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

Do NOT go with Cheyenne unless you really enjoy spending hours in Denver traffic. It’s under 300 miles round trip to do a 4 stop run from Cheyenne to the Denver Metro area and it often takes a full 10 hour shift to accomplish with traffic. And that’s the majority of what Cheyenne runs are with the occasional runs to Montana or Western CO being few and far between. I was on that fleet for the first summer Crete picked up the account off of CR England and they couldn’t pay me enough to go ever go back. Trust me when I say it’s not worth the extra 1 or 2 cpm they might offer you.

 

Thank You.... I was just interested.
My first job CDL A was out of Commerce City, Co. .... Oh boy... I knows Denver...

 

Because Denver is the Devil.

 

I looked into them, then when i read about this good ol meat sticking, i decided to pass. Its a scam, people with no known signs or history of it should not be screwed into thousands of dollars of tests.

 

I've helped out on both accounts, didn't like the Cheyenne account. More Denver area, miles are harder to get. Plus more chances of chaining in the winter. Really enjoyed the north Platte account. Not real hard to get 3000 mile weeks, plus stop pay.

 

I'm having to think hard about accepting this job with Crete.
Here I've been working with alot of time off since June. Was oil field. 12 hour nights. 4 nights then two off. Now... This job I just plain get home alot. Daily. Lots of time out of the truck.
Which leads me to the point...
Just got my results of my A1C. I admit I was cautious. Been eating alot I shouldn't. Even so much as double chocolate doughnuts, Meatball sandwiches, ice cream. Many breakfast sandwiches and burritos. Well...
My A1C came up only 6.7. That is better than I thought.
I remember back before I went OTR. Driving a trash truck. Didn't pay attention to my diabetes at all. Ate whatever I wanted. Just stayed away from sugar itself. Stayed away from soft drinks. A1C was only 7.4. Not real bad at all.
When I clamped down OTR on my diabetes. I got it down to 5.9. I can do better. I know.

Now I must ask. Life of doing this dedicated. How hard do we hit it overall? Pretty much like OTR? I can rationalize that doing 4 stops a day would make a big difference.
I'm having to ask.
I may be better off where I am. No matter how much money or lack of is in consideration. ????
I'm having to think alot about this. Again... I really like where I am. But???

 

Running on one of the WM dedicated accounts for Crete is akin to running OTR without the stress of dealing with delays at shipper and cons. The loads tend to be ready on time or early and the stores will take you as soon as you get there so long as you’re in the delivery window (either 2200-0700, 0900-2359 or 0700-1900 depending on which of the 3 load types you have) and you have all the time in the world to get back to the DC. There’s plenty of time built in if you want to take breaks or you can run harder and still get unloaded straightaway. And it’s not always 4 stops, it could be anywhere between 1 and 5 but usually its 2-3. My last trip was 2 stops in KS, trip before that was 4 in Omaha, current one is 2 stops in Bismarck which is a 2 day trip. It’s enough variety to keep you from getting bored with the same places every day but enough regularity to know you can keep as busy as you want. Lastly the obvious advantage is you’re at a Walmart store literally every day so keeping stocked on groceries and avoiding Truck Stop/Fast food is easy.

 

Took the test 8 years ago...was told no cpap machine needed ... have never been tested again

 

How much is Crete into all the FMCSA ways, and the general anal ways of mega's out there? How much is it a pain to work there dealing with BS?
Or do they just try to get along. Deal with this stuff as little as possible? ???

 

They aren't going to overlook any obviously intentional flouting of rules, but they aren't going insane trying to catch every little issue either.

Currently there is a transition to new software on the Peoplenet system, which I have not yet been trained on, or seen in action.

I would say that they are going to continue doing what they have been, for as long as I have been here. They watch for issues, but don't go all-out 1984.