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

I delivered in Lincoln on Friday morning, then went to the shop and put my truck in for service. My bunk A/C has been on the fritz for more than a month and due for an A service. They took it in sometime Friday and by closing time (11 PM) they were almost done. Saturday morning they took it back for 3 hours and I was done. I have a completely new On guard system, from dash readout to the bumper unit, and a working bunk A/C (yeah!!)
Had no empty, but dispatch was so impatient to get me on the road again, they gave me one of the 5 reefer loads that were sitting on the yard. I get to go to Lancaster, PA...YeeHaw!
Finished last week with 3011 miles and this 1200 miler is a good start to this week.

 

I got a 750 miler, that delivers 21 hours later, it was sitting here since Tuesday.

Naturally, the last driver couldn't tell the shop it needed a T1 or the mud flap repaired.

 

750 in 21 hours and the trailer needs a mudflap? Yep, better install a flux capacitor in your truck.

 

As expected International Maxxfarce has yet to disappoint... 50 days after getting this replacement truck I am dead on the side of the road..no power, wont do a complete regen and acting like my last ones with egr/cooler issue..had a choice of 2 trucks when I got this both International Maxxfarces..the FL I had recovered I had posted what that looked like and NO WAY was I keeping that one..detailed or not.
Will find out tomorrow whats up,this year has been rough for trucks but I'm still holding well compared to last year even with all the issues this year with trucks.
Once I get back into a FL I will stay with it breakdowns or not..I HATE these prostars, it's just a matter of 'when' they are going to fail not 'if'

Check out the recent message on our site from Ray Coulter (camera discussions again), as I have stated in the past put a driver facing camera in my truck or tell me I have to do a sleep apnea test and I'm gone..I will not be one of the cattle

 

I wish I could see Ray's message...as a former Creten, I'm not allowed to log in.

But isn't it the way Crete does business...give-n-take. It started early in my Creten experience. They give a raise, take away 1/2 the mileage bonus, give us practical route miles, take away the other half of the bonus (and forced fuel solutions), gave everyone a raise, slowed the trucks to 62 mph and took away load selection...now they gave a fleet wide raise, they're gonna take something away somewhere...it's inevitable.

 

Too bad.
The 2nd video was just getting good and then it repeated itself. The young seductive Asian girl with the short skirt was lifting her leg and then it ended

 

1 year experience at Swift now pays .40

1 year experience at Crete.. .43

I know Swift is well Swift... but when their pay is not far behind then Crete isn't looking that attractive anymore.

All OTR isn't really attractive for what it pays though.
LTL is my next stop.


Crete is owned by lawyers right.. well obviously they're trying to cover their butts from getting sued.
However I don't want a Camera recording me every time I hit a pothole and sending it off for people to watch... that's an invasion of my privacy.

I'd like to put a Camera in Ray Coulter's bedroom. Every time the motion sensor goes off I get emailed a video from his bedroom... but maybe... just maybe one time it'll record an intruder. That's my excuse (of safety) to invade his personal privacy.
See how he likes that one.

I'm in the Freightshaker, that camera will be sending videos of me left and right with all the shaking in here.
Screw that.

As if e-logs, HOS, being tracked by GPS wasn't enough.
Next will be a camera in the sleeper, just watch they'll find an excuse for that next.

I don't mind a dashcam facing outward but not towards me.
What difference does it make?
If I drive off a mountain do you really need to see me to know I was distracted or fell asleep and am at fault?
If an accident is preventable the driver is supposed to prevent it, if he doesn't then obviously he wasn't doing his job.

It's all a bunch of BS.
and they say no cell phone with bluetooth because when you're talking to someone all your brain isn't focused on driving BUT get this... you're allowed to bring along a passenger and TALK to them.
So that reasoning gets thrown out the window as well.
With the mountain of laws in trucking, we're allowed to use a bluetooth while driving... the lawmakers didn't rule against that but Crete does and those lawmakers have come up with some pretty crazy laws.

The real story is during an accident your phone history can get audited and you know if it shows you were on the phone during an ...well accident lawyers will be have a field day on that one.

If Crete really cared about safety then they wouldn't hire noobs with no experience, that's the biggest risk of all right there.
If Crete wanted the best and safest drivers then they'd only hire drivers with 5+ years experience with a perfect driving record, but noo can't do that now can you because you'd have to pay them more.
Even this driver shortage is BS, if we were to be paid the same as LTL drivers.. there wouldn't be as much of turnover and so called driver shortage.
There's a shortage of drivers willing to put up with all the garbage, that's what it's really about.
If we were treated fairly and paid market value for our work there everything would be different.
I myself job hopped before my first year, you wanna pay me .20 something CPM when I can make .40 something CPM doing the same thing... okay bbye.

 

Ray is an old fart...putting a camera in his bedroom would be useless unless they need to see how many times a night he gets up to pee

 

On the 2 page letter, it said that drivers with the cameras were allowed to use a headset, as long as it was DOT compliant.
But, I suppose us drivers with no camera can't.

but, we all do, except for that one Amish driver we have.

 

Yes I read that as well...

Crete probably realizes drivers use it anyway and that drivers don't want to be punished when caught on camera with it.

I think the whole policy to begin with was just a legal thing so Crete covers themselves if I driver gets into an accident while on the phone..