CRETE - A Year in Review

This is my first post to this forum, and it's mainly just to thank evertruckrr for all his informative posts. They're also well written and a pleasure to read.

I started out my working years as a trucker and then wound up going to work for a large insurance company selling securities. After 23 years I'm tired of the "boom" or "bust" nature of that business, (plus my pension is fully vested now), and want to finish out my working years as a trucker, (the only job I ever had that I really liked).

I'm at SW Truck Driving School now, due to graduate on the 6th of November, and I have two questions if you'd care to answer:

1. I like your style of working hard and managing your time to get to that reset, (when it's to your advantage). Do you ever use that time to rent a car and take some time to see the cities you drive through?

2. Assuming I'm accepted by Crete, I want a good trainer, (hopefully someone with your skills and knowledge).... any suggestions on that or am I at the mercy of "the luck of the draw"?

 

There were a few 9400i Internationals (various colors) that Crete sold to o/o's in '06/'07.
Mine is maroon colored, with gold lettering on the door. Might have been me you saw.?

 

Well I just got out of orientation Wed. so Im happy now. Got to a bit of a slow start here. After orientation was over I was told that I had to pick up an abbanded truck.... Grreeaattt!!!! It took a while to find me a load and a driver I can hop on with to get a ride to the truck. Then we get on the road, soon after we left we had to turn around because of an air leak lol well here we go again back to square one. A few hrs. later I got on with another driver and started on my way at 5pm with a 6hr tripfinally. I get to the truck with low expitations because I heard horror stories about abanded trucks. But the truck looked clean and in good shape. Good thing I picked up a spare key before I left, the driver never left a spare key outside the truck. I hopped in and tried to start the truck.......... no click no crank no nothing. batteries d.e.a.d. dead.
Im glad the other driver stayed with me while I got road service to come out at midnight. It took the mechanic lil over an hour to jump the truck. The batteries must be verry weak and not holding a charge.

Well after gettin my gear in my truck Im off to bed. This is my first time using Opti Idle. I had a had time sleeping because I was affaid that the truck would not start again. But I had no problems with that. Good thing cause it was COLD out. I dont hold this against CRETE, I think this seems like a good company to work for. So im looking forward to do my first full week with them.....

 

Hi, has anyone been hired on with Crete that had to ride with their trainer 8 weeks? I would like to hear about your experiences, be it good or bad. Thanks, B.

 

I had to pickup a truck left by someone else also (medical issue and needed surgery asap) then I got a load to Lincoln for orientation, and during that time they did a deep clean and thorough inspection of the truck for me. But once I got out of orientation, everything worked out smooth and my truck was done. But I was thinking the worst when they rented a car for me to get a truck sitting somewhere. Good Luck to ya!

 

Evertrucker,

You would make a great trainer. You know the ropes, offer to do shag duty when 1/3 of of the driving force would say no, and your not a rookie on the road. Also, you know Crete very well, do thorough planning, and are a nice guy when it comes to consideration of others (the ATL load offer you gave to the driver a while back proves this). If I drove a truck, I wouldn't hesitate to train with you because of the above.

Hunter

 

I first put my application into Crete two weeks ago, and so far everything looks good, albeit going slowly. I think the school I am attending must be certified, since they verified my attendance. They have also already requested and received the info from my previous employer. My application went to the safety department, and the way I understand it, I should know for sure on Monday (tomorrow).

As a fall-back, I've already been pre-hired at Werner, but Crete is my #1 choice and I'll be really dissapointed if they don't hire me now. I don't think they'd be taking all this time and going through all the motions if they were not seriosuly considering me...

I hear what you are saying about the economy and all, loud and clear. It was a very difficult decision to decide to leave the securities business after all these years, but now that I've made it, I'm feeling better & better every day about the decision, its like a weight being lifted off my shoulders.

I'm just hoping & praying I can get on with a good company like Crete. One of the things they look for is a steady work history, and I certainly have that.

It would be a miracle if I could get you as a trainer! I tried to send you a PM but appearantly you can't send PM's here until you've made 50 posts to the forum. Assuming I get approved, and you're interested in training someone who really wants to learn to "work", and how to maximize his income, I'm your man & perhaps you could PM me and the forum would let me reply. I'm looking to start right away, as soon as humanly possible. I graduate the 6th of November and will hopefully will complete my orientation before the end of the week of he 10th.

Well, thanks again for taking the time to share your knowledge here, and hopefully I'll get to at least meet you some day if I get on with Crete.

 

Hopefully you can get w/ Crete Mugzy, I just finished my eight weeks yesterday.
I had a great trainer, and feel I am really ready to start on my own.

 

You can PM a mod and ask them to pass the info on to another member. Just be sure to let the mod know who you want it to go to!