Crete Carrier- Knoxville, Tn-- Terminal

he says as he loooooooves hanging out at terminals,,,oh pick me pick me!!

 

Night time Wilmer or KC terminal for me. Council Bluffs when I get the chance.

 

I concur with this.

I'm a former Diesel Mechanic and I have been a company driver with Crete for 3 1/2 years. The mechanics at Crete's Knoxville terminal are some of the best there is hands-down. When I have had repair work done there it was always done right the first time- and with very little down time as well.

With Crete, I have actually found that the shops at the crappiest looking terminals do the best repair work. For example, Ottawa, IL & Lafayette, IN do good work while Indianapolis is usually not too bad. Never had repair work done at Spartanburg, SC or DeLand, FL but heard they do well in those areas.

The shop at Crete's main terminal in Lincoln isn't too bad other than the consistently heavy volume of work they have.

Columbus, OH is a decent terminal that has a sizable shop staffed with good mechanics.

The dump with the rudest people I've been around was New Kingstown, PA (near Carlisle). The North Salt Lake City, UT shop isn't much better.

Wilmer, TX (my home terminal) did good repair work up until about two years ago when they lost a lot of their good mechanics who likely found greener pastures. Now they flat-out SUCK.

The shop in Marietta, GA has maintained its status of having the WORST reputation throughout the entire fleet. My '07 model truck that I have been in since June '06 (I got it brand new) has ran well for me- and much of that is due to my not ever having any work done on it at the Marietta, GA shop. Those people in that shop could totally screw up a truck by just looking at it for a few seconds, let alone touching it.

 

I have never understood the reasoning behind having fancy terminals. I for one shun terminals as much as possible unless it is time for maintenence or repair. In my experience, driver breakrooms are a major source of depressing stories I have heard over and over and dont need to hear yet once again. I would rather make productive use of my spare time and park somewhere I can go for a walk, read quietly, meditate and just unwind. I guess if a company wants to build a fancy place for drivers, it would be nioce, but how often would a driver actually get to utilize such facility? That money is better spent on increasing driver pay or benefits.

 

Yea, Crete does not put any money into terminal extras, like showeres or washers. Most of the terminals are mud lots with no restroom for drivers after 6 pm when the shop locks up. There best terminal is Lincoln but only because they want the best for the privilaged office personal. They give a crap less about drivers.
I especially enjoy the quarterly company newsletter. 12 pages devoted to office staff and one page for Drivers. seems they are a office staff company and not a trucking company

 

What is the Wilmer terminal like? If Crete approves my app that will be my home terminal

 

Wilmer is a nice terminal, not always the best place to get work done, unless you have plenty of time.

 

I've read some stuff on Crete routing, how true is it that they will try to route you on roads not suitable for trucks?

 

Ocasionally their system will do that, but you're not required to follow them. You can take your own route, except you can't take toll roads if they don't route them(unless you want to pay the tolls). I don't always follow the routing 100%, but it is usually okay. As long as your out of route miles aren't way high, it won't matter.

 

Good deal. If they approve me then I will drug test/roadtest in Wilmer then