CRETE - A Year in Review

I got to New Kingstown last night for my reset. I decided to hike that Appalachian Trail and it really wore me out. After a night and a day on the trail and a nice long shower, I'm happy to be snug in my bunk once again. Back on the road at 5 am.

 

Bad wreck on 81 hung me up for two hours tonight, otherwise I'd have made it there also. I came to Crete cautiously optimistic but the optimism has waned. Miserable is the appropriate word. If I can hang on another 6 months I'll have covered the gap in employment standard at the job I targeted getting into this industry. Sometimes it seems that some of their policies are meant to frustrate the driver.

 

Care to elaborate? Sometimes I think the same but to be fair, it's usually issues with the industry, regulations or the natural fluctuations with available freight. The problems with Crete are the same as with all mega carriers.

 

Ok, here is an example. To me, the truck I was issued becomes home. I spend the vast majority of my time in it. A 2010 prostar that had numerous issues when I got it. So after many trips into various shops I got it about right. And have gotten really comfortable with the truck. This last week I stop in Wilmer for an A service, a quarter sized crack in the windshield, and possibly a front end alignment. Check in at 20:00 on Wednesday and the shop guy says it will be Saturday morning before they can get to me. Friday I call my terminal to check make sure the fleet guy knows my status. I left him a voice mail Thursday morning and never heard back. So this guy says they're gonna have to put me in another truck. Instead of paying Breakdown pay. I ask if he's talking about a new truck and he says no it would be a 2010. I told him I'd rather stay in my truck for obvious reasons. He says I can stay in my truck but he's not gonna pay breakdown pay.The independent guy had just showed up and caulked the windshield. Then I went in and got the shop guys opinion as to whether my other concerns would merit shutting the truck down. They certified it road worthy and back on the board I went. Only thing relatively positive is I got a reset. To me, Crete grossly understaffing their shops, is the root of this hassle.

 

I hear the head maintenance guy at Wilmer is now the head maintenance guy for all of Crete.

 

Well this is a first....and hopefully last! I picked up at a coal place in PA. The folks were sure enough nice and friendly. The town I had to go through was so TIGHT!! If the people parked on the side of the road hadn't folded their mirrors in I swear I would have hit them. I got to the place and had a 9ft wide scale I had to get on with large yeller' poles on all four corners. Scaled, went to office for some paperwork to hand to the warehouse and was told to pull around to the dock. I made it "round back and proceeded to back up...well I tried to back up to a dock with absolutely no references to guide me. Everything was black! After about 5 pull ups I finally got in there almost straight and the guy loaded me up. He told me there was one guy today that took over an hour to get backed in. I re-scaled, got my paperwork then back to the truck. I have a folded cheapo 2 dolla towel from Wally world for a placemat.....It was as black as the parking lot! This dust is everywhere inside the truck and all over me I hope this is the last time for this place! They were good folks but I felt like Ben Stiller in Zoolander after he spent one day in the mine and had a whole bag of cotton balls and alcohol trying to clean his face

 

When I got stuck at Wilmer couple of weeks ago, they tried to do the same thing to me. I got two nights at the hotel and two days breakdown. But then I rented a car and drove down to Austin for the weekend to party. I was in the movie theater when they called and asked if I wanted to switch trucks. I said no way Jose. I'd rather stick with the Devil that I know.

Anyway, I had a great time in Austin. I think everyone should get away from the truck as often as possible and live a little.

For what it's worth; Wilmer is the only terminal that I have used that makes you wait for days just to get in the shop.

 

So true! With my old truck I was told it would be 4 days. I went right inside and asked to be switched since mine had 435K on the ticker. Get this, they sent me to Austin to pick one up from the stealership off 5th street. I like my new one. I declined a re-assigment truck twice since then. Ms. T asked me why and I said because all of the recalls have been done to this one!

I did get right into the shop here in Indy. Took about 2 hours and they got me in. But I only needed a front steer tire replaced and a T1 on the trlr.

 

Had unregistered from this site because things were getting too crazy and I was about to suffer a major stroke. 1 great thing happened to me, then 10 bad things. I had my paid vacation planned & authorized by my AM for a month (for the same location in Calif where I have taken all previous time off).

Unexpectedly, 2 days before my vacation, I was in Denver, and my AM suddenly messages she wasn't obligated to get me there (since my 'residence' is in Florida). She said I would have to rent a car if I wanted to get there.

i went totally crazy contacting all upper management. To her credit, my terminal manager came through for the first time ever. Even though my AM had said there was no freight to Calif, my fleet manager instantly got a load going there right away. On the other hand just as I was parking the truck to begin my vacation she sent a message that I can no longer take time off in California (where all my relatives leave) unless I change my license, address, and hazmat. Someone had written in here about being told that and I said they were wrong. But now things have come full circle and I'm not sure why.

I come off vacation and get a 500 mile load from Woodland down to LA area. I arrive at night and am able to park right outside customer so I am pretty happy. Get up early to see if they will unload me several hours before my appointment. They say yes, and everything is looking good. After I am in the dock a few minutes, the forklift guy comes out and says Sears sent the wrong product (even though bills and trailer are correct and product in back is labelled with their name and address) so they are refusing the whole load. Been sitting out in the parking lot for an hour now waiting for Crete to get back to me. The saga continues ...

* I've had similar experience with breakdown. So far 3 different times I had to pay for my own motel (and receive no breakdown). One time I was at dealerships and my fleet manager had told me I would be waiting outside for some indeterminate time until another Crete driver happened to come by. I would then ride with him 1000+ miles to Lincoln. I would take a small bag of survival items, pick up a loaner truck and then gradually work my way back to the dealership. Then, days or weeks later, I would switch all my belongings into the other truck. It sounded crazy to me, so I just waited on my own dime for my truck to be fixed.

 

Greetings all. Things haven't changed for me after my physical. First thing Monday I send a message that I was loading my stuff and would be ready shortly. I guess ''shortly'' in Lincoln means wait until the driver says ''now''. After 3 hours of sitting in my driveway, I message that since there doesn't seem to be anything urgent to pick up I would head inside and check back every hour or so...Lincoln said ''you said shortly, I didn't think you were ready''. Silly me, I assumed again. After that, I get not 1 but 2 messages asking what trailer number I had. I get a preplan, Valdosta, GA that picks up after midnite going to Columbus, MS for Tuesday afternoon, now they have me on a 2 stop pickup going up to Seymour for Thursday. I may have some news about my future, but I will do the 'TV series, season ending cliff hanger tease' and leave it there for now...stay tuned, same snackbar time, same snackbar channel....but for the 1st time in months...I have a smile on my face.