Crete Carrier Corporation - Lincoln, Ne.

You can't be talking about the same Crete that I worked for. I was never forced to take any dispatch, I got two or three load offerings, and I never had problems talking to dispatch or my terminal manager. I did run out of Kansas City tho. I also rarely fell below 3000 miles a week. Did you run out of the Marietta Terminal? I heard lots of warning about that place. I can't believe that you were threatened with termination for not accepting a load. (Not saying you are lying, just saying I'm glad that never happened to me). I am sorry that you had such a negative experience with Crete, because when I ran with them, I didn't feel like a driver number, I felt like a valued employee. But I will admit that I have heard complaints from other Crete drivers past and present about their terminal managers. Maybe the problem wasn't with the company so much as the terminal manager you had. I must have been blessed with not only a good terminal manager, but excellent dispatchers as well (midwest regional).
Again, I am sorry that you had a bad time with Crete, though it's rare, you aren't the first. Hopefully your next company will treat you better. Crete wasn't perfect, but compared to some others I'd say they have to rate much higher than a 4. I'd put them honestly at a good solid 8, because there were some things that could have been better, but for the most part, they paid me well enough to overlook them. It sounds like someone dropped the ball when it came to getting you the miles, so of course I would understand how you feel. It doesn't matter how many cpm you are supposed to get if the company doesn't back it up with the miles. Best of luck in the future.

 

Just wondering if this is the same Crete out of Lincoln NE.
I have seen more then one copy cat out there...

 

i apoligize for not being clearer on the subject. over all it is a good company over most i have talked to other drivers on the system. they seem to be satisfied. with pay and miles. and other drivers in the other regions. midwest they are satisfied. it is isolated to se term. ive been in trucking for many years and crete overall is one of the best overall. as long as you stay on the system and not se. i just had a bad experince with them. u know when yur looking for a good company to work for u do ur research on them and you have to weigh a lot of factors in. and not take the first comment on them to heart u have to look at several things. and i did with crete. and i found out that most being positive. only se side of them are pretty neg. i wanted to make sure is was not me trying to put my ways above theirs. because i am a driver working for them. and not the other way around. so i talked to several other se drivers about this term. and our thoughts wre mutual. so u know when uve been around trucking for awhile and have been lied to so many times. u automaticaly throw up a guard and assume thats the way it is throughout the company. but thats not the way it is here at crete. it is isolated. and i hope that enough drivers from that region will speakup and take a stand and get the rotten apples out so the whole company wont be infected. because like i said overall they are a good company to work for

 

I once ran into a Crete driver at a dock in Georgia, and he wasn't too happy. His home terminal was the one in Marietta. I think you're right--it's the insiders at Marietta. Maybe you should make a beeline for Lincoln and complain to ol' man Acklie (is he still around?). When I worked for CCC, I had only one complaint, really. I spent too much time out. I didn't get home often, and sometimes I had to be home for certain things. I worked out of the SLC terminal, and the people there were great. They helped me slip into the western fleet, where I saw home about once every fifth day. I took a two-cent pay cut, but I knew it going in.

I found with these guys they needed many reminders when I wanted time off. I don't think I could have asked for a break today and expected to get it over a month from now without reminding anybody. They had/have a lot of rigs to worry about. Unfortunately, this means you'll have to send them messages about your upcoming periods off pretty frequently.

 

o ya something i forgot to mention is that when ur on the the system u get sometimes more than 1 load offering. but on region u only get 1 and u have to except it. or they will threaten u with termination. read co. policy on load accept. that u have to sign in orientation. thats what they tell u.

 

Magnum, you are right, they do tell you that in orientation, but I still continued to receive two or more choices when I went Midwest Regional. One time, they sent one load offering that would have been way too tight for me to run safe and legal, and I sent a message back that I didn't think the load would work for me. They said they would find something better, and they did. No threats of termination. Again, this was my experience with a different Regional terminal. Sounds like you got a shabby deal with the staff at your terminal. I'm not arguing with you, if you think that was my intent, I'm just glad that my experience wasn't like yours. I also think it is important that if drivers do have a bad experience with a certain terminal within the company, that it DOES get posted, so drivers who may be running out of that terminal when they sign up with the company will know in advance what they may be facing. Not one of these companies are perfect, and I think that anyone interested in driving for one of them should be able to come to a forum like this and see the good, bad, and ugly, so they can make an educated decision if the company is really right for them.

 

My one truly sour experience with Crete came from the Marietta terminal, where I switched out trucks, because I was in Georgia, and got the message on the Qcomm that the 27XXX truck I was in was due for trade. I ended up leaving the term with a 28XXX truck that had 20,000 more miles on it than the 27XXX I left behind. After that came a whole nightmare as this raggedy newer truck kept breaking down almost on a weekly basis. Just when I'd managed to get it to last my whole two weeks out without a single breakdown, came the message on the qcomm that this one was now up for trade. I contacted dispatch and told them I wanted to be routed to Lincoln for this trade. Never made it there, as my terminal manager sent a message saying he had a good truck there at the terminal I could trade into, so I took him up on it, especially when I found out that it had less than 300,000 on it. He chuckled as I asked him if he could check out the repair record on it before I bit, and I explained that I didn't want to jump out of the frying pan and back into the fire again. Then he asked me where I got the last truck from, and I said "Marietta". He then laughed and said "Well that's what the problem was, don't ever do anything there you don't HAVE to".

Oh, and I hear Mr Acklie is still around. In fact, when I went back OTR after orientation, I had another Crete driver ask me if I'd seen him hanging around the fuel island in Lincoln. Said if I saw an older man in overalls, I'd probably met Mr. Acklie. I must have missed him, but I have heard from many that he turns up all the time.

 

Mileage has not been so good through-out most of the companies, or so i understand, but is picking up again. As far as your opinion of Crete you should stay there at least 6 months before you decide to quit. 600 miles per week is not done with any company. It seems like you are exaggerating a bit there. Do you ever see more than one state? If so you must sit for days waiting for a load. Sorry I don't mean to seem rude. Just curious about the mileage you stated.

 

also go to fmcsr web site and look at their stats. and u will see that they are 2 points from being shut down by dot. i didnt know this until somebody showed me. they are in bad shape. just look for yourselves and u will see