crete not for experienced drivers

I would have to see the pay stubs bc I get payed back for what ever I turn in **** I make good money

 

i think steve might be a little mad at this company because he prob got a discaplinery action against him for screwing up

 

That's right

 

Steve is correct about the cleaning fee. You would not know this unless you turned in your truck. When I left they tried this on me. My truck was spotless except for some dust in the cracks of the chair frames. The only way I could get that out is with a toothbrush or power washer. BTW- I mopped my truck with water and pine sol once a week. My fee was dismissed because my fleet manager remembered the crummy DOA truck they gave me at first. I cleaned it myself without knowing that I could have taken it to a terminal to get "detailed". Trust me when I say it was nasty. Steve is also correct about the detention pay. I actually stopped filling them out myself. Besides that they are still probably one of the best companies to work for. I'm still thinking about returning to them myself.

 

I've been with the big red fleet almost 12 years, and I've seen more changes than I can list - some good, some bad.

As far as the tragic accident in Lake Butler -- you can almost divide Crete into two companies - pre-accident Crete, and post-accident Crete.

Pre-accident Crete was a lot looser insofar as logging. We were "allowed" to run 5 days over on our 70-hours without any safety point violations, and many of us got away with much more than that. If you were getting close to getting the entire bonus for a quarter, you'd run your *** off, and try to get the 33,500 miles necessary for the $1K bonus. Logbooks were only audited as far as making sure that toll receipts, fuel receipts, and arrival/departure messages on the Qualcomm matched within reason - about a one hour window either way. Dispatch had a lot more leeway with load planning - you'd help them out by running a load that was "tight", and they'd often preplan you on a long distance load as thanks for helping them. Oftentimes it seemed that safety took a backseat to customer service.

Post-accident Crete is 180-degrees different. Running illegally is barely tolerated. The one-hour window has been reduced to about 15-minutes either way, and anything that can be monitored/utilized to establish your whereabouts at any given moment will be - up to and including ATM withdrawls from your fuel card! Dispatchers have been warned not to "encourage" drivers to run loads that they say they don't have the hours for, and drivers are told that if they can't deliver a load legally, to contact Operations about getting it re-scheduled or re-powered. The pendulum has swung the other way, and now customer service takes a back seat to safety.

Maintenance is what it is. Some terminals (Marietta) have a tremendous turnover with mechanics, others (Spartanburg) have mechanics who have been with Crete since day two! The quality of mechanical service depends wholly upon which mechanic repairs/maintains the vehicle. In other words - mechanics are a lot like truck drivers... some are worth their weight in gold, others are worth their weight in fecal matter. Some of the major terminals (Marietta, New Kingston, Wilmer, KCMO) are overworked and understaffed, and long waits for service are common. Others (like I'm really going to tell you which ones! ) aren't, and it's possible to get a "B" service and get rolling again within three hours!

Bottom line - it's a company, period. It's not good, it's not bad. It's not heaven on earth, nor is it hell. It's far from perfect, and they make mistakes, just like all of us.

There are some people there who'd I'd walk through fire for. Others, I wouldn't bother to piss on them if they were on fire! I keep my mouth shut, I do my job, and I always notify them via Qualcomm if I'm having a problem, or if I even suspect I'm about to have a problem. I do what I can to help them out if they ask me to, and I try my best to stay "off their radar". I pick up the loads on-time, I deliver the loads on-time, and I take care of the equipment.

Simply put - I act like the professional I am, and I've made it clear to them that I expect to be treated like the professional I am. I don't deal in fecal matter - I don't give them any, and I won't take any from them.

And so far, it's worked just fine!

 

Well said RiverOtter!!!!

 

I can see why they canned you,you can't even spell

 

They didn't can him, they caned him. I guess they are slave drivers.

And it wasn't as painful to read as it was to decipher.

 

skipper you are so full of s*** ive worked for crete for a year now i have a brand new international no problems with it i have turned down loads that legally could not do. Sounds like to me your lazy and the reason you probably didnt get paid is that you never sent in your trip report after every trip. This company has never cheated me on pay and never been threatened to be fired for turning down a load that i couldnt legally do. Sounds like to me you wanted everything on a silver platter but was to lazy to work for it

 

I'm checking my options and reading stories before I take that leap. Thank goodness for this forum. Maverick sounded great but I don't live in that area.