determined to unravel what Aklie built.

 

Just curious where gou got that stat? I believe you, of the eight of us that went to Crete from cdl school, only one is still working there. That is in last 8 months.

I would be more curious to know what percentage of their 8 week student recruits last a year?

 

Sadly enough most young people now don't know what the corporate mentality is, and it's everywhere.
I just left a career with a 50 to 60% turnover by the young guys, and at 8 years the pay was around $172,000.00 a year 6 weeks on, 6 weeks off.
BUT on our 6 weeks on it's 12 hours a day in hot, humid, hustle-your-###-off conditions subject only to crew rest.
And they are going to gripe no matter how much they made, it's the nature of the beast.
Sad, really.