CRETE - A Year in Review
#31
01-13-2008, 02:17 PM
mba driver wrote:
You are in for a big surprise. I enjoy working with Superior, but as anyone will tell you, it has its drawbacks......
I am very aware of how easy my job is now. As a matter of fact I don't even consider it work. Prior to Crete I pulled reefer for a dedicated account for 3+years and unloaded my own truck, every pound of it myself with nothing more than handjack and have restacked far more pallets than I could possibly remember. Not to mention the years I worked in framing and block construction in the Phoenix sun. I really need to stop patting myself on the back, I guess I could alway get dollarshort to do that for me. I am certain the flexibility in hometime will more than makeup for the extra work, even if I have to take a bit of a pay cut. I love a challenge. I figure if Cyanide can do it, it will be a breeze! :shock:
#32
01-13-2008, 02:28 PM
Originally Posted by wsyrob
so the company sent me to the motel for two nights....and they pay for it.
#33
01-13-2008, 03:23 PM
OK, I'll try this point by point thing.
mbadriver wrote:
You are in for a big surprise. I enjoy working with Superior, but as anyone will tell you, it has its drawbacks.
Equipment - Underpowered Internationals. You won't find ANYONE bragging up the Superior fleet. None of that "all our trucks are 05, 06 or newer."
Take your Crete Freightliner Century Class and cut about 2/3's of the sleeper. They are tiny, they have no aux heater. The engine runs from the time you start it until you return to base.
As a new driver with them you whatever truck is laying around the yard. The Best of the Worst. It will be filthy, and most likely leaking something somewhere.
Administrative:
If you need a lot of hand holding (trip routing, directions, fuel stops) forget it. You are definitely free to think for yourself (i like that!)
Support: They leave at 5pm.
Miles: That story has been beat to death. You don't need a lot to make a good living at Superior.
Downside - to low miles = a lot of work. You gotta do a throrough pre-trip you never know what the condition is off the trailer you just picked up at the tank wash, or was pre-loaded. Climbing on top checking all the caps and seals, dome lid/seal, clean dry odor free. Internal valve pump, external valve. You just can't trust or assume anything.
Allot of work is no problem, as long as the paycheck justifies the effort.
Unloading - its compensated, but still is work. Up and down the ladder, sling hoses, air up, air down, inspect for heel. Buckets, caps, plugs, velcro strips. A bit of change from opening doors. Also the rumor is tank yankers suck at backing. Baloney, the places you off load can be a riot. Back around a 90-degree turn, down the hill, another 90 to the blind side - all the while the product is bouncing you around like a pinball.
Backing, 5 years of delivering materials with and end dump to constructions sites should cover that, at least you don't have to worry about the wind blowing your truck over as you unload a tanker
It's a change from being a door swinger. The money is decent. I like my job and the weird little challenges. Not having some dimwit dispatcher sending me routing information devoid of any common sense is probably the best benefit Laughing
Being treated like a person is alway nice, although I can't complain about Crete. They are good in that department, but it sounds like Superior has them beat anyway.
It's almost worth hiring with Superior just to spend the training week with Sharp and McPeek Laughing They are a hoot Wink
#34
01-13-2008, 10:01 PM
The policy book you get at Kingsport has all the terminals and the company motel(s) for each terminal. Bobtail over, give em your company ID, and they give you a room. No money changes hands. I prefer the Holiday Inn at Rahway, although the Comfort Inn @ Markham isn't bad. Kankakee motel is a dump, but has a nice bar. Kingsport isn't bad.
At Markham, you don't want to stray too far away from the hotel, because the neighborhood can get a little rough. That convenience/liquor store at the corner S/W corner of 6 and Dixie - boy that's a rough crowd. I like my job at Superior. I wasn't trying to be negative. I was just trying to give "real" picture of day to day life at Superior. It's a different job than dry van. For instance, a half full trailer of a low viscosity product. It's like having a cannonball rolling back and forth. If you get tired while driving, just slam on your brakes - it'll wake you up in a hurry :wink: FWIW, every truck I have gotten (I'm on my fifth in 3-months!) has been filthy. Perhaps, it has to do with the trucks getting repeatedly passed down the line to new hires. New hires tend to get a bit "dirtier" loading and unloading. The grunge ends up back in the cab. That's just a pet peeve of mine - I'm a bit of clean (not necessarily neat) freak. I slip seated at the last company I worked at, I went ballistic over the other drivers leaving their trash in the truck. Once there was white powder residue and a razor blade on the little slide out table. I didn't use that little slide out table until about 4-days out. Crime in Italy, I could have been in a world of sh!t :? In my whopping 19-months of trucking, Superior is my 4th company. They are by far the best. FWIW, I previously worked at Roehl, Falcon Transport, and Schneider. Falcon operated somewhat like Superior and I liked them. Just couldn't get the consistent miles necessary for decent paychecks. Oh well, I got to get ready to hit the road. Today I forego the $20 loading pay. I had the trailer pre-loaded. Will start my work week at noon. :lol: Oh crap, just saw the weather - a noreaster and I'm heading into the teeth of it. If it slows me down, I will have to click over to hourly pay!
Originally Posted by wsyrob
so the company sent me to the motel for two nights....and they pay for it.
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#35
01-14-2008, 01:50 AM
Crete's dedicated fleets
Originally Posted by evertruckerr
Originally Posted by wsyrob
so the company sent me to the motel for two nights....and they pay for it.
#36
01-14-2008, 01:28 PM
Originally Posted by evertruckerr
Dollarshort wrote:
Well I don't know if I agree about the "running hard" statement. If you only go home 53 days a year and only run 139,000 miles I wouldn't call it "running hard." I would call it a person that doesn't mind camping out anywhere in the country rather that being home.
Myself....I am home a minimum of 100 days per year and usually run about 155,000 miles a year. To me that's "running hard." But as long as you are happy doing it your way good for you. What seems to be killing your overall potential is those 300-500 mile runs, when you should be running 600 miles a day. Perhaps I should have said running hard as I legally can. I used to run like a mad man and loved it. I used to work for a company that would let me make my run anyway I want. Every week I would leave Phoenix at 7am Monday, drive 15hrs to Boise, ID, get 4-6 hours of sleep, make a delivery Tuesday morn and head on over to Seattle. I would get there in the evening and park at the customer and get a good 8 hrs sleep. Start my deliveries around 4am Wednesday , finish up by noon, pickup a back haul to Phx and drive until midnight or so, stop somewhere in Nev for a few hours to take a nap and be back in Phx by Thursday night. 3000 miles a week and I would sleep in my own bed 4 nights a week, except for the weeks when I would grab a load when I got back in town and run it over to La, grab a backhaul and get back to Phx late Fri. 150,000+ miles a year and home somewhere in the area of 200 nights(keep in mind,a night does not make a day,but I slept in my bed) a year and a substantially smaller paycheck than I make now. Life was good until one of our drivers feel asleep and killed a van full of people(yup, just like the Crete driver) and the DOT came down on the company. So there, I'm a more gooder super trucker than you.(That's a joke). Not really, I have no doubt I could run circles around you dollarshort. It's easy getting those kind of miles if you want to be a Maverick, and to tell you the truth, I miss those days. When I first started running legal, I thought I was going to go crazy, but once I got used to the idea and realized I could actually make more money with Crete and be legal at all times I found that job was much more relaxing. You know what, I don't even care if a scale is open these days. I will admit that sitting around for these damn 34hr resets annoy me to no end and who in the world needs a 10 hr break. Times are changing though, and sooner or later everyone will be running legal. Just wait until the activist groups finally succeed in getting the black boxes in all the trucks. The day will come my friend. I've just adjusted before you. So there, tag, you're IT. GO! :roll: Just for your information I have, and always will run 100% legal. If I don't I will be fired. The thing with the way we are dispatched, the driver is utilized to the best possible way to get the most miles possible per day. And yes I do run a minimum of 600 miles per day. EVERYDAY!!!!! Usually run about 675-700 per day. 8) The reason I go home every weekend is because I never have hours left to run after Friday anyway, so why camp out in a truckstop for 34 hours when I can be home. There is no reason to ever stay out more than a week unless you are wasting time. But that's not what I am out here to do. I never make an entry in my log book for a days hours less than 11 hours. It is usually 11 hours driving, 15 min. pre-trip, 15 min. post trip. Anything less is wasted time. I you think you can run circles around me that's fine....I know what I am capable of...Do you? :roll:
#37
01-14-2008, 08:47 PM
Dollarshort said "Just for your information I have, and always will run 100% legal. If I don't I will be fired.
The thing with the way we are dispatched, the driver is utilized to the best possible way to get the most miles possible per day. And yes I do run a minimum of 600 miles per day. EVERYDAY!!!!! Usually run about 675-700 per day. 8) The reason I go home every weekend is because I never have hours left to run after Friday anyway, so why camp out in a truckstop for 34 hours when I can be home. There is no reason to ever stay out more than a week unless you are wasting time. But that's not what I am out here to do. I never make an entry in my log book for a days hours less than 11 hours. It is usually 11 hours driving, 15 min. pre-trip, 15 min. post trip. Anything less is wasted time. I you think you can run circles around me that's fine....I know what I am capable of...Do you? :roll:[/quo" I work for Knight and I call BULLSHIT! Knight has the worse load planning I have ever seen. At Crete I was leading the National fleet with production for rookie drivers, with Knight I am starving. Crete has accepted my application to go back. As far as Knight firing you if you do not run legal I call Bullshit! again, I see more violations on HOS and pencil whipping inspections over here and nothing other happens except a verbal word from safety. Knight has many bush league drivers IMO. You can stop with the recruiting as the truth at Knight does not resemble your fairy tales.
#38
01-15-2008, 05:26 AM
Glad to see someone else call Dollarshort on the carpet for BS. Anybody with a sixth graders understanding of math can readily see that at his rate of pay there is no way in hell you can make the kind of money he claims to make.
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#39
01-15-2008, 07:36 PM
Nice job Evertruckerr! Looks like you've really mastered Crete's dispatch system and have it working to your advantage.
 Thanks for posting the info and keep on truckin'! 8)
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#40
01-17-2008, 10:52 AM
The final numbers are in and it looks like my initial estimate of my YTD pay was a little high. So here are the actual numbers and a the copy of my final pay check that I promised earlier in this thread:
My YTD pay on my final pay check of 12/27/07 for miles run through 12/21/07 was $60,857.19 Final Pay 2007 .................................................. ................$60,857.19 Less: First paycheck 2007 for last week of 2006........................- 575.23 Add: First paycheck 2008 for last week of 2007 including 1week pd/vac @ $1154...........................................+ 1743.57 ------------- Gross pay for 2007 .................................................. ..........$62,025.53 Here is a copy of final paycheck of 2007, you'll have to take my word on the adjustments. 
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