CRETE - A Year in Review

jd do you think they treat o/o alittle better then a company driver?
going to call next week to see if i can get pre aproved for a truck,i would think they would try to take care of an o/o alittle better..we'll see how this pans out..lol

 

Don't laugh too hard...but when I was in my pow-wow... they did tell me we once had a driver who was one of those people who used tin-foil inside his truck because he believed that the government was listening and he was trying to block their signal. (scary) You should have seen their face when I told them that I had a bunch of foil in my last truck. But mine was because the windshield leaked so bad, no shop could get it to stop, tin-foil was my rain gutter to keep the water from flooding the fuse box.


And ET... you can have your good luck when you can pry it from my cold dead fingers.... If you can catch me haaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Actually, my luck is changing. I was only offered a 326 mi run Sat morning for a delivery in Louisville for Monday. Man, what am I going to do???? That'll only give me 1387 mi on Monday morning.....Whoe-is me.

Home time is suppose to be mandatory for Christmas... or at least that's the way it's normally suppose to go... With the freight like it is, who knows how it'll work out. They use to give you at least the holiday itself off guaranteed, unless you requested otherwise. I always put in for vacation for Christmas week back in October so there isn't a list. That way I always get at least 7 days off around the holiday.

While I was doing laundry during my down time Sunday, I spoke to a Schneider driver in the laundry room. He said he'd be happy getting the miles I've been getting. Right now for him, 1500-1800 miles is considered a good week...

And during one of the Nemo shows on XM the other day, they had the boss of Forward Air doing his weekly show. He said that there was several 'major' TL trucking companies and more than 1 LTL on the brink of failure. He wouldn't say which ones. I hate to hear it, even though that means our freight would pick up, it would mean that there would be a bunch of drivers unemployed...which would suck!!

 

ROFL, that is too funny! Btw, is that a common problem? leaking from a window? Our last Crete truck was like that. It leaked so bad on the passenger side that I had to keep towels on the dash. It was awful. And we also had to dry the window on top as it would leak too.

Our Marten truck doesn't leak water at all. We are loving this APU, it is something like 18 degrees out at the moment in Jamestown, ND. Yes, we don't run to this side but due to shortage of drivers over thanksgiving, dispatch asked us to do him a favor. We told him we are happy to do it. We have a preplanned load going to southern CA after this delivery tomorrow in Minnesota...It's something like 1800 miles.. Current load is 1600 mile run. We're happy with Marten as they keep us moving.

Keep warm, everybody. Drive safe! (Hi ET! )

 

Most of the Century's I've been in have had some sort of leak around the windshield. Sometimes it isn't the windshield, but a leak somewhere else that runs down the inside of the plastic, and that is the lowest point. My first truck has so much water inside, when it rained you could get out your rubber duckey and take a shower. No shop could get it fixed either. The roof had 2 seams that leaked, the bolts that hold the side fairings to the upper part of the roof leaked and the body around the sleeper vents pulled loose from the putty that hold it together. Needless to say, I gave up on the shops and did the repairs myself. I don't have an ASE certification, and I got it fixed the first try.

This truck didn't leak a drop until I had to have a new windshield put in the passenger side. After that, it drips a little in heavy rain, but not bad enough to worry. Now I have to worry about the condensation because the fuel fired bunk heater keeps the inside warm, but with no insulation, the outside 1/2 of the shell drips in the overhead light, and then drips on me and the floor.

Things are still going ok here. Had to unload at Kroger-Louisville, KY....5 hrs.(some of it had to do with them trying to play catch-up after the holiday) After I got done, I planned on another overnight in KY waiting on them to find a load, but to my surprise, only after an hour wait, I am on a load that p/u Tuesday out of New Albany, IN (Louisville) to Socorro, TX(El Paso) for Friday. 2863 mi for the week...That's 2 weeks in a row and 3 out of last 4 over 2500. Last time I was in Socorro, they sent me out to Cali...This close to vacation, that's where they'll probably send me again.

My APU is still the best thing since sliced bread... Bought a Mr.Coffee the other day, and once I get home I'll get my microwave. Then I'll be in as close to heaven as a Freightliner can get me.

Oh well, happy trails.

 

I just remembered that the Crete and Schneider trucks would leak from under the plastic near the top light. Also, the side windows if it rained. So far, it hasn't been a problem in this truck. We're driving a Freightliner Columbus. It doesn't look much different from the Century's on the inside. We do have cubboard doors and two drawers. Unlike Crete. LOL

Yeah, we got a Mr Coffee too! We drink tea, not coffee. We bought a $50 microwave from Walmart. It works great. However, in orientation, we learned that the turntable motors tend to burn out over time. It has to do with the APU... Not sure why. So we'll keep using ours until it burns out! LOL

Hey keep those miles coming!

 

So I take it that Crete is now installing APU's on their company trucks?

 

I have not noticed any difference in the treatment. I do know that I can stay home without hearing a peep from dispatch. No more 8 wks out and 5 days off crap. Like the other o/o stated, I'm keeping my ear out for better opportunities, but I'm still here.

 

8 weeks out and 5 days off...wow i didnt know that..i cant belive the hometime deal they got going here,

i tried to score afew more days off on my last hometime and seems like they were about to have a fit about havin more then 4 days off.im tryin to keep the wife from taking a day off work to run me back to deland.they need to revamp the home time 1wk for 1 day and aloud to build up to a week off.

this week might go into the record books if they dont give me a decent load here soon.

im in san angelo tx.. anyone know where the soup kitchen is?

 

When it comes to loads, it's first in - first out. I've only had one occassion (that I can prove) where this did not happen. However, the situation was rectified to my satisfaction.

I run on the HTL (specified o/o) board. The difference is that I have a dedicated dispatcher that can pull rabbits out of a hat when neccessary. Usually done for home time request.

My miles would be consistantly lower if, like ET, I wasn't proactive and willing to run an occational wierd schedule.

Overall, I happy here, and feel I've been treeted fairly in all aspects.

I will send you a link, via PM, of my real numbers as an o/o at Crete.

 

On late '06 and '07. As long as the truck has under 250K. New trucks are suppose to be eventually equipped with some kind of anti-idle device. But the new Cascadias only have a bunk heater...no APU, at least the one's I've seen on the road... they're still opt-idling. As for the new cornbinders, I don't know if they have the bunk heater, but I haven't seen any with an APU either.