CRETE - A Year in Review

Happy Thanksgiving To All Of You!

God Bless!

Jim

 

My yearly average(anniversary and calendar) is in the low 9000's

 

Greetings gang...When I was in the meeting last year (the one I call my 'intervention') one of the things they brought to my attention was the difference between ET's post and mine. His contains data backing up his, mine usually had just complaints, and for the most part, didn't contain actual data backing up those complaints. So, I've been out here just keeping cool, and keeping track, so I have that data. As of Thanksgiving, I have officially completed my 6th year with Crete...and here are my anniversary YTD totals (the totals Crete goes by when they determine pay raises, new equipment qualification etc.)

For my anniversary year, 11/26/08 to 11/25/09. I ran 111868 miles. If you break that down by month that's 9322/mo. for an entire year. Break it down by week - 2151.3/week for a whole year. To put that into dollar terms, it means I had a gross pay drop of approximately $8000. Couple that with a gross pay drop the year before of $3000, that means I am making $11,000 less this year compared to 2 years ago.

In this same time frame, I have heard the phrase "if you don't like it leave" from various people from dispatch all the way up to 2 VP's more than a couple dozen times (the 2 vp's were during my intervention last year, but they didn't use the exact phrase 'if you don't like it leave' it was more like - to put it in exectutiveese- 'if you are so unhappy here , why do you stay, you are free to explore other options...). This was a phrase you seldom heard when Mr. Acklie was in day-to-day operational control of the company, at least according to some of the few remaining drivers that were here during that time frame, I have to rely on their information because I wasn't here then. But now it seems to be a common fall back position when drivers like me gets a little more than simply grumpy. I've tried everything short of grabbing them by the throat to get miles. (an option that would only result in a 3-5 year vacation in a 6 x 8 room courtesy of the state - so it wouldn't net any better miles)

Yes, I know it's a bad economy...virtually every economist in every news organization in existence (both liberal and conservative) said the same thing...this recession was going to be long and deep. The way the hiring was done here could've eased the depth of the financial problems many of us had (and still are) dealing with. Oh, but I don't know anything, I don't have a fancy plaque on the wall, or a fancy diploma hanging on the wall of my bunk...I'm an expendable - high volume (at least for now) commodity. I have spoken to drivers, both fairly new and here longer than me, most agree...when the job market opens up, the drivers are going to remember how things went here, and take the option that has been presented---and leave, because they don't like it. Which will result in an dramatic increase of the 'much bragged about' low turnover rate...now the new hires they hire to replace these drivers may be as good or better than the drivers that left, then again maybe they won't. If their not, then there goes the service failure rating, safety rating, and public image of the company.

So in the long run, at least in my opinion, taking care your drivers means better productivity, better customer service, and in the long run, better profits for all. But again that's an opinion of just a 'stupid truck driver' without a college degree...just 16 years of being a peeon behind the wheel.

 

ET thanks for your posts. I am due to graduate in March and appreciate the honest postings.

 

Very intelligent post.

 

Agreed. There is a huge part of the country that would give the eye teeth to have a job, much less a decent job. I do understand where SS is coming from though but I also kow that it's easy to get yourself into a funk over it all.

 

You were a bit off. My total gross at the end of the calendar year will be slightly over $53,000.(my anniversary and calendar years won't be that much different) In fact I was only in the low to mid $40,000's at the last pay stub I had my wife check. And you don't get your 3rd week of vacation until 10 yrs. And it's not the lack of business in the whole system I'm complaining about, it's the fact that when you have loads for 4000 drivers on a regular basis...and don't see a drastic improvement in the near future...why try to keep 4500 drivers in the system, and then complain at them when their idle time is too high...when someone quits, park the truck for a while so that the 'freight pie' isn't cut into so many pieces. At least make it look like you're trying to take care of your drivers. Remember - happier drivers are productive drivers. Unhappy drivers aren't.

And I tried it your way, just look back and see some of my positive attitude posts...and what did it get me, this month is under 9000, again. Now heading into the traditionally 'down' season, I can't get them to turn me more miles. In fact I'm under a load that picked up a load Wednesday, from Monticello, MS going to Omaha...1100 miles. But doesn't deliver until Monday. And that was the best of the loads they offered because I asked(politely) for something better until they told me that this load was the best miles they had. I asked to t'call and got the "we'll see". But when I got to KC(instead of Council Bluffs so that there some miles left on the run), I got the 'not possible' and 'no freight' msg, even though there were a number of sealed (and not locked) trailers sitting there, and no empty trailers. So now I'm stuck on a 5 day, 1100 mile load. But because of the holiday, I haven't made too much static about it. But I also msg Deland, requesting home time, and will continue to do just the minimum amount of time out...If I can't get miles, I may as well be home...(I've seen that type of attitude in a couple of your posts from time to time so I don't feel I'm going overboard going in that direction) So in the last 3 weeks it was 2150ish(in 8 days), 2600, and now another 2100.

If I were getting your totals, I wouldn't complain about the drop either...but when a road driver who is expected to basically live on the road and visit the house once in a while, 112,000 miles is way below acceptable...especially when it could have been avoided by the company not over hiring... It didn't benefit us, it couldn't have benefited them with all the idling and the drop in average productivity per unit...so what's the positive from their decision. It doesn't take a business major to figure out that when a truck isn't rolling, it's costing money...down times are a part of normal business, but extraordinary down times call for extraordinary changes in normal business practices.

And our insurance deductible went up as well. It's getting so tight, I am thinking about doing away will all my insurance...what's the point of having it when I can't afford to use it...That little visit to the doctor a few weeks ago has cost me more than my house payment...So now I even further behind..this insurance it's costing me $240/mo just for me and my wife.

And if recruiting ever saw my truck number on someone's application, it would take them half a day to stop laughing before they could answer the phone again. Either that or I would be sent for a random, they would be convinced that I was smoking something funny in order for that to happen.

 

Anyone check out Lady Gaga's nude outfit, really hot.

At what point in one's trucking career does the head get so mushy that sitting in a mud lot over Thanksgiving is OK?

Tiger Woods is a billionaire. He snapped over Thanksgiving. The pressure of being stuck in a $2.8-million mansion with his model wife and two adorable children was too much. But a mud lot in Kansas is just hunky dory?

 

It's funny, when I was with Crete ( just over 1 yr) I received 3 multiple offers. Thats right 3. I know guys that are offered 3 offers a couple times a week. That was one of the main reasons I left the company. How can they give a person crummy loads one after another and then tell me that nobody gets multiple offers anymore. I guess I wasn't one of their favorites. I'll keep looking until I find that perfect job or until I go back to school for something else.

It just seems funny to me that you have someone that wants to work and is offered garbage. Then you look at the rest of society making an hourly or weekly wage and their are 30% (maybe more) not performimg to the companies expectations yet they are never fired or let go. I thought that trucking was hard work = more money. Tough way to find out that it isn't.