CRETE - A Year in Review

Hey guys, trying to compare SNI equipment to Crete's, what does your truck have for making things easier? I mean, do you have stuf like a GPS, or just the old qualcom, and are they giving out the new XM radios yet? Or are they all the same now? Heard there was a new GPS system out in trucks now, have a friend at SNI says he has one.

 

I don't have to, because "what else" happened this morning.

After getting out of the dealership yesterday, I actually caught a break. A load from Crete, NE to Midway, TN...and I have to be home in SC on Tuesday or Wednesday. This delivers on Tuesday, any time. OK....

I go pick it up, drive about 100 miles, and park it for the night. I get up this morning....and, glory be....

FIVE faults on the dash! And I notice the "red screen of death" on my OnGuard unit. Not totally a bad thing, only when the OG unit is down, so is the cruise control. "Eff it", says I, and head down the road. Stop for breakfast about 90 minutes later.

Upon returning to my unit, I open the hood and fiddle with the two readily-accessable fuse boxes on the firewall. Nothing spectacular, and I DID put the 4-pound hammer back in the sidebox before looking at them, thus eliminating any temptation to, uh, 'fix' something.

Anywho....nothing apparently out of kilter, so I close the lid, start 'er up, and....it's working again. Drove almost 500 today without a whimper.

That's one day in a row. Will shoot for two tomorrow.

Oh, and my wife informs me my "We want you back here at Schneider" letter arrived at home this weekend.

 

And the Schneider carrot has been dangled before ya.

My OnGuard will do something like that once and a while...gives me an abs module 42 error code on my dash display and a red screen with some kind of error code on the OnGuard display. Sometimes it'll clear itself while driving, but most of the time I have to stop and shut off the key then when I restart the truck it is cleared. Mine does it 3 or 4 times a month...OnGuard, sorta like a woman...gota love it because you just can't kill it(and get away with it)

I saw one of Crete's new Patriot Fleet trucks this morning...now I applaud Crete for paying their respect and showing their appreciation to those that serve our country...but good god...it has more decals and stickers on it than a NASCAR fire suit or a rock band's tour bus. There has to be a less tackey way to show their appreciation. I remember a time when we were suppose to keep a low profile out here, now I think they are trying to show how high a profile they can get and draw as much attention as possible...

 

Crete's qualcomm units are mostly touch screen elog ready units, although some of the older trucks still have the old type systems but I think that those get upgraded when they trade them since we are slowly switching to all elog. The directions are the same type w/a regular q/comm...just directions entered into the company's mainframe database. We do have a canned message that will pull up directions based on your location...but no icon or fancy display graphics like on an aftermarket gps unit. I think Schneider has some other type of gps directions on their q/comm, but maybe it was another company I was thinking about...but what a couple driver that use them say they are unreliable. There are aftermarket truck route specific gps units out there, but it is up to the driver to purchase out of his/her own pocket, no reimbursement. As far as xm/sorryace, it's the same if you want it, you gota buy it. It wasn't until the 1st Cascadias and Prostars appeared before we even had radios with an aux port option so we could plug in our aftermarket equipment like XM or Mp3 players. Our q/comm units have other options like directions and scanning but haven't been activated. I have heard a rumor that the q/comm system may be history here, I have heard talk that peoplenet is being considered as the only communication system they are thinking about having due to cost and continous problems (mostly with the cell based q/comm units). But after talking to drivers who have peoplenet...it sucks. It is the VHS or Blue Ray where the q/comm is the Betamax or HD Dvd...the worst of the two will end up being what remains while the other better system gets replaced.

I have a normal gps, a smart phone w/google maps for directions when Crete's q/comm directions fail me. (I still have the old reliable laminated map and Microsoft Streets and Trips program on my laptop when all else fail) As far as entertainment I have my smart phone w/many different streaming audio app's, podcast player app, and over a gigabyte of music. And I am saving up for a converter to tie my smartphone to my flat screen tv so I can access my Netflix account on the road.

 

Thanks snack
Kinda figured it was a driver GPS my friend told me about, must have left that out. I have time with CRST and they have that older qualcom, probably all the same. Thanks again

 

This Crete 2010 Cascadia I'm in has the same type Qualcomm my brother had when he started at Trans Am back in 2003.

 

Thanks for the info on the OnGuard thing, SS....I'll keep that in mind. Ironically, when it cleared up, I went from 5 faults to zero. Ironic because before the OG issue, I had 2 faults. Go figure this newfangled electronic wizardry they're puttin' in trucks nowadays....

When I was at Lincoln the other day, there were three new Patriot trucks there. Decals, sure...but compare them to Schneider's. Just as many, if not more. I kinda like Crete's better, but that may be because the orange of SNI is so bright in contrast to the black-themed Crete units.

I'm in Lenoir City right now, waiting on my load to get me home. And while I haven't seen the SNI "come back home" letter, I can pretty much tell you what it says:

"We realize we lost many drivers due to the transition to Workflow. Those problems have been taken care of, now we want you back."

Fine. But did you also take care of the too much NE running (including every holiday-weekend Friday trying to cross the GW Bridge), the under-utilization (average less than 2400 miles in a 7-day week), and the fact that I seldom ever saw the west side of I-35...not to mention the top pay rate of .385 per mile?

Didn't think so.....

 

I just passed my road test today, I'm scheduled to start orientation at Crete on the 29th. I can't wait, but NY state says i have to wait 7 days to get my license switched over, then another 5-7 before my photo ID comes in the mail. Hopefully i'll get a chance to meet all of you at some point. Best of luck Packard, and first burger's on me at the home terminal.

 

I'm in Cartersville, Ga, headed for Villa Rica. How can that be, when I was waiting on a load to be t-called at Lenoir City bound for SC???


What I am about to describe can henceforth be called "Creasoning", that is, reasoning Crete-style.

I deliver in Midway, TN at 0500 this morning. Note from dispatch says head to Lenoir City....your SC load will be there either late morning or early afternoon. I notice that it delivers by 1500. Now, from Lenoir City to Greenville is a couple of hundred miles, the last couple of dozen quite hilly and peppered with stop lights as you get into Greenville. I tell my asset manager that 1500 won't work unless it gets to my by around 1000.

At this point, it is around 0800 Eastern time. The load is still 180 miles away from me. Doing the math, at best, it would arrive at Lenoir City by 1100, leaving me short of time to arrive at the consignee by 1500. So...what does Crete do in their infantile wisdom?

They decide to keep it on the other driver because "it will save time". Never mind that essentially, he and I will be at Lenoir City at the same time, and therefore the same distance from the consignee at the same time, and neither of us will make it by 1500.

I'm tellin' ya....the brain power at work in Lincoln boggles the mind sometimes....

 

how about super snack, don't he get a burger too?