CRETE - A Year in Review

Greetings. I have some reply's for some of the last few pages...Since I bailed out on my Blackberry, I no longer have an unlimited data plan on my new POS phone...so I limit how much e-mailing I do from it.

Riverotter-

You mentioned that cutting down the truck to 62 equals a cut in pay... In my 16 years OTR, with this company, or any other, I have never been dispatched at what the goverened truck speed would do for an entire year. Even here, when we were at 65, there was way too much time on the load...I mean you get spurts of loads that you have to keep it moving hard, but the majority of the time, even at 62, there is more than enough time on the load. So the only real thing it cuts down is how long you sit waiting on you appointment time...which many times is set based on the schedule of the receiver, especially at grocery warehouses.

As far as the bonus deal went, after last years economy drop, I'm glad they did away with it and gave an across the board pay raise....perhaps they may have saw this coming...which is maybe why they also kept as many drivers in the system as they did...I mean, they did drop 2-300 trucks off the fleet, but the new drivers were only replacement drivers, not additional drivers...and based on what I read here, and talking to most drivers out here, they now need that level since things are getting fairly busy.

Big Al-

Jdz said it right, you're not a sharecropper, you invest your down payment money to purchase, unless you want to get outside financing...the only reason that they request that it stays at 65 is to protect their equipment while you're paying for it...once it's paid off, turn it up... Since they aren't a billion dollar finance company, they can't afford to let a driver run the crap out of the truck, then decide to bail out and leave a run down truck go back...even if it hurt their credit. Crete's purchase program is actually a fair deal for a 'purchase' program. The same trucks at Select Trucks are more expensive and financed at a higher interest rate...the only advantage is that a Select Truck can lease on anywhere.

 

On the subject of some of the complaints about the heavy trucks...perhaps you would prefer an ice/sweat box like a new Centry Class....oh wait, they don't make those any more...they replaced them with the Cascadia...which is close to Jdrentzjr's estimate of 8-900 lbs different than the Prostar. I mean, they finally decided to equip a truck a little more 'driver friendly'...that adds weight, you can't have comfort and light weight...and expect it to last. Plus every company is dealing with the same issue, and the '10 certified trucks are going to be even heavier with the new DEF fluid, tank and plumbing...so it's not going to get any better. I spoke to a former Mid-South regional driver that was on a regular run from ET's Arkansas dedicated account. They said that Mt.Vernon has been having problems overloading their trailers lately...I mean if they can squeeze 7 loads on 6 trucks...it saves them money, which in turn keeps them in business, which keeps us hauling their freight, they just had some fine tuning to do. Since the high fuel prices, it seems as though a lot of shippers are attempting to do the same thing.

As far as the hourly pay for OTR drivers...it'll never happen, and I hope it doesn't. The way things are with CPM based runs, it makes running hard an advantage, where hourly would tempt too many drivers to become 'dairy farm drivers'(not that I am insulting dairy farmers) but it would make some people milk each load like they were on a dairy farm. Anyone who has delivered to grocery warehouses has seen these drivers...the one's just sitting around the breakroom or leaning on their fender shooting the breeze with another 'dairy farmer driver' after their load is unloaded, milking the clock. Plus it would cause the companies to restrict your hours so they didn't pay overtime...the way it is now, when you're truck is rolling both you and the company are making money, the sooner you're empty, the sooner you're reloaded producing revenue. And thinking that putting you on hourly pay would make any warehouse speed up? Wake up and smell the cappuccino. They(the warehouse's) don't care...besides, they're already getting charged for excessive detention time. Hourly pay for OTR drivers would also be impossible to track and verify.

I heard a number of drivers in KC a while back complaining that they felt that the practical miles are getting changed secretly... Since the beginning of the year, I have been keeping track of paid/dispatched miles vs. GPS miles (my nag-a-gator GPS not the company's), as of 3/29's delivery I am a grand total for the year of 624 gps miles over my 'paid' miles. Considering my dispatch miles are just under 29,000 for the quarter, that's between a 2 and 3% difference. Not bad concidering the industry's old way of doing things, a driver felt lucky if it was under 10%. So I don't think they are fiddling with the miles any. I have found some that are off...and I have radomly checked the 'suggested' miles on the q/c...they seldom match the dispatched/paid miles...but aren't far enough off to really get my jocky's in a bunch.

Last week was one of those 'out of sync' weeks for me (plus this health care reform crap has me bummed - but I'll leave that where it is, I don't want to get a political fight started again), in 7 days I managed a measly 2200 miles. Most loads were short, get to the shipper, wait for them to call you to a dock, then by the time I was loaded, I had to hurry to get to a truck stop and take a break before my 14 was up...just get a break in with enough time to get to the receiver...deliver, then repeat. This week has started out much better. Picked up a load Friday afternoon, out of Perry, GA headed to a suburb of Minneapolis for Monday morning. 1291 miles in 2.5 days...that's more like it. But it was a 'non-Prostar' load. As heavy as it is, ya'll would have burned a couple hours in fueling time alone.

 

What flavor Koolaid you drinking? The only difference between an O/O and a company driver at Crete is the company driver makes more money and has benefits. The whole concept of being an O/O is freedom and more money. You get neither at Crete.

Well I would rather have drivers milking a company than companies milking a driver, like it is now. And it would not be impossible to track. Pay a driver off his logbook. When you get to a customer, you go to line 4. No one would cheat on their logs, drivers would be fairly compensated, and if shippers didn't get their act together, who cares? You sit at a shipper for 8 hours getting loaded? You made your money for the day, head to the truck stop.

 

OK....let me first say that I am a GREENHORN!! I started driving a week and a half ago for Crete. I am with a trainer for 8 weeks and we are into our second week. First let me say I now know why Crete is very particular about who they let train. If I would have been stuck with the person who seems to be spending his time belittling OTR drivers on the web (instead of driving) for 8 weeks I would probably have quit within the 2nd week. Fortunately for me, or should I say strategically planned on Crete's part, they know their thankful and respectable drivers from those who are non-thankful and the world owes them a living. Again guys, let me say I am a GREENHORN and I have tremendous respect for OTR drivers. As an executive for a FORTUNE 500 company for years, I have seen every type of employee there is. The ones that will succeed and those that will not.
Life is 10% of what comes at you and 90% of how you handle it. Give me a person with a positive attitude and I will show you a WINNER! Give me a person with a negative attitude and he/she will show you a LOSER! They don't need someone else to help them get there. Being a greenhorn, I can see things that most other veteran's can't. First of all, Crete cares for their people. That is why it seems you have to give them all your life's history as opposed to another trucking company that only cares about the last 3 years. Most companies are not debt-free and most treat you as a number. It seems to me that most drivers that complain about their miles don't understand that FREIGHT HAS TO BE MOVED....SHORT MILES AND LONG. If you care enough about your company, you take the good with the bad. No matter what company I have worked for, my attitude has propelled me to the top, this will include Crete. Everyday, you have to have an attitude check! If your attitude is bad, most of the time it is because your not happy within yourself and look to blame something...normally your employer...Have it taken away from you...then see how unhappy you are....Thanks for reading...
TENESSEE1

 

Someone answer me thsi.. i got a msg that shaffer drivers will be moving into cascadias whin in the next 2 weeks because of weight issues. BUT they are adding fairings to the tractor +500lbs and to the trailers +1000lbs for better fuel. so were still going to be dealing with weight issues once again...we all know the shippers dont want to lightin the loads all i see here is FAIL!!

 

Very well said - I too am from the "corporate world" and see exactly what you are saying on a daily basis. It's sad at times - yet I do have to laugh at them the other times.

 

Well the newer drivers have yet to learn how to decipher whining from legitimate complaints about the industry in general. I've always felt I deserve a bare bones minimum of a $1000 dollars a week to make up for the sacrifices I make all because I love OTR driving. Schneider and Knight sure couldn't do that for me. If you don't like it leave. I did and I make a fair living now. Never justify or whine about a meager wage, do something about it.

Now cmon ET, phone home before I start complaining about a lack of fullfiling entertaining reading material.

 

You are exactly right! Successful people change things they don't like. I will give you props for me not knowing what "I should be getting" but in my case, I think it has worked for my advantage. As far as a monthly salary, when I decided I wanted to be OTR, I knew that meant OTR. Not home at a certain time or paid at a certain level. I give thanks to God that he opened the door for me at Crete and they are one of the best in the industry.
Tennessee1

 

BigAL, at least you are predictable.. whine.. whine..whine.. #####... #####.. #####. Why don't you bugger off and go to another thread, hey, administrators of this site can you block this idiot from ruining a great thread...thanks.

 

No need to use personal attacks. If you don't like someone's posts the fix is easy:

1. left click on the name of the user you do not like in their post
2. a drop down menu will appear, the top choice is "view user's profile" click it
3. near the top left corner of their profile (right under their name) you will find "user lists"
4. click it and another drop down menu will appear. The last choice will be "ignore user"
5. click it
6. rinse and repeat as desired