Crete Carrier Facts

Crete..Murderers...that is a stretch.

So a company that employs a driver and said driver kills another person(s) while on duty working for them doesn't have a right to hire a high powered attorney to protect there assets?

If they hired some fly-by-night attorney would that be much better?
Continually,Knowingly Allowed,Pushed is that fact or fiction, and if fact is that from court recordings or some reporter making a name for themselves? As if all reporters give true facts
I work for crete and I make decisions as to how I run, no one forces anyone to do anything they don't want to do, it is A PERSONAL CHOICE. This BS about they made me,I have to,no choice is exactly that...BS!!

We are free to do what we want when we want as long as we are willing to suffer the consequences!

Did Crete have any wrong doing in this event IMO ..NO

Tragic events happened and the only one who knows the REAL truth is paying the price of HIS decisions.

Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones, I'm not perfect, nor are you, we all make decisions that may or may not be right but this tragic event shows what can happen if we choose to play with fire.

As to the OP's questions..

*Routing is not set in stone it is suggested (use common sense if choosing an alt route)
*Fueling is set in stone unless you send qc msg or call home term for alt fueling locations..they are anal about fuel stops (i've had the talk). I don't find this an annoyance. I'm not paying for fuel they are.
*MT trailer hunts happen but with no frequency, I tend to have that more at our yards than at shippers/cons i'd say less than 5% of the time.
*Miles vary from month to month, I look at it by year although I monitor my miles closely. per week I would say between 2300-3400 its a big gap but its realistic
*1st full year with Crete I made just under 53k with 124930 miles ..pay per mile is more important than miles per week for me (I like to work smarter not harder) on a side note 121k miles per year for your .01 raise till cap
*I know they are debt free and pay cash for most if not all purchases
*The usual night/weekend dispatch issues,currently on regional dispatch but that is being phased out this year with asset managers taking the helm (assigned dispatcher)
*I would give it an 8 1/2 my only real complaints are trivial

They give me a load then leave me alone that is a HUGE+ IMO. If you need handholding or want special attention u may not find it here. Do your job,be polite and stay positive and I don't think you will have any problem making decent money here. They use words safe and legal when any questions arise with delivery times, never been pushed to do something that wasn't doable with hrs available.

Whatever your choice is good luck, I've found a good fit hopefully you find the same!

 

can't speak for how they once were but none of this is the case now. i had several occasions where i had to repower something cuz someone didn't have the hours to make it even 30 miles. i also had to tcall loads because i just couldn't do it legally and never once did i have a dispatcher try to tell me i had to. they do everything by the book now. all they ask is for you to let them know as soon as you know you can't make it. there were a few times i wasn't sure a day or two before delivery and they would either bump the appt time back or let customer know and they would give a window to deliver. in my year there i accidentally ran over my 70 once and i got points on it. think i ran over by one hour and that was myscrew up not the dispatchers or management. again, if you tell them you can't do something the dispatchers will fix it one way or another LEGALLY. and as far as there random testing i beleive i had 5 tests in just over a year. you'd think one would get credit for the good ones lol just kiidding

 

thanks overkill, i called the safety dept and the woman i spoke with said they could rehire me in 5 years but a friend of mine that still drives for shaffer asked the guy that runs all the safety meetings and he said they don't want anyone who ever failed a test. i beleive my driving days are over. i hate the thought of that cuz i was loving it ... before becoming a truck driver i was a songwrter in nashville so i may try to go back to playing and writing. also have friends that drive coaches for country stars so i've been looking into that but with this positive test i think i'm done driving for a while. as with everything in my life, i'll keep a positive out look and get it worked out one way or another.. i have another friend that knows of a company that would give me abnother chance but it involves running two log books and i figure with the trouble im already in i don't need to add to it. at least with the way it stands now i may be able to drive again in a few years.. i have been driving up 24e to nashville from manchester tn a lot lately and i will say it breaks my heart everytime i see a crete truck drive passed and on average that's about 10 times in 60 miles. again thanks for your kind words.

 

IMO Crete was very responsible . Felony charges have been filed against owners of smaller companies for less . http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/062908/met_297156300.shtml

 

rickg, again, i am referring to what i know about crete. that accident happened in 2006 which is 4 years befrore i was a driver. it's an awful thing that happened but if that happens now it wold be the drivers fault not crete. while i drove for them i took a 10 hour break everyday. i was smart enough to actually go to sleep during those breaks. i saw a lot of drivers hanging out in the truckstops watching games on tv or movies. if one of them gets in a wreck i don't think you can blame a company for how a driver spends his downtime.

you got me thinking about something else here though. Since i started this whole truck driving endeavor i have been amazed how something someone did 10 years ago can affect whether or not someone gets a job. my trainer had a felony from like 12 years before and he couldn't get hired by some companies. This is the most unforgiving business i've ever seen. now because i made a mistake on my weekend off i won't drive a truck for at least 5 years. Now to bash crete for a minute, they have been forgiven by the industry for the most part for this horrible mistake they may have made back a few years ago but won't forgive drivers like me.. but my point to this rant is Rickg, poeple make mistakes in life, let it go. yes in this case 7 kids died and thats horrible but if crete actually ran their company like that once i don;t know but as of today everything is legal.

 

I know they are legal now because they HAVE to be . My point is they should be convicted felons as owners of smaller carriers were for far less serious offenses . They were totally unwilling to be held accountable and showed no remorse . They weren't unaware of that driver's excessive HOS violations . Dispatch messages proved it was ongoing and encouraged .

 

Most smll companies dont use dac and if it isnt on your DL that would be your best shot. Just remember small companies are way different than the large ones. Anyway keep your chin up and keep sober

 

While they don't currently force you to take loads, recently the initial loads the office jerks pre-plan me on, or offer me, are impossible or illegal to run.

It's gotten worse lately, I don't know if it's a change in policy, or office people, or a shortage of trucks, but they keep offering me multiple overnight loads that have no provision for a ten hour break. They've got the effing qualcom, they know when I started moving that day.......why do they even bother to offer a load that picks up or has to run after I started moving, 14 hours ago? (and obviously did not drive an hour, and then take a ten hour break)

Pressured to run illegally? Not exactly, but they waste my time and confirm that the desk jockeys have no idea what they are doing. I'm sure some drivers will just accept the load, and deal with safety and logs later....and, of course, its the drivers fault.

I still don't see how drivers make the money they claim they do, and crete claims they do, while running legally at crete...unless you never take a shower, do your laundry, stop to eat a meal while sitting down.....need to sleep more than 6 hours a day.....or have any hope to take a few hours occasionally for personal time or recreation.

They do leave you alone, mostly, except when they send out the next oppressive message on the qualcom...like the upcoming company rule, no use of cellphones when moving even with handsfree devices, or you are fired.

 

I was an active, full time driver for Crete at the time of this accident. Sad. I no longer drive as i am retired. I drove apx
1,100.000 miles in a Crete truck. In that time, never once did i have a dispatcher try to force me to do anything that was not safe, or not legal. On this accident, anyone who wants to know the truth, look into the records. This will not be easy, but all is there. DO NOT EXPECT THE TRUTH WHEN READ OUT OF A NEWSPAPER OR MAGAZINE. Go to the court records. The one area one should look for is when did the driver come back to work from time off. That alone answers all, all questions about Crete being wrong on this subject. (CCC was in the right) Crete dispatches from a QC, it's all there.
Let's all remember everone in this accident, and drive so as this will never happen again.

 

I remember this accident well and it still sickens me. As professional drivers we see this kind of thing way too often. As the person behind the wheel we are the ones responsible for the decisions we make. I personally think cell phone distraction is causing more and more accidents, even by truck drivers. Really irritates me when I see a trucker with a phone up to his ear!!!

I am starting with Crete on August 13th. I have read good and bad feed back about Crete just like all other big companies. They are paying me more for my experience and safe driving record than any other company so I guess I will just have to take it all with a grain of salt, do it their way and thank God I have a job I enjoy doing.