CRETE

Crete pays 41-47cpm.

We get detention pay after 2 hours, but I have very few stops that go over that.

Crete saves money by having economy versions of Freightliners, no frills, that's for sure. Utilizing Opti-Idle, governing trucks at 65mph and regulating fuel stops to save money on fuel. Another big money saver is that they pay cash for everything. They have virtually no debt, therefore no interest expenses.

As far as Drop/Hook loads. I was running about 75% DH, but that has gone to about 40% of late. I'm hoping that will change when freight picks up in the spring.

The only problem I have with Crete is the home time. In all reality you can expect to be out 3-4 weeks at a time. It is possible to get home more often if you live along a major freight route, but with you being on the west coast that's not going to happen.

 

Just be carefull with crete. Varify your fleet before you accept. I applied for southern regional and they approved me and was pushing to get me to orientation, I wasmoving so I was draging my feet a little. Anyways, just as I was preparing to go to orientation I asked the lady to varify what fleet I was being hired for and she danced around the question, I ended up asking three times before I got a straight answer and she told me national fleet. Which was about 1 second before I hung up on her

 

I hear Knighton on the NO DETENTION PAY with IDC. Seems like I hav been sitting more than driving with IDC. You break your but to make the appt. then you sit. Doesn't make sense. My last load 5 hr wait to ld in Wala Wala and then had to chain over cabbage patch so I could make my appt in Fontana then 3 hrs to unload.

 

I know I won't here the end of this but I am going to say it but with a slight disclaimer ----I don't work for this company-----

They (Crete) Has one of the best safety record according to SafeStat . At least that is how I read. I know nothing else about the company except they deliver to the pep boys across the street from me.

 

I worked for Crete for about a year before chucking trucking and my CDL. I quit the industry, not the company. Ambition tends to do that to people. Crete is a good company overall, and I'm not talking just from a trucking standpoint. That oufit would do well in any industry. If they were an airline, they'd be akin to Southwest. Southwest is a good company to work for. Too bad they're not in trucking.

Of course I've worked for some sick dogs, too, a fact that makes me appreciate CCC that much more.

 

I'll give you answers based on my own experience here.

What is the wait like to get service? I never waited more than about 2 hours to go into the shop, but I rarely went in the shop outside of scheduled maintenance. I always planned for my truck to be put in the shop while I was home on break, so most of the time that is when it was taken care of. I say I rarely went into the shop because I never had any problems with a Crete truck. I once had a windshield wiper brake off (it was weak from the previous driver grabbing it when bug-netting the windscreen) in a rainstorm, but that's about it. Late in my time there, I had them switch out some drive tires, which they obliged to do. These issues were about the only problems I had in my time there (about a year).

I was based out west, but they did tend to keep me east of the river. Maybe this was because I didn't ask to get home much until late in my tenure there. After a tour in which I spent 49 straight days on the road, I changed my ways. But I solved the problem bazooka-style--I moved to Crete's special western fleet and got home about every 4 days after that. If I would have stayed on the national fleet, I'm sure I would have gotten home more if I would have asked to.