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Karnajj
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 1107
Location: Cincinnati
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 2:49 pm Post subject: I have about had it at Crete |
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| After delivering a nice 2150 mile load to upstate NY Tues nite dispatch had me sit till this morning to pick up a 282 mile run to NJ. Hoping that I would be able to get a decent load out of NJ I delivered early this afternoon only to be given one load offer. A 320 mile load to Wintersville Oh that doesnt pick up for 24 hrs and doesnt deliver till Sun. Wintersville is in such a place that I know I will not get a load offer till Mon morning. So, I will have a whopping 700 miles to show for almost 6 days. I have never seen it like this before. There were 46 trucks sitting empty in NY and I have never had a problem getting loads up there before. I have two weeks vacation coming in June and I think when I get back I'm going to tell Crete they can have their truck back. They just don't give a damn about us anymore. |
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doboy
Joined: 11 Nov 2006
Posts: 12
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 3:04 pm Post subject: |
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| i agree. i'm going 2 give my notice at the end of the summer. im chkng dfrnt companies now |
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LARM
Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 50
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 3:36 pm Post subject: |
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Damn, I was looking into Crete...how long have you been with them?
I hope you're not quitting after just one bad week..though I'm sure there's more leading to your decision. |
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Karnajj
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 1107
Location: Cincinnati
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 4:28 pm Post subject: |
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Been with them 3 years. Never had to sit more than 24 hours between loads, much less 48, but one time and that was over a year ago. I have been doing extremely well this year ( 53,000 so far) but its like they just dont care anymore. I called Lincoln and left a message with a fleet manager to get back to me and all I got was " you've had some good trips lately so now you have to take the bad". How do I explain to my family 700 miles in 5 days?
I'm gone 4-5 weeks at a time and this is what I get?!?! I dont know what I'm going to do. I tend to make quick decisions, usually to my later regret, so I just dont know. |
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MonkeyNoodle
Joined: 29 Feb 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 4:37 pm Post subject: |
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| Are you serious? It's bad in alot of places, dont think it's just you getting no loads. You even said there were alot of trucks sitting empty. Do you actually think Crete would purposely sit trucks and not give a damn? Give it a few weeks maybe things will pick up. |
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LARM
Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 50
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:08 pm Post subject: |
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Karnajj wrote: Been with them 3 years. Never had to sit more than 24 hours between loads, much less 48, but one time and that was over a year ago. I have been doing extremely well this year ( 53,000 so far) but its like they just dont care anymore. I called Lincoln and and left a message with a fleet manager to get back to me and all I got was " you've had some good trips lately so now you have to take the bad". How do I explain to my family 700 miles in 5 days?
I'm gone 4-5 weeks at a time and this is what I get?!?! I dont know what I'm going to do. I tend to make quick decisions, usually to my later regret, so I just dont know.
53,000 this year? Dude, no offense, but if you quit let me know, I'll take your job. :D |
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headborg
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 1098
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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LARM wrote: Karnajj wrote: Been with them 3 years. Never had to sit more than 24 hours between loads, much less 48, but one time and that was over a year ago. I have been doing extremely well this year ( 53,000 so far) but its like they just dont care anymore. I called Lincoln and and left a message with a fleet manager to get back to me and all I got was " you've had some good trips lately so now you have to take the bad". How do I explain to my family 700 miles in 5 days?
I'm gone 4-5 weeks at a time and this is what I get?!?! I dont know what I'm going to do. I tend to make quick decisions, usually to my later regret, so I just dont know.
53,000 this year? Dude, no offense, but if you quit let me know, I'll take your job. :D
I think he meant 53,000 MILES so far this year- not dollars.
Scary times ahead--- the Devil in the Dark, or the one in Lincoln? |
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LARM
Joined: 30 Jul 2007
Posts: 50
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:17 pm Post subject: |
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Ah I see.
Yeh, the industry is just scary in general right now. I'm wanting to leave JB like you wouldn't believe, but it seems like it's the same everywhere you look. It might be a good idea to just stick with the company you're with until the dust settles. It sucks a lot right now though. |
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unclehotte
Joined: 12 Jun 2005
Posts: 113
Location: Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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| I had the SAME setup like you, a very good run from West to East. Then the next week I got NOTHING.After I was mad and told my fleetmanager at Shaffer about it she said : You got over average miles, there are drivers who got much less miles.And those drivers will get the good runs THIS week, not you. Thats fine, its just I WORKED HARD to do these miles, I get NOTHING for sitting the next week. I guess it slipped out of her, I guess she wished that she had bid her tounge .Then I knew there was NO getting ahead. I told her that my mortgage company DONT care about THEIR rules. |
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scythe08
Joined: 03 Apr 2006
Posts: 117
Location: Salt Lake City, UT
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| Be strong Guys! It's bad all over. I drive local and I have had only 5 full paychecks this year so far(get paid weekly) And the only reason I have that many is the I got bid out of my previous spot and I ended up in this one which was actually a better run. |
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Karnajj
Joined: 01 Sep 2005
Posts: 1107
Location: Cincinnati
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject: |
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Frankly I don't care if I'm doing better than everyone else. That's no excuse to cut my miles (if they are truly doing that). The way I look at it once the week is over it doesn't matter any more what kind of miles I got. They better be looking to keep me busy NEXT week. Used to be they would deadhead you how ever many miles it took to get you a load. I realize that was when fuel prices were lower but you still have to keep the drivers happy. When I was up in Rome, NY I was sitting with 9 other Crete drivers. What do you think the topic of conversation was? The latest Hitlery/Osama I mean Obama debate? Hardly. We were talking about how we used to never have to sit like this in the past. It wears you down when you can no longer count on getting enough miles to pay the bills. You get short tempered and you start pissing off people you are probably better off not getting mad at you. I don't drive to see the country. I don't drive because I feel like I'm contributing to the economy or performing a needed task. I drive because it earns me a good income. Forty or Fifty thousand dollars a year is not enough to keep me out for 4-5 weeks at a time. I HAVE to get up around $60,000 before it's worth it. Otherwise you are justing wasting your time.
When you sit you invariably start thinking about things you would be better off not thinking of. Missing your kids baseball game or your wifes birthday etc. When you are moving you have other things to occupy your mind. I'm just not moving as much as I used to. |
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jefster
Joined: 21 Aug 2004
Posts: 42
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:19 pm Post subject: |
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| I drive local and I havent had even one full check yet this year and I was getting ready to go otr because its so bad but I have a bad feeling it will be just as bad otr. |
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Uturn2001
Joined: 10 Jan 2005
Posts: 4623
Location: East Central IL between the corn and the beans
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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These outrageous fuel prices are quickly taking the economy right into the dumper. Consumers are spending less on everything but fuel right now.
Even though worker productivity rose 2.2% in the first quarter of this year the unemployment rate actually more than offset it, so in reality there has been less product made and therefore less product needing shipped because less product is needed because people can not afford to buy what they used to buy.
I can certainly understand driver's frustration at having to sit, especially when they are not even getting a few hundred mile run a day. To be honest though I do not think anyone is really going to find a better deal than what they have right now in the OTR/regional sectors, especially if they are at the upper end of the pay scales.
As others have said things are bad all over, and I believe they are going to get worse yet and continue to get worse until at least mid November after the elections though I can see things continuing to decline until this time next year when people will get a feel for what the next president is really going to be like. |
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whatsmynameagain
Joined: 04 May 2008
Posts: 34
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 8:52 pm Post subject: |
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| I feel your pain, its turned into the same story over at Barr Nunn, I used to do really well with them now I am lucky to scrape together 1 decent week much less 2 in a row and we kind of get the same story about how we are doing better than average or you just came off of a good trip. I'm with ya, i dont care how good i did yesterday, I wanna know how good i am doing today. I have been really debating on bailing out on Barr Nunn as well but then i look at stuff like this and talk to other drivers from other companies and think to myself, where the hell can i go, its getting crappy everywhere. I feel your pain on deadheading to loads as well, Barr Nunn has really out the crunch on that as well, its getting to the point where its financially better for them to just leave you sitting with no load than it is to deahhead out to get to a load. Thats why they changed our layover pay to a 34 hour wait now. Sucks everywhere it seems. |
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headborg
Joined: 06 Nov 2007
Posts: 1098
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 9:29 pm Post subject: |
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Karnajj wrote: Frankly I don't care if I'm doing better than everyone else. That's no excuse to cut my miles (if they are truly doing that). The way I look at it once the week is over it doesn't matter any more what kind of miles I got. They better be looking to keep me busy NEXT week. Used to be they would deadhead you how ever many miles it took to get you a load. I realize that was when fuel prices were lower but you still have to keep the drivers happy. When I was up in Rome, NY I was sitting with 9 other Crete drivers. What do you think the topic of conversation was? The latest Hitlery/Osama I mean Obama debate? Hardly. We were talking about how we used to never have to sit like this in the past. It wears you down when you can no longer count on getting enough miles to pay the bills. You get short tempered and you start pissing off people you are probably better off not getting mad at you. I don't drive to see the country. I don't drive because I feel like I'm contributing to the economy or performing a needed task. I drive because it earns me a good income. Forty or Fifty thousand dollars a year is not enough to keep me out for 4-5 weeks at a time. I HAVE to get up around $60,000 before it's worth it. Otherwise you are justing wasting your time.
When you sit you invariably start thinking about things you would be better off not thinking of. Missing your kids baseball game or your wifes birthday etc. When you are moving you have other things to occupy your mind. I'm just not moving as much as I used to.
It's called robbing Peter to Pay Paul- this week -- this half the fleet gets to eat-- next week the will switch and feed the other half.
One bad week? out of the last 17weeks -- and you still saying you're at 53,000 miles total--- that means you've still got 3100 miles a week AVERAGE!---- but, I know...every week counts--- just keep track of them--
tell them you're leaving WHEN/IF THAT AVERAGE FALLS BELOW X?? |
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