The Decline Of Crete Carrier

the bottom line we all know that Aklie motor systems AKA Crete Shaffer never ever recovered from the massive fall they took with the sleep apnea Scandal that took place between 2008 and 2010 down in Wilmer Texas..they lost so many drivers over it even though they were proven innocent I really don't care anybody that's been out here more than 15 or 20 years of seeing the fall of the Crete Carrier company..
why they still had their load select they did something that Duane would have never done but Tonn had to do it.
they initiated an anybody could ride over 18 policy creat up until the big Wilmer fiasco literally was strictly family only no friends girlfriends boyfriends etc.
trying to attract drivers they brought that in
they also own grandfather to pet policy for a Time afterwards when they put a freeze during the 2009 recession on owner-operators they also stopped allowing pets if you wanted one.
if you had one that was grandfathered and and you paid the pet policy but basically wants to pet that died that was it you couldn't get another one.they retracted that and on grandfather that now you can have pets again.
but the bottom line the sleep apnea Scandal hit them and hit them hard.

An afterthought
now that I typed this all out is the fact that Crete and subsidaries is one of the only ones I know that if you get a one year physical not two years..If your blood pressure blood sugar is borderline that doesn't mean anything to them they have a BP machine and you get retested or you go down to the clinic and get retested for your blood sugar at 6 months.. they seem to think they're better than everybody else on that issue..so they continue to bully you that way as to where other companies are like okay you got a one-year physical well in one year you're going to have to get another one. okay fine for some reason AMS think of you had a little high blood sugar according to Concentra on your blood pressure was a little high even though they gave you a one year pass you still have to come to a Crete terminal and have your pictures blood pressure checked or if it's blood sugar you got to go down to the clinic and have it checked which is a joke you have a one year physical with should technically mean one whole frigging year.

 

Another driver that couldn’t make the cut.

 

no 3 years was enough for me.
when you come out of being an owner operator and you end up in micromanaging
company that babysits you and hold your hand everywhere..oh you can't take this toll road without authorization make sure you're out there on the little skinny roads it just got old.
also consistently being a national driver but going in and dropping a load for New York City for a supposed regional and having to go over to 3pl or York or breinigsville and pick up some East Coast grocery load before they gave you something else was nonsense... I didn't need it.
and being lied to when I first joined supposedly to be on a Kellogg's dedicated account living in Chicago working out of Ottawa near the minooka Kellogg's having been lied to by Todd and Roger I said no I don't need this..
Throw in their little fuel solutions no no you only buy this much fuel by this much fuel was a effen joke. also the cheapness of the company was crazy they wouldn't even get you a pre pass I however at the time through the help Incorporated parent company of prepass. I got my own pre pass. Had account set up with my Crete company truck so I was able to bypass scales but all these other cheapos were whining and crying wouldn't spend ten bucks a month for the convenience...and from what I see I still don't think they have pre pass in their truck either cuz everytime I see Crete or Schaefer heading for a scale in they go

SO DON'T YOU TELL ME I COULDN'T MAKE IT!!
I CHOSE TO LEAVE.
you like being baby sat more power to you.. I've got four friends there havecput in over 25 years one is almost put in 30 years one he had to get out of trucking after 19 years..
Kansas City Indianapolis and an old holdover from the sunflower days La Porte where the ones are still..Mike unfortunately was out of closed Ottawa terminal run by Kay Bauer like me.
after his heart attack he just got out of trucking
Ask If it's the same company that was prior to 2010 actually 2009 as Wilmer sleep Scandal was going on..
they're holding on for retirement there the only reason they're staying..I'm fully vested and I haven't been there in almost eight and a half years and I still get a profit sharing settlement from Union Bank every quarter so don't tell me I couldn't make it.
Capiche!?
THAT'S ALL YOU GOT? A LITTLE RETORT??
YOU GOT YOUR LITTLE PICTURE OF YOUR CUTE SHAFER TRUCK THAT'S GOOD...YOU COULD DEFEND THE COMPANY ALL YOU WANT YOU PROBABLY HAVEN'T BEEN THERE MORE THAN 5 YEARS.
CUZ IF YOU HAVE BEEN THERE MORE THAN 10 YEARS, YOU KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I CITED IS TRUE..YOU ALSO KNOW ABOUT THE BLOOD PRESSURE BLOOD SUGAR THING TOO.
AT LEAST I BACKUP MY STATEMENT WITH FACTS.
not little smart aleck retorts
your move fella..balls in your court

 

So your friends don’t like working at Crete but they want to retire from there?

 

yep that's exactly right..
they put in so many years they're about ready to retire so they just hold on..
nowadays pretty much all these companies are interchangeable you just have to decide what kind of crap you want to take and which way.. CSA game changer of 2010 pretty much was the biggest black eye a certain class of demographic age group and CDL holders could have given a once proud industry.
so once you vest that much time in a place after almost 25 to 30 years you really don't want to move cuz you know starting over...
do you want to start at the bottom or just continue to be where you are..
do they not like working at Crete?t? not what I said about as far as working there what I said was if you ask them if if the same company it was prior to 2010??" they will tell you absolutely not. Prior to the Willmar sleep apnea scandal of 2008 thru 2011. Alklie Motor Systems was fantastic place to be.
Now you go ask a Crete driver that's been there more than 12 or 13 years; is this the same company when you started I guarantee you you're not going to get a yes..

 

I've been here over 10 years, and I don't feel micromanaged. I don't get called or messaged, I don't call or message them except for load info. I just get my loads and do my job. I guess I'm different, but the fuel solution thing doesn't bother me, it's their truck, they're paying for the fuel, I'll get it where they say. If I don't need some of the partial fill stops, I just don't stop. never heard anything about it. 125-130k miles every year, can't complain. But I know everyone's situation can be different.

 

having not been there for almost nine years things have probably changed that's good to know.
I think it also depends on your terminal manager 2. a lot of them are very lax and then some can be well....I've heard both sides of the coin depending on where your terminal is out of who you're with.
some loved and some really hated Lenoir City some hated being out of Marietta.
many seem to like Jack and Kansas City at the time though.
the old Indianapolis terminal that wasn't over by the airport when it used to be closer to the J was a little different to.. I never liked New Kingstown at the time and I hated Willmar always felt like an outcast down there.. but as I've said before you have to find your Niche and carve it out.. me having on my own equipment for years I did not like being told this and being told that I liked to challenge myself a little bit at the time.. and that was not for me.

 

Back in the day if you weren't a friend or relative of Miss T's down in Wilmer, you were an outcast.

 

And based on how she dressed, being a customer helped too. (She was dressed like a lot lizard most of the times I had the misfortune of bumping in to her in the office)

 

Only met her a couple times, and she was nice to me, but I heard a lot of horror stories from other drivers that worked out of there