CRETE - A Year in Review

Of course. But in doing so (at least in THIS case), wouldn't it seem reasonable to you that they are also protecting the DRIVER? Maybe protecting the driver isn't their original intent, but would you expect them to NOT gather information in light of an accident or accusation of an accident? If they did NOT, it would seem to me that Crete (and it's drivers) would not be around for very long.

 

That is an AWESOME story!!! Absolutely STICK TO YOUR GUNS! Especially if/when they are asking you to illegally meneuver into a spot and risk damage to equipment and facilities. Perhaps this MOOK will learn to use common sense and logic next time rather than trying to push a "lowly truck driver" around.

KUDOS to you!

 

<----- green monster of envy

 

That's a great point. My company currently has about 8% of its seats empty and has just upped the recruitment bonus.

Yet, I continually wonder why drivers are treated like a commodity instead of a valued asset. The recruitment costs are horrendous, but retention efforts are nil and driver poaching by other companies is common. All that leads to recruitment efforts like devoting the entire sides of trailers (very valuable advertising real estate) to recruitment to keep the business running instead of advertising for more business for the carrier.

It seems to me that identifying drivers you want to keep and keeping them happy would go a long way towards stopping all this and being able to use the recruitment money to do other things (like maybe a pay raise or other incentive). But the current method of doing business seems to be focused on churning drivers. I confess, I don't get it.

 

But you see... In-humane, er. Human Resources has to continue to justify its existence, which is questionable in its original origin. If there is reduced turnover then no need to continually process applications, interviews, job checks, references etc....
My personal management philosophy is simple: Take care of your people and everything gets taken care of. I know...bad grammar.
English was always my sucky subject.

 

It used to be that 80% of your problems were caused by 5% of your people. Find those 5% and you've greatly increased your productivity and reduced loss. That was in my other life...trucking is somewhat different.

I just had my annual physical. The Dr told me that I was a "tongue depressor" he continued, "the trucking companies use drivers and toss them aside like we do with tongue depressors."

He told me that he's had many fruitless conversations with companies about installing microwaves so we can eat healthier and offered a health plan for drivers...they all turned him down.

It is always less expensive to retain employees than tu train new ones...unless trucking companies are privy to business formulas that the rest of the business world don't know about.

 

ET, Come on brother, I know you are running your tail off, but I need my Crete fix man. How bout just a weeks worth? Come on can you help a brother out.

 

That's because you're a trainer - You make extra $$ because you train students, and get longer runs than the average Crete driver.

As for me, after 14+ years with this company my career here is coming to an end - too many short runs, constantly being routed to destinations I have no desire to go to, and shippers/receivers I know I'll get detained at and not paid detention for because "It's not in the contract".

I'm tired. I'm tired of working for a company that cares absolutely nothing about the morale of the existing drivers, and more about throwing new bodies into the system. I'm tired of stupid safety protocols and proceedures - enjoy your yellow vests and your BBP video my friends! I'm tired of doing everything possible to get productive runs - making pickups asap, begging the receivers to take the product early, and then being told "There's no freight". I'm tired of doing things for Operations - shagging trailers, pulling reefer loads, sliding tandems on a trailer that someone else dropped and the shipper won't load - and not even being thanked for it. I'm tired of not getting a raise for 4 years, because they won't raise the salary cap.

This used to be the best trucking company in the United States to work for - now it's just a hollow shell of what it once was.

This used to be such a great place to work - quarterly bonuses based upon productivity, and the ability to select loads to destinations you wanted to run to. You were treated like a professional and left alone to do the job. Now, we're micromanaged and scrutinized in everything we do.

I'm not going to be a cog in the machine - I want to work for a company that cares about my morale, cares about me as a person, and is willing to do things to try to make a stressful job somewhat less stressful. And, sadly to say, Crete isn't the place anymore.

So... barring any unforseen consequences to my financial profile, I plan to leave here shortly.

Best of luck to y'all - I hope it gets better.

 

Incidentally --

The upstairs at Wilmer has been repainted, a lovely monochromatic shade that back in the day we referred to as "Battleship Grey".

And... the A/C upstairs doesn't work. Downstairs is chugging away nicely, but upstairs - fans from WalMart.

Maybe if we wouldn't spend $$ on reflective yellow safety vests, we'd have the $$ necessary to fix the A/C once and for all...

 

I have never seen a better summation of working for the Acklie group of companies. You nailed it perfectly! What is ironic is that they are going to scratch their heads one day soon and say, "What happened, we used to have such good drivers?"