CRETE - A Year in Review

Hi Knight,
Before with Crete, we weren't on the West coast as much and we really liked that. But with Marten they put us on I5 Corridor dedicated...So yes we are home every 5-7 days and very productive. They keep us so busy that it makes our heads spin at times. LOL We get preplans all the time! We don't even do an empty call in order to get a load! How nice is that!? We're going home tomorrow to do a reset so have a load heading to Tacoma. Detention is automatic... as long as the times match the qualcomm. I really like how powerful the trucks are and we are governed at 65. Not like we can do that in OR or CA. They aren't as strict as Crete when it comes to logs. Though we like to be legal so we continue to do that. One Marten driver that we keep running into mentioned that he was an OO with Crete years ago. When we told him that we left Crete he said, " You actually LEFT Crete FOR Marten???" ROFL.... Upon asking him why he left Crete, he said they had let him go for lying on his logs. He was really surprised to hear the changes with Crete and said "That's not the Crete I know! They were the best company I ever drove for"...
Actually, doing reefer isn't so bad.... I mean the Opti Idle in Crete truck was even worse!!! I would wake up almost every time it'd come on or off.. The only draw back to doing reefer is we tend to pick up loads late in the evenings... But so far it hasn't been a problem.
I could tell you more about Marten...but I guess this is the wrong thread to do it on. <G>
Take care and Drive Safe!

 

You'll be alright Some people just think that when the entire economy is hurting that they should be completely unaffected, and things should not change for them.

 

Hi guys. Well I called Crete about two months ago and talked with a recruiter. She seemed real helpful and I like what Crete is willing to pay for my 7 years experience. I just returned from about the worst week trucking I have had in many years and was delighted to find a packet of info and an application from Crete in my mailbox when I got home.

I am only interested in regional running. I would be running out of the Wilmer Tx terminal. Any ideas on what I could expect in hometime.

Also and this is a big one. I don't think I could adjust to opti-idle. I know everyone says "you'll get used to it" but I don't know. I wake up when an opti-idle equipped truck is parked next to me. Does anyone have an idea when most of the fleet will be apu equipped ?

Thanks for any help.

 

thats kinda difficult to answer, because it depends on the year of the truck and the mileage on them. I believe that apu are being installed on some '06 and '07 Centurys but dont quote me on this. I am currently assigned an '09 Cascadia and since it is considered a "clean burn" truck it will not be getting an apu. Sorry I cant answer the question regarding hometime for regional drivers as I am a national driver and dont really know.

 

knighton5,

You mentioned deadhead. What exactly does this mean? You then stated that the shipper was paying the empty miles. Can you explain how deadhead works and how the shipper paying makes it wonderful?

I am serious, I don't know what deadhead means or how it works. If I had to guess, I would say deadhead means that you are paid for driving an empty trailer to a customer for a pick up.

Thank you for explaining in advance.

Drive safe

 

You are correct.

 

A driver at Crete gets paid for deadhead miles, wheather or not the shipper pays for them. As a general rule deadhead is keept to minimum, usually 8% of total miles or less. Therefore, it is not neccessary to charge a shipper for those empty miles inroute to pick up their freight. The cost to deadhead is figured into Crete's loaded mile rate structure.

However, if the shipper has a critical shipment, and there is no available empty equipment in the area, they will pay a company to deadhead to the pick up location. Aparently, the customer wanted Crete to haul the load previously mentioned, and because the closest available empty truck was in Denver, they were willing to compensate Crete for the excess deadhead miles.

Just curious, your header shows you are a 20yr trucker. Why do you not know that deadhead means empty miles?

 

By what I was told, the company never wants to see a reduction in the number of filled trucks. So regardless of freight availability they fill empty trucks. I had heard years ago, that some of our customers require a certain number of filled trucks as a requirement to bid on a contract. I don't know which companies do that, but I can't see the logic in hiring drivers just on the chance they'll put freight on our trucks....since Crete is one of the higher charging companies for freight rates, that is a negative now a days. And the high rates are the reason they keep losing contracts, but eventually get them back because of their instance for excellent customer service.

A comment on the reason for my negative comments, instead of me seldom mentioning the positive....It's simple... A few months back, I had mentioned in another 'Crete' thread that things were looking up......down my miles went. Then I mentioned that I hardly ever see the NE. What happened, I get stuck on a dedicated out of Tobyhanna, PA that runs nothing but NE. I mention that Crete rarely screws up the payroll....Bingo...Payroll foul-up. (see a pattern?) I just wish it would work in the opposite direction. I keep griping about how bad it is....but it isn't working. I use to be like ET....Had the highest praise for this company. But you hit a plateau with these people, then you drop back in miles. That is why I call this place a short term employer. After a while, they start doing things different, but in the beginning they are a great company.

I won't say anything about my improving luck....but just notice how I haven't said anything about miles in a couple of posts.... Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Don't say anything, I don't think the freight gods are watching right now. But its early in the week, and......oh never mind, if I have a good week, then I'll say something.... don't want to tempt fate, get my hopes up, see the carrot and plunge off another cliff.

I at least keep a sense of humor about it all....even in the worst times of my life... I can still find a joke or humorous comment inside this 1/2 empty head of mine... It's the only thing keeping me from visiting the rubber sleeper at the local truck drivers nut house.

As for the driver out of Wilmer wanting regional...That's actually the one regional that is usually doing good. The mid-south. They last time I spoke to one of those drivers, they were on a bit of a down time, but it was only because of hurricane Ike kinda' had the whole area shut down for a while. Normally they run all the miles they can log.

And as for deadhead, it use to be a bigger issue when fuel was in the $4-$5 range, but now that fuel is coming down a bit, I am seeing more deadhead...not much, but more than a few months ago.

I keep hearing from more and more people the rumor about Tonn's contract being up at the end of the year. I have been hearing this since my 1st days here, but it's getting...as they say...viral. I think his bean-counting style of running things is the major causes all the negative feelings so many drivers have here. When Mr. A was the Captain of the ship, you rarely heard a bad word from the drivers, and drivers were loyal to the man. Now it's totally opposite. Most wouldn't even whip 'it' out and whiz on Tonn if he were on fire.

I ran that load from El Paso to Lafayette... Not bad...heavy....but not bad.

And I heard that Gainey has filed chapter 11 bankruptcy a few weeks back... Not good for those drivers that are there. I wonder how much longer they will be around even after their done with the bankruptcy. They say it'll be 6 - 9 mos before the economy starts to improve... Just when our new Commander-and-chief gets his tax programs up to speed. If their in trouble with finances now, it may be bad news a year from now.

And don't get use to a super10.... I love those tranny's....uh let me rephrase, I don't want to get any rumors started from a misunderstanding... I love those transmissions, but you won't see them here. Straight 10's. But.....at least the new Cascadias do have the Eaton's now that Rockwell/Meritor stopped building full manual transmissions, but straight 10's, not super10. You'd figure with the way they gear and power the trucks here, they would put 13's in them. But most of the drivers today wouldn't know what to do with a 13 speed.

 

Supersnack, I love your posts. You tell it like it is! Thanks for posting.

 

I just didn't know, thats why I asked. I am a local Teamster driver that is paid hourly for all of my time. I have never driven OTR. I thought that dead head meant empty miles. It's nice to see that it is paid miles. I would hate to think that any company would send their drivers empty somewhere without paying those miles. Can you imagine that?

Thanks again.

Drive safe