CRETE - A Year in Review

Crete runs Century Freightliners with a few exceptions. They have just bought a couple of the new Cascadia models to try them out.

These are the no frill base models. No bells and whistles, just better pay checks.

Crete does have a yard in Deland, Fl. It's a little north of Orlando. You can run regional or national from there.

Keep in mind that the regional fleets make 3cpm less than the national drivers and the mileage will not be as high.

 

If you run the national board you will spend most of your time east of the Mississippi. That is where most of the people in this country live and where most of the freight goes. If you want to stay away from that part of the country you can work the western fleet, but the pay is 3cpm lower and you will get fewer miles.

One thing about being on the west coast. When you head out after your home time you can count on a nice 2000+mile run going east and the same thing when you head home. Although getting home can be rough, it really depends on where you live.

On running on the East side, it really runs in spurts for me. I've spent as much as a month solid without getting west of Columbus, OH and then I go weeks on end without going that way. As a matter of fact, I haven't gone north of I-20 since mid November with the exception of this last week when I went from Dallas to Kansas City to Minneapolis to Kalamazoo, MI and am now sitting in Mississippi on my way to Louisiana in the morning. Even when I do run the NE it'st not that bad for the most part. I have never had to go into New York City or Long Island, although I have talked to drivers that have.

With regards to the load select. It's starting to make a turn for the better again. That too runs in spurts depending on the freight availability. As a general rule I would say that I get a choice of 3 loads 25% of the time, 2 loads 35% and 1 load offers 40%.

 

Crete requires 1year OTR driving. They will hire drivers with less experience but will require them to drive with a Crete trainer. How long depends upon previous experience.

Crete will also hire select student drivers.

Crete does not have a Training Facility, they expect you to get your own training and pay for it yourself. On top of that, the school you attend must be a PTDI certified school or a school of similar quality that has been pre-approved by Crete.

 

There has been a definite slowdown and I have been feeling it, maybe not as much as some though.

Crete seems to be holding up well so far. One of the reasons is that Crete concentrates on consumable freight. The kind of things that people buy regardless of the economy. Things like food, medical supplies, etc.

Crete pays well because they save money by governing the speeds of their trucks, using Opti-Idle to save fuel, have a tightly regulated fueling system to save money, buy trucks with no frills and here is the big one, they are cash company. No credit debt, no interest charges. They pay cash for everything.

Another big kicker is that Crete is a privately held company. No one has to bow to share holders. They can run the business with the future in mind and not the next quarterly earnings report. If all companies were run like that, this country would be in much better shape than it is now. (that's an entirely different subject though, isn't it)