CRETE - A Year in Review

I'm level-headed....when things go well. I admit that one of my many foibles is a short fuse with what I perceive as stupidity.

Anyway, I got to expand my vocabulariate horizons earlier today...with weekend shift....GO FIGURE!

They send me a load, 335 miles, that had to t-call in FL by Monday morning at 0800. Tried to tell them I have just over 7 hours to work...not drive....but work, including fueling, pre- and post-trips, drop, hook, the works. They send back a message saying "we show you with nine hours", all in CAPS, I might add. OK...excrement hits fan. Hard.

I replied, with three different messages back-to-back-to-back that I did not appreciate them telling me what I could plainly see, namely, the time I had left to work, adding that at the age of almost 52, I've been literate for some time. Secondly, I made it clear that this was my best week at Crete (thanks to my new AM), and I hated to see it end with someone in Lincoln questioning what I am looking at...literally. The QC was in my lap! Finally, I gave them my hours left on 11, 14, and 70 and explained the DOT's choice of which one they wished me to use. I just don't have the patience with this any longer, especially with a particular member of the weekend staff whose name (Tim) I won't mention.

I should be used to it...I used to fight the weekend shift at Schneider pretty regularly.

Finally, after delivering here in SC (and leaving less than two hours on my 70), I get offered up a 1300-mile load. That, of course, picks up tomorrow. Had to turn it down. But still rolled this truck 3470 miles since Monday morning when I left the house. The pay will be split, but the miles are indeed there.

Now....where was that head-leveler I usually try to keep handy????

 

I ran as hard as humanly possible the last 2 days so I could get a reset at a great place nearest to the consignee. I park as they're lining up to race (Talledega). Perfect planning on my part. I trot over and order an adult beverage and they won't change the channel off of football. I HATE FOOTBALL!!! I go to the hotel, they have a smoking room, but it's 129 dollars a night. No deal.
I hate listening to a race

 

They do that to me too. But they never tell me about my hours. I end up telling them I can deliver it a day late and then get the long load I have no hours to do. Then they give me a load with way too much time on it.

I been taking restarts most every week lately. I prefer the day off because I hate recapping hours. Too much work.

 

With my previous AM, I almost never did a reset, even though I'd stay out 5....6 weeks. New AM two weeks ago, hometime on time last weekend, and now a reset. I'm still encouraged, but if I never have to deal with weekend shift again, it'll extend my life by a decade!

 

What were the approximate miles per trip they were giving you?I had a slow load last week so I squeezed in a reset thinking that dispatch would run me more. But all they did was give me a Walmart 3-stopper that was only a few hundred miles yet took every minute of my 14 hours. Then they gave me 500 miles up to Chicago area today. But I'm parked at the customer since 4pm and my appointment isn't until 1pm Monday. I just wish they would give me some higher mile trips because it seems the only way I can get ahead of the curve.

 

lol. With weekend shift, any attitude is fair game.

When I was teaming at Schneider, we weren't getting enough miles. Everytime I politely called in to dicuss the matter(didnt matter what day of the week it was) first question was do you both have Hazmat? WTF??? Yes, as a matter of fact that was stated on our applications, copy of our DL's, on the screen with the rest of our info on it, etc. And, the answer hadn't changed in the last 45 times you asked!!!! So needless to say after being asked a dozen more times about hazmat, we went back to our dedicated account.

 

I talked to a driver in SLC who had the most perfect window covers. He showed me the name of the company, but I stupidly neglected to write it down thinking I could easily find it on Google. But I have done a bunch of searches and can't find it. All I remember is it was some company located in California. It's not the ones that cost $200+ seen at Iowa-80. They were the best most perfect fitting covers I've seen - and I think he said they only cost something like $30-40. Anyone know anything like that? Thanks

 

Yes, these Wal-Mart loads can take every bit of your 14, for a 200-300 mile load. The reefer loads are the worst. sometimes the guys at the stores have to pull off other stores' pallets just to get to theirs. Pulling off those tabs, whose dumb idea was that?

These loads do come in handy on the weekend though, as a typical 3-stopper can put an extra $150-200 in my paycheck.

 

I just had three points taken off my safety score (that's good, BTW).

I was on-line, and went on the "payroll" section of the Crete site. Saw my points had gone from -4 to -1. Called in, and turns out that three of my paper logs were misread. If you're still on paper logs, you might want to keep an eye on that. Lady in logs was very nice and had it fixed inside of 30 minutes. If you don't know, you'll get a notice in the mail, but since I'm out for another few weeks, I called in to make certain I wasn't doing something wrong on my e-logs.

Also, if you are interested (and even if you're not), I've started my own Crete thread in the "Motor Carrier Questions---The Inside Scoop" section. It's cleverly called "48Packard's Crete Thread", or something like that. Since Majestyk is now an anti-Creten, I'll post the good, bad, and the ugly there.

 

I thumbed you up because I read your "signature" as it is so-called and I like it alot....

"Never Limit Yourself To What Other People Perceive Your Limitations To Be..."

Thanks......