The Shaffer Experience

Hey RRW,
When I forst started with CRE I had a trainer like that. He tried gradiating me early off his truck. I went back out with a real trainer and got some good training then. My sympathies to you on that one, and good on ya' for tuffin it out.

I'll be heading out to Wilmer, TX for orientation on next week. Luckily I'll be going in for prequal and not training status. I wasn't all that thrilled when I was told I may need additional training since I have a break in my recent driving experience.

I have been following Shaffer/Crete for a while and it looks to be a good company. Kinda erked me when I saw your post. It's one of the few that shows anything negative about the company. Then things turned for the better for you.

No company is perfect, but man you went through some hard times.

 

My wife and I are sitting here ROLLING while reading your training experience, my wife is on the verge of tears she laughing so hard. I know the experience wasn't funny, it's just the way you wrote it out. Sounds like you were trying to have a good sense of humor about it. We're looking at Shaffer at the moment and if I get into a truck with a guy named Larry I'm jumpin right on out

Thx for sharing, glad you're likin it better now...gives me hope!

 

i had Michelle G, she did alright by me. i got along with michelle C too. My problems were the big company problems.... Mt on Monday AM have too wait several hours for dispatch to find you and grace you with a load, any other day would be fine. You will sit on major holidays, so go home or take a restart. And log it as it happened...... i had been "coloring" so long it felt morally wrong not to.... that was a constant battle, until i got complacent. i had few other issues too, like Optimized Idle, an evil device designed to prevent you from sound sleep.
But if one of you asks me if i recommend Shaf, i'd say yes, unless you are used to running hard.... Best place for a noob to start, maybe stay..... i made $48K in 11 months. And if Michelle went to another company, i'd ask to be on her board, it was that large company thang that harshes my mellow.... but many do well with them Cuz

 

Here is my experience with Shaffer. Got hired on 9 months ago in Wilmer, TX. Somehow my paperwork got messed up and they couldn't verify all my experience so instead of getting my own truck I had to go out with a trainer. No big deal as they covered my room and board and gave me some cash until the trainer got there.
Trainer was good, no problems there. He saw I was experienced and tried to get me off the truck within a week. That didn't work so I stayed on for the whole two weeks.
Got off the truck in Illinois. They got me a rental to get into New Kingstown. Did the orientation thing and got my truck.

Here is where things get interesting. This truck was the biggest piece of crap I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Mud flap was rusted off, interierior was dirty, and it ran like (enter your own words). Took a few hours to get all that straight.

Miles were good but the truck was always in the shop. I was constantly late everywhere because the truck broke down. Break down kept sending me into shops and I kept complaining. Mechanics took forever, the problem was never resolved. Then the engine finally blew.

Breakdown got me a hotel but I was expected to pay for it up front. I don't do credit and have little in my accessable account. So they had to pay for it. That was a hassel and they argued but I finally got the room. I was out of there in a day after we were told the truck needed a new engine.

Went to Georgia to get a "new" truck at a frieghtliner yard. The truck runs well but the prior driver lived worse than the one in the other truck. If I find out who it was I will take a baseball bat upside his head for living the way he did. THEN I will do the other side for making me clean it.

Got the truck to the Marietta yard to have numbers put on and other small details the FL Shop didn't do. Took them 3 hours to put the numbers on. I couldn't stand it any longer and got dispatched.

Miles are good, getting about 2700 to 3200 a week.

NOW, New Kingstown shuts down and the company consolidates into Crete. My time off is cut to 1 day for a week out (not 1.5 like it was). I don't have a dedicated dispatch anymore and there are no messages of who I contact for what anymore. I kinda find out as I go along.

It's hard to get a hold of people when I have a problem. With a load, getting home, getting fuel, problems with the shipper/receiver. The flow of information is from us drivers into never never land. Once in a while a bone will be tossed to hopefully shut us up.

I still work for Shaffer. The shovel had to be upgraded some though. All in all for the miles I get and the pay it's not totally bad. Not great by any means but not bad.

Just be prepared to stay on the road a lot. In my time here I have been home 3 times for a day. None of those times did I get home on time. I'm supposed to be home on Monday (today is Saturday) and that is not going to happen, again.

To those looking at working with Shaffer. You will pay for your load locks and Enforcer Locks. Total cost is $234 that can come out of your checks incrementally. When you leave you will get the money back.
You do get a rental car and your own room for hiring and orientation. (two separate things both are 3 days). Meals in hiring are not covered. Meals in orientation are.

Bring all your paperwork with you to hiring. No date gaps are allowed on the application. So have your stuff squared away when you show up if you want to get your truck/training done on time.

Be prepared to put up with some BS when you get your truck. The mechanics take their time and rarely get the job done right the first time. It takes an average of 3 days to get your truck seen for required services. And all services (A and B) are done in fleet shops only. Other maintenance is like pulling teeth if it has to be done on the road.

My advice is this. Get a good GPS system. I personally run 2 on my truck. One is the dash mount type (I have the new cobra 5000). The other is ProMilesXF that runs on my laptop. It's made for tucks and can be configured for your type of truck. Since I got it I get under and out of loads faster than following the company routes. With the fuel updates I can argue that I have recent prices and normally will get my way.

The equipment is so-so. 9th gear has been chopped and we are governed to 65 so don't expect to climb grades over 2% without dropping down.

Well there you have it. That so far is what it's like to work for Shaffer/Crete/Hunt. It's not all roses but the miles are good and pay isn't all that bad. They have never jipped me on pay, but they are sticklers on loggs. Don't try to fudge a log book here.

Keep the dirty side down.

 

L. Shamp was my trainer as well. Though I could write a book on all the things that annoyed me about him, Ill just say that we would have had a big problem if he tried to pull any of that crap with me. After I figured out that he was a butthole, I adjusted my persona to match. We had no major problems after that. Though, he wasnt as bad with me, as you described. However, his spit cup, constantly talking on his 'hands free, brain optional' device, and his conversations to his wife which consisted of "Hello, what are you doing? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, ok bye!".... Needless to say, he didnt get a satisfactory rating from me.
I went with Crete, but went with a Shaffer driver since that was all that was available at the time. My training time was 4 weeks though. Other 4 weeks were with another trainer that had to go home for vacation....so I got stuck with Hairy Larry.

 

So GT,

You had 8 weeks of training?

"I went with Crete, but went with a Shaffer driver since that was all that was available at the time. My training time was 4 weeks though. Other 4 weeks were with another trainer that had to go home for vacation....so I got stuck with Hairy Larry. "

 

Yes. I came from a tech college with no experience.

 

GT,

Can your tell us what those 8 weeks were like?? Some details of the training. (I mean with trainer you did learn something from)

 

Search a thread by 'vintagecowgirl' entitled "Share your Crete training/orientation with me". There is some good info there.
My first 4 weeks of training went well. My trainer was very polite and down to Earth which was very important since I was going to be living with him for the next month. Logs, qualcomm, company policies, "what if" questions, were learned throughout the 4 weeks. Of everything taught, Id say navigation was the toughest part. Im still figuring it out but am getting better at it. I was a yard jockey before, so set ups and backing werent a problem.
2nd trainer knew his stuff too(although his delivery needed work). Actually, Ill go out on a limb and say that he might have been more knowledgable than my first trainer. He was a very "by the books" type. NO personality though.
The first 4 weeks were spent learning the majority of what I needed to know about the companies procedures and policies. The second 4 weeks were spent picking up little tidbits of info.
Are you considering Crete?