CRETE - A Year in Review

Got to sit in a massive traffic back up today while heading to Oakland . BART, the transit system in the Bay area went on strike. It made me 20 minutes late for my del but that didn't matter because ALL the dock workers were late for work. The consignee was HOURS behind schedule. I love my job...

 

The people at Anheiser Busch in Ft. Collins were some very busy folks today. It took me four hours to drop and hook

There was an intersection where everybody was playing nice and alternating to get to the scale. Well it was my turn to go and sho nuff the guy keeps on going thru and blocks me out. I toot the horn and say "hey what about me"....the guy totally flips out, shoots me the finger and starts ranting and raving like a loony tune. I just busted out laughing and he gets even madder. That made my day

 

so it looks like i am entering the lions din. Ill bee going to orientation for crete on the 22nd. Ya I know its not the best, but i have driven for prime lol. Been flat bedding oversize loads and stuff like that for a small company here in iowa for the last 3 years. Then I left for a local job that didn't work out and ended up going back to school on unemployment. Been trying to find anything local that I could do and keep going to school but that didn't happen. Oh well stuff happens such is life, I have 2 kids and a wife to take care of so I needed a job. But I have a family reunion to go to in 2 weeks then the wife is going to drop me off in Lincoln on the way home for my orientation so I don't have to take a crappy bus ride YAAA for me. so with a little luck I might bee seeing some of ya out on the road in a couple months. but i am excited about it. It will be nice to work again, even with the negative posts on the forum, all big companies have there down falls so im not to worried with me luck and drive safe and keep the rubber to the ground and hammer down

 

Finally got a great load today ..... then of course it turned bad . Before I was even empty, they sent me my next pplan: 1350 miles from LA to San Antonio. It doesn't deliver until 1800 on the 4th, but I figured I could change for a better appointment since there is plenty of lead time. Found out the appointment Crete sent me is fake, customer isn't even open July 4th. The customer also told me I could deliver the 3rd if I'm there around 0630, but the earliest I can make it is noon. So looks like I'll be sitting two days again! This will be about my 4th unneeded 34 reset in 3 weeks, and now it won't even count.

That is so true. I remember even when all the offers were lousy, I still felt better about it because at least I had a choice. I believe a lot of small psychological aspects that are easily improved could make us drivers much happier. But for some reason, Crete is taking the route of becoming more and more bureaucratic, petty, and juvenile.

 

Speaking of the new HOS rules, more like, speaking of the way the q/comm e-log does the new rules. Does anyone but me think it's kinda stupid that the q/comm only shows 8 hours for available time? With all the room on the screen it could give the 8 hour countdown before your 30 minute break and hours available for the day. Kinda nuts that we now have to look at two places if we want all the info.

 

'Truck Drivers are a dime a dozen' is a common sentiment from many companies. I've heard it straight from the horses mouth too many times, and guys, if you haven't noticed.....they treat us that way.

The other thing trucking management will tell you is, they need 2-3 owner operators to do as much work as one company driver. Why? The company driver usually can't refuse crappy loads.


This industry sucks...and I see no sign of it getting better. I'd love to see these office jerks have to put up with the working conditions we do, but they see we are making $50,000 a year, and think we get paid too much.

 

"Finally got a great load today ..... then of course it turned bad . Before I was even empty, they sent me my next pplan: 1350 miles from LA to San Antonio. It doesn't deliver until 1800 on the 4th, but I figured I could change for a better appointment since there is plenty of lead time. Found out the appointment Crete sent me is fake, customer isn't even open July 4th. The customer also told me I could deliver the 3rd if I'm there around 0630, but the earliest I can make it is noon. So looks like I'll be sitting two days again! This will be about my 4th unneeded 34 reset in 3 weeks, and now it won't even count."

Why not try to t-call it in Phoenix and get something else to carry you over the holiday?

 

Don't be too harsh on yourself there SS. I have found that, as a human, I make mistakes on a daily basis. It is life. Just carry on....and try to stay positive.

 

Yeah, I thought of tcal in PHX, but that would have been so few miles and from recent experiences with my AM, I was leery of being screw#d anyways. At least now, there is a very slight chance of getting it off on the 3rd.

i agree with Snack on how the qcom displays. Already on the first day my on-duty/off-duty time was getting close to 3 hours and about to cut into my 11. I had to stop and calculate if the break would even help me depending on what options I would have to park at the end of my hours. All these factors are changing while I'm doing the calculations. I ended up taking the 30 minute break at my fuel stop, but it turned out to be a mistake because I had to stop early so I would have parking.

 

In and out of Hot Lake City, Uuuutahhhh. Got unloaded, given a preplan with a window of 45 minutes to get from the cons(by the airport) to the yard and back to the second cons again out by the airport. I actually made it! A bit of a surprise in that it was a Schaffer load but the unloads at Costco are always pretty quick. While being unloaded I get a second repower preplan off the yard; so it was a quick stop at the Flying Hook on the way to the yard (yes I was kind and filled the reefer tank) and hooked to a red trailer this time. Sitting in Rawlins on my way to North Platte.

I got a couple of messages about needing to be trained on elogs so I guess I'm busted! I either stop off at Cheyenne or hopefully a load going to Lincoln for the 4th. My truck needs an "A" service so it would be nice get my training while the truck is down already. We'll see how it goes,