CRETE - A Year in Review

Newbie22 , some people are best left ignored , especially old truck drivers who feel good about themselves by putting down inexperienced or young drivers ,for no reason except that they are young or inexperienced.

Do yourself a favor & don't get caught up in an argument with them .

 

As I've often been reminded, they don't know how much time you have behind the wheel or how many years you've been at Crete when they dispatch people...I've seen the screens and have talked to just as many new hires as old farts(like me) that have been here...all are down on miles...Well, except ET that is. His miles always seen to be above the vast majority. What I think the point of the gripe was, they need to slow hiring of all types (new drivers to the industry and new drivers just to the company) Take care of the ones that have stuck it out through the tough times here and let them run some blasted miles for a change... At least that's how I took the comment...And I'm never wrong... I thought I was wrong once, but I was just mistaken instead...

I'm still on the load from *bleep*... 1st off, dispatched Monday noon on a 279 mi load that doesn't deliver until 9 am Wednesday. 2nd, no *bleeping* directions in the system, all you get is the installer of the product's cell phone number, and when you call him, he doesn't know where the place is because they're shipping him in from Cleveland, OH to BFE, WV to do the install. And his customer info is the same as mine. Canned msg 41(on Crete's system) 'no directions found'... And no physical address, just a state highway number in the town (or near the town) so I can't even pull it up on Streets/Trips, Google Earth, or my cell's GPS mapping software. It's new construction, so no location name is available for me to do a local search to find an address. It's out in the middle of the styx of WV, so you have to watch for restricted and 'no truck' roads. It's almost as bad as a couple of years ago, when I tried to deliver some empty cans to a cannery in a federal prison in NC... Crete's directions, I95 exit ###, pull into truck stop and ask them how to get to the prison... I kid you not, that is exactly how it was worded. But the problem - the truck stop has been closed for a while...

And to top this wonderful tour of duty off, 2 weeks ago, I was preplanned on a load to get me home for home time, the problem, I hadn't asked for home time and hadn't run enough miles to be able to afford to take any time off. I just asked them just change the date so that the computer would try to get me home around the 4th...Now, they say it isn't in the system because I didn't clear home time (on this new screwed up system) with my terminal manager... I didn't clear it the 1 time either, so why is it necessary now... no one could answer that... I just picture the one dispatch/planner(guesser) staring blankly at the other with a stupid, er...more stupid look on their face.

Newbee22 - as for your expectations of miles, your 9000 guess is in the ballpark, if things keep going the way they've been that is. My monthly average for the 1st 6 mos of '09 is 8888.20.

Snackbar---over and out

 

For somebody who has never been behind the wheel of a truck before you sure do seem to have a lot of answers. Try shutting up for once, maybe you'll learn something. If its possible try to put yourself into a current Crete drivers shoes. Would you want the company to continue hiring drivers knowing that there wasn't enough freight to go around as it is? I would say your attitude is pretty selfish.

 

You must have seen different screens than I did. The first things a dispatcher see's is: Where the driver lives (in order to keep them away from the house as much as possible), and how many years they have been with the company.

 

I have to agree...some people forget that they weren't born behind the wheel and that they had to go through the learning and experience process just like everyone else. The only difference, when they learned, they had to drive the truck in the snow, up hill, both ways without heat, sitting on an old wooden milk crate for a seat, with rubber bands for tires. All before they had invented boxes and pallets and pallet jacks, so they had to unload every piece by hand....''I remember the winter of '29 with that load of toothpicks...it took us almost 2 weeks to get those 2 million blasted toothpicks unloaded...then the receiver kept loosing count and had to keep starting over''(see, I can still be sarcastically humorous ...I haven't lost my touch after all)

 

And where did we see this? I was just in Columbus trying to sort my home time mystery out and they went through all the same 'f' keys and screens that everyone else has, none of that info was there. They have to tap into a whole different system within the computer in order to get to years of service usually to verify eligibility for vacation... You think with 5000 ish drivers that they have time to truly worry about who's been here longer. All they want to do is move the freight out of their zone, and with this updated software, with the closest driver in order to cut down deadhead miles. They couldn't care less about how long you've been with the company. Long deadheads eat up more profits than the few cents per mile between a new driver and one that's been here a while, especially with the trend to shorter 'overnight' type runs that seem to be getting popular. Move the load, clear the board, go home...that's what they strive for. Oh, and complain at the driver about his idle time... -almost forgot that one, but that's what your terminal manager/assistant manager is there for.

 

Thank you SS, this is the point I tried to make several pages ago.

 

Im not trying to be an smart ##### but what i have beeno told from a few crete drivers is they are trying to get rit of the ones that are making or making close to top pay by giving all the miles to the newbies. Now i know thats not right and i feal sorry for you drivers that have been with them a while, but i have been through this before. I worked at a plant and we made hydraulic hose. Well for two years it was go go go go make as much hose as you can all the overtime you want and mandatory saturdays not bad pay either at 16.00 an hour. Kept hiring and hiring more people to get more hose out. Well then starting Jan 09 sales where in the toilet. I had 250 under me and guess what in March of 09 sorry your gone. Now i collect unemployment and get 300 a week.Also have a wife and a little boy. All i was just trying to say is be happy even though your miles are down just be happy you have some income coming in. Was not trying to make enemies just trying to say cheer up it could be alot worse.

 

Longbow your way off base. I agree with the above statement by SS, as I too have seen the screens. Time to stop the argument before you dig a hole you can't climb out of.

 

This thread sure was more positive and enjoyable when ET was posting regularly about life as a Crete driver.

There was a lot less name calling and chest thumping back then. Now there is way too much complaining and let's face it, we can get that at any truck stop or terminal.

Just my 2 cents......