Glad I moved over to Poly Trucking

Congrats on making it a year and getting a new truck. 69 should truly test your ride. Strange the stereo sucks. They are usually good in the ProStars. The stereo in this older ProStar is pretty good. I don't have the MaxForce motor in this one either. I wish this one had a Thermo King APU. Not crazy about the battery pack APU's. Sure miss that endless power I used to have and the better A/C when parked. Good luck on your Maiden Voyage with it. Take Care out there!

 

Congrats to you and Elsriver for making it through your Orientation. Lots of stuff to process in 3 days. Hope your Maiden Voyages go well. I'm on another big trip so far and I've really been happy with how things have been going for me so far. Hope you both get good trucks. Good Luck out there. Maybe I'll catch up with you two one of these days out here. Take care out there!

 

Unless International changed...the 15L equipped trucks had an extra large body panel behind the seam where the hood meets the cab. At least that is on the photo's of the 1st 15L that were shipped. International doesn't put their ID plate on the side of the engine(there no place anyone could see it w/all the crap they have on these motors) I found mine on the top of the valve cover

 

Not sure if this came out right, but this is the extra panel I was talking about on the 15L..on my computer I can't zoom, but my phone will let me zoom in to see it more clearly

 

Also an extra panel here

 

What are the problems with Crete they made me an offer

 

Even though this is a Poly thread, I'll give it to you in a nut shell....
As a newly hired driver...none. But as time goes along, the operations department is one of the most disorganized and uncoordinated departments I've ever seen. Preplanning of loads happens most of the time after you are empty. Their equipment is some of the most unreliable I've driven in 20 years...The shops are slow, and almost as reliable as the one's that the Poly drivers say they use in their company's shop. Miles are much much less than Poly.(I might...just might get over 120,000 this year at Crete with approximately 315-320 days on the road). Crete micro-manages almost every decision you make and evaluates everything you do to see if you should have done it differently. They have almost exclusively battery powered 'non-idle' equipment while on a break, both for A/C and heat(diesel fired heater that uses trucks blower fans...no diesel fired APU's). Although they do still have a few of the opti-idle Cascadia's left. They ride you about idle time if you go over the company set limits. They have 62mph under powered, under spec'd and under maintained equipment. They use a fuel route optimizing program that tells you where and how much fuel to buy(fuel stops can be changed from time to time, but too often and they won't do it). They have a dedicated dispatch system (calling their dispatchers Asset Managers) that have no power to decide where you go, or how productive you are...basically an electronic receptionist. They are going all e-log as new equipment goes online and the old equipment is traded. Many drivers are treated as guilty until proven innocent by the company when there is a problem..(someone hits you or unusual equipment problems). If you don't already have a CPAP for sleep apnea, and you are over certain limits (neck and body mass) you will be routed to a sleep study at the company's expense...but if found to have even mild apnea, are given only two options - buy their machine or leave. If you want the full story, there is another thread 'Crete - A year in review' that is almost 700 pages long (I would only go back 2-300 to see how things are going lately), but it gives you a full picture of many drivers experiences, both good and bad over here at Crete.

This is why you see so many former Crete's posting here...Poly is, and I quote, 'trucking like it oughta be'...

With luck, by spring I will be one of the former Crete's posting how good things are going at Poly instead of complaining about all the fun new things at Crete....I hope and pray at least

 

snackbar thats it i drive for a div.of crete and didnt know it thanks for helping me see it oh and good luck ill race you to poly

 

Hey, this was well written and is exactly a lot of what I experienced at Crete. I could add a few things here or there. They aren't what I would say is a bad place to drive. Much better than a lot of other companies. However, as with many they could be a lot better. I'm glad I drove for them but I'm extremely happy that I no longer do! To me, Poly has been much better and I feel so much better about how they treat me at Poly. Much more like what I expect and want things to be done. It's a lot of the little things when you get down to it I guess. Thanks for typing that message out. I agreed with everything in it.

 

the only part I could add...they're not a bad place to drive for, but they aren't what they use to be either. Still better than Swift, JB, Werner, and about tied w/the Punkin patch. I still have my sights set on Poly...while not perfect...a much better fit to what I want as far as trust, respect and treatment of the drivers. The only thing I am kinda uncertain about is Poly's increasing numbers of Maxxfarce powered Prostars....only since we are having so many issues with them over here.