CRETE - A Year in Review

Go back and read this thread from the beginning. Evertruckerr painted a vivid picture of life on the road for crete.

 

Was wondering if any of you crete drivers know anything about the home weekly fleet they have in some areas. Friend of mine just finish school and is looking at reefer companies but found out crete has a 6 days out but only certain areas.

I was able to talk to one of your guys today as i was pulling in a truckstop to get fuel. He said he really didn't know much about it but said he thinks they only offer it to newbies which i thought was weird.

Anyway if any of you guys has some info on it would love to hear from ya, Thanks.

 

I have been on the home weekly fleet out of the tulsa ok area for close to a year. Im usally home every 6 to 8 days for my 34. I avg about 2200 miles a week. They usally keep me from tx to OH. I have been to CA nj and fl on this fleet. I have talked to drivers who are on the home weekly fleet that stay out for about 2 weeks.

 

truckerim2055 thanks for the info, just trying to get some info for my buddy on here.
Just wanted to see what some drivers had to say, if it match what there telling him, you know how that goes


But crete seems to be upfront and honest on things. Thanks again

 

Good luck to ET on his post-trucking endeavors. Seems like the kind of guy that thinks things through before jumping in. I hope this isn't one of them things that's to good to be true.

Take it ez.

 

WARNING TO ALL CRETE/SHAFFER DRIVERS THAT FOLLOW THIS THREAD!
Keep your guard up! There is something going on here and I'm not sure exactly what it is, or how to phrase it, but be extra vigilant on how you do your job. After the most recent blow up with one of Crete's fine repair facilities over some alleged infractions of company policy concerning the provided equipment, and a subsequent discussion with my terminal manager (earlier this year in SLC) proving my innocents after being presumed guilty, and when I also made my announcement that this driver would no longer repair anything...thus removing any additional opportunities for Lincoln to find fault with my actions and threaten disciplinary action. Everything had seemed to settle down, other than the occasional 'being ignored' by a certain shift of operations. Until this last weekend. I am almost OCD on how I do this job...all the "I's" are crossed, all the "T's" are dotted...I keep all my receipts, Transflows(even write down where/when they were sent in and with what other paperwork was with it), load info details, miles both paid and actual written down, etc. I even make notes in my little black book on who I have issues with in op's along with when and why. I always....and I mean ALWAYS follow the fueling solution, especially lately without change, no matter how far out of route it sends me. If it's over 4 or 5%, I note on my load info the actual miles the routing suggestion added up to that ran me to the OOR fuel stop. All of this, again, to limit the amount of ammunition Lincoln has to find fault with anything that I do that even remotely appears to violate any company policy. Then this Saturday, I get a message from my terminal...it appeared to be a pre-canned message that they send out to those that violate the forced fuel-solution. Stating that I must call before changing...etc. I immediately called in to find out where I had made my mistake...only to find out that they were showing me fueling incorrectly twice in one day, on the same load...but - when she told me where, it just so happened to be both the fuel stops that were on my solution... and even the amounts (1 was one of those partial fill stops). When she pulled the info up, sure enough...I was right on the money with both, no violation had occurred...but my name still got on the list somehow. So she said she would message the Fuel Czar(my word, not her's) up in High Command to find out why, and let me know. Personally my gut feeling is -High Command has to complain, condemn, or aggravate a certain percentage of drivers a certain percentage of the time, since I haven't been getting BMW'd at lately...they're running behind their quota. So I informed my terminal that starting with my current load, that I would now be photographing all my fuel and routing, so that in the future, when they say I'm wrong and attempt to discipline me, I'll have proof, and my lawyer can take it from there...I haven't heard back from them...or Lincoln. So WATCH YOUR BACK!

I also complained about the 2nd week in a row that Breakdown has taken 3+ hours to get me to a repair facility with equipment issues...this time all I needed was a shop to put a mud-flap on when in McDonough, GA going to Ashland, VA...Marietta would have been more than 40 miles out of route...Needless to say, it was a rush delivery, that was 4 hours late.(3+ hours for a shop, find the shop, and get it repaired...remember, I don't fix ANYTHING anymore...not even a marker light). The only excuse I got from anyone...their overloaded....Excuse me!!!!?!?!?!?!? how many trucks have to be broken down to justify over 3 hours of.....nothing, no "we'll get back to you, hold on were looking, or even shut-up-stupid(in case there's a former driver that now works in Breakdown that forgets he not on the CB )". Just a whole lot of staring at the Qualcomm waiting for it to beep...or maybe that was the problem...A watched pot never boils, and I guess a watched Qualcomm never beeps.

 

Ain't it the truth, I'm not a cretian (as ET used to put it) and drive for the competition but waiting for the qualcomm to beep after sending a repair request is like watching paint dry or grass grow. Guess it's the same eveywhere.

 

Brakedown phone personnel are not necessarily ex-drivers or maintenance. I recently ran into that in Columbus, OH. They wanted to tow a tractor that was capable of moving bobtail without load 120 miles. I informed them that if they t-called the load I could locomote to the yard just fine. I lost the lower gears due to a faulty selector switch. Yeah, we must be vigilent, but also really proactive with the communications. Brakedown does not communicate with either dispatch or DMs if you are out of area.

 

Wish they had that into the NW. Guess that is the price we pay for living in God's country....until we are infilltrated.

 

So, I'm washing my hands in the terminal mens room this week. I managed to bang my hand on the counter as I was shaking the water off before reaching for a paper towel. It hurt, so I let out a long, quiet, "ooooww..", not being terribly impressed in managing to injure myself in such a simple task.
"Ah hah!" comes a disembodied voice from behind a stall door. "That comes from eating too much cheese! If you cut back on the cheese you won't have that problem."
Well, I wasn't aware that cheese would cause me to bang my hand in that manner, but I mumbled my thanks for his sage advice and headed for the door.
True story...

We now return you to our regularly scheduled thread...