CRETE - A Year in Review

Glad it worked out for you! When I get by KCMO, I'll print out a copy of my most recent MMR, and ask the terminal manager for his opinion of my #'s. Something intersting I found out about the fuel compliance - if, for example, it tells you to go by the Pilot in Des Moines and only put on 57 gallons - if you round it up and put on 60, then it gigs you as not following the fuel solution. I was getting nailed for being non-compliant, and I've never fueled off-network. Finally, we figured out it was my not buying the exact number of gallons specified - I'd always round it up the the next 5 or 0 (62 would be 65, 67 would be 70, etc...).

In all honesty, I don't even have a clue what my safety point total is, and I really don't care. At last count, I've got 117 T-1 slips in the truck, I seriously doubt I could screw up badly enough to make it necessary for me to cash them all in!

While you were at the Crete website, did you happen to read the letter announcing the pay raise, or see the video from T.O.?

 

Your safety points are at the bottom of the MMR page... or at least mine was.

On the fuel, I usually only go to the .999 of whatever amount of fuel I am suppose to buy...(50.999 etc.)

And yes I did see the video/memo... Congrats to all the new-hires that came in under the new-reduced pay package...Y'all will be getting a $.03/mi raise in July. Doesn't effect me though...unfortunately. I've been maxed out for a couple years.

And I made a major boo-boo on this load. For some reason I wrote down the delivery date as 6/1...it actually delivers 6/2. I guess if you have to get the date wrong, getting there a day early is better than a day late. I started to get all p/o'd at the people who make the appointments...but before I called, I pulled up the q/c info...and sure enough...driver error. So now I'm waiting at the customer here in central Long Island...they said they'd try to work me in, but no promises. Now it's 16:30, and I think they close at 17:00. I hope they let us stay the night here, and thank goodness I still have this APU and a microwave. OH, and I did go back to the receiver and profess my error, correcting my blame on the company...he got a kick out of me saying "you don't hear a driver say he was wrong very often, but it was my mistake"

 

SS,

When I spoke to the recruiter a month ago, he said students earn $.31 a mile. Did they announce that starting pay is returning to the pre-recession level of $.34? Or is that just for current employees that've been there a certain length of time?

Thanks

 

They have a facebook page that has alot of info.

 

This is not on that subject, but what do you use to sign in to the website? I thought I saw info on my qual com, but I can't remember.

 

I'm not sure about student or recently trained driver pay, but starting July 1, those that hire on, and that were hired since the recession pay cut will have their cpm increased by $.03. At least according to the website. I don't think this is like the regular raise where you have to have time/miles at a certain level to qualify.

Elcamino -
As for how to sign on to the Crete - employee side of the website...I would call HR up in Lincoln. It has something to do with your SS#...but it's been so long since I originally signed on and changed it to something I could remember , I'm not sure what the default password is/was.

The customer I was at really early up on Long Island, didn't get me unloaded a day early...but they did have overnite parking so I didn't have to leave the Island and come back in the morning...The next morning, I backed in to my assigned dock, 15 minutes later, the receiver came out and handed me my paperwork back signed refused. It turns out that instead of shipping refrigerators in boxes and airbagging the load... Whirlpool ships them without boxes, just clear plastic and styrofoam, but air-nail these little clips over the frame of the fridges into the floor. The receiver said the last time they used the .22 caliber concrete nail guns, it took them over 8 hours to unload, and they weren't going through that again. They said they've called Whirlpool about doing it that way many times, and they didn't seem to get the message, so they were sending it back. Then after I called Crete to report it, and was about to pull away from the dock to find a parking place while they decided what to do, one of the boss' came out and took my paperwork back, and said those 'idiots have their heads up their *bleeps*'(his words, not mine) and said it won't be a problem...A little more than an hour later, I was rolling. My next load picked up a few miles away, headed to Zanesville, OH...then up to north central OH to pick up scrap paper, going to Middletown, OH...(Seems like I've been hauling a lot of scrap paper lately) Thus ending my week with 2337 mi (+$100 NY Pay). I just can't seem to get things back up to full speed anymore.

I noticed on my MMR, that someone needs to learn how to spell...Unless it's a Cornhusker way of spelling. But I'm driving 'Tracter number' #####...last time I looked, Tractor is spelled with an o, not an e...I know, it's nitt-pickey...but if I spell a town name wrong on my log-book...don't I get picked on?

 

"Tracter" - I just noticed that on my MMR too!

Here are my #'s through the end of May --

# of Dispatches -- 67
Avg Miles/Dispatch -- 727.4
Loaded Miles -- 45,321
Empty Miles -- 3,420
Total Miles -- 48,741
Deadhead % -- 7.0
Avg Miles/Month -- 9,748
Idle % -- 9.94
Hometime -- 26.1 days
Fuel Compliance -- 97%
Safety Point Balance -- -3
​

 

Hello everyone,

This is my first post in this forum so please bear with me.

I'm going to be signing over a pretty large chunk of change to Roadmasters for my cdl training in the next few days. (Not really worried about the cost, it's an investment into my future) But I was looking at the companies that Roadmasters website says recruits out of there. Most of which I am completely unimpressed with. (based 98% on the hundreds of post I've read in this forum over the last three days). Needless to say, I was starting to really rethink my decision to go into trucking. Then I heard about Crete and my optimism is back up. I've seen a couple of complaints about Crete but nothing like I've seen from Swift, Covenant, and others. I'm trying very hard to take all complaints with a grain of salt and chalking most up to disgruntled former employees (Especially, the drive by smack downs with no proof or references).

From what I've seen so far, Crete looks like the best fit for me. I live only 45 minutes from the Marietta terminal in Georgia. They have national solo if I were to choose it, or a dedicated fleet (I have a two and a four year old, so some home time would be nice). I haven't found much about the training as of yet, but if Evertruckerr is a trainer I guess it can't be too bad. I'm pretty impressed with your accounts and detail on here. Plus someone mentioned that there are trainer evaluations after your training is complete. Something I haven't heard from any other company as of yet.

I'm scared ####less that I'm gonna end up stuck with a company like swift or covenant (because I'm gonna have to pay back this school loan) that has new guys training new guys. These are big, dangerous machines that I'll be operating and I want the best training I can possibly get. As far as I'm concerned there is no excuse for bad training and I would rather not end up dead or worse because someone didn't bother to fill me in on an important safety tip.

Now for the question I have for you guys. Since Crete is not listed as a company recruiting from my "potential" school. What would be the best way to get my foot in the door at Crete and give them a good first impression, given the fact that it sounds like the driver market is a bit flooded right now? Since I live close to the Marietta terminal I thought that maybe if I showed my face there and spoke to someone it might help. I'll definately be calling the recruiter, if they have one. Crete doesn't strike me as a driver farm, so I'm not sure at this point.

I would sincerely appreciate any input from you guys.

Thanks for all your posts too. I've learned quite a bit.

 

If Crete is where you want to be, then contact Eddie in recruiting...hes in Marietta and ask him what schools they approve of before you sign up.

 

I hope you'll read this before you sign over a large chunk of change...

Crete will hire students that have completed training at one of their "approved" schools, and I believe the school has to be PTDI (Professional Truck Driver Institute) certified in order to be on the "approved" list.

Definately call Eddie in Marietta, or call the recruiting department at 1-800-998-2221 (ask for Heather, she's a wonderful person!) the first thing Monday morning, and see if the school you're thinking about attending is on their list.

I'd hate to see you spend a sizeable amount of money, then learn that Crete doesn't recognize your training, and either rejects your application, or makes you attend a different school in order to meet their qualifications.

I don't know the details of all of their training programs, but I do know that they've a variety of methods to get you trained and working for them!

Good luck, and please feel free to PM me if there's anything I can help you with!