CRETE - A Year in Review

I'm glad to see some actual descriptions of day to day driving instead of the usual bragging of miles per week and salary per year.
I never ran hard and still averaged about the same as you both with the National and the General Mills fleets. Difference being I kept a day to day schedule that was steady - drove days, didn't drive in rushhours, used the 12 hour pickup and delivery windows to my advantage, didn't need the 34 hour restarts and thus didn't give up $100 in motel fees every trip out.
I was actually pleasantly surprised when switching from GM to National to find the high percentage of d&h as well as liberal p-up and drop appointment windows.
I'll be returning to the road in 2 months so hope you continue to publish your experiment and your opinions here with Evertruckerr - safe miles!bb.

 

anyone seen one of the intermodals yet? its endish of april, kind of interested to see if it happens or not.

got empty at 10 am cst, sent in a msg last night that i need a late p/u couldnt sleep need to take another 10. drove from earle arkansas to the east side of atlanta on 45 mins sleep, and 4 monster assault energy drinks. i feel like butt and cant sleep again. (i dont use caffeine normally, this is baaaad)

anyway i got offered this super sweet t-call from marietta to atlanta i have to pick up (40 deadhead 21 loaded!) whats the shag pay on that? says its driver unload too, this should be interesting. (hope to god theres a lumper within a 3 block radius, im going to be feeling much the same at 2300 as i do now) and while i was king of the pallet jack racers when i was 19, not so much anymore.

 

I've found that just going with the flow is the best approach. i.e. If you have the opportunity to turn and burn, do it. If your p/u and deliveries only allow 8hr days, do it. Your best opportunity to utilize the turn and burn method comes with a log book full of hours and a long trip(s).

I generally seem to get a mixture. Some weeks I start off running hard only to have to wait on a reload after delivery. This causes a short day, which well eventually come back to bite me in the rear later in the week if I continue to run hard. Usually it just comes down to how I fell like running. The older I get, the slower I go. Or atleast try to pace myself.

Also, I've found that if I pace myself, I'm have more opportunities for an afternoon power nap, and can get some walking in for exercise, which in turn is better for my overall health. If I run hard to much I tend to eat poorly and not sleep well.

BTW, if any of you drivers see a maroon International trk# 3##5 (four #'s because I'm an O/O), say hi.

 

I have had to switch from burn it out, to just steady here lately. Haven't had the loads to run the wheels off it, but have been getting the runs to keep 2500+ with little or no wait time for my next offer.

Since you're an O/O, I have a question. Are you doing ok here with the fuel prices going up?...I had considered buying one after the election, or maybe by next spring when the slow season is over. I've talked to some O/O's at the terminals, most are doing no better than being a company driver(at least money wise, piece of mind wise they're probably doing better) But many of them were buying one of the Classic's from the company, those look nice, but suck at getting MPG. I got the latest newsletter, but they don't show the used century class' for sale anymore. The only trucks that show they have for sale is a notice that the new Prostar's will be offered soon. I don't think I want to spend 2000 a month right now with freight being so up-n-down.

They did finally find out what was wrong with my new century, in of all places Columbus. 3 Freightliner shops couldn't figure it out, but the shop in Columbus had it fixed, did an 'A' service and replaced a leaky power steering tank, all in 1/2 a day.

Turned out to be one of the best 4 weeks I've had in a long time. Didn't have a single week under 2500. Didn't have to wait for them to 'find' me a load. In fact, many times I was offered a choice of loads. I haven't seen that in a while. It's been a while since I've had a good run of miles like that. Plus they bent over backwards to pplan me on 2 loads to get me home, within the range of time I had asked for. Mark this date on the calender!

 

Supersnack, I would agree with the other O/O's vs. company.

I bought an '07 International with an '06 Cummins ISX in August of '06 to avoid the '07 emmisions. The price on the trk was $88,500, put $2250 down, and the remainder was financed through Union Bank # 7.25% for 60 months. My payments are $1718 monthly, with $859 deducted on the 2nd and 18th of those corresponding settlements.

I considered a used trk at the time, but crunched the numbers and found that it would cost only an extra $150 a month for a new. However, I do have an extra tow years to payoff, but have warranty until 500k miles, whereas a used trk already has 500k miles. The caviot to that though is most places will throw in an extra two years 250k miles warranty if you buy used. The only problem is that the warranty is usualy worthles because it only covers very specific items that the warranty company could deny coverage on for any number of excuses. Also, the drive train, i.e. transmission and rear end has a 750k mile warranty from the manufacturer.

The ability to better than a company driver will come when the trk is payed off. If you keep good preventative maintainence, keeping the trk an extra 4to 5 years should not be a problem.

Plan to pay high taxes as a solepropritor. I grossed $180k last year and had to pay taxes on $74k....IRS got $11k. OUCH!!! Also, maintainence escrow had to come out of that $74k. Plus, if it weren't for having insurance through my wife's job I would have to have that as an expense.

To conclude, stay a company driver unless you can find a good niche that pays real good. I'm looking, but with freight being soft ,rates down, and the fact that I live in a depressed area, well, I'm still looking.

Crete provides steady miles and I don't have to worry if their checks will bounce. This keeps me afloat until I can find my niche.

 

I have been with crete for 4 months now, and while there has been very little drama. There has also been very few miles. About avg 2200 per week.
Twice they have gotten into my pocket. And while I don't believe it is crete itself I do believe it is one person in my terminal that does not feel the drivers should get what they deserve and refuses to allow me to speak to my terminal manager.
First time they got into my pocket was a Monday when I went to a terminal for a B service. The shop finally got my truck in on wensday morning and decided I needed to go to Freightliner for a repair and I got my truck back Thursday night. so, from Monday until thursday they had me out of service. Guess how much breakdown they paid....0
Their reasoning was...it gave me an opportunity to get a 34 hour restart.
Second time They got into my pocket. While at orientation Permits Dept came down and took my permit book for inspection. After 2 days they brought me back the book and told me I was good to go. one month later I get a ticket for having an expired IFTA. $93 fine. I called my terminal and was told it would be paid...it was, and it was taken out of my check. When I noticed it and called my Terminal, They blew me off and would not return my calls.
Yea...Crete is the best. Or maybe the problem is just the Phoenix Terminal. Other terminal managers have told me I got screwed.

 

If you can't get satisfaction from your terminal, go over their head... Sometimes you have to put your foot down, even if you have to step on some toes.(at least on the terminal level) since you're a recent hire, I wouldn't step on any corporate toes, but if you go to them in Lincoln in a calm professional manner and explain what has happened, they'll at least listen. You may phrase it as 'how should I handle this?" The next time you're at a different terminal, talk to the people in the office, and find out who is your terminal managers supervisor, then call them and explain what is going on. I know that once I start having problems with ops, I don't hesitate to involve a supervisor.

As for the miles, things are up and down right now. Like last month, I turned 2500+ every week, this month, I may be the one getting 2200 mi weeks. But it doesn't hurt to send in the Q/C msg 15 requesting more miles from time to time. I found out right after I started here, (when freight is at normal levels) they only run you as hard as it takes to keep you from complaining. Once they find a level that makes you happy, then you tend to stay around that many miles.

and for the msg about the intermodal trailers, I haven't seen anything other than vans, reefer and the usual ship cans.

 

We are happy with Crete except for the fact that they changed pet policy just recently. Drivers who carry pets have to remove them by March 2009. If you wanted to keep your pets on their trucks, you had to get authorization and pay $600 fine by April 30th of this year (2008). And only lose $175 by the time you get them off their trucks in March 2009. Crete's reasonings really suck. We had no problems dealing with shippers/consignees when it came to our little dog. Crete did not give us much notice so we, unfortunately, decided to re-home our little girl. I talked to several Crete drivers about this and they say they are leaving the company. I don't blame them one bit either! After driving for Schneider and Werner, we just don't want to leave Crete. They are one of the better companies we've ever worked for. In my opinion, (no offense intended), they should be asking depsoit for SMOKING in their trucks. We are non-smokers and got one of their smoking trucks after asking for a non smoking truck. The smell is even harder to remove. We scrubbed and scrubbed everything. And then put in an ozone generator. That worked, but cost us money. Pet odor is nothing, it can be removed very easily. Once in a while, we'll get a hint of stale smoke that we have to spray down Ozium and that works for a little while. We even had a professional clean out a Werner truck and it barely worked. It was really bad! But anyway, other than the minor problems we've had, Crete has been very good to us. On the bright side, we have a good dispatcher to whom we enjoy working with. He gets us the miles but sometimes it gets slow. We haven't had to sit for very long waiting for a load.

 

Though I am not a pet owner, I agree that the new policy regarding pets is kind of strict. OTOH, I can see their logic. Im sure there have been times where a driver is waiting to be loaded, and took his pet for a walk around the shippers property or whatever.
Now, I totally agree with you on the smoking part. Im sure pet odors are much easier to remove than cigarette smoke. Id rather smell an animal than smoke anyday. Of course, Crete would never dis-allow smoking or charge a 'smoking fee' because theyd lose so many drivers itd make their head spin. I asked for a non-smoking truck and lucked out. The cigarette lighter has never been used!

Wow, has this thread gotten off topic! Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.
Ive spent the last week trying to get home from the west coast and looks like Ill be home soon. Also ran over 13K miles last month so Crete can stick it where the sun dont shine for 5 days!

 

ive heard alot of complaints about phx terminal, more than wilmer honestly, and everyone hears about wilmer. i suggest changing your terminal.

its not like it means anything anyway. not like you cant park crete's truck there when you go home if thats the issue....
i talked to a couple drivers down in ontario ca, who were out of phx, and switched to cheyenne and had nothing but good things to say about the lady there.