Red truck pulling a reefer trailer.

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

last saturday (the 22nd) on may across I-80 I stopped at the walmart in york nebraska ...And witnessed a Crete tractor pulling a reefer trailer ...So are Crete drivers now expected to pull reefer or is this just a rare occasion ?

[repete]

Some Crete drivers have been pullig reefers for years, They call it the "meat fleet" from the olds when they hung the beef.
But now that they have combined operations who knows what will happen. I was told I would not pull a reefer but like I said....... :?

[BIG JEEP on 44's]

I'm pre hired at Crete and have the ok for orientation there as well as a few other companies right now , But have no desire to haul a noise box behind me so the potential hauling of reefer is not a selling feature , but I'd be comming in at 3 years experience which is .43 cPM which is an attractive feature...However the opti idle /century class tracors are not . CFI keeps trying to push Team Con-WAY dedicated on me as I live in Colorado ...nice trucks decent pay ,but Team driving is not a selling feature for me . Knight has a terminal here in Auora CO they run good equipment and appear to have a decent payscale ...But before I jump I need more real world investigation into these companies as well as others I have not yet explored ,As I don't want to jump just to jump again in 3-6 months...

[Twilight Flyer]

I believe Crete has also re-absorbed Shaffer back under the Acklie umbrella. I've seen red tractors with shaffer reefers and blue tractors with crete dry boxes over the past few weeks.

[Syncrosonix]

reefers aren't that bad. i was also one of those who swore to never pull one of those things. all last week, i was pulling reefers for walmart out of casa grande, arizona. yeah, i got to turn the thing off after the deliveries were made, but the overall experience was different and not so difficult. it's a bit noisy, so what? when you get backed into a spot or a reefer truck or two back in next to you. you'll have to endure the noise while you're sleeping. you may as well get used to it.

i'm now trying to get on to the dedicated walmart fleet out of there. it's more rapid, disciplined, and really no sitting whatsoever. i enjoyed being on the go during all last week.

oh, and the company i drive for is the one getting slammed lately with all the rumors of possibly going under, swift. i don't really see anything that makes me believe they're in deep ****, financially. whenever i am at the phoenix terminal, i keep seeing more brand new daycab pro-stars, new flat-top volvos, more new otr pro-stars, and freightliners.

they are firing the idiot drivers who are constant screw ups, ones who are idle-holics, and the such.

ignorant and stupid people will believe anything they hear as long as it's something they hold a bias against.

[MADLUX]

I did trans am for a month, reefer isnt that bad, you might hear it start up and thats about it.

[BanditsCousin]

I believe Crete has also re-absorbed Shaffer back under the Acklie umbrella. I've seen red tractors with shaffer reefers and blue tractors with crete dry boxes over the past few weeks.

Bingo.

I believe Crete's parent company owns Hunt (flatbed). I've seen Crete pulling Scheaffer reefers for along time. Makes sense to keep the drivers rolling. In hhg, when United didn't have tonnage, I'd be hauling Mayflower orders 8)

[headborg]

I believe Crete has also re-absorbed Shaffer back under the Acklie umbrella. I've seen red tractors with shaffer reefers and blue tractors with crete dry boxes over the past few weeks.

What u mean "re" absorbed Shaffer back under the Acklie umbrella?

First Crete bought aquired Shaffer & Sunflower-- since Sunflower was closer (York, NE) Crete first started "cherry picking" all the Meat contracts and created their "meat fleet" bought some new Reefers and started using Shaffer/Sunflower trailers too<---- whatever they wanted to confiscate(it's good to be the King!" Since Shaffer had still many Strong high dollar contracts with Hershey and ties as well as a yard in Pa.....the Sunflower name got dropped-- their drivers/equipment merged with Shaffer, now phase 2 or 3- centralized consolidated operations in the corner room of Lincoln, Ne. Where right now, the final "cherry picking" is going and they are moving all the dry loads over to Crete( these used to be some good backhauls for Shaffer- no longer-- we've got to go 100% temp now-- and try to find new loads to replace those moved over to Crete. Soon, they'll drop the Shaffer name completely.

[santafe500]

Crete also pulls dedicated reefer out of the Walmart DC in No.Platte, NE.
These are mostly plain white reefers.

[gmh]

Crete also pulls dedicated reefer out of the Walmart DC in No.Platte, NE.
These are mostly plain white reefers.

There goes that mystery; I was wondering why those crete trucks were pulling white reefers.

[Phantom433a]

Its a conspiracy man.....

Pulling reefer isn't that bad....I did it for 3.5 yrs and once you get used to it......you never hear it, unless it dosen't start when it should.

[headborg]

Crete also pulls dedicated reefer out of the Walmart DC in No.Platte, NE.
These are mostly plain white reefers.

There goes that mystery; I was wondering why those crete trucks were pulling white reefers.

they also have some plain white lease reefers used for the Minute-Maid account- that both crete and shaffer sometimes pull- you can tell them by the
super single tires ( plus they don't have bill boxes on nose or a vent door anywhere)
That's what struck me as odd- a Reefer with no vent/inspection door nose or tail.

[Karnajj]

Crete shut down the "meat fleet" a few months ago. At this point if you see a Crete truck pulling a Shaffer trailer 9 times out of ten it's going to be a General Mills dedicated driver. So far they are not asking Crete drivers to haul Shaffer freight any more than they have in the past. Most of the Shaffer trucks pulling Crete trailers are actually Crete drivers who were given Shaffer trucks when Crete ran out.

[countryhorseman]

Been there, done that! Load of beef out of Wallula, WA - stopped for the night in Oregon. About 2 hours after I went to sleep, awoke to a non-functional reefer. Oh crud! The reefer battery was dead and alternator not working.

After a useless attempt of contacting fleet maintenance and the one man night shift. Pulled out the old jumper cables, jump started the unit and put it on continuous run. After a little more investigation, found a connector broken on the alternator. Plugged it back in, shot some silicone on it and some duct tape, and saved the fleet a high dollar service call.

Any other time, the reefer was a non-issue once you get use to it. In fact, I would have a hard time sleeping sometimes on time-off, waking in the middle of the night wondering why my unit was not running. Duh, home time silly! The wife would get sort of a kick out of that!

Its a conspiracy man.....

Pulling reefer isn't that bad....I did it for 3.5 yrs and once you get used to it......you never hear it, unless it dosen't start when it should.

[headborg]

Crete shut down the "meat fleet" a few months ago. At this point if you see a Crete truck pulling a Shaffer trailer 9 times out of ten it's going to be a General Mills dedicated driver. So far they are not asking Crete drivers to haul Shaffer freight any more than they have in the past. Most of the Shaffer trucks pulling Crete trailers are actually Crete drivers who were given Shaffer trucks when Crete ran out.

But, doesn't it make you wonder & stop and think---- why are there soo many extra Blue Trucks setting around empty- available to be filled.

[gmh]

Crete shut down the "meat fleet" a few months ago. At this point if you see a Crete truck pulling a Shaffer trailer 9 times out of ten it's going to be a General Mills dedicated driver. So far they are not asking Crete drivers to haul Shaffer freight any more than they have in the past. Most of the Shaffer trucks pulling Crete trailers are actually Crete drivers who were given Shaffer trucks when Crete ran out.

But, doesn't it make you wonder & stop and think---- why are there soo many extra Blue Trucks setting around empty- available to be filled.

I'll take a stab at it: because guys like you (and some friends of my current trainer) are getting pissed off at alternating between no freight and ****ty 200 mile runs.

[headborg]

Crete shut down the "meat fleet" a few months ago. At this point if you see a Crete truck pulling a Shaffer trailer 9 times out of ten it's going to be a General Mills dedicated driver. So far they are not asking Crete drivers to haul Shaffer freight any more than they have in the past. Most of the Shaffer trucks pulling Crete trailers are actually Crete drivers who were given Shaffer trucks when Crete ran out.

But, doesn't it make you wonder & stop and think---- why are there soo many extra Blue Trucks setting around empty- available to be filled.

I'll take a stab at it: because guys like you (and some friends of my current trainer) are getting pissed off at alternating between no freight and ****ty 200 mile runs.

not only that- but Crete is now "cherry picking" the DRY loads that were "shaffer" accounts and taking them over to their side- like the P&G out of Brown's Summit, Beer out of Va, P&G out of West Branch, Ia, Paper out of Maine,

all this-- means when Shaffers get empty in these areas-- we're left setting waiting to find NEW TEMP CONTROL FREIGHT--- Which if there HAD been any available in the first place--we probably wouldn't have NEEDED those dry loads there before.

[BanditsCousin]

I didnt know the blue trucks weren't moving. Do Schaeffer trucks ever haul Crete trailers?

[headborg]

I didnt know the blue trucks weren't moving. Do Schaeffer trucks ever haul Crete trailers?

once the freight is on a RED VAN -- it's a Crete load reguardless. Then the only way a Shaffer Truck can haul it-- is a) someone Begged the Crete area for a load b) Crete can't find one of their drivers who want it/aval to take it
c) it's excess freight/capacity and they Farm it out to Shaffer(overflow)

[Bumper]

I see blue trucks pulling red trailers all the time. I have only seen one red truck pulling a blue trailer though...maybe they dont get too many Western loads.

They need to paint all of the trucks one color and get it over with.