CRETE - A Year in Review

Your Posts sound a lot like many times I had at Crete. It's good to vent and eventually you'll get to understand business at Crete a little better. However, it'll never all make sense to you how they do things. There are many reasons why that situation went the way it did. Start with this...you are just ONE driver amoung 5400 others. What is best for you may or may not be works best for them. They probably knew about that load the whole time but wanted to wait to hand it over to you. They knew several drivers could handle that load and might need you available in case something more pressing came up. They also knew you would have more than enough time to get it to it's destination and so on. They know what your hours are. Your personnel time is the least of their concern. You getting a restart isn't at the top of their list either. You are a tool they will use as to what they need covered first and so on. I'm not trying to put them in a bad light. Some of it could've been they had a lot of stuff going on and didn't get to you as quickly as they should've. That dispatcher might have a couple hundred other drivers with more pressing issues than yours. Most likely it being the weekend that was exactly the case. You're going to get more of that kind of thing and you'll never get used to it or understand it. Lobby to keep yourself busy and run your miles but don't let that kind of dispatch stuff get to you. It could've been better but you should also know it could've been a lot worse. Most drivers put more value in themselves than the company ever does. Expand your thinking a little from their possible view and it might help. Good Luck with it out there! Take care!

 

ya i have had the same thing happen many times. I once delivered a load and while getting unloaded another crete came in to get loaded. Ok hmmm maybe Ill get something here. I send in MT call and pull out the door to get out of the way and I sit, and get the message we are working on a load. 3 hours go by and lucky i didnt leave because what do you know I get a load out of the same place I just delivered. But the kicker was when they sent it, they sent a message saying this load needs to be picked up ASAP as it was ready the day before. umm did u not see i have been sitting in their parking lot waiting on a load. lol

Oh well as of friday, I am no longer a Crete driver. (tear) I have decided to move over to the ex-Crete Relocation company (Poly). While crete wasnt all that bad, I am looking forward to having some fun in trucking with Poly. happy trails to all.

 

I don't think this is true. They have an estimate of your 70 from the previous day. They never seem aware of where you stand on your 14 or your daily 11. Part of what is so frustrating is that whether service failure, accident, ticket, or whatever - the driver has to take responsibility and suffer the consequences. But with dispatch, they seem to have an excuse for everything.

 

Shaffer drivers question.

Im due to start soon and am supposed to do regional 5 on 2 off. But wondering what the miles per week average is going to be vs say OTR.
(Northeast Regional).

 

This is not meant as an insult against the mechanics, I just want to understand the different scams that are perpetrated and how they work and who they benefit. Several weeks ago I noticed my left front hood mirror was loose. I lifted the hood and saw that it has 3 anchor point with giant washers. One nut and washer had fallen off. I took the whole mirror off so it wouldn't vibrate and damage anything.

i was out west so didn't pass a shop. I couldn't find big enough washers at the hardware stored so i just left the mirror off. Finally when I was back in the Midwest I passed a shop and the mechanic gave me a similar washer, nut, and bolt (but not a torques like the original). He told me that it is not uncommon for them to fall off and it is usually the front one that falls off like on mine.

i couldn't fit my socket in there to tighten the non-torques bolt and nut. So soon after that I had an 'A' service and asked them to tighten that one nut (I had moved it to the middle of the three). I came back after the service and asked if any problems had been found or anything done. The guy said no, but both mirrors had been replaced. I thought maybe he was misreading the report, but when I asked him again he said that two new mirrors had been put on. I tried to find out why this would be done as only one single nut had been loose (a 10 second job). But the guy in the office seemed irritated that I was asking anything and the mechanic who had done it was off that day.

Another driver waiting for service said that it was because they have a policy of replacing and not repairing. I can see that for a leaking steering box, or some worn component. But hello, this was one nut that I could only hand tighten (so it wasn't even actually loose). The only thing I can figure is it is part of a scam where they replace whatever they can and charge it to international? Or something where the mechanic uses it to pad work hours? Also, I never put any secret mark on either mirror so I wouldn't be surprised if they are actually still the original ones. But again, the head guy in the office told me very clearly it had been written up that both mirrors were completely replaced. What is the motivation behind this and who is paid off?

 

lol sounds like the norm-good for you getting on with poly!

 

When i was doing it, otr - shaffer------- the drivers going into it was looking at about 2200-2600

 

My truck turned 400,000 today, which unfortunately means I am that much closer to getting a Maxxfail.

 

Ok, so you're not on E-Logs yet. However, if you're doing your job of reporting your hours then they have a good idea of what your hours are. They can pretty well see when you traveled on the QualComm and do some quick math to get close. Anyways, just know that many of my experiences were similar to that at Crete. I just wanted to let you know that crap happens from time to time and it don't always make sense. If somehow you get it all figured out maybe you can let the rest of us know. I couldn't figure it out just like many can't. Good Luck in your Quest to get dispatchers and drivers on the same page with the same thoughts and ideas on how to get things done. Let me know how that goes for ya!Lol
Sounds like you are doing ok out there. Hope your Mirrors stay on! Take Care!

 

Yes, I am on e-logs and was specifically told by the log department that dispatch doesn't have access to that (only the daily canned message as you said).

That's my whole point. They don't do that. I can see where the first impossible/illegal pplan offer might be something automated, but a second and third? Not even to mention what others were saying about the ridiculous scheduling. What I've been experiencing is that they don't bother to do those simple calculations until after you've refused a pplan. And even then I usually have to send them at least two messages with the exact same information before they acknowledge it.