CRETE - A Year in Review

I can't answer for Tucker but as for me, even though my miles have improved quite a bit lately, I still never get multiple load offers.

 

Prelude: This info is for potential new-hires and those otherwise interested in Crete Carrier Corp. It's not a critical or negative review, just my experience as a 12yr OTR driver signing on with them.

Here's how things went the last seven days. Tuesday, July 21, I flew to Omaha, Ne, via Minneapolis (after several airline delays), was picked up by Megan in recruiting at 7:55pm and driven to the Days Inn in Lincoln. It was the end of an 18hr day driving/flying, so I was pretty tired.

Wednesday, July 22, two fellow new recruits and I got up and boarded the shuttle bus at 0630 to the Lincoln terminal. We spent the day filling out a multitude of paperwork, drug test, a road-test with a fellow who was 84yrs old (!!! great guy!!!), and physical/work test. We were done by 5pm.

Thursday, July 23, was an on-slaught of paperwork and Crete policy overview. Not much to report, except they were decent enough to feed us at breakfast and lunch. So far, so good.

Friday, July 24, was more paperwork and Crete policy, plus benefits signing and employment agreements in the afternoon. They had us sign paperwork that deducts $156 from our paycheck to pay for their required trailer door lock and air cuff. The most senior driver among us was a fellow named Frank, a prior Crete driver who had initially been shifted to Shaffer then back to Crete (dry van). He and Chris, a driver from Westside Trans, were told to pick up a rental car at the airport. Chris was headed to Indy yd to pick up his truck; Frank to Effingham, Il, to pick up an abandoned truck! He was NOT happy about that. Frank considered quitting and having Chris drop him off in MO. I don't know if he followed through with that plan.

I was assigned a driver trainer ("Al") for a two-week refresher course for experienced drivers because I had been off the road for nearly 8 months. It took a while to find him, I boarded his truck, and we shut down for the nite at the adjacent truck stop. It was very hot and humid outside, and I was not used to the Opti-idle system, so I had a hard time sleeping in the top bunk of the truck, a Cascadia, with tiny windows on top for ventilation.

At 2am I had had enough of the heat and humidity. I couldn't sleep anymore. The Opti-idle system was killing me. It runs the engine every 20 or so minutes, then shuts down for about 20 more, so it was hot-then-cold, and repeated that throughout the nite. The AC is set at "recirculate" so fresh air isn't coming in to the cab. All the windows and vents were closed, too, except the tiny windows in the upper bunk, which I kept open for some air. I let "Al" know I was going to walk back to the terminal and get some sleep in the bunk room, otherwise I'd be a basket-case in the morning from the lack of sleep. I got 4hrs of sleep at the terminal.

The next morning we headed west to Modesto, Ca, with a load of pet food. I drove apx. 435 mi that day, and Al drove the rest of the way to West Wendover, Nv. I got a good nite's sleep because I purchased a fan a Pilot and it was cooler outside. I went for a 5mi walk in the morning, then drove 610 miles to Modesto. The drive through Nv was tedious: I passed 3 trucks, and was passed by several hundred others. 62mph is no fun in a 75 zone, but all in all it was a productive day. Al said it was going to be a boring two weeks because there was nothing to 'train' me on.

We parked at the consignee for the nite. It was in the upper '80s overnite, and I had a difficult time sleeping in the top bunk again because of the heat (I felt like I was lying in a hot coffin, even with the fan on). I did another 4 mile walk at 2am to try and tire myself out so I could get some sleep, but to no avail. I managed to get several mosquito bites instead! I wish Crete would allow their trainers to idle the truck while both drivers are sleeping. It would have allowed me to get a full nite's rest. If they are as serious about safety as orientation led us to believe, they should allow drivers to get adequate rest in these conditions.

In the a.m. we unloaded, then ran up to the Loves T.S. in Ripon to wait for a new dispatch. As we sat there waiting, I contemplated whether I wanted to continue with Crete. I was having second thoughts about running a 62mph truck, the Opti-idle system, the On-Guard system that inexplicably shuts-down my cruise-control (It happened several times in Nv, requiring me to stop the truck, shut it off, and allow the system to reset), as well as the strict Crete policies re. speed. One example given in orientation was being ticketed for driving your personal vehicle 6mph over in a 70mph zone was grounds for termination from Crete, whereas being cited for driving 15mph over in a school zone or being cited for wreckless driving while driving Crete's equipment was a 5-10 point (Crete's system of evaluating their drivers) violation, but not a dismissable offense. Seems to me that driving a tractor-trailer in a wreckless manner should be grounds for termination, more so than me doing 76 in a 70 zone in my own car.

If in your driving history (DAC), it shows that you took more than two months off from a company, Crete will consider your rehire with the same company as being hired on with a new company. This affects your starting pay, as they do not like to see you having worked for more than three companies in the last 5yrs. I had worked for two companies in the last 7yrs, but took time off twice, and had gone through an orientation at Marten Transport (but never hauled for them), and that was considered the same as having worked for five companies, according to Bret at Crete, so they lowered my starting pay (western region is minus two cents) to 35c/mi from the original 39-40c/mi quote I got from them. That's two cents lower than what a driver with one year OTR experience starts at on their national fleet.

Crete doesn't want you to split your shift (8/2) like the law allows you to; Apparently their Qualcomm software has fits when drivers don't take a full 10hr break. Personally, I prefer to split my shifts. Also, Crete's point system allows you up to 15 'violation' points in a year from the date of hire. You can be assessed points for log discrepancies, DOT violations, late loads, accidents, etc. If you exceed the 15 point limit at the time of your annual review, you do not receive a pay raise for that year. And Crete now limits pay increases to 1c/yr, so missing that raise is a hinderance. Conversely, you can reduce your assessed point score by passing a DOT level 1 inspection (credit 2 points), having 4 trailer inspections done (credit 1 point), or having a citizen give you a positive review. It's give and take. For me it was too much micro-management.

For the above-stated reasons, I decided to end my stay at Crete. It's just my personal choice. There are drivers out there who like the structured nature of companies like Crete. I prefer more freedom than that. I've managed to run with a clean driving record for 22yrs (12yrs OTR) now and dont need the electronic nannies that Crete uses to manage it's drivers. This is not to say Crete is a bad company. My gut feeling was it was not the right company for me. For those still interested in Crete, I urge you to try them out. They may just suit your needs. For me it wasn't so. I just wanted to convey me experience with you. Whatever you decide to do, I wish you the best of luck.

 

Lots of people have trouble adjusting to opti-idle. I was sure I would be one of them but fortunately it turned out otherwise. Sounds to me like your trainer did not have the thermostat set correctly.

 

Hey guys. I've had a couple bad weeks as far as miles go.

The first one, I delivered in Woodland, PA on a Saturday, got an unneeded 34-hour restart, then a load to Baldwinsville, NY and a 2-drop load right back to Everett, PA. Then a load to North Brunswick, NJ.

Then a pick-up in Jersey City. There is a bridge on Linden Ave. in Jersey City that is marked 13'6" - it is not. At least, the lowest point, a piece of bracing that is bent downward, is less than 13'6 off the asphalt. I discovered this the hard way. Safety determined it was an "incident" - not even rising to the level of "non-preventable accident". However, I was stuck in NJ with a trailer that had a brand new skylight, which I dropped at a trailer shop where they said they could get to it "in a couple of weeks." Then I got an empty at another customer, another load out of North Brunswick, and delivered in Grove City, OH on Saturday.

Then I got my next unneeded 34-hour restart at the Columbus terminal, followed by a load from there to Detroit. Then a load from Detroit to Vidalia, GA. Next up, Statesboro, GA to Cullman, AL. On the way there, I got 3 messages in about a minute - one of them was a preplan from Cullman to Ottawa, KS for delivery on Saturday 7/25. The other 2 were about the impending end of my truck's service life with Crete, and that they were trying to route me to a "new-to-me" truck. I assumed I would be going to Lincoln. As it turned out, I was going to Kansas City after delivering in Ottawa. I got the details, delivered, and went to Kansas City.

As it turned out, they have shortened up the hours at KC (again), without telling the drivers - or at least without telling me (again). They now close at 3:30pm on Saturday and don't open again until 7:00 Monday morning. I got there just as the shop was closing. They would not do the walk-around, hand me the keys, let me spend Sunday moving my stuff and detailing the old truck, then turn in the old truck Monday morning. Nope, had to wait til Monday morning to get started. I knew which truck it was, so I walked around it looking at it. It's a 2009 ProStar. It has the round-hole aluminum wheels - on the drives. It has Freightliner style sorta-oval-hole aluminum steer wheels. Hrm...something ain't right here. The right half of the bumper looks like it's brand new, the left half is covered in road grime and bug splatter. The numbers on the hood are just a hair crooked, and still have the adhesive residue from being applied. And both right front drive tires are new recaps, while the rest are all original Goodyear rubber from the International factory. The right tank looks brand new, unlike the left tank. And on close inspection, I found a line along a seam in the side of the sleeper where it has been masked off and painted. But, I can't move into it until Monday so I ask dispatch if they have anything local I can do to stay busy until Monday morning.

Dispatch got me a shag off the yard to North Kansas City for delivery at 6am Monday, so I spent Sunday doing laundry and boxing up what I could of my stuff, not having another truck to put stuff into. Made the delivery Monday morning, got another shag to do before dispatch would allow me to go change trucks. By the time I got that other shag done and back to the terminal, it was after 12 noon.

"Truck's not ready - it has to go to the International dealer because the ABS light keeps coming on." So I take it around the corner to the dealer, where they insert the sensors the rest of the way. On the way there, I notice this truck has about 28,350 miles on it. They tell me "Whoever installed the new steer axle didn't put the sensors in right." - Excuse me, did you say 'new steer axle'?!?! On a truck that can't be more than 3-4 months old?!?!

Next up, an 8am appointment Tuesday morning for an alignment down at Cross Midwest Tire. In the meantime, it has to go back into the shop for a battery test, since they had to jump it off after it sat for a couple weeks. While in there, I noticed a nice big cut in the sidewall of one of the remaining original drives on the right side, so it got 2 more drive tires - now all 4 drives on the right side are new recaps, all 4 left ones are original. Then I got the story on that truck. It seems that in the area of Joplin, a lady was driving about 90mph while texting. When she clipped the truck, she started at the drives and made a bent steer axle the finale. The truck was in the shop for a month being repaired.

Monday afternoon, I got another shag to run over to the Kansas side of town for delivery at 5am Tuesday. That makes 3 since I got to KC on Saturday afternoon. And, it leaves time for me to get unloaded, back to the terminal, jump in the new truck, and take it to the alignment shop.

At the alignment shop, it takes about 2 hours. I find out why afterwards - whoever installed the steer axle needs to go back to mechanic school. They put in the spring blocks backwards, then installed the U-bolts incorrectly. You're supposed to put the U-bolt on, thread both nuts on, snug them down, then torque a little on one then a little on the other til they're both torqued to spec. The "mechanic" who installed this steer axle apparently put the U-bolt on, threaded on one nut, torqued it fully, then threaded on the other nut and torqued it. No wonder it was so squirrelly on the way to the alignment shop. It's a wonder it held up long enough to get there.

After the alignment, the steering wheel was ####ed so far to the left I couldn't see my gauges when traveling in a straight line. Back to the terminal, where after a couple hours they determine they can't get it straightened there. Back to the dealer, and a few hours later I have a truck that is *FINALLY* ready to go.

It is now Tuesday afternoon, and I got to start moving my stuff in. Meanwhile, I called my fleet manager to update him on the situation. When he learned I'd been in Kansas City since Saturday afternoon, I heard him curse for the first time in the year and change since I started with Crete. He told me to put together the mileage and shag pay for the 3 shags I did, and he'd get with his boss to get me more pay, since Lincoln had had me assigned to a truck that was so far from ready. While on the phone, I asked if my home time request that I had sent in on the Qualcomm a week or so ago was in the system (yes, I re-sent it from the new truck Monday). Nope - apparently I need to call my terminal to arrange home time now. It's Tuesday and my home time request was to be home by Saturday morning. My wife's birthday is Monday. He put it in and told me he would call dispatch immediately to get them started finding me a load in that direction.

While moving my stuff in, I got a load offer - Kansas City, MO to Chattanooga, TN. Pickup anytime before midnight Tuesday night, deliver anytime before noon Thursday. I finish tossing my stuff in the new truck, get done about 10pm, head over and pickup the load, go back to the terminal, and sleep (I'd been up since about 3:30am). Wednesday morning, I detail the old truck, do the walk-around with the shop foreman, and get out of town just in time to make my delivery in Chattanooga at 11:59am eastern today.

Whew!

The truck pulls to the right just a hair, but I think that has more to do with the mismatched drives than the wreck. The wreck damage was actually repaired fairly well, though since I now have 10 aluminum wheels it'd be nice to have the wheels on my steers match my drives. The ride quality is excellent, and it pulls great up to a point, at least on most of the hills between KC and Chatt. Climbing Monteagle, however, on the eastbound side with 42,768 pounds in the trailer, I was down to just under 30mph.


But man, is this ProStar luxurious! Cabinets with actual doors on them...4 smaller cabinets up under the top bunk with doors on them...captain's chairs that swivel, with 3-way lumbar support and air-adjustable side bolsters on both the seatback and bottom...with Back Cycle (inflates then deflates each lumbar airbag in sequence til you turn it off - almost like a massage while you drive)...a full twin bed instead of a "bunk-twin" sized bed...power windows on both sides...heated power mirrors on both sides...power door locks...commonly-used controls located on the steering wheel (volume and station changer for the stereo, headlight interrupt, marker light interrupt, cruise control, air horn, jakes on/off)....full wrap-around curtains...cupholders that can actually hold a cup! Oh, and it has the same gauges as the Freightliner, plus engine oil temp and transmission temp. I guess the folks in Lincoln are thinking about resale value.

Now to get everything arranged just right with the different cabinet configuration (and much smaller under-bunk space, due to the Espar bunk heater).

Sorry I rambled on so long, it's been a while since I got on the intarweb thingie.

 

Could you post some pictures Redbeard? I like your posts and please keep them coming.

KH

 

Will take some tomorrow when it's daylight and post them.

 

Redbeard, what kind of mileage are you getting with the prostar compaired to the century? Also how is the ergonomics of the prostar?

 

Please post some pics inquiring minds want to know

 

..happened to see the my 1st bright shiney new red ProStar pulling a brand new aluminum trailer heading north on I-5 outta Eugene today, then another, and another, 3 more & a total of 8 all with the same color & trailer before that parade ended! None of them had any carrier markings so I'm guessing they're being delivered to some carrier up north like Portland or maybe Washington.. so it won't be long before some lucky drivers will have their new trucks & hopefully the miles to go with them..

 

Hey RedBeard, what was the mileage on your old truck at trade in. Mine is sitting at 609,000 and I figured that the time is coming soon.