CRETE - A Year in Review

I am hoping to visit my family in the Bay Area northern Calif. From what i've heard, the closest secure parking I'll be able to use is the Stockton drop yard. Can anyone please tell me the location so I can see it on Google maps. Thanks

 

LOL, I tried your technique and it worked. I've been trying to go West for several weeks now. My A.M. said he had entered home time in Stockton into the system (later I found out that was a lie). I had also submitted at least a dozen "request for next load destination". They seemed to totally ignore them until I finally worked my way into TX. Then I got a load to San Antonio which might have led to more westward freight. As I posted above, they snatched away that load just as I was about to go pick it up.

They came back later with a 400 mile load offer heading east and a bunch of patronizing lectures. I declined the load and checked into a hotel. I came back today expecting more games. Sure enough after about 6 messages requesting a load, an hour later they sent a pplan a couple hundred miles due east to Arkansas. All day I had been periodically sending more and more "requests for next load destination (westward)" with different comments to confirm that they weren't reading them.

I sent a freeform asking if they had anything heading west. I never got a response so I started sending a barrage of blank messages, destination requests, home time requests, etc. After a while the guy responds "oh, we had no idea you were due for home time. There was nothing in the system. I'll see what I can find" (despite my at least 20 messages and assurance by my A.M.). In less than 5 minutes, the guy sends me a load directly to California. Yes, I should be happy and grateful. But it's like even when things are good here, they're bad (considering the hellish torment you have to go through).

* I'll have been at this truck stop 67 hours from the time I was empty until I can pick up the load.

 

SSDD. It was in the system. It's just on line three, which is two lines more than anyone there reads. I have no dang clue why we even send in PTAs. When you're not due home time, they try to send you home. When it's time to go home, POOF! "Nothing in the system".

(Insert "Yackity Sax" here)

 

Well folks, here's my experience with Crete and my two cents worth. Hopefully some newbie can take those pennies and invest it in Stock Knowledge to avoid this company.
I joined in August 2011. It was good for 6 months and I was happy with the miles and the pay scale. I was on the 6week tour and stretch it out to seven and eight weeks because I remained single.
After the 6 month mark, the dispatchers started toget rude and nasty. There's "Darla" and "Tim" on the nite shift. Watch out for them. They will hand you a hot plate of crap if you refuse a load thats illegal or not do-able. Then there's "Cory" on the Eastern Regional. Everybody says he is an donkey's butt and its true. The way I dealt with him when he got nasty was "I dont want to talk to you. Give me your Supervisor." I told his supervisor that he was rude and obnoxious and they still kept him on. Beforethe 6 month mark, Noah Stanley, the HR presenter, said that there is a mark next to your driver code that tells them your are a rookie. Of course he did not elaborate on the reasoning behind this mark, but I gradually found out that this mark, like an asterisk or name highlite, tells them that you are new and to keep you happy until your reach a certain point. Then they start to treat you like crap and give you dodo loads that are short and deliver over several days.
2. If you are involved in an accident, you are liable despite the fact that it is clearly non preventable. This is what happened to me. A stupid kid tried to pass me on the blind side as I was making a turn. He was speeding at 30 miles over the speed limit. I had my 4 way flashers on and was already turning when he crashed into me. Every other traffic had stopped to allow me to make this turn but this kid had a mustang and he wanted to show off to his podunk girlfriend. The cop did not give me a ticket and I had witness statements saying that this kid was at fault. Crete blamed me anyway and made me go through a 2 week "retraining" program. It was actually an attempt at fault finding but my trainer gave me rave reviews. This forced Crete to put me back in the truck and I was accident free for the remainder my career.
3. Crete purchased Pro Star International Trucks with the Maxx Force Engines. They purchased en masse in order to save money. But these trucks suck so bad that within a month there were problems with the heater, the seat cushion, and the cab heater/cooler. The cooler went out during the summer of 2012 and I told them about it (the shop) and I had to drive in the deep south with 90 to 100 percent humidity. They told me to go to wilmer, texas to get it fixed instead of a regular shop to save them money. Well this shoddily built truck continued to have problems including the widshied sustaining a hairline crack as I was continually sent to the Mexican Border to the Mountains of UTAH and Colorado. This hairline crack lengthened daily. I sent message after message to the shop to repair the problem and I included it in my post inspection report but it was ignored. They told me to get to a shop. Then the drivers side window bracket broke as well because of the high winds on US 54 through Dalheart TX and Liberal KS. I then informed the shop and they told me to get back to my terminal and get it fixed or change trucks. I then went to Phoenix AZ to get it fixed and got a new truck. Several days later I was told I had not informed Crete's accident department of the damages. I told them I reported it to the shop and brought it the their shops at SLC, UT and Wilmer TX and they told me to ride with it. It was in the Shops System of reported damages. They didnt care. They put points on my company record which lead to termination. They said I was not following company procedure. This has got to be the most ridiculous reason to fire anyone because I worked for two companys that said wear and tear damages to the tractor needs to be reported to the SHOP, because it is not an accident. So what I deduced from what crete did was that they were trying to find a reason to fire me.
4. I could see the writing on the wall. I then put in my two weeks. Before I could finish it, they forced me to give up the truck in Indianapolis, IN before I could get home to Phoenix, AZ. I had to give up 1/2 of my belongings because I could not get it in the greyhound bus. This termination occured before Xmas. If this doesnt show you how heartless and cruel they are, I dont know what will.
5. Do no get into CRETE. They are liars. For a company with 4000 drivers, they sure act like the Big Three. They are no different. Do not believe them or their cronies that say they are a good company. Their attitude is the bottom line, not the drivers. They have favorite drivers (very very few) and those drivers like me that want to do a good job on a tour and then go home. But they hee and haw about getting you home. When good drivers do all that they ask and dont refuse legal loads and then want to go home, they route you the other way.
6. The only good thing about those CRETE -INS is the miles and pay. But they did not give me a raise despite being there over a year. They will purposefully run you short on miles and keep idling so you dont reach that penny a year raise quota. How could this be? I was on the road for 40 plus weeks...the only reasoning behind this is the miles is short. Yes, they make more money on the short hauls than the long ones. Shippers are forced to pay a higher premium per mile if the load is 400 and less. All trucking companies do this. Crete is very good at it. So they keep hiring newer drivers every year because people that have been there a while are hip to their deceit and voice their concern. They then become targets.
7. The new CEO has never driven a truck so he CANNOT relate to what its like to be in a truck for 4 to 6 weeks. The former CEO was a driver. Thats why he had so much compassion for them.
8. Sure you see truckers saying its a good company. But this is the very few compared to the general feeling. My trainer was one of the best drivers there.....but he said Crete is very dirty and deceitful. He had learned to maneuver his way and schmooze witht the right gears to survive.
9. Good luck. I hope this helps you.

 

Well I know this post will probably get lost in the responses to the above post but here goes...I found a really good weekend dispatch person. I arrived early to Wilmer and since the consignee still hadn't set up an appt. time for that load this dispatcher, seeing I was due home time/vacation on Tuesday, t-called the load and set me up for an early delivery for a load sitting on the yard. That way I know what I'm doing tomorrow and get off early instead of waiting on the previous load's delivery sometime Tuesday. Gotta call out the good times too!

 

This is true indeed. I have to say that if Crete were all bad, I'd have been gone by now. But I'm still here. And I will be at least for another 30 to 45 days....

Wifey found "the" house today...so I'm holding on until the deal is done and we're in the place.

Or I'm fired.

 

", t-called the load and set me up for an early delivery for a load sitting on the yard."

And now someone else is going to have to deliver your short load, like you just delivered someone elses and the cycle continues.

 

Maybe there's no win-win situation but it's better than me sitting a couple of days for the consignee to decide when they want their goodies. Besides I could probably knock out a couple short loads tomorrow and still make vacation. I know I've done it a couple of times when going on home time with a few hours left on my 14.

The main thing I was pointing out was there are some dispatchers that will keep you productive by making the best of the situation. Lemons can make good lemonade at times.

 

...and I admit that I've lost that perspective of late. Gonna take two days off and make a real effort to get a "mental 34".

 

If I disappear again, don't think I've hit the lottery or quit w/o saying b-bye. The latest POS thunderbolt's digitizer(the part of the touch screen that makes it work) is dying...it may get so bad that I can't use the phone.

My latest repairs have screwed up some of the previous upgrades. When Ottawa reset what ever they reset on my 'no idle' heater...it made the front hvac blow nothing but cold air again. Was in Perrysburg, OH...35 degrees outside, which should be no problem for the system to handle...and I was under a sheet, and a comforter in order to stay warm...the back system put out plenty of heat, but it couldn't compete with the rush of cold air blowing out of the front vents...no matter how I set it. So, I'm now back to pulling the breaker for the front blower every night before I park my head for the night...I can't believe a company that builds such crap is still in business. They must make one heck of a deal to companies to pawn this crap off on them.