Crete Carrier - A Year In Review - Fall 2013 Going Forward

By the time I get home next Sunday, I will be just short of 24k for 2020. Even with a very unproductive week at Mankato Walmart fleet.

 

Every time I got drafted into some WalMart fleet it was a huge production. I’d drive 3/4 days to be a “team player” and then would see that I was going to take a financial hit doing them a favor. Then I’d have to have a conversation with my driver manager and remind them that we aren’t buddies and that we don’t have a favor relationship but a purely financial one. If they weren’t going to get me on profitable loads I was out. I’d always get off but they were such drama queens about it.

 

I'd done well at mankato the previous time I helped. I even considered switching to the fleet, but this time was awful. I was stuck on the meat/ produce, running overnight basically, but never got any real productive runs. I always do well in N Platte, I'll help there any time, but Cheyenne was a disaster and my last stint at mankato sucked.

 

I'm on the mankato account. They trying to get a bunch of otr fleet guys out here to help for the week. So far I have not gotten any bad runs. If you get stuck doing nothin but city Minneapolis runs back to back then that might be a time waster if your on otr fleet. However on the sliding scale you get .62/mi for them so not so bad.

 

Looks like this Crete truck...got a little warm

 

So back at it for a month now. I broke my rule about not going back to a job you quit, and while everything is going pretty well, I still get reminded that was a good rule to follow.

 

I walked out two weeks ago. Recruiting got ahold of me last Friday. Told her I'm willing to come back. But they gotta get things straightened out. Overall, the problem is treating me like a Dufus. Specifically with the shops. Had two bad problems with my truck when delivered to me on Nov. 15th. First one air dryer. Kept treating me like a Dufus who didn't drain his water. Got towed twice. Wasted over a week and a half waiting on repairs. Still didn't fix the cause. Threatened to quit. Finally they rebuilt the air dryer. Still ain't sure it's fixed. I find out when I get into below zero.
Now still have a problem with bouncing on the truck tandems. Put off. Treating me like a Dufus. To make a long story short. I'm tired of talking. After putting this off. Saying it's fixed. Yadda yadda. Wasting 8 days of my time sitting around this month. I walked out. That was two weeks ago.
Right now... Recruiter called me this morning. Said ready for me to come back. I asked about the problem of treating me like I'm stupid? I never talked to anyone about that. I'm not coming back till this gets straightened out.

Meanwhile... I got a small business owner. Hired me to drive for him. He dumped $6K into a truck for me to drive. He asked me to at least do a few runs for him this week to help him pay for the repairs. Good guy. I may just stay here.

Gonna take a whole lot more out of Crete to get me to come back. This has been the source of my problem with DAC reports since I started driving. Excuses, refusal to do work. Then I get nailed on "violations". This is ridiculous. My only recourse is to walk out. That's all.

 

If you've been there a while and can live with the automatic transmissions I'd try one last thing before leaving. There is a guy whose in charge of distributing Crete's *new* trucks. When I was there it was Tonn Ostergaard's son (Conrad??). If you've put in a lot of years there and like it there when there's no mechanical nonsense then you need to speak to that person and to the manager of recruiting (not an underling) and tell him/her that you're happy to stay at Crete provided that you can get one of those new trucks.

Is it a long shot? Yeah, it is. But Crete really wasn't an awful place to work. and this way you put it back on them. Want to keep me? Prove it. Good luck.

 

The problem like this began when Crete changed their hiring policy and started training their own. When they required 5 years of experience they were a great place to work, but once they started training their own, they gradually started treating most of their drivers like they were inexperienced trainees.

 

I would like to say that Operations has been great to me.
I just spent a $750 deposit on a cat for only 3 months. I go back. They better give me a new truck. I want another $750 deposit to last a while.
The problem is treating me like a dufus. Wasting 16 days of my time in the last 3 months. This was all because of repairs that they ignore me on. Put off. Treat me like a Dufus.
That problem is going to get straightened out. Or I ain't going back.