New Crete Daily Report

I've thought about where to start this thread or even if it should be done as a blog and decided a diary here in the DAC section is best. Other threads are about specific questions and problems, and one or two others have posted diaries under forum headings such as best or worst companies which doesn't seem to me to be right - if you want to know about the company in general, you check the dac report threads, so this is where I will put my general report on how the company is operating from this driver's viewpoint.

I won't get into details since I have prior threads that can be searched discussing my work at Crete and Shaffer, but will start this out with a simple explaination that I have 10 years in the Acklie family of trucking companies starting with Sunflower in 1997 and taking a break in 2002 to care for a parent. Then Sunflower merged with Shaffer and I was with them for another year before taking another break to be at home in late 2003. Then I was recruited over to Crete for a dedicated fleet (General Mills) that allowed me regular time off to be at home and I stayed with that for the next 3 years. Last year I left once again after a dispute with a manager and this week I again returned, resuming my spot on the National Fleet. Issues affecting drivers right now are turned down trucks (62mph), conversion of fleet from opti-idle to APUs with a company wide goal of 30% idle time, and an industry slow-down. Many special fleets are not accepting new drivers but Crete and Shaffer are still actively recruiting though at a much lesser rate than many other companies due to a smaller turnover percentage.

To begin this thread, if it is allowed to remain here, I will recap the orientation process and getting into the truck. I won't go into as much detail as the others with an hour by hour break down of my day and a mile by mile examination of my productivity, but I'll try to report weekly how busy I was, difficulties I had with any dispatches, or delays I may have had at shippers/receivers and either how it affected my operations or how the company responded to my difficulties (did they help? did they ignore me? did they press me to do something I wasn't comfortable with?).

Tonight is the last of my orientation period. I am moved into a truck and will start out tomorrow (a Sunday) with no expectation of getting a load since it is a weekend in a slower than usual area for freight - western Carolina. I still have to arrange to get a new wi-fi account (I have been out of the truck for the past 12 months) so my first real report on orientation will probably be later this week. bruceb.

 

I was pleasantly surprised that I had a load assignment on Sunday morning, short though it was, it carried me into GA from NC and into the freight lanes. I ended the week with about 2700 miles thanks to a run out to Nebraska.
This past week has been a little slower, I came back east and have again turned from TN to Missouri for a Friday unload - it will likely be a longer trip so my miles while short this week, will pad next week when I park it for 3 days.
Similar customers, mostly drop and hook. Live loads and unloads have so far all been in delivery windows of a several to a dozen hours with no delays. A miscue by a shipper of tires caught the reciever unaware of a live unload and they had no personnel. And no empty trailers. I dropped the load anyway and bobtailed to the next shipper, all within an hour or so.
Am getting a lot of ignored trailers with WAY outdated inspection decals - are drivers even bothering to bring these to a shops attention anymore? I picked up one trailer that had been dropped on the lot on a Thursday and I was repowering it on Saturday - the previous driver was too lazy to even walk inside and put the trailer down for service before going home for the weekend (he also failed to leave me a copy of the scale ticket on a 46,000 pound load so I paid for probably a second weight on that trailer to be cautious and CMA.
Its the break in the weather that is saving me with idle time - its just rarely possible to shut down in a truck stop when other drivers are running their engines pumping noise and 175 degree exhaust into your open windows. I've taken more to stopping at rest areas and small convenience stores with truck lots instead of the big boys.
No one told me SIRICOMM went belly up. The WIFI provider has been usurped by another group that is apparently running their old webage and even taking log0in and account creation info. They got my $150 for a years service and then over the course of the next week I realized I could find NO WIFI loading the page at Pilots and Loves. A signal, but no log in page. I've reported them (wandering wifi out of Atlanta) for credit fraud to my credit company - they don't answer the phone or emails, surprise that.
Frieght as has been mentioned is slow industry wide as my manager reminded me today, but it has fit my schedule nicely. I'm working on 14 days out right now without having to sit on my thumb for a 34 hour restart or find out how you live in your truck for a day and a half without idling.
Idling solutions have also been disrupted industry wide - it was told to our orientation class that no Crete Shaffer trucks are getting APUs for a while. Seems ALL trucking companies went the APU route at the same time and the manufacturers have sold out. I'm in an old team truck anyway, so I won't be targeted before the trade in time probably next spring.

Back to orientation, nothing new since last time at the company. Same rules and regs. More rehires in class this time and a couple of old timers from other outfits. Logs, paperwork, maintenance, payroll, benefits, have all pretty much stayed the same in regard to what has to be done and what is offered (logbook design has changed). Seems to me the quote of the number of trucks in the company has been reduced somewhat from my orientation last year.

So, all copacetic. No layovers, no excessive wait times, no long periods between empty calls and getting a new load assignment (longest so far was a Monday late morning, didn't get a load set up until almost 3pm, about 4 hours). We'll see how the weekend rolls - I am bumping 70 and have note on my truck to get me back to Marietta by next Tuesday for time off.

 

This reunion has an unhappy ending.
Nothing has changed at Crete and managers are managers, I guess.
I heard mine lecture a driver today for getting 90 gallons instead of the prescribed 60.
It cost the company and extra SEVEN dollars! Of course it meant the driver had to stop to fill twice to follow company rules which cost HIM SIX dollars because he loses 15 minutes or 15 miles out of his 70 hours of work available.
Me?
They didn't get me home as I reported after orientation. Then they argued I had only been under load for 11 days, not 12 and wouldn't bring me back last week. Then over the weekend they stranded me in Texas with no excuses, no attempts to move me east, just repeated promises to find a load I could tcall (to be repowered by another driver) at Marietta on my recent request to get back to GA by Tuesday. I sat all day Monday and that evening got a load that was preloaded (meaning it had sat there probably all weekend) going just east of Atlanta. Of course as had been discussed, why should I NOT presume this to be a load for me to bring to the yard since A)I requested to be back by Tuesday B) I would not be able to get there until Wednesday and C) the load dropped on Thursday?
After all, out of one side of the managers mouth, frieght is slow. Everyone is sitting. Be GLAD you had 2200 and 2100 miles in the last 2 weeks respectively.
But, today, out of the other side of his mouth, everyone is busy, everyone is commited to other loads, NO, no other driver can, instead of starting his planned day at 8am, start at 5 am to bring the load to its drop and hook destination.
THIS was Crete's second chance with me. They failed. I told the manager I guessed if everyone else was busy, he could deliver it himself. I told him I had already rearranged my schedule THREE times because of Crete's failure to get me home after orientation (I have been OTR without a lot of stuff that we typically are sent "by the house" to pick up after getting our trucks). I told him I was expected in Chattanooga tonite at 8pm and I would be there.
And I quit.
Crete? Once a great driver's company. No more. They have not changed a bit in the last year and even dinousaur managers are now under the corporate wing - there are no more guys like Bruce in DeLand or Lou in Macungie, what a shame.

 

When rehiring at Crete I requested to go back to the General Mills dedicated fleet, steady miles and predictable time off. They said there were no openings, I had to go on National. I quit when National dispatchers refused to get me home after 22 days out.
Now, talking with other companies, I am about to hire onto Schneider, they too have a General Mills fleet, and they will put me on it. At a penny per mile MORE than Crete.