CRETE - A Year in Review

Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by evertruckerr, Jan 11, 2008.

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  1. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    I just looked this piece of info up about losing one's job:

    Can I Be Fired From Work For No Reason?

    Generally, yes. The general rule is that unless there is an agreement stating otherwise, all employees are considered "at-will" employees. As an "at-will" employee, you can be fired for any reason, or no reason at all. For example, if your boss wants to fire you so that his boss' sister can take your position, then he can without consequence. However there are a number of exceptions to this rule. Common exceptions to the "at-will" employment rule are:

    1. a contract or collective bargaining agreement between the employer and employee providing that the employee cannot be fired without good cause;
    2. termination that violates public policy (discrimination, retaliation, etc.); and
    3. termination that results after the employee's reasonable reliance on the job offer when the employer knows the employee has had to quit another job, leave school, or move closer to the job.

    *credit for this information goes to the lawinfo website

    The one thing to consider...since they threatened to terminate me for these posts once before, but didn't...there is a statute in this case...if fired for allegedly no reason, but after I have been warned (via qualcomm) about my blogging and been in a meeting with executives where my job was threatened because of these post, it can fall under one of the reasons in item number 2...ie retaliation. But now that they have crossed the line of threatening my employment because of something...then not acting on it at the time...it then gives relevance to the retaliation provision. After all, when I was in my meeting, the only thing that I promised I would do, is a) be truthful and b) not make it personal. I have lived up to my end of the deal. I think they also realize that they are dealing with someone who does stay informed about a wide variety of things in ways of the world...I am not just some mindless steering wheel holding idiot.
     
    Last edited: Jul 15, 2012
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  3. Ralph4159

    Ralph4159 Heavy Load Member

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    I'm in the same situation. I used to live north of Sacramento and remember Crete had an insulation customer near Willows. Do they have many customers in the bay area too? Thanks
     
  4. ATL-1

    ATL-1 Medium Load Member

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    I'm trucking OTR for the same reason. Travel, see the country and visit
    family all over the country. May do the O/O thing in a few years to have
    More control over where I go and how much time to take off.
     
  5. FlexinTarzan

    FlexinTarzan Medium Load Member

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    Another "Wonderful" Crete weekend....inefficiency as usual. Tried to be proactive yesterday as I had an early morning drop this morning, so I request a preplan be put in the works to stay productive. Did not receive a response as usual which further in-raged me. I deliver this morning and send mt call....wait an hr than receive the SHORT ON FRIEGHT message. That lit me up instantly....********** I let em know that maybe if somebody took the time to look at my request yesterday and been proactive instead of reactive today than there would not be a driver madder than hell at the moment. Finally I get something that pu TOMORROW AFTERNOON.....guess I will watch the grass grow for a second weekend in a row. A Swift driver came up to me earlier here at the truck stop and was quizzing me on all the great things he had heard at Crete and was just waiting for his application to get approved. I told the driver that the great things he heard was BS x10. I'm sitting here just like you this weekend RIGHT.... I told him. I am not here to suger coat things, if things are going terrible I will broadcast that as well as when I start thickening my money clip. Talkin about me money-clip, it has been on the lean-side lately.
     
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  6. 48Packard

    48Packard Ol' Two-stop Shag!

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    Don't know that for certain....my family is in the LA area and Palm Desert. I know there are no guarantees I'll ever see CA again, but I've been there once in my five months with Crete, which is exactly one more time than I ran to CA in 4 1/2 years with Schneider.
     
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  7. supersnackbar

    supersnackbar Road Train Member

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    Your Town, USA
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    my CA trips come in batches. I won't see it for years, then I'll deliver out in UT then get a load to CA, back to UT back into CA until I finally wave the white flag and request a load back east. Then I won't see CA again for years.
     
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  8. Ralph4159

    Ralph4159 Heavy Load Member

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    Albuquerque, New Mexico
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    How does the current dispatching system work? The recruiter told me I could call any terminal my home terminal despite my 'residence' being in Florida? If I picked Phoenix or Salt Lake as my terminal, would that mean they would keep me out west more? I don't understand what influence it has. I asked them several times on the phone but didn't really get an explanation. I remember from years ago (when they had that load select system), I could request "I would like to head towards Chicago" or whatever random destination and they would seem to comply eventually. But it sounds like things have changed drastically now that freight is so sparse.
     
  9. Big_Al

    Big_Al Medium Load Member

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    Oct 30, 2008
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    Actually, that is not Crete's decision to make. It is determined by the laws in the state in which you reside. Some states are "Right to work states", some are not.


    As far as Crete goes, it is a classic case of a good man building a great company and a whippersnapper idiot son or son in law ruining it because he thinks he knows more than the founder. Ostergaard could NEVER build a company like Duane Acklee did. He has the bean counter mentality. He doesn't understand that he won't be able to hire the best drivers and/or keep them if you piss on them.
     
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  10. chemster

    chemster Medium Load Member

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    Mar 2, 2009
    Louisville, KY
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    Nebraska is a right to work state.
     
  11. Lately we have been seeing runs between 800-1200 miles, kind of like the good old days at Crete. Anybody else experiencing that?
    I haven't posted on here for a while, suppose I should reintroduce myself. Have been with Crete over ten years mostly on the National Fleet, with a 2.5 year stint on the WalMart Bartlesville account, where I also became a trainer. Back on the National Fleet still training. For the last two years I have been team driving with my wife. We started out on the team board, and Roger will keep a team moving, but we had some issues going on at home so we dropped back down to the National Fleet. We try to get 4000 miles a week but generally settle for 3500.
    I'm still happy with Crete, but I have a fairly positive Outlook on life. I could get bent out of shape that they don't get me 4000 miles a week but why bother getting all worked up about it. Crete has grown in size and with the dispatchers handeling over 100 trucks each, communications gets bogged down sometimes. It is frustrating and in my humble opinion they are cutting the corners a little to tight with that many trucks per dispatcher but I'm no expert in the field of running a large truck fleet and that maybe the standard needed to carve out the small profit left after all the expenses of running a large fleet.
    I think they need to re-evaluate the number of miles needed to get a raise. Ran across a driver at Wilmer last week, no raise in 6 years. He even stayed out 6 months one of the years.
    Crete is far from being the perfect company, but in the recessed, if not depressed economy we have seen for the last 6 years, most of their problems are probably found industry wide.
    One of my trainees gave me his username and passcode to an internet based load service. When I go into an area where I get an out of freight message, I could check the load board and sure enough there was usually a ratio of 5-7 trucks per load driving the freight rate down and leaving trucks sitting waiting for loads. When I didn't have to sit there was anywhere from a 3 to 1 ratio up to a 3 loads per truck ratio, nice.
    Anyway, Crete has it's issues, but I'm not convinced the grass is greener on the other side of the fence.
     
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