48Packard's Crete thread....

As Majestyk as flown the big red coop in order to join another big red coop, I'll take over posting weekly mileage totals and various and sundry happenings in this thread.

As an opener, for anyone just joining the program, I started here in February, fresh from a 4 1/2 year stay with Schneider. Inside of a month ago, I was pretty much set on leaving Crete, but then I got a new Asset Manager (sometimes called a driver manager, dispatcher, etc.). However, a minor medical malady and the aforementioned new AM both forced me and allowed me to change plans. So, I'm still here.

I won't go into the detail that everrtrucker went into. I'll pretty much keep it to a brief weekly wrap-up and summary. I'm not a rah-rah guy, either. If it sucks, I'll say it sucks. If it doesn't suck, it's not a Dyson. Or something like that....

OK....onto the real work....remembering WTH happened more than 3 minutes ago.....

Our pay weeks run from Saturday through Friday. Generally, anything submitted (transflowed) by Friday midnight gets paid for the following Thursday. There are some minor exceptions; for example, if paperwork gets in Saturday morning very, very early. Just depends on their workload in Lincoln.

Gonna work backwards here...'cuz it's easiest, and I can stop when things get real blurry in the entrails of my mind....miles listed will be a total of empty and loaded.

Mon, 10/1 thru Wed., 10/3: 919, 699=1618. Also TFlowed a trip of 765 on Sat morning at 0300, so might get paid for that this week, which would make this week 2383. As I sit here on Mon., 10/8 taking a 34, I've got 795 and 248 on the books. In 7 days last week, I ran 3426 paid miles.

Previous weeks under my previous AM were, in order from most recent on back:
2643, 2520, 2392, 2308, 3098, and 1009 (1009 included 3 days hometime). All other weeks were full, 7-day on-the-road weeks,
so these numbers, on the whole, are not very good. Seven days out, I want to average of about 400 per day, or 2800 per week. My
new AM is getting me that thus far, and I have been shown no reason that it will not continue.

So there it is. Generally speaking, under my old AM, I was averaging about 2400 miles per full seven-day workweek (not including weeks containing time at home). I'm hoping to better that, and am certainly optimistic so far.

 

Yeah....I thought Asset Manager was a little over the top.....reminded me of the "ASSMAN" episode of Seinfeld!


"Oh, I don't like this load....I better call my assman!!"

 

I'll do my best. Like I said...I won't sugar-coat anything. Good and bad is all fair game.

Right now, I just turned down (conditionally) a load to pick up 60 miles away at 1000 tomorrow, delivering at 0700 Thursday, 584 miles away. Not productive enough for me. I'll be done with my 34 early in the morning, so I'm hoping for something better. We will see....

 

Just kicked back another 700-mile, two-day load. I think I'm "urinating-off" the load planner, but coming off a 34 I expect something better and more productive. Might have to wait until the morning....

 

Believe me when I tell ya there's a whole lot more and probably better info by others such as Majestyk, everrtrucker, and SuperSnackbar. SSB is still with Crete, but has been suffering some communication issues of late (with his portable device, not Crete).

In a nutshell about equipment: Overall, pretty decent. ProStars in particular have had a lot of engine issues, but that's a manufacturers problem, not really a company problem. I've never had FEWER problems with trailers, though. I spent 4+ years with Schneider, and I can't tell you how much down time I suffered due to trailers needing this, that or the other, and sometimes all three.

They've got some very good trainers here. I've met a few of them. I'm sure there are others that aren't quite so good, but it goes with the territory. The standard line is "there are worse places you could start out at", and that's true.

Use the "search" feature up top to look for anything specific you want to review. My God, there's so much information out there....it really can be information overload. Personally, I think a lot of people over-research in the hopes of not making a mistake. Then, when things don't turn out as well as they anticipated, it's a real downer. You have to maintain a realistic outlook.

Before all this wonderful electronic gadgetry we have today, my first trainer (I think it was) told me to "listen a lot. Then throw out the very best of what you hear and the very worst of what you hear. What you have left is closest to the truth". I'd do the same thing here.

I wish you well, and feel free to ask any questions that hit you.

 

OK...34 over. Up at 0400. Get load offer. Picks up an hour away. At 1300. Oh well....I'm an early riser. Have some coffee...post a little here, then head down the road. Stop for a shower and breakfast before the pick up. Headed to southern MA for Thursday morn, 900 total miles. No complaints about going to MA....been with Crete 8 months now, and I think this is my third trip to the NE.

I will add one thing that does bug me about Crete. If you tell them the evening before, for example, "I'll be ready at xxxx tomorrow", they'll reply "OK...let us know when you're ready to go." What they should do (and what would be most helpful for a driver's planning) is to go ahead an pre-plan you on a load so you can look at it, accept it, and get rested and started according to the required schedule.

But, in their infantile wisdom, they don't do that. So, I'm up at 0400, send a message that I'm ready to roll, and....VIOLA!...a load that doesn't pick up until 1300. It's wasteful and stupid. They could have offered up this to me last night, and I wouldn't be posting this at 0530. It's not a monumental issue, just one that is easily correctable but never will be, because we as drivers do not have brains and can not think for ourselves. (It's not just here, newbies.)

When I was with Schneider, one thing they usually did well would be to pre-plan you the evening before so you could rise and shine accordingly. That is one thing I do miss. But there is a lot of other stuff there that I don't miss a bit.