Crete Carrier - A Year In Review - Fall 2013 Going Forward

As long as I can average 2500-3,000
Miles a week I'm good

 

2500 is my goal, if I do that or better I am happy.

 

do you realize I just said I've been doing all this northeast.

I don't know why I signed up to be an OTR driver when I'm mainly just a regional driver.
I bumped into Shaffer teams, they are the ones that get the loads going out west.

 

wow that's really good.
Miles on the Shaffer side has been good for me as well, not that good but still good. 3000 has been the norm the past few weeks

 

It's a pendulum...a few years ago Shaffer drivers couldn't get miles and the Crete side was running hard and steady...now it seems as though the Shaffer side has the miles and the Crete side has spurts of good miles. Kinda' funny how that works. Both sides never seem to peak in the same year.

 

My experience with being
A reefer driver was pretty good
Usually the freight was great from September-december

 

North,South,East,West..matters not to me as long as I'm rolling. This year started out horrible as most of January was down with truck(s) and a hospital trip for a kidney stone. I started out the year almost 4000 miles behind the previous year, in July I actually exceeded last years miles to date and expect to be around 1000 miles more than last year come December 31st. That would put me at around 127000, I run almost the exact same days out and days home every year (actual days of the months ) and take the same vacation days each year..I stay out 2 times a year for 45 ish days during our peak freight times to maximize miles during those times.I run all holidays (including christmas/new years).

This year I will have had 3 different AM's Evan , Kevin and now Ben..haven't had any issues with any of them and miles have been consistent, I've never been one to worry about weekly miles but I do follow numbers and trends. Yearly totals is more what I look for and during the year I'm looking at comparisons from previous years to gauge how I'm doing. You can run less miles here than at other carriers because of the cpm..I have no desire to run 155k+ miles to make the same as I can here running way less miles (run smarter not harder).

It has been said before Crete "could" be what they once were with very little effort, we all know where the problems are it's not a freight issue, we have a good customer base.

I followed these guys for many years before coming here and felt they were one of the few OTR Dry van companies that did the right thing as far as taking care of drivers.
You know what to expect from Crete, they have their way of doing things.

You can't fix stupid and we have to deal with some of these "special" ones every once in a while.

The biggest struggle I'm having is that stupid 30 minute break during the day..I don't NEED 30 minutes out of the day for a break (we really don't have a 14 hr day anymore it's 13 1/2) I take 6-7 minute breaks every 3 ish hrs (bio/stretch/chk truck) and that 30 minute break wears me out, body thinks the work day is over and I have to motivate myself to continue after my 30 minute break..I still do my 6-7 minute routine and take my 30 around the 7 hr mark but I HATE that 30 minute break and have yet to get used to it.

On a reset at the wonderful Loves at x23 on I78 in PA..yeah, you know, THAT 1 << sarcasm off >>

 

I don't know if I just have the worst luck, or if all modern trucks are garbage, but I'm on breakdown again. Brokedown 3 hours from home... I'm keeping an ear to the ground for anything that pays well and isn't OTR. Crete seems to be one of the best OTR, and it's still the same nonsense as everywhere else, lol.

 

I hope I can average 9,000-10,000 a month

 

I went from Kevin to Ben...just like you did... Livinabox