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

I know that Crete has cameras in 10 percent of the trucks. My question is can they require an o/o to install in their truck if leased on to Crete?

 

I never talked to the driver, but he had a Drivecam, maybe he bought it, or requested it, I Dunno

 

Well I'm gonna find out. Before I sign on the line...

 

I enjoy driving very much. A camera would end the road trip/seeing the country vibe.

 

Too many options available now to put up with things you don't want to put up with. I've got recruiters calling my wife and trying to sell her so she can put in a good word to me.

 

I went up I95N and over the GW Bridge about 7am with no traffic slow downs except at the toll booth. I guess I will move Atlanta into number one most hated city to drive in.

 

I agree with you. I do like it here very much and will stay for a long time but cam is not gonna happen.

 

I came off hometime yesterday and was sent about 100 miles up the road to get an empty trailer so I could get freight and get rolling again. I got one pretty easily from Lowes in Perris, CA sent the number in and waited 4 hours (with numerous Qualcomm messages and irate phone calls in between) before the night shift crew (with the 2 hour time difference and the time it took them to find and send me to an empty my Asset Manager had gone home for the day) finally thought about sending me a preplan... one that didn't pick up until the next morning. In Irvine. At 0830. For those of you not familiar with SoCal this would've meant I had come off of home time to drive 100-ish unpaid miles to sit overnight, drive 65 miles in 2-3 hours through LA morning rush hour traffic, lose another 2+ hours at the Shipper for a live load (Maruchan... enough said) and then take said load to Houston to a grocery warehouse that took 7 hours to unload me the last time I was there. Not gonna happen.

2 more calls to the same "dispatcher" resulted in "that's the only load available until tomorrow night" and "well if you don't like it turn it down and you can try your luck getting freight in the morning." Somehow, I managed to get ahold of the area planner, stay calm while repeating all of the previous info and after the planner got done laughing he told me no one even talked to him or sent him a message. Turns out that dispatcher tried to plan me himself and just didn't want to fix the problem he created. 5 minutes later I had a 2800 mile load to VA that could pick up any time. So much for no freight available.

There is a point to this rant. In the last year or so it seems like the office people (the night/weekend people in particular) are communicating with each other (and us drivers) less and less and I don't understand why... anyone have any ideas? I'm wondering if I'm the only one having bad luck with the night/weekend "dispatchers" or is this is a systemic problem? As much as I dislike my pain-in-the-butt Asset Manager he at least makes the minimum effort to make sure I'm getting planned in a reasonable timeframe if for no other reason but to keep me from bugging him.

 

Knucklehead- It was suggested on here to use canned message 15 to communicate directly with load planners. The times I have used it I haven't gotten a load any quicker but seem to get quality loads. Can't make sense out of nights or weekends many times. I can only assume they are swamped and try to avoid using them, if possible.

 

Unfortunately, Dispatch is Dispatch wherever you go. Bunch off 25 yo kids more worried about banging their girl or meeting after work for drinks than getting you moving safely. That is why I am local dedicated with another company now. I come to work, grab a 400 ( give or take ) mile load and head out. One stop, one backhaul back to terminal and go home. Nothing better.