CRETE - A Year in Review

I'm not sure how much lighter the newest Cascadia's are going to be...They are now equipping them with a battery pack A/C and fuel fired water heater like the Prostars. 4 extra batteries, plus hardware...and then the '10 trucks with the new motor/DEF tanks and system...these suckers are going to be heavy! They may have to do like they did with the old container fleet, and just pay for a heavier weight registration. Someone told me that the steer axle on the Prostars are rated higher than the old trucks we've been driving, which means they're built to handle the weight from the start.

 

Been on vacation since last Sat and don't have to go back out till Wed and I am looking at the third snowstorm since I got home. Another 4-6 inches by Tues. I'm glad I'm home instead of out on the road but this is getting ridiculous.

 

PLEASE, keep us posted when Crete starts bringing on O/O again...? Thanks

 

Funny Evertrucker, you haven't been in a winter storm yet, and I have yet to miss one...been one of those winters, my truck looks pink for all the salt on it. I followed that last big storm from Iowa to Indiana, then to Hagerstown, MD across I68. Before that got caught in a storm going from SLC to Socorro, TX. Before that got caught in a storm over the Siskyous (sp). Before that got caught in major flash flooding on US95 in NV/AZ/socal. Before that...well you get the picture. Last winter I missed every big storm but one, spent almost the whole winter working the southern tier...guess it's my turn to take a few for the team, and brush up on winter driving skills.

Miles have been great for Jan-Feb though. I won't complain about that. Only time I've stopped was after 13 days running I delivered in northern Iowa last Sunday, with 3 hrs left for the day and a big fat zero falling off Monday so was forced to reset. The runs haven't always had the best delivery times, but I've yet to get the no freight msg.

 

As far as weight, my Prostar weighs over 20k full of fuel. I could easily haul 46,700 in my Century, but have yet to be under gross on any load over 45,500 with this beastie. Love how it drives though, and will out pull ANY truck I've ever driven. They geared these trucks right, my guess is it's a direct drive 10 speed with tall rearends. I'm often right at max gross and trucks pass me at the bottom of the hill only to be passed by my slow truck on the climb (I know they can't be heavier than me without permits). I have to play the 50 gallon/scale hokey pokey. Fuel solutions are useless, and often I have to call and get new solutions on the OTHER side of the shipper/scale.

Overgross is a pain in the ###, and it has happened multiple times at Budweiser...I've learned to go in there with enough fuel to finish the run and they have to take off enough to make it legal. Those ######## are cheap. My first beer run after getting this truck I followed the instructions and went in almost empty (will any manufacturer EVER make an accurate fuel guage, stays on full for 350 miles regardless of fuel mileage and shows just under 1/4 but takes 165 gallons, which is just about where you may wind up paying for a $600 service call) was over gross by some 400lbs, they took off EXACTLY enough to make it legal and told me fuel was my problem, "it is AB's policy that drivers are to show up with enough fuel in their tanks to finish the run". That was at Ft. Collins going to Souix Falls, SD. Luckily it was all backroads on a Sunday.After the WY POE I fueled in Cheyenne and ran overgross most of the way, and learned my lesson. FT. Collins is turning away Prostars now? They ain't in Balwinsville, NY yet. Picked up there today. The load info said 45,800 but the bills were at 43,700 so got lucky. If shippers start doing that this truck is going to start limiting my ability to make money, and that is not a good thing.

 

Longbow, you must be from my neck of the woods. This next one shouldn't be that big of a deal with ONLY 9 inches forecast. LOL

 

Yeah, it is just how they are doing their hiring process now. They run you thru a condensed version at the terminal closest to you to show that you have received the necessary safety training to operate a truck and then they route you to either Marietta, New Kingston or Lincoln to finish the entire process, which unfortunately, means retaking all the tests and watching all the videos again. I was at the defensive driving class last week and the person who snapped at me that "it was how they did it and if I wanted to work for Crete", etc etc, came up and apologized to me for their shortness and abruptness. They stated that I did indeed have a valid question and that they were having a bad day and shouldnt have been so abrupt. I can certainly relate to that. Was surprised that they would have remembered the incident and even bothered to say anything a week later. Was a nice surprise though and a welcome one.

 

Just to be clear, the over hours thing was AFTER my orientation at Marietta, not before, so it wasn't the reason that they sent me to Marietta for orientation. The reason, I found out, is that when hired, they send you to the nearest terminal from your home, give you an abreviated version of orientation to show that you have received the proper training to operate their equipment, and then send you as soon as possible to either Marietta, New Kingston or Lincoln to receive the full blown version. They then schedule the Defensive Driving class for as soon as possible from your orientation date to get that completed. Unfortunately for me, I had all three items (two orientations and the defensive driving class) in the first 4 weeks of hire. Hard to get any revenue generated like that but it does just seem to be the luck of the draw.
As for the safe haven move, I checked with DOT Officer Phipps who operates the scale on Hwy 60 near Cabool MO as to how the regulation would be interpreted. There is, it would appear, no time limit set on the duration of a safe haven move, but rather it takes into account the area, time of day(night), availability of safe parking, etc, and is one of those areas that are open to the interpretation of the Compliance Officer who is evaluating your log. In MO for instance, it would appear that anything over an hour would be skeptical, however, my 45 minute move, according to him, would be legal due to the time of night that it occurred, the area and that MO is starting to take a hard look at legislation making it illegal to park on on ramps, etc, due to safety concerns.
Now before anyone points out the obvious, I know that that might not coincide with Cretes policy or what the Log people might tell me to do, and I have no problem with following their policies and guidelines. I mearly wanted to point out that every regulation and policy is not cut and dyed and set in stone. Most, including the FMCSR, are open to interpretation. I have been told in orientation that safe haven moves were allowed but was given no guidelines as to length or duration and can only hope that the log department would follow the DOT's lead as to location, time, etc.
I did get lucky and got a truck with an APU and inverter, however the inverter does not work but the APU does run quiet which makes sleeping a lot better than with Opti-Idle. And my experience is getting better now that all the classroom stuff is behind me.
Stay safe.

 

Thanks for your response. I agree that attitude is paramount to success in any endeavor, trucking or not and I can assure you that I approached my hiring process with an open and respectful mind.
As for the hiring process, please refer to my last two posts that were in reply to other comments posted, as I dont want to repost the same info half a dozen times, take up space and bore people to death.
I can assure you that I am a safe driver, having been driving tractor trailers for over 27 years (averaging over 125000 miles per year), and in that time I have never had an accident and had only one ticket in the last 13 years, so I believe that I am doing more than just giving lip service to the parting comment of "drive safe". I think it is safe to say, and I really really DON'T want to sound arrogant here, but I could probably log more miles backing up in a truck stop parking lot than some could log going down the road.
If I touched a nerve with anyone in regard to my post I apologize, as it was not my intention. I mearly wanted to relate my hiring experience and the loads pulled since I first went to KC. Just curious how my experience related to others.
I'll back on out of here now and not bother to post anymore comments here as I truely dont want to offend anyone. Best of luck to you and in your career here at Crete and should you ever run up on me out there, my name is Wilbur Steed (Bud is my nickname) and I am currently in Truck# 31898. I would be happy to sit down and buy any of you a cup of coffee and shoot the bull for a bit.
Oh, and everybody stay safe out there.

 

The axle ratings sticker in the door jamb on my ProStar says the steer axle is rated for 12,350 pounds (which is exactly what the steer tires are rated at - 6,175 pounds each) and each drive axle is rated for 20,000 pounds. The truck weighs 20,480 pounds bobtail with me and all my stuff, and with fuel tanks 3/4 full. I've picked up more than one load that put me over gross, and had to go back and get some taken off. At least one of those times, the delay caused a tight delivery schedule to become an impossible delivery schedule.

The part that gets under my skin is that these trucks have sliding fifth wheels, which have a hole drilled through the slider pin mechanism and a bolt with locknut holding it in place, preventing the slider pins from being retracted. Effectively, this turns a sliding fifth wheel into a stationary fifth wheel. I'm almost never under 12,350 pounds on my steer axle, even when pulling a 37,000 pound load with the tandems all the way forward. I have a CAT scale ticket showing 12,500 steer, 24,800 drive, and 33,820 trailer. And breakdown won't let me remove that bolt to slide the fifth wheel back one hole. I wonder how many steer tires will wear out prematurely...

I think I know why they do that too...in any group of 3000+ drivers, there are a few that, if given an operational sliding fifth wheel, will end up calling breakdown because they have a trailer with landing gear driven up through the floor and a fifth wheel hanging from the kingpin, with the tractor 10 feet in front of the trailer. Or a trailer poking through the back of the cab...

Other than the weight and the fifth wheel, I have no major complaints about the ProStar.

Miles have been pretty decent lately. I'm thinking of running a little harder through the week to burn out my 70 so I'm forced to reset on the weekends. Several times this last time out, I found myself stopping for the day before I was really ready to stop because my logbook recap had too small a number in the "Hours Available For Today" slot. I haven't been really adding up my miles on every trip, but my checks have been good and I've been running out of hours, so the miles couldn't legally get much better

One thing I'd do if I could....get into the Fuel Solution computer and remove the 2 Pilots on I-285 around Atlanta from the system. Ick.

In case anyone is interested in how sweet coming home this time worked out, here's the tale:

I called my home terminal Monday to set up home time to start Friday. A bit late for the usual scheme of things, but I was on my way from Statesboro, GA to Cullman, AL and I live just an hour or so away in the Chattanooga area. I got a preplan (!) from the same WalMart DC in Cullman going to another WalMart DC in Sutherland, VA (near Petersburg). Deliver anytime Wednesday.

When I delivered that, I got a load offer from Suffolk, VA to Palmetto, GA (near Atlanta). I picked it up, made it to Emporia, VA and shut down with 45 minutes left on my 70 to add to what I picked up at midnight. That gave me 9.5 hours and 516 miles, and I had to log my PTI, a fuel stop, and a drop/hook. So Thursday, there were a few times I pulled ET's trick of stopping for 8 minutes so I could log a 15 minute break.

I delivered that Thursday evening and had exactly 0 time remaining on my 70 after logging some on-duty time for a drop/hook. Night dispatch offered me a load to pick up...that night...in Columbus, GA - and deliver in West Jefferson, OH on Saturday. "Sorry," I told them, "No can do - zero hours remaining tonight. Do you have any local work you need done tomorrow before I go home for my scheduled time off, or will I be deadheading home in the morning?" They shot me a load offer - Atlanta to McDonough, pick up first thing Friday morning and deliver by 10am. Not a problem, I get to make a few bucks Friday before going home.

While getting unloaded Friday morning, I asked day shift, "Will I be deadheading home from here? If so that's cool. If you have something you need picked up and T-Called in Marietta that works too. Or if you have something like a GenMills load from Covington to Chattanooga, that'd be about the most cost-effective way I can think of for me to get home. I should have the hours to run any of the above today once they're done unloading me here."

10 minutes later, I got the preplan. Covington to Chattanooga, General Mills. I love the smell of that Honey Nut Cheerios plant in Covington...and it's a drop/hook on both ends for that run every time. And the delivery is about 15 road miles from my house (would be shorter, but Lookout Mountain is between the GMI Chattanooga warehouse and my house).

So I braved the "snowstorm", and drove 2.5 hours from Covington to Marietta for fuel on the way home, and another 2 hours from Marietta to Chattanooga. I-285 was a parking lot because apparently nobody in Atlanta has seen snow before, and had to stop - on the interstate - and stare at it.

By the time I delivered, it was almost 6:30pm Eastern - and night dispatch was on hand to do their best to screw up my home time. Once I sent my empty call, they gave me a load offer from Loudon, TN to Milford, CT. Fortunately, it came through the QualComm after I had already parked in my driveway, so...I hope they found someone else to cover that load, because I'm still at home

So here I am, at my computer, in my house, on Valentine's Day, while my wife dutifully washes grease and diesel fuel out of my clothes. Time to go do something wonderful for her...I'm sure I'll think of some way to show my appreciation...probably involving lots of money, a jewelry store, and a nice restaurant. Happy weekend all!