The Decline Of Crete Carrier

Possible in theory ,but not in real life at...CRETE...once again the drivers on here are claiming 60k with 0-3 yrs which is at most .43 cpm at the 3yr mark...So at roughly .40cpm you would require 150,000 miles to float those figures ,which if the driver never went home and ran 12 months a year straight would break down to... 12,500 monthly...3125 weekly...to earn at the 60k mark ...BUT we all know most of us ...have lives...And go home usually 4-6 days after being out 4-6 weeks ,And we all know there is down time for basic scheduled service/and unexpected break downs ...And there will be waiting for loads /sitting on loads /cancelled loaads/...You get the point ,So it's more realistic to base earnings on about 10 months ,So now you're talking $60k /150,000 miles in a 10 month productive time frame not 12 month ,which now means you're talking running about 44 weeks for a total of 150,000 miles...which breaks down to 3600-3750 miles per week for every on of those 44 productive weeks...

Now I'm a very experienced OTR driver ,And I from experience can tell future rookie drivers that expecting 3125 miles every week for 12 months straight at a big company like Crete is a pipe dream...let alone 3600-3750 in the 10 month productive period that will exist for most drivers after they delete things like sitting waiting for freight/sitting babysitting freight/shop time...and HOME TIME .


I spoke to couple Crete drivers who were sitting at the WheatridgeT/A about 4years ago we discussed realistic earnings at Crete and the numbers quoted by these 2 long time Crete drivers were 100,000 miles in 10 months productive at 10,000 miles averaged per month or roughly about 2,500 miles week or roughly 40k a year ,And if everything went perfect running hard at Crete maybe 120,000 ,which at roughly .40 cpm is 48,000 still a far cry from 60k ...$12,000 shy of 60k...or roughly 30,000 miles shy.


I could get on the web with a spread sheet showing I ran X amount of mles at x cpm for company x earning x for the year...but that does'nt mean those numbers are real...wink .

 

There are always drivers that seem to make more money than others regardless of the carrier they work for.

This is based on stamina, flexibility, understanding of the job, and communication with your dispatcher/load planner.

It seems you are very skeptical about anyone claiming to make 60k (or more) per year as a driver for any large OTR outfit. Would it surprise you to know that I was making over 60k per year as a company driver at JB Hunt back in the mid 90's? Well it is true and I actually did that as a REGIONAL driver running the northeast primarily with weekends off and through the house several times per week on average. I would eat at home every chance I got and at times spend the night during the week if I had time on the load.

Crete is one of the carriers that actually does have a pretty good rep as compared to other companies but of course it all depends on how well the driver does his/her job (and the economy).

On a side note I no longer work for JB or any large OTR outfit but I do have a pretty decent company driver job where I routinely make 60 to 70k per year with some pretty decent bennies. Of course to be fair I do run team with my wife (have been running team for a little over a year now) and we do get longer runs than a solo would. Even so I made a little over 68k and the wife (fresh out of truck driving school) earned a little over 58k. Not bad for a newbie if you ask me (in a recession no less).

I have said it before and I will say it again; "Life is what you make of it."

 

Only way you made 60k at jb regional is on a dedicated run tons of stops and probably driver unload .


As for the numbers...life may be "what you make it"...But basic MATH helps see through some of the lies ,And unfortunately the Math on here tells a tale of embellishment .

 

I won't say the poster did not make the money because I have not a clue if they did or not, but 153k in 9.5 months would require some great dispatching or some bottles of legal speed and slaps to the face. Been there done that. The math provide does not add up from what I saw.

The one number that I did not like was the 40 days at home in a year. Hope you don't have any kids or are even married. But for a single guy who only cares about working I guess Crete can pay good for the driver.

But I will say that I average around 8-10hr days and made around 18k less last year. But I bet you I worked far less hours. I would like to see a breakdown of the total hours not just log time either but total work for Crete time it took to make 65k in that Crete truck. That the shocking number when it comes to driving OTR

 

Ah but you see thats where you are making your mistake. Driving a truck is more than just getting paid for "driving." Good companies offer additional pay and bonuses for the work performed. The key is to learn the system and make it work for you.

As you still appear to be skeptical I will give you some more detail as to how I was one of the highest paid regional drivers for JB Hunt back then.

No driver unloads. Everything was palletized and was delivered to Wal-Mart and Sams Club retail stores all over the northeast. Average unload time was 1 hour per stop. Some were as fast as 30 minutes. Normally there would only be 2 stops per trip and then return to Mehoopany Pa for another load.

First I was on a board called "B60." I parked my truck at the Harrisburg Pa rail yard with the other regional drivers for this area. This board was comprised of the best performing drivers within the company and dedicated to the Procter and Gamble account out of Mehoopany Pa. I lived 25 miles away from the rail yard so it was pretty easy for me to get home.

The compensation went as follows;
Daily salary at $70.00 per day whether you worked 1 hour or worked 16 hours. Remember this was in the nineties and we had the old HOS to go by. I would actually get paid for working 6 days based on the delivery schedules. This equated to a base salary of $420.00 per week. I then received .28 cpm for the miles I ran during the week. I would average 2700 miles per week. Really not that difficult at all even with 2 loads per day.

You say basic math is what you are going by so lets take a look at 2700 x .28 cpm ($756.00) x 50 weeks= $37,800.00 for mileage pay alone. Now factor in the $420.00 per week base salary $420.00 x 50 weeks = $21,000.00

$21,000.00 + $37,800.00= $58,800.00

As I said I made OVER 60k per year. I took 2 weeks vacation at 1/52nd earnings which equated to $1200.00 per week PLUS we got monthly bonuses for on time deliveries and safety of .01 cpm added into our pay.

$58,800.00 + $2,400.00 (2 weeks vacation) = $61,200.00

As I said in my previous post this was for the mid nineties.Since then I have found greener fields and get paid for many more things than just driving.

I posted this info in another thread here at TruckersReport but I will copy it here to provide 1 more illustration of what is "possible;"

Here is a line by line list of the things I have been paid for (year to date) based on my last pay sheet dated 12/13/2008;

Hourly Pay: $811.74
Single Mileage: $54,267.62
Detention: $212.39
Breakdown Pay: $93.50
Congestion: $22.00
Live Loads: $11.00
Saturday Pay: $50.00
Sunday Pay: $50.00
Layover Pay: $44.00
Drops: $1155.00
Hooks: $1023.00
Sick Pay: $818.40
Trainer Pay: $300.00
Skid: $528.00
Holiday Pay: $1636.80
Vacation Pay: $4092.00
Personal Pay: $545.50
Safety Bonus: $978.04
Retro Pay: $102.41

By the end of the year I made a little over $68,700.00.

Better to keep an open mind and learn from others rather than complain about those "others" doing so well that you disbelieve their words because it is beyond your comprehension or ability to duplicate in your own job.

 

Mr/Ms No One,
I have a question for you... Do you drive or have you ever driven? I seem to remember that you work at a brewery... Just a question.

 

Yep that's the norm for Jb hunt right around 70k and home nightly ...lol...and at crete 60k is just the norm ...of course not as good as JB HUNT ,but hey I heard at Werner you could touch 100k solo if you made the most of life there .lol

 

5yrs OTR...and you recall me working at a brewery ...then you might recall I drive at that job as well ...And the OTR drivers that come to the docks from these mentioned companies sure don't tell the tales of 60-68k yearly solo earnings more like they can't beleive I make more than them and sleep at home every day ,and I only make a low income of about 55-60k, So 60k at JB or Crete is hardly typical .

 

You say that like there is something wrong with a lil hard work.

 

had no idea what you did at the brewery. do you still drive for werner at AB in columbus?