CRETE - A Year in Review

Have read overall better about Crete than other big driver mills.. are they having trouble getting drivers the miles and is it a consistent problem? You think they're trying to weed out more experienced drivers to save money?

 

Not all the way through but i have read at least 30 or 40 pages.

 

id assume that theyre also trying to make spots for the guys coming off of the se regional pep boys they lost and are going otr now. still havent heard why they lost it, but im sure itll pop up sooner or later. sucks for those guys, that was really good money, if its any of you best of luck, things always work out for the better in the end.

new jobs going awesome, backing in a day cab is a learning experience and a half. still getting used to having to deal with the general public again, they need a reacclamation camp for truck drivers, lol. i averaged 8.69 a mile today

o/

 

When I was working in IT, we would accept contracts that we knew would actually lose money. I asked the president why we would do that and was told that if we got the account it would at least not go to our competition. We would provide excellent service and renew the contract years later with a nice profit margin.

 

Management won't admit to trying to push out the higher paid drivers, but the consensus is leaning that way. (drivers experiences) It seems once you get fully vested in their profit sharing (6 yrs) then your miles stop dropping and level off, so I guess that if you can hang out that long, then you're in. My experience with them is similar to a lot, not all, but a lot of other drivers with my same 'Crete' years of service. I have been doing this a while, seen many ups and down in the economy...some worse than this one, and not seen my miles drop off this drastically. Except when I was with Arnold Transportation. But that was because it ownership was changing hands, again, and spooked off some of the larger customers for a while. Buy what I hear from friends that still remain there, things have improved.
I may get to 120K miles this year...maybe. But only if we don't see a freight falloff like we saw towards the end of last year. My 1st year here, 138K, my second - in 10 mos.(2 mos off for leg injury) I turned 117K. 3rd only 125K, and last year was slightly lower than #3.

I think we lost the Pepboys account because the people in 'our' office there didn't have a clue as to how to run things. I was occasionally asked to help cover some excess loads during busy times. To tell you the truth, it made Lincolns planners look like rocket surgeons or brain scientists. It more closely resembled the Keystone Cops doing a Chinese fire drill in a Three Stooges movie. (a phrase I often say to dispatch when they are having trouble doing their job)

(disclaimer: I meant in no way to offend Keystone Cops fans, Three Stooges Fans and their associated corporations, or the Chinese for my earlier statement ... it's just a funny phrase, not to be taken seriously)

I am surprised that they found freight to get me home this week. I figured that with a hurricane coming in to TX, that's where they would run me. But there is still plenty of time to get me there... It's going to be weeks before some people have electric back on there, they could use all the supplies we can haul. After a few days at home, I may even request to help out. After all the hurricanes I've been through at home, I've got what Darryl Waltrip calls 'sperience'.

 

I was working for Crete about 4.5 years ago, then I quit to go drive in Iraq. It turned out to be the easiest money I ever made and tax free. I quite KBR after 3 years (big mistake) and came back to the States thinking I would change careers. It didn't work out and now I need to go back to trucking. Crete was the best trucking company that I worked for (in the States) and there is no question I want to work for them again. But now I have been off the road for almost two years. Do I lose the credit for all my previous experience? (I had a good record with Crete, low idle %, 3000+ mile/wk, etc). I got two logbook tickets for driving too much but I always had a good bonus point total while at Crete.

Has anything major changed with the Company in the last 5 years? I loved the multiple trip offers and also the flexibility of fueling. Do you have mandatory fuel stops now or anything like that?

Just on a side note: I worked out of the SLC terminal and just before I left for overseas I remember one of the managers was involved in some kind of big CDL scam. Whatever happened to that guy? I believe he was the assistant terminal manager and very nice when I had to deal with him. Thanks for the info.

 

They have changed quite a bit in the last 5 years. They got rid of most of the terminal managers that actually fought for the drivers when there was a problem. Dispatch didn't treat you like a number (most of the time). Now, you have up and down times where you are offered multi loads to choose from. Wait time has increased. most areas, when you are waiting on an answer to a question or a request. Breakdown is overloaded. The new engines on the Freightliners have been a problem...not on all trucks, but you talk to a good number of drivers that have endless breakdowns, then there are a few that never seem to have any of the 'querky' problems the new EGR Detroits, (Volvo and Cummins have had similar problems)

We did get a big raise, but now the starting pay for new/re-hires has dropped. But they don't make you wait for detention pay like they use to. They claim they pay whether or not they get any detention pay from the customer... But it's hit and miss. I've sat 24+ hrs waiting on a customer(thru no fault of my own) only to receive ............... (nothing), not even an excuse as to why I didn't get anything. The one good thing, newer trucks are getting APU's in order to lower idle time. And they are starting to use the new Prostars, in places. We were told that they were for dedicated fleets, but I saw one the other day that was pulling a regular trailer in Tucumcari...maybe they were on the General Mills dedicated fleet.


They may not have completely lost the Pep Boys - Mcdonough account. I saw two just the other day, one was a smurf driver(shaffer truck - crete driver)

 

Major changes...
1) Log it like you run it, period! That being said, you can still make decent $ here as compaired to other otr companies. 2500-3000 miles still doable.
2) Detention IS paid after 2 hrs past appt.. Exception, if you ld/unld at a dedicated account,i.e. General Mills.
3) Load select is minimal due to an INDUSTRY wide slow down in available freight.
4) Due to the cost of fuel, and the fuel discounts ( that change almost daily ) given by trk stops at certain times, company drivers are now required to follow the fueling solution given at time of dispatch.
5) Company Policy on idling is to maintain a less than 30% idle time.

Make no mistake, Crete's operational procedures have changed. However, due to the changing nature of the trucking industry as a whole, they have had too. As for the "log it like you run it", that happened due to the accident in Florida in '06, as well as some subsequent ones.

As for your two year absence, make phone calls. Each companies hiring policies well differ. Right now there are more drivers than trucks. So companies, other than the driver mills, are being picky as to who they hire.

Best of luck,

 

Thanks alot for the updated info. I really appreciate it. Knowing everything you know now, is Crete still the best of the standard OTR companies in your opinion? I worked for two of the other major companies before Crete and I still like Crete best. My main preference is I prefer high mileage trips (I guess everyone does because they seem more relaxing and you can plan your free time) and Crete used to have a very good average. I liked working for JB many years ago, but their average trip was low miles so you had to work much harder.

I will have to see about the logging. When I last there in 2003, they were very flexible. I never went too crazy, but I was very "loose" in my logging sometimes and they never called me on it. But I left right before the hours of service change so I guess it is conceivable that you can drive more and make more now (I don't know as I've never driven under the new rules). BTW, wasn't there a lawsuit that voided the new rules, or did they pretty much fully take effect? Thanks again.

 

thats right, I forgot about the fuel stops. Been doing it so long, forgot it was done any other way.

One more thing, we got rid of the productivity bonus'. Now no matter how many miles you run, no bonus at the end of the quarter

And it is true, running legal, you can still make a decent living here. I have my ups and downs with this place, but the bright side, my bills are paid with more money than month.....usually

anybody heard from evertruckerr lately? havent seen his posts much.... hope thats a good sign of being too busy to fire up the computer.