The Decline Of Crete Carrier

There you go, do your job and ET shows you the results!!!! ET, you beat me on the miles, but I am following you closely. Drive Safe, thats what counts. Everyone else, well, we will see ya! DRIVE SAFE

 

Well my daughters boyfreind works for a rail company and they're going under,,in his attepmt to find other rail work,,,not having any luck,,,so he's going back home to work on the farm, its a dog eat dog world,,i work for crete, im doing fine,,facing the shortage of freight like everyone else but im still doing fine and have no intentions of going anywhere, i too looked at rail work in the houston port area and louisiana ect and im not impressed and they are in the same bind as the trucking industry..glad i stayed because according to my future son-in-law who knows the industry like tha back of his hand,,i made a good choice..since he has hands on experience vs gossip ect..i will take his advise!! God bless

 

Don't drive and never did dedicated AB account at Werner ...Pulled many AB loads at Werner especially when training students mostly Fort collins,CO and Oakland ,CA ...But I drive for Coors as a Coors employed hoster (yard jockey) Werner is one the few mega Carriers that does'nt pull both AB and Coors ...If you're familliar with the WERNER drop yard in Columbus ,OH then you to are probably surprised more of those bud loads in blue trailers are'nt stolen from it .

 

I leave the Family dullard and Dollar lumper accounts to those "special" drivers who enjoy huping freight in a 140 degree trailer ...If I was going to unload trailers I get a job at sysco ,which pays better than OTR traveling lumper gigs ,and you are home at the end of every shift ,and guaranteed a shower after a days work unloading .

 

no one wrote:

You choose not to believe me. Well, you are definitely entitled to your own opinion. However I place no value on that opinion and will put no further effort into convincing you otherwise.

I realize your posts are intended to do nothing more than stir the pot, but it has laid the ground for a nice little debate.

Anything I have posted on this board is put here for one reason only. That is so other diver can make an informed decision based on the actual numbers of an actual driver. The vast majority of people have what is called "Common sense". These people are capable of drawing a conclusion based on information that is presented to them and able to put that information to use. These special people are intelligent enough to differentiate fact from fiction.

I have never said that Crete is the best company to drive for. I have never implied that everyone who drives for Crete will make what I make. What I have always contended is that if you are motivated, able to think for yourself, possess a fair amount of initiative and not just looking for a handout, Crete is a solid option for an OTR driver, I stress the OTR driver. If I wanted to be home every night I would, If I wanted to go to the same job, do the same thing, see the same people, repeat everything I do daily, everyday I would. But I find OTR to be far more rewarding. That's why I do it.

Will everyone that works for Crete make 65K. Of course not. Will they all get 150,000 miles. Nope! But anyone who is determined and willing to put in the effort will (the economy may step in this year). At the time I signed on with Crete, they were advertising that the top 25% of their drivers averaged 65k/yr. I did my research and found them to be a good match. Sure enough, after that first year I had made 62K while driving at 41cpm (lowest pay rate at the time). I went into it wanting to be in the top 25% and did so. The only reason I'm not in the top 5% is that I am at the lower end of the pay scale, but that too will change. I strive to be the best, intend to be the best and will be. Attitude is everything! This year I have decided to be a trainer and will be doing it full time upon returning from home time this week and have every intention of pulling in $75,000.

Some people are in the mind set of, "If I can't do it, well then "no else" can possibly do it either". That very attitude is why those that think that way will never be as successful as those that do.

Bigblue19 wrote:

I'll give you that one. Definitely not an ideal situation, but it is a choice that I made. Those kind of thing will happen when you can't sell one house and find yourself moving to the other side of the country and needing a down payment on another one.

That is why I made 68K this year instead of the 62k or so of last year. The one positive is that I was able to make the choice and the extra income was available to me. Now if I could just get one of you to buy my North Carolina house I would be more than thrilled to settle into Crete's Western Regional gig and spend my weekends at the house and be more than content with my 55K.

Bigblue19 also wrote:

That's the thing about driving OTR. It's not work to me. I've worked for a living in the past and drivin' ain't work!

 

The problem with Crete today is that hard work and dedication no longer get you anywhere with this company. I know all the tricks. I call consignees to see if they will let me deliver early. I ask for tcalls when I can't. It does'nt make a bit of difference when you have to sit 2-3 days after sending in your empty call. Another thing that doesn't help is when they give loads to the guys who are low on the pay scale when they should go to the driver who is next in line regardless of his/her pay rate. Drivers who paint nothing but a rosy picture all the time are doing a big disservice by making people think that a company is something it just isn't. Crete USED to be a good company but those days are long gone.

ETA I have been trying to get a load out of the house for 3 days now. I show up at the truck at 0800 every morning to let them know I am ready to roll and I get a "check back tomorrow" message, and I live in Ohio for Christs sake!!! Inexcusable.

 

Evertruckerr should I decided to go with Crete I would really like you to be my trainer. I have really enjoyed your detailed posts and would appreciate you showing me the ropes as my 5 years experience was all local. Good luck on selling your home here in Wilmington. I know its a tough market as I sold real estate a couple years here...one reason why I'm going back to driving!

 

I got stuck on one of those DG loads when Werner gave them up to USX through the Logistical partnership the big 5 started back in I think it was 03 or 04. (transplace)

You know a dedicated run sucks when they can't get enough drivers to do it and have to pull system drivers off to cover the frieght. my back still aches thinking about that 3 stop 44k load I hand printed while trying to nrgotiate the snowy back roads of PA and NY.

We had over 70 drivers go on workers comp after only a couple of months. One got a brain Injury from a big jar of pickles that was loaded up top and hit him in the eye while unloading. Last I heard his family was sueing for millions for the way DG would just trow the load together and put a board behind it to hold it all in

Not so fast, Sysco's income dropped 422 million last year so they may not be hiring as much this year.

 

Oh... two more questions... I saw your posts in the Werner threads, do you just go into threads to try to get things stirred up? And, are you really as unhappy with the industry as your posts indicate, if you are, maybe you should consider another career? That's only my opinion, you understand.

 

Re: Transplace
The concept was great and the guy who sold it to those five carriers, was the salesman of the century.

Werner sold most of their shares to JBHunt. They have no voting power, just enough left to sit in and learn what Transplace is up to.

Transplace is in Lowell Ar just down the lane from Hunt.