CRETE - A Year in Review

Only been here for a couple months...came from one of the "starter" companies. To me Crete is a breath of fresh air. Almost all the drivers were ok with the company, many long timers and the money package is better.IMHO

 

These things just shouldn't happen. No reason a company can't or won't get a driver home, especially with reasonable advance notice.

 

It's the reason I'm looking for a local job, maybe for less money. I bend over backwards to make it easy for Crete to get me home (stay out 6-9 weeks, plenty of notice, work with fm and dispatch, send all the right messages, leave the truck 160 miles from my house in a great freight lane) but nothing I do seems to help. Missed multiple dentist and Dr. appointments, family functions, daughter's graduation from nursing school, etc ad infinitum.

 

That was my problem with the former Skunk company. Made leaving a pleasure. I think that this is endemic with OTR, especially in certain regions. I too would love to be region or local, but the NW is tough for drivers. Supply outstretches demand for locals. If the market picks back up or they crack down on nonlegal drivers (all of them) who knows?

 

I did not have a whole lot of problem getting home with Shaffer. In fact, it was never a problem until they went to that ###### regional dispatch system. But you have to manage it. Once you learn your companies freight, if they give you a load that is going to take you out of any reasonable chance to get home.

The other thing to manage is home time. I never understood why companies limit how much home time you can bank. I live in Florida. I started going home every 21 day sharp. Eventually they loosened up on how many days I could stay.

 

They look at a tractor doing nothing while you are at home more than the driver taking hometime. If they had some other driver able to drive your tractor while you are at home on the couch they would not care how long you took off. The tractor costs $xxxxxxx a month whether its moving or not.

 

Will be at Wilmer term. tomorrow evening and hope to tcall my current load. Delivers in Phoenix 04/12 1300. If I stay on it they will have to reschedule. Plus if I can tcall I will turn my leg of the trip in and have over 3800 miles Mon.-Sun.. Any takers?

Either way I will do a restart at Wilmer on Monday. This will allow me to get my DOT physical and possibly replace both windshields.

 

Wow the miles def seem to be at Crete.

 

Many of us here refer to new Cretins as Virgin Cretins...because you haven't been screwed by High Command yet.

 

In the 7.5 years (as of next month) I have never been forced, asked, coerced, threatened with termination, or any thing negative when it comes to touching freight...I have never been refused a lumper, regardless of the price... It's my understanding that it is cheaper in the long run to pay for lumper service (which they can deduct from taxes) than pay increased medical expenses and higher workers comp premiums if something were to happen to the driver if he/she were unloading.(which they may or may not be able to deduct) I do on occasion help on loads like the Alside siding, simply because most of the Alside wholesalers only have 1 person in the receiving department, and that same person is responsible for helping the contractors that come in for supplies. It just makes the unload go faster so you can be empty and rolling on another load sooner. Plus, there is limited forklift traffic, and no other trucks or drivers there to accidentally run you over while unloading their truck like in a grocery warehouse. These loads are rare, I haven't had one in over a year. We do on occasion haul bundled fiberglass, and some of the remotely located deliveries ask us to roll the bundles to the end of the trailer, but in all my time here, I think I've done that twice or three times.

Unusual circumstances like death/medical emergency's at home...I've had 2, one handled completely wrong and I almost missed my grand mothers funeral because, as dispatch put it, "I didn't give them enough warning" and I was 300 miles away. On the other, both my terminal manager and the operations people went way out of their way to get me home when my daughter went into the hospital for an emergency C-section and almost died.(they also gave me as much time off as I needed to be with my daughter and new grand daughter until they were released from the hospital). It all depends on what part of the week something happens. If it's over the weekend, weekend dispatch doesn't have the authorization to scratch their own butts, during the week when you're terminal staff is there, they can expedite the process and get you rolling home as quickly as humanly possible.

Personalities in the dispatch office....there are a few that are decent, some that go out of their way to take care of us, but by and far, most are working an 8-5 job, and that job is to make sure the freight on their computer screen gets picked up and delivered on time...by us low-life worthless dogs a.k.a. truck drivers. They couldn't care less about how long we've been out, or how screwed we are getting on miles.(200 mi/day or less)Just pick it up and deliver it...and if you complain...you get the unofficial Crete slogan, "if you don't like it here, leave".

Safety issues....Watch you're back....you are guilty until proven innocent. It's easier to blame you for something, then make you prove it wasn't you, or you didn't do something wrong, or it wasn't your fault, than investigate the circumstances before placing the blame on anyone.

Maint. issues, there are a few good mechanics here, but again timing and location is everything. Services take forever, get there early, and expect to be there all day. I've heard that all warranty engine/transmission work is now being shipped to the truck dealership or outside certified engine shops because the company shops screw up diagnosis and repairs so much...basically if it's an unusual repair (like my center support bearing) most of our shops have never done stuff like that, basically they are just slightly better than the average T/A-Petro shops.