Crete Carrier Corporation - Lincoln, Ne.

Most of the Shaffer trks pulling Crete trls are in fact Crete drivers. For whatever reason it was decided that Crete drivers should be placed in Shaffer trks. I can only summize it is to place new trks on the road in a timely manner. One driver told me it was easier to leave the trks decaled as they are because it would cause too much confusion. I think it may also be cheaper.

Most Crete truks pulling Shaffer trls are on a dedicated account that requires reefers.

If pulling a reefer means I don't have to sit and wait, so be it. I've only pulled one reefer trl and it had a dry load that was D/H at consignee.

I don't mean this statement to be demeaning........Drivers who aren't flexable, especially in these freight times, are destined to fail. So quite whinning.

 

GO CRETE

 

Been with Crete 31 weeks now as southeast regional out of Marietta.
Been home on weekend 11 times, been out two weeks 20 times.
This past week started on third week. Sent fleet manager messages, and he says, "looking at it". That is the extent of response.
Going to hell in a hand basket.................
26 week average weekly mileage 21565.00
Nothing like they advertise. 70 hours a week with about 40 hrs drive time.
Dispatchers tell you what you can do when they have no idea of your hours,
regardless of their computer access, and expect you to move.
I have been driving 30 plus years and thought of Crete as a place to fill out a few years till retirement, but I guess I was wrong.
Again, for those of you who enjoy Crete, Best of luck.
I have been there and done that and Crete lies too much..

 

It's not that they lie, it's just that they cannot plan to save their pasty white butts. How these people make it to work 5 days a week is beyond me. And they don't care either, as long as their load board is clear when they go home, they consider it a good day. Regardless of how they have screwed over the driver. After all, we are a necessary evil to these people. Someone they have to put up with in order for them to have a paycheck.

 

Has anyone got their passport yet? have you had to go into Canada yet? Hubby is on GM dedicated and just got his passport. Do you know how much they will re-imburse us for it? We had to pay a little over a $100 here in TN.

 

I'm sure the national fleet gets better loads and choices and is probably a better commodity to the company then a regional driver... I personaly would rather have a driver who will go anywhere then only a selected region. Maybe thats the reason, but I really dont know. If I was in your shoes, I would try and switch fleet managers. Good Luck to you.

 

Switching fleet managers really won't do much. They are basically powerless. They have contacts in the front office and a phone but that's it. Kinda' why I refer to them as pacifiers. I had asked to come over to the SE regional fleet. They say that there are no openings, and haven't been any for a while.

 

I am one of the Crete drivers in a Shaffer truck. It's because they didn't order enough red trucks, partially because most of the new ones pre-bought to beat the increased cost (and possible problems of) the new epa approved equipment, were handed out to new hires. So when it came to trade my old POS, all they had were the Shaffer's, and since Shaffer wasn't putting on as many new hires, they handed them out to whomever need a new truck. And it isn't that they needed to switch decals, it's registered to the Shaffer division, they would have had to re-register. My truck just had the Shaffer 'hockey sticks' and truck number, no name, no DOT numbers, no City-State. I had to pull it in the shop and let it warm up and melt so they could stick the 'Shaffer' and the rest of the lettering on it.(they had me switching during one of the 6" snow storms they had up there this season)
Some of the Crete's pulling Shaffer trailers are the old 'meat fleet' which was done away with, and some of those drivers didn't want to work totally dry loads, So they went to Shaffer national and the company didn't want to assign new trucks to existing drivers until trade time.

I have heard it rumored that the Shaffer name may be on the way out, it'll be Crete, and Crete Temp Controlled. (like Werner is now).

To be honest, the color of the truck and type of trailer doesn't matter, it could be hot pink with glowing purple letters. I wouldn't complain, if the miles were there. (which they're not, so I complain) I couldn't care less if it was a reefer or dry, I've done both, and with the new reefer systems, a monkey and his trainee can run them. I'd even pull a Hunt trailer if they had one already strapped, or would pay for the straps for me to do it. I don't care what the trailer is, as long as I can make my miles.(which I'm not, at least for the last year or so)

 

My sister in law works for CRETE and she told me that they are going to combine the three colors into some new paint sceme...purple, blue and red.

It will look like my face after a rought Saturday night.

 

Supersnack, are you regional? Southeast? Ive been very busy... I still keep in touch with guys running the west coast and its really slow, to many trucks not enough freight... but other then the west (I live in Portland OR) I still get 2 or 3 offers when I get east of Colorado. Drive Safe