Crete Carrier - A Year In Review - Fall 2013 Going Forward

I know when I was there my truck had opti idle for heat, air doesn't work on opti idle

 

the new Freightliners have opti-idle, no more battery packs.

I see all the talk about leaving OTR on this thread. Honestly, before I told Crete where they could shove their truck and their job, I had thought about doing the very same. Funny how perspectives change when you find a decent company that actually works together with the drivers as a team...it makes a world of difference.

 

That is messed up.
All they could find is a 43 miles load after deadheading you 46 miles?

Tell you what though, I live by knoxville and was due to go home. I was on a load headed to nashville from South Carolina.. after Delivery they told me there was ZERO freight today headed east that I could t-call in lenoir city.
They said I could head home from Nashvlle, which was 170 empty miles and I was told I don't get paid on those miles.
It was better than sitting I guess.

I'm just wondering though hearing these stories...
Is there truly isn't any fright why are they hiring drivers?

I think the load planners need to get it together.

 

Reading randomly thru this thread it seems that not too much has changed since I left Crete back in 2007 maybe it's a bit worse.

 

It's trucking in general, there's BS everywhere.
Are there any great OTR companies that pay and treat their drivers well and the employees are happy? I've yet to come across one.

I was just on a Stevens trucking forum here listening to a driver saying one year experience pays .30.
Remember most all here at Crete are making .43-45CPM
Even if you have a bad week here at 2200 miles, it's the same as a Stevens driver pulling 3300 miles.
In other words, it could be worse.

 

try the Crete driver refugee trucking corporation a.k.a. Poly Trucking. So far the only part of this company that anyone has issues with is the useless *bleeping* shop. (I know, I know...enough about Poly, this is a Crete thread)

 

I just cant relate to a lot of these posts.

On my 4th asset manager and he seems to be pretty decent, miles have been consistent, pay is consistent,I have NEVER been questioned about idle time.

Got my penny raise for the 4th straight year, have always made my miles.

I see a common issue that drivers with problems here have...they turn down loads,it's the only thing in common I see with drivers that have issues.
I don't turn down any load that I have the hours for, in fact I had the shortest load yet here (4 miles paid) previous was 11..took me a whole 1 hr 5 minutes to complete $35.00 short pay 4miles x .47 + 35.00= 36.88 for just over 1 hr of work.Followed up with a 697 miler that deliver tomorrow in everyones favorite place PA.

I don't care what I pull,where I go,just keep me moving..If they have too much time I get there asap and see what I can do to make it productive or tcall along the way.

Your gonna have some crappy loads, its the nature of the beast..I don't get near sighted on miles / weeks..I look at yearly totals.

I guess my koolaid is still fresh after 4 years here and almost every driver that I hear talking about low miles/crappy loads etc etc etc all turn down loads..

Crete has there way of doing things anyone that has been here knows that..they aren't perfect and your not gonna teach an old dog new tricks.if you can't figure out how to make it work for YOU it's time to move on..Crete isn't going to change for any driver..learn the system make it work or move on.

Drivers are there own worst enemy..a good attitude goes a long way.

 

I agree that in most industries, you can't let every day be a deal breaker, look at the big picture. Weekly goals, monthly goals, and yearly goals.

 

forgive the rookie for asking lol....but the picture of the QUALCOMM on the last page? can someone translate that for me? Ive been driving for 7 yrs now but its all been home daily, with very basic QUALCOMM duties....also, what is a T-Call? I really appreciate it. Ill be up in Lenoir City for orientation on sept. 2nd

 

It's location and times of p/u and delivery with loaded and empty miles.

T-call is short for Terminal call. It means you are dropping the load in one of the companies yards and another driver will complete it at a later time.