CRETE - A Year in Review

Amen Brother

 

AMEN!!! A positive attitude makes all of the difference. The other side to this arguement is the ability to look at the situation from many different perspectives. I try to see it from the company's perspective as well as the drivers perspective. That helps me to maintain a balanced perspective. The whole idea that as long as the company is the loser, then it is all right is wrong. If the company continues to lose, then it goes out of business and a lot of people lose jobs. Look at the Big Three auto makers for an example. Over 50% of their gross revenue goes to benefits. How can they hope to compete with overseas companies? How can they hope to weather a recession? Greedy employees and unions simply went too far. Balance is key here in my opinion.

 

Please don't misunderstand this post but I read a few pages back that someone was in a training program with Crete,I was really suprised that they offered a training program.Never really looked at them as a starter company.For the fortunate gentelman who is being trained congratulations and best of luck in your new career,as a veteran driver I would be a little concerned.about what this might mean for future pay scales common sense tells us if you can pay a newbie a lot less than a veteran it becomes more attractive to let your veteran drivers leave.Be safe everyone.

 

This forum is like a great bartender.minus the watered down drinks and the complementary peanuts..Always there to listen and agree....no?.....

 

Crete is not a normal "starter" company. They have hired student drivers for at least 12 years, that I know of. However, they hire only very few and are very picky who they hire. Veteran drivers have nothing to worry about at Crete.

 

Careful now, that sounds like you might not have a positive attitude. You know what that is don't you? That's when you bend over and take whatever they give you and smile about it.

 

You forgot that a Crete O/O can install lights, change the interior, add an inverter or APU of his/her choice, change to sliding 5th wheel...need I go on???... Try that with a company truck, and they'll have the bus ticket waiting. If you bought a truck through a dealer, then took it to any company to lease on to, they would have guidelines that you have to follow...And with freight rates the way they are, and the new stuff coming down from DC, going the 'own authority' route isn't the way to go for the majority of truck buyers either.

If a company went hourly, they would probably have to ad 25-30% more trucks to cover for the slackers. As for the hourly detention pay, I get paid for my time at the shipper/receiver -1 hour(some companies pay after 2 or 3 hours)... -and this is paid, whether or not the customer pays the added detention time on the freight bill. I get paid if my truck breaks down + lodging if needed. The only thing I don't get paid for is when I'm waiting on freight...Some companies do, some don't...I wish they did, but lately, it really isn't an issue. I wouldn't have it any other way. If that isn't the way you would like it, then you don't have to do it our way...but most of us prefer it this way, and would quit if they changed. I wouldn't even take percentage pay (yes, there are companies that pay company drivers by percentage). With the way rates yo-yo, it would make it too hard to keep track of your paycheck's accuracy.


I did have a weird experience the other day. When my truck was getting service and repairs in Wilmer, a few hours after it was pulled in the shop, my terminal called me...checking to see if I was going to be out of the shop in a reasonable time...if not, they would start the process of getting me into a different truck so I could keep rolling...I had to pinch myself. It use to be the other way around, the driver had to call and push to get out of a truck that was stuck in the repair shop revolving door. Maybe all of my 'attention getting attitude' both here and over the q/comm has finally started paying off. (I won't say anything about the lack of necessity for my bad attitude lately...every time I do, karma reminds me that it's not far away at any time)

 

I have been seeing both blue and red Cascadia's with the fiberglass ground effects, including the little rubber trim that is almost on the ground. The first time I saw it, I thought it was an O/O-sharecropperbiggrin_2559, but I've seen a half dozen since then... I haven't seen any trailers modified yet, but I figured it was coming with Cali's regulations, I figured that they weren't going to stop running out there and would start modifying the trailers soon. I've even seen a few Swifty's getting the new trailer ground effects...Bet that'll last a load or two ...if they're doing it, our trailer modifications can't be far behind. (once 1 ATA member starts something, many others follow)

I must say again how much better things are running with this new dispatch system. Since my MN delivery Monday, they put me on a run from there to Topeka, then on a 760 mile overnite run from the KS/NE line to Richmond, IN...And from there(with my 70 dwindling down) a short little run to Joliet for Thursday...Which uses my hours effectively, and puts me at 2800+ mi by Thursday a.m. with around 13 total hours on my logbook until the end of the payroll week.

I did see something I never thought I'd see at this company...A roadside recruiting billboard. It's on I-65 in IN, around the Lafayette area, facing so the NB can read it. They must think that things are going to stay busy for a while...(let's hope they're right)

 

In regards to the Crete management team. If you've followed this thread, and read some of my...shall we say, less than flattering opinions I've stated...this may come as a complete surprise...YOU MAY WANT TO SIT DOWN BEFORE YOU READ THIS... but in hindsight, given the depth of this recession and with all the multitude of companies cutting back pay, cutting back on benefits, cutting down speed, or just plain going out of business, Crete handled this past year or so in a very reasonable and respectable way. Oh sure, there are things that could have been done differently, -or at least in a more driver friendly way- maybe the outcome would have been better, but...maybe not. But how many companies out there managed to keep themselves profitable enough to continue to purchase and trade equipment on schedule, kept paychecks coming on time without worry, didn't cut out profit sharing or 401k matches....Heck, they even felt confident enough to build an $8 million dollar shop and office during all of this. Perhaps I didn't give them enough credit early on. Now that things are starting to gradually improve, and the industry is coming out of one of the worst economic times in quite a while... my 20/20 hindsight tells me I made the right choice hanging with Crete through the bad times, and was perhaps a little short sighted in my opinions...after all, I #### sure couldn't have come through it any better any where else....I just need to figure out how to get some of my old 'sarcastic' humor rolling again...this time without whizzing anyone off in 'The Big House'...My post's are informative(sometimes) but not as much fun as they use to be...OK, I'M DONE SHOCKING EVERYONE

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