CRETE - A Year in Review

The problems seem to be with items bolted to the engine and not the engine itself, ie, starters, alternators, A/C. It will be interesting to see how the resale values look on these trucks with all the bad reporting they receive.

 

I got to look inside one of the new single bunk mid-roof(if you can call it that, it's only about a foot shorter than the double bunk). I was fueling next to one the other day in Mt. Vernon, IL. The driver said he got out of his p.o.j. Cascadia and into this. He says he has much more room to store stuff. On top of the regular cabinets that the double bunks have over the sleeper windows, there is a full size set of cabinets all the way to the roof on both sides. He said other than getting use to the new shifting program, the only issue he's had is some sort of turbo lag. He says the shifting program screws you up unless you lug it down to 1000 rpm's before dropping a gear. I guess, by what little I got to chat, that it causes a short term 'de-rate' on hp if you over rev by dropping a gear too soon, thus making you drop more gears.

I left home on Sunday, and was given another one of the loads that JDZ and Redbeard would hate (other than the fact I'm getting 8.5 mpg). I'm on a 1638 mile run from Jacksonville to west of St. Cloud, MN...a whopping 6300 lbs. I climbed Monteagle like it wasn't even there. Even with 4.5 days off for my physical, and my daughters wedding, I will still top 11000 miles this month. And on this load, as my nag-a-gator shows, my actual miles will only be 2 miles over what Crete's paid miles show. Still, no matter what else I find fault with here, Crete has one of the most accurate paid mileage averages of any company I have worked for in my 2 million+ mile adventure in trucking.

 

When you say 'we'...are you a team(in a double bunk), or just a passenger riding with a driver(in a single bunk) (Crete said that only teams/trainers get the double bunk trucks...just seeing if they were telling the truth)

 

We are a team. This my 3rd new truck in just over 2 years. They trade us out between 150k-200k. Our new truck is the one with the double bunk.
Got it to the Int'l shop Monday evening and as of now (Wednesday afternoon) they haven't even looked at it to diagnose the problem.

 

Hey does anyone know anything about Crete carrier south east fleet how long do u have to work for them to get on south east I just got through with school. Thanks

 

Can any of you company drivers tell me the names of the two "Bills" who managed the Macungie, PA and Atlanta, GA terminals in a past few years? I'm trying to write a note to Mr Acklie about an on-going problem but for the life of me can't remember either one of them and have come up blank googling and reviewing on-line issues of the Crete Courier. You can backchannel me if you like.
The reason behind it is I just contacted Shaffer about rehire and was told despite my clean DAC that states my record was satisfactory and I was eligible for rehire, someone has flagged me with the recruiting team (I'm guessing they called my two previous managers) because I "quit voluntarily" with zero explaination of why that is a problem. thanks for any info. bb.

Update, I did find the name of the Macungie manager, Bill H***k.
well, maybe nevermind - found the Atlanta manager as well, I never realized they have nearly the same name, Bill H***h

 

I've heard that is another one of the drawbacks of the Cornbinders...most of our shops don't keep parts in stock(or are unable to get parts due to a backorder issue) or can't get parts on the weekends. Plus the dealerships are so overloaded, their lots are looking like Crete/Shaffer terminals.

 

I wasn't aware that we still had a true 'south east' regional any more. Many of the southeast regional drivers I have talked to over the years were in Chicago or Wilmer or Columbus(Ohio, not GA I mean)...pretty much anywhere but the southeast, mostly due to a shortage of freight. A lot of our south FL freight goes via choo-choo out of Jax.

 

O ok lol yeah I just got my liscence and was going to start with Crete in about two weeks my home terminal will be in tifton ga the recruiter said I get on the south easy after training I didn't know how it would work that's why I asked lol thanks for the info safe miles to ya brother.

 

It might be better now, they have started all these new 'home weekly' areas...not sure if southeast has anything that far south. I know that the marietta terminal has some weekly drivers. Might be worth a shot...you can ask....the worst thing they can say is no.