Crete/Shaffer Trucking

these co are under contract to buy x amt of trks in a specifc time drivers or not

 

Yuppers and contracts are subject to renewal and renegotiation. Sales of new trucks has remained down. Companies are not buying as many new trucks as they were. Crete may be one of the few exceptions. However, that may be the result of no debt and good customer relations.

 

I am a recent student graduate of a truck driving school in Houston, and landed my first job with Shaffer. I start next Wednesday. I was hoping someone can tell me where Shaffer/Crete's drop yard is in Houston.

All my recruiter could tell me was it was at some place called Equipment Exchange or Xchange, but did not have an address for them. I tried Googling, but got a bunch of different companies with variations of that name.

I called someone at Wilmer and was told it may be at Stewart & Stevens(on?).

I want to rent a storage unit close to the drop yard to leave my personal vehicle in while I am driving.

Can anyone help a newbie!! Thanks!!

 

You are asking this on the BAD company board? Who knows where these pissed of Cretens will send you.

 

Oooops. This is my first day on the boards and still learning my way around.

Thanks!!

 

My papers show it is at
Equipment Exchange
11110 Wallisville Rd
Houston TX 77013

There are lists at the Terminals with a list of terminals and one with a list of drop lots. Mine is old, and I haven't been there before, but this is what I have. Hope it helps. Good luck with your new adventures.

 

That is exactly what I needed, Thanks. I assume you work for Crete/Shaffer. I report to Wilmer on 6/15/11 - hope to meet you sometime. Drive safe!

 

Crete has lost touch with what it means to work with their employees as partners and not Personal Slaves. . .

Ever since that accident with the school bus in Florida upper management and all of their cool aid drinking minions in Lincoln and the terminals view the drivers as 3rd class citizens.

Just stand in line at the cafeteria in Lincoln and see what I mean. There will usually be some petty little group of frumps eyeing you up and down, looking at you like they saw your picture hanging in the Post Office.

Or some office grunt eves dropping on your conversation like she is expecting you to say something inappropriate and truly horrible.

Where do these people GET OFF!!!!
Just who in Hell do they think they are????

And if that is not enough how about when you spend 8 weeks out on the road and you are ready to get some well deserved time off. As soon as your steer tires hit the terminal gate driveway enterance. The qual-com goes off and they are telling you that you have to shag a couple of loads for them before you leave. And if you try to ignore them your terminal manager will be promptly calling you on the cell phone telling you to stop in and speak with him before you go anywhere.

You will be bullied into shagging the loads they want delivered.

Oh! and how about Recruiting telling you in the beginning that you will get a minimum of 2400 miles per week when in actuality your lucky to see between 1700 and 2300.

Then there is Sleep Study and the complications that follow when Sleep Point does not get the data you are required to send them. Things really go sideways and you don't even get the benefit of the doubt. You get shutdown like some dirty criminal.

I could go on.

Crete needs to hire drivers because of the turnover they have and they are slowly weeding out the majority of drivers earning .41 to .45 CPM.

Not many people are aware of this. . . Crete knows in order to court your loyalty and cooperation when it comes to getting their drivers to recruit other drivers. They offer a $1000 dollar headhunter fee. That is the only way they can get most of their drivers to say anything good about the company.

The good times at Crete ended after the Florida school bus accident.

Here is a link to the newspaper article:

http://journalstar.com/news/local/article_a8964943-dc43-5ded-9c0d-20b6f3668f4f.html

Crete is no friend to the Driver.

 

JerryC, Sorry to hear your experience here was so bad. I have been at Crete for almost 3 years and don't have the problems you appeared to have.
I try not to spend much time in the terminals if at all possible, only if I need repairs or service. There can be a lot of negativity there.
I have very rarely had to wait more than a few hours for a load, and usually less than an hour.
I averaged around 11,000 miles/month for 2010, which included my time off and my vacation. I do stay out 4-6 weeks at a time sometimes though.
I live in Iowa, so getting home is never a problem. Was home one day late one time, but usually was home 1-2 days before my requested date.
I also had the sleep study and have the cpap machine and have had zero issues with sending in the info to Sleep Point. I just send it with my laptop whenever I am on the internet.
I know some will think I'm a recruiter or something, but I'm just a satisfied driver. I don't like to be negative, that is just not productive. I don't complain much when offered less than productive loads, I just figure its my time, and it usually gets me a better load somewhere down the road.
I think all companies are really anal about safety at this time, with all of the CSA stuff coming down. I know Crete has not forgotten about the FL accident, but I can't believe all of this is about that. All of trucking has changed in the last few years, not just Crete.
I do hope all has worked out for you with whatever you are currently doing.

 

I have run into a few old timers who have learned to work with the culture and don't do anything to rock the boat. You really have to tow the line. If you say anything to offend anybody's sensibilities in Lincoln you will soon discover that your job and the things you need to succeed are just not working out for you.

3 months out of 12 I drove more then 10,000 miles.

One day I was in the cafeteria in Lincoln. A group of 5 men, all upper echelon managers. I could tell by the way they were dressed and their arrogant demeanor. Where standing over by where you get the trays, plastic forks, etc. I walked over to wait my turn to get a tray. You could have cut the atmosphere with a knife. They all stood there looking at me like "Who's this guy? Does he think he's with us?" The oldest man in the group just looked at me with a very challenging stare.
As if to imply, "You would like me to move so you can get a tray, would'nt you?".

I just let out a subdued and subtle sigh of disdain and walked over to the men's room. The youngest man in the group followed me into the restroom. This may be too much information, but yes I did use the facilities and of course washed my hands when I was finished. (The youngest man in the group of upper echelon managers can vouch for that.)
When I returned the company movers and shakers with their obnoxious presence had moved on to order breakfast.

I think that was a very telling moment that speaks volumes as to the political pecking order that is played out at Crete.

You are right about the negitivity in the terminals. As well as with some individuals that answer phones at Lincoln. Some folks suffer from "Stinking Thinking" to such a severe degree, and are so demoralized, it is obvious that they really don't like their jobs. The quality of their work is so badly compromised that they would be doing everyone else a tremendous favor if they would just quit. Please find something else to do if it is going to make you happy. . . Please!! Go be happy!!!!!

I was issued and charged for a cpap machine. I had it for at least 6 months. Then all of a sudden Sleep Point reported I was not getting the minimum required 3 hours per night of therapy. I did not change my habits so I was not able to quickly acertain what the problem could be. As it turned out, I was not using the correct inverter. It was a loose fit in the electrical plug causing the cpap to cycle on/off.

Unfortunately my home terminal was Wilmer. And Miss T. Walker, In spite of her higher education, is not the best communicator. One thing she seems to excel at in huge way is to get involved in situations, misspeak or otherwise open her big dumb mouth the wrong way, get facts and information twisted out of proportion. And in the end is completely ineffective when it comes to getting to the bottom of an issue and arriving at a pro-active solution. She just makes a mess of things and then starts to quote company policy with out regard for how her ineptness affects other people.

Don't get me wrong. . . I'm not bitter. . . I'm long since over her. . . Miss T. is just another bad example of what happens when Academics who are trumped up on a whole lot of theory, are detached from reality and get into positions of authority.
If you need an example just look at the quality of leadership coming out of Washington DC these days.

Anyway, I left the company. . . I have a new job. . . Life goes on.

I just hate to see or hear of people starting out with good intensions, being led astray by people who lack a moral consiousness, and are focused primarially on doing whatever it takes to accomplish their personal goals at the expense of others.

Enough said.