CRETE - A Year in Review

EVERTRUCKERR- Thanks for the up-date. Your info is the kind of REAL INFORMATION that we can count on. It helps me have a feel for how freight is moving. Then I can compare what you post to my situation. Thanks

 

That sounds like my trainer over at Schneider back in the day. He was an old timer (thankfully) he taught me to work smart NOT hard. The job doesn't pay enough to work hard. As you indirectly point out ET, the job is easy the hardest part is dealing with the frustration.

joshmck1982, welcome. Don't be discouraged by harsh responses you might get. I read that reply you got and can be pretty sure that he meant no harm. Just think of it as "basic info" Trucking is not a profession known for hand holding the new comers and I'd be willing to bet if you came back in a few years and re-read that, you would understand it and shrug it off.

and YES, ET is a rare caring breed. Their out here but hard to spot. So most new guys just get frustrated, blame everybody in the world, and quit out of disgust. If you figure out creative problem solving on your own pretty quickly out here, you'll do just fine.

 

bad week, ET, I'm sorta glad you get those too. I just spent 3 weeks on the East coast, UGH. I never worked over 50 hours in my 7 days. I had the one breakout load to Wisconson, but they quickly headed me back to the no freight East.

 

Disc Golf... haven't done that since living in San Diego about 20 years ago. Was out with my best friend on a course in Balboa Park once and we were waiting for a couple of skinny girls to tee off in front of us... Even though they were about half our weight, their disks went twice as far...pretty embarrassing...but then they were professionals.

 

It's good to hear that there are still trainers that 'teach' drivers how to do this job... So many of the 'training mills' turn out people that know how to get their CDL and sit in the truck holding the steering wheel, but never give them the chance to do it their own way. Most of us have our own way of doing things to accomplish the same result. Hence the wide variety of opinions when someone asks for advice. It's good to allow the trainee to get the feel, and see how he/she handles the situation and correcting if needed, rather than pushing them to do it like everyone else does. As long as the result is the same, and done in a safe manner - cool, even if it's a little different than the way you would do it.

Sorry for your downturn in miles, I'd say send me back my bad luck, but it must be someone else's, I'm having enough of it to prove mine never really left, it was on vacation last month.

Last month was just a tease I think. So far, May sucks for me...(other than getting multiple offers in TX). But I think I just got out of Sync with the system after my time in purgatory(PA). After I delivered my overgross 4 stop load, they sent me on a 2 stop load to Richmond/Norfolk for Thursday afternoon, and to top it off, no directions to stop 2...Thankfully there's a little thing called Google Earth. I use it in with my Streets and Trips to make sure the route is truck friendly, or to check if there's a decent place to park at or near the customer if it's going to be a wait for load/unload. After I was empty, before my appointment time I might add, I got the 'no freight' news, but before I could leave the dock and shut my doors, I got a load offer. And a message from dispatch warning me that this "must deliver on time or I'm under it until Monday - the receiver is calling in someone special to receive a couple of weekend loads and if you're late, they fine us" Williamsburg, VA to Soddy Daisy, TN (yes, this is a real name of a town) but it doesn't load until 3 am Friday morning(Thursday night)....Great, not only is there nothing to help with this 1650 mi week, there are no truck stops within 30 miles of the shipper. Oh well, head to the shipper and check in. It's a drop and hook, maybe it'll be ready early, or at least they'll let me drop my trailer and I can find a close cheap Motel6 or Econlodge to park at for the night. I get to the Budwiser plant (I don't know why they call it Bud'wiser', it doesn't make you any 'wiser' the more you drink...I guess Buddumber wouldn't sell any beer) Anyway, I get some hopeful news, the guard says to drop my trailer at a specific door, they'll load my same trailer... I was hoping for a somewhat shorter wait, hoping to at least get back past Richmond before my 14 was up...NOT. As my 14hr coach was getting close to turning back into a pumpkin, I started looking for local budget motels, made a reservation, and prepared to depart willing to pick up my load 1st thing in the morning. 15 minutes before my 14 was up, they pulled my trailer away from the door so I could hook to it. Great, now I've made reservations, and I have a trailer to pull out. A quick check of the motels website said they had truck parking, and a quick call to the place confirmed it, so I took off with the load. This confirms that my load out of TX was mis-weighed on the B/L. This load on paper was 46,047 lbs, and with 1/2 tank of fuel, I was 79,920, the TX load said it was in the 42,000's and I was 80,000+. Great, another load that I get to do the 50 gallon shuffle on fuel. I find the motel on the other side of town. Now I've seen some motels with truck parking, this one was exaggerating their truck parking capacity. If I were bobtail, or in a day-cab pulling a pup, maybe it could fall under the 'truck parking' category. But the guy assured me that trucks park there all the time. I did manage to squeeze in, but it took me about 15 minutes of see-sawing back and forth to get out of the middle of the drive. How I'd get out, I'd decide in the morning, I was tired, frustrated, and hungry. The guy that owned the place was very friendly, the motel was clean, had microwave, fridge, and a coffee pot, plus he gave me a 2 bed room on the side of the 'truck parking' for the same price of the 1 bed room I had actually reserved. Plus they had a 25" tv and more channels I could've watched in a long term stay...too bad I didn't even feel like turning the thing on. In the morning I checked out the situation...no way was my 53' trailer going out forward. But when I checked out, (I actually had to wake the guy up I was leaving so early)I told him of the plan of departure, he offered to watch the road for me and make sure I didn't back out into traffic. It was 5 am, I watched the road as I was loading my stuff in the truck before I checked out, it was 5 or 10 minutes between cars that went by, but I accepted his offer none the less, with my week's luck I'd hit someone - or vice-a-versa. Anyway, I delivered ahead of time, and have had my home time request in since last week, but Deland didn't get it on the computer until Wednesday. I remember getting a message about the lady being on vacation that does that, but I guess I mis-remembered the dates she said she was leaving. So I was prepared to stay out another week. To my surprise, a load offer, P/U Saturday night on the west side of Hotlanta, at a customer I have written on my directions for them -avoid at all costs-, deliver ASAP in Alachua, FL - 10 minutes from my house. Now this is only going to give me 1050 mi for the week, and my last 2 weeks were 1950 and 1650, a 1000 mi. week is the last thing I needed, but it was home after over a month out. Then, after I accepted it, had the info written down, and was preparing to leave, a beep... I guess one of our bigger accounts, Kimberly Clark, had loads that had to be pulled, and if I would be willing to put off my home time a little longer, a better load was available. Not willing to turn down miles after the way this year has been, and all the extra time off I've had to take this year, I accepted the better run... I figured K/C - maybe TX or Romeoville....Haaaaaa. Tewksbury, MA... for Tuesday early a.m. I need a piece of balsa wood taped to the upper bunk, so I can have something soft to bang my head against when I do the 'stupid - stupid - stupid' head bang. That way I don't get bruises on my forehead and have more 'splainin' to do when I get home. I mean it'll give me 1700 mi by 630 on Tuesday, and just enough time to do a restart, but it's MA --- deep in the heart of the freight-void of 'Cory-land'. Now it's Monday, I've had a good nights sleep (with the heat on - it was in the upper 30's up here.... I'm waiting on SNOW)(sorry, didn't mean to use that 4 letter word this time of year) Hopefully Tuesday will be a better day. I'd accept a paper load out of ME, anything...there isn't a place within 40 miles of where I'm delivering tomorrow to park while they find freight. Thankfully I have an APU for times just like these.

Did anyone see Crete's website lately? It says they're finally breaking ground on the new Knoxville terminal. When it was originally announced that they were going to build one there, it was listed at $5.4m now I guess the cost has gone up, the website has it now at $8m. I guess they feel that the economy is showing enough signs of life to go ahead and spend some bucks.

Glad to see you back on here ET...Hope your miles come back, it gives us all hope that there is still miles to run and money to be made.

 

Hi evertruckerr, I really enjoy your posts and the detail you give. I start orientation tomorrow in Atlanta for KLLM. I have to say so far I'm pretty happy, got a call from my recruiter and was told they are not starting me at bottom pay even though its been 5 years since I drove. I think that was pretty decent of them to start me with higher pay when in this economy they could have easily just told me I'm starting at the bottom if I want a job! Take care and look forward to more of your posts.
I miss Wilmington already!

 

Isn't KLLM team only now?

 

Not the last time I heard. I was considering moving over to them at the height of my temper tantrum last year. But now they've just put a limit on where they hire from, and last time I read the thread on this forum, are limiting hiring experienced drivers. But solo, less experienced drivers are being added. They had postponed a bunch of drivers that were already approved because of the extended down season, which hearing that a reefer company is having that bad of a down season means this recession is worse than predicted. When people aren't buying frozen/temp controlled food, things are bad.

Oh look, a snackbar post that isn't a mile long...(I guess his fingers are tired from the last one)

 

No they hire solo's. We have a pretty good mix in orientation. Some experienced will be heading out friday after orientation in their truck. Some are fresh out of school with no experience and will be waiting for their trainer on friday. And a few like me that are trying to get back into trucking, we also will be heading out on friday with our trainer.