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

The one problem now...if the inverter is for a CPAP machine, your medical record is permanently marked with a special medical need, so future companies will see it unless you go to a different sleep lab outside Crete's control and get a clean sleep study, then jump through numerous hoops and a mountain of red tape to get it removed. In hindsight, it might have been easier to tell Crete to shove their truck when they said you have to get tested.

 

They want to charge you $900 to install the inverter or to buy one through them and have them install it ?

 

Trust me, I think about that every single night... I had just finished my four weeks training, broke with bills due, that's the only reason I stayed. If I could do it again from that point, I'd have just called USX and asked em to pick me up (about 30 miles from one of their terminals) since I'd just left them.

Huge mistake coming to Crete. These guys love to screw their drivers over. You can't even deny it. 900 bucks for an invertor? That's robbery.

 

$900 for the CPAP machine, $900 for the Inverter....... why are they obessed with $900 ? lol

 

Monthly cost that Tonn needs for a new AMG Merc(if he gets enough drivers to fork over $900, he can buy one for cash)...he's getting tired of going to the country club in his BMW when all his rich friends have Merc's, Bentley's, or Austin's

 

Let's all chip in $900. I wonder if he'll share the Benz like a time share.

 

He might let you drive it from his parking spot to the executive car wash bay and then allow you the privilege of giving it a free soft mitt hand wash...then dry it with Egyptian cotton 1000 thread count towels...then drive it back to the front door just at quitting time so the rest of the office staff thinks he has valet parking for it.

 

I'm thinking either you're confused or dealing with an idiot shop guy that is giving you bad info. When I hired on last year and (surprise surprise) they decided I need a CPAP I was charged 900 bucks for the machine and they installed an inverter and a 12v socket direct wired to the battery for free. Granted, it's the same Cobra 440 I could buy at any truck stop for under 50 bucks (I already had one for my laptop and other misc small electrical stuff). There's no way you should be getting charged that much for the inverter itself. I don't see how they could get away with that.

 

No, I'm not mistaken. First off, you don't get an inverter of any kind for your CPAP now (I thought that might be one small benefit to that ordeal). You get a direct wire 12 volt plug next to the head of the bed. I was talking to my Assistant terminal manager today, and asked a few times about the price, incredulously. I told her 900 for an inverter was ridiculous, but she's a.... unpleasant woman... The company rules are that you don't have a choice, so you pay for their inverter, or you don't get one like they planned. I never cared about the no inverter policy, because I'd planned from the start to just get a doctors note, but 900 for one? Yet ANOTHER reason I regret coming to Crete.

I'm gonna try talking to someone higher up about it, because this is BS. One nice thing about OTR trucking is I know I can call up and say whatever I want and not care about getting fired, lol.

 

Yup... That sounds like a load of bull to me. Not sure where she's getting her info from. My advice would be to give safety a call and see what they have to say. Of course, you could do what I've done for the last year or so. They installed the socket into the truck I was assigned when I was hired on but didn't feel it necessary to do so in any of the 3 trucks I've had since. I just hook my inverter directly to the battery (I wired a 30amp inline fuse to the inverters positive cable) sit it on top of the battery box cover and run a short extension cord into the truck. Takes maybe 3 minutes to set up every night and less than that in the morning to put away. That's worked fine for me with the Internationals I had previously and the Freightliner I'm running with now. Total cost 3 dollars for the fuse with no time waiting for the Acklie mechs to get off their butts to install any magical piece of "official" equipment.

***EDIT*** Just for the record the "load of bull" line is directed towards your ATM and not you Brandson