CRETE - A Year in Review

Stay off the west region, freight is SLOW. Personaly, the only time I sat for any length of time (so far) is when I delivered in WA... Once I get east of Colorado my load offers are normal, or within a couple hours when day shift comes in. I'm at .42 cpm so I'm curious if I unloaded the same time as another driver at .47 cpm (same city) and give me the next load because I make less? Or is this just a thought that looms with drivers?

I heard sales were slow nationwide with retailers (except Walmart and Costco) with back to school shopping, I hope this isnt the case with Christmas, or we will all be losing miles nationwide. DRIVE SAFE

 

I agree, I accept loads and do my job, never call anybody except for hometime. But there seems to be drivers still sitting, not me tho! I know some drivers cause problems or they are regional drivers, so I can just imagine there might be a icon or note on the dispatchers screen.... I thought about asking the dispatchers but, why ruin a good thing. Drive Safe


OH, the BAN,?. I said to many good things and someone took offense. Tough world we live in now.

 

Ok LB, now I know your full of it with this statement. As an O/O leased to Crete, I must purchase the chains and know what the prices are,; a pair (bag) of chains at a trk stop = $100, at a terminal $30. I can show you the deduction from my settlements if you want verifiable proof.

It's a comment like this that makes your previous posts lack any credit. Since I was not in your shoes, I'm not saying your lying. Just, you have no credability.

Best of luck with Purina gig.

 

As Knighton5 said...........I'm at .42 cpm so I'm curious if I unloaded the same time as another driver at .47 cpm (same city) and give me the next load because I make less? Or is this just a thought that looms with drivers?




I would think if companies are worryed about 5 cents diffrents in fuel prices ( 1000 gals X 5 cents = 50.00 bucks) The same would go for driver pay also. ( 1000 miles X 5 cent diff. = 50 bucks)
Just my 2 cents....... or should I say 5 cents.





I just found out who to use the "quote" button.

 

I'll second that motion evertruckerr

 

I'm just coming back on board (with Crete) after a year of self imposed exile - I've followed some of the threads at times and really have found them to be less and less reliable. As someone noted before, it seems a lot IS luck of the draw although that is not how some are interpreting it.

EVERTRUCKERR said below :
"Things like MPG, idle percentage, out of route miles, etc plays a bigger role. I would think a company of this size would be paying attention to those kind of things"

In my view, the problem is a difference between wishes and reality. All those things DO matter, but to the fleet manager. The dispatcher as far as I know, does not have access or time to review such details of each of the hundreds of drivers passing under his or her control every day. I've certainly never heard or seen evidence that the dispatchers have access on the driver's screen to the rate of pay as a way of making load offerings, LOL! THAT sounds pretty freaking paranoid!
I've had to bite my tongue at many of the things covered in class, idle time, turning down the trucks, strict log enforcement - many things that eat away 15 minutes here and there in a driver's day that add up to several hours per week. Or a couple of hundred of potential miles driven, or more importantly, $90-$130 per paycheck lost. They want to tout the practical miles as giving drivers 5-10% additional miles back, but ignore these other cuts in our pay. I bite my tongue because in the long run, over the year, on average, I've never heard enough about any other outfit to make me feel there is a better place when it comes to pay, benefits, and equipment. And I don't forget my roots, 22cpm with CR England a short 13 years ago, LOL! We've come a long way and many don't recognize all the changes for the better.

I have spent a lot of time this past week at my rehire orientation talking to veteran drivers and to the terminal manager and a few things stand out. The largest seems to be the difference in driver attitude. There are those (like me) who go with the flow and don't try to push, don't make calls for favors, don't get upset at lack of high miles; There are those who do those things successfully but then boast that every driver can do it. And then there are those drivers who do nothing to initiate miles. I was just told a story (happened over last weekend) of a driver in PA who did not get a load offering and never questioned it. He was finally contacted THREE days later as he had been out of service for a simple repair and had not checked in. Maintenance does not relay info to dispatch or the managers or vice versa. This guy sat (and probably stewed) but he had never even done so much as send a qcom message to dispatch much less call or message his manager!
(and the true moral to that story is the complaint I have always held towards the Acklie management : communication sucks - between departments, between management and drivers, and between managers and executives)

The terminal manager I spoke with said he has been with the company for 20 years and freight is the slowest now as he has ever seen it. But despite that, he said he wants his drivers to still be able to get a minimum of 400 miles a day and that we should call him if miles drop lower. Single, I prefer 2400-2600 miles, it fits my lifestyle and pays my bills. It also validates my experience a few years ago during the Sunflower/Shaffer merge when I argued with another manager about my inability to get more than 2100 miles a week. When he waffled, I went home for 6 months. "If I'm not going to get paid" I told him, "I'll get not paid at home, not at a truck stop" (I was also taking the opportunity to help care for an elderly parent, it just provided a convenient reason for me to step out).
When I returned, I joined Crete and my miles have been fine ever since.

Now I have returned to Acklie again, to Crete again, but honestly I am not overly expectant about what I will find on the qcom tomorrow when I check in and go in service on a Sunday. But what I do bet, is that in 12 months, my pay, my miles, and my experiences on average will be a hell of a lot better than 95% of the rest of the OTR drivers out there. As I told recruiter after after recruiter in Dallas 3 weeks ago, if you can't offer me EXACTLY what I want, I'm perfectly happy to get back with Crete where I know my pay and miles will not be a source of unhappiness.

I may start up my own weekly report of my return, but if I do, it will be in a blog, not in the forums.bb.

 

I agree. I sat in Dallas for two days during the Labor day weekend. This is the first time this has happened to me with this company. I was sitting next to another driver from my company who had been sitting there a day longer. He was packing his things so he could turn his truck in. My miles have been ok so I wasn't upset. I knew I was sitting because of the holiday and the amount of trucks that were in Dallas looking for loads Tuesday due to Hurricane Gustav.

 

I don't know the business side of the business, but heard recently that one problem is that smaller companies with more debt are beginning to underbid the larger companies for freight. Though that sounds counter-intuitive, the explaination was that by guaranteeing a higher percentage of freight, they are increasing their cash flow to pay off their creditors. It sounds a bit like chewing off your own tail, but if it helps you stay in business a few extra months, maybe the gamble will pay off.