CRETE - A Year in Review

They are starting to get on my very last nerve with looking over my shoulder. The last load was a Ball Metal load of beer cans(from the old Anheuser Busch can plant that is now a Ball Metal plant). When I did my empty call yesterday, I instantly get a reminder message that Ball wants their b/l scanned in within 12 hours (on a weekend - like it makes a difference, I don't think imaging and billing are in on the weekends). I scanned in the paperwork 1 1/2 hrs after delivering. 3 hrs after my empty call, another reminder message about scanning the paperwork in, 6 hrs, another msg...and sometime overnight, yet another message. Then this morning, just before I get rolling, op's asks if I am ok for an on time delivery. With yesterdays delay getting this load, my 14 ran low before my 11, but I pulled up east of Louisville last night w/850 miles to run before the deadline of 1800 Monday...no sweat... Since I just left the house Wednesday, I have plenty of hours on my 70, and will have 1700 miles at the delivery, so why push it? But they still had to ask. They can see my hours, so I guess they have a hard time believing a driver who has more than enough on his 70 would have a hard time running 850 miles in 34 hours...

 

This DD15 Cascadia I'm in isn't too bad. Sure the trip from Beech Island to Cleveland up I77 wasn't exactly fun even with a mere 13K in the box. 44K from Cincy to Sioux Falls didn't seem to slow it down much though.

 

We got into El Paso Friday evening, delivered Saturday morning, but are sitting until Monday morning. Bad thing is that I don't have my passport so no weekend fun in Juarez. We will be running a 1300 miler out of here with 3 days on it in the morning. 45K of copper going up to Illinois. Lots of Cretes sitting around here waiting for loads right now.

 

Not sure what is going on...maybe just my paranoia kicking up again, but I got a preplan ahead of my delivery to Pineville, LA this morning. It didn't have an appointment set, but it delivers in Houston. Enroute I get a new appointment message for 4 am Tuesday morning. Hope they don't try to pull a fast one and change their mind about the sleep study.

And for those lucky souls with the new Internationals with the side skirts...if you start seeing water inside your truck, and you can't find where it's coming from...it just might be your sleeper a/c not draining. My kazoo drain was stuck together. I had to pull the passenger side aeroskirt's rear part and just touch it...and it looked like a couple gallons of water drained out. Made me think of the 1st Austin Powers movie when he went thru the evacuation sequence after being thawed out...it kept flowing and flowing and flowing.

 

In keeping with my posting both good and bad, here is some refreshing good. After I got to my delivery in Houston, I hit a snag. Turns out my appointment never made it to the security's delivery sheet, so I had to wait....but in a very 'un-snackbar' like response...I didn't say a peep to op's, just sat patiently waiting for the receiving boss to come in. 20 minutes later, my truck was at a door, and 10 minutes after that, the unload started. As soon as my empty call was in...a load, not huge but beats sitting. Pickup at Budweiser (right across I10 from where I delivered) that was headed up to Temple, TX. 195 miles(which I ran in 175 miles). About an hour before I get to Temple, I get another preplan...pick up in Waxahatchie, headed to somewhere in SC for Thursday... Over 1000 miles. Now since I left home last Wednesday, this would've put me over 3900 in 9 days w/this double delivery day today...which was about an hour more on my 70 than I had available....darn it. Would've put me at 3100+ for this week by Thursday morning. So I had to say no, within 30 minutes, another preplan, then a msg saying 'whoops, preplan misfire', preplan cancelled, and yet another preplan. Picking up in Ennis, TX delivering to Earth City, MO on Thursday... 775 miles. Has freight picked up, or are they trying to fix some of the biggest gripes we all have been posting here? Either way, the snackbar campground is most definately an improved place to camp. This is the way things should work around here. If they keep this up, what will I have to grump and complain about?...maybe I can complain about having nothing to complain about.

 

Hey snackbar, did you run 290 up 36 with your budweiser load? I had that same load and ran that route and it was like 17 miles shorter. But of course the next morning I get to the rcvr in Temple around 8 and there is another fellow creter already there. Soon as I hop out he yells hope your not in a hurry as he had been sitting at the dock since 6AM . Someone finally comes to the docks and tell me to back in the other dock around 9. The other driver finally go unloaded at 11AM but he also go a load out of waxi going to SC. I finally got out of there at about noon. But ya it has been nice to have the preplans ahead of time and some nice runs I might add.

 

That's the way I ran. I was there around noon-30, must have just missed ya'. I didn't have as bad a luck, but it wasn't real fast. The problem when I was there was he was out of room and he had to reorganize a bunch. Then off to Ennis and up to the Loves up past the Wilmer yard w/5 minutes to go on my 14 so it didn't hurt me too bad.

 

To whom it may concern:

I hope you enjoy your new passenger side fender mirror on your Prostar, to replace the one that I accidentally ripped off in Wilmer early this morning. Oops!


Thanks to the guy in the shop for covering my ###.

That was one big danged sinkhole I backed into.

 

OK guys, they tell me there is wisdom in many councilors; who is best between Schneider - Crete and JB Hunt. I been thinking of a change and Hunt may have more opportunities, but all have goods and bads.

 

better or worse is tough. Sorta like 'beauty is in the eye of the beer holder' or something like that. The biggest differences you'll find is in the pay and stability department. As much as I BMW about Crete, the one thing has always been a plus is pay. Seldom wrong, and above average per mile...and the miles they pay you to drive are as close as I have ever had to what you actually drive. Stability, when the economy tanked a couple of years ago, Crete drivers kept their jobs, and kept their profit sharing and 401k company match deposits. Where JB layed off drivers and Schneider either cut the percentage of 401k matching or cut matching deposits all together.(48packard might be a better authority on what they did since he is a former punkin patch driver). As far as miles and equipment, they're pretty much in the same boat as us Cretens.