Ya 2nd that...

Great post!

 

I have driven for Crete for quite a few years and don't see it myself but know many are legends in their own minds.

 

Thanks for all of the detailed info...it's really helpful! Can't wait for your Week 4 summary.

 

yeah, I'm waiting too--- I do find all the details of your Strategizing and how to "work" the crete system very interesting and useful-- and can see how it's a great 'blueprint' for others to copy.

 

You just can't stand to see somebody who is doing better than you, can you? :roll:

 

Yep me 2 man....

Keep em coming... Strategy is the key and mistakes need to be shared; to all of our benefit.

Thanks

 

Huh?

 

I am a crete newbie,let me chip in.
Started driving for crete in august,from august till the end of 2007 my miles were pretty good,averaging between 11 to 12,000 miles per month.

Than came january and a significant drop in miles,not from effort,rather lack of freight.
Example got drop and hook from Kansas City to Ogden,UT ran there as fast as I legally could,droped load 1 day early around 10 am had 8 more hours to run that day,couldn't pickup nothing that day,best they could offer was a preloaded trailer following day at 8 am heading to stockton,ca.

Again darted down to stockton for an open live unload,first come first served style,after spending three hours getting unloaded still had about 5 hrs left on 14,couldn't get loaded,again got a pickup the following day a live load anywhere after 1300, went there early anyway got loaded by 1400.
Load was a drop and hook in Grandview,WA...got here as fast as I could,dropped here at noon,had 10 hours left on 14 and 8 hours driving time,No freight,again couldn't get loaded,to make things worse there is no freight so far for tommorow neither.

The point is,I can run as fast as I can to my destination,however if there is no freight the whole concept of running hard and doing restarts collapses.
Probably I am a bit unlucky aswell by running out of Crete's freight lines,but to be able to run hard with restarts, a company has to have a very good freight base.
In january I have been sitting a lot more waiting for freight than waiting for appointments.

 

Well, I'm a blue truck(Shaffer) and where as I questioned Evertrucker's numbers on week 2+3 in a row-- it's entirely possible He and maybe Karnajj were Running all the miles/freight available-- and that's why you were left ..Dog without a Bone.
Were you Qualcomm Aggressive??? Proactive??? Were you communicating your intent everyday? Updating ETA? Range to Target? Will have xx hours when empty? What you got? WHAT YOU GOT?
Do you have the zone dispatchers known by area? did you send messages 23- directly to them--- letting them know you were INBOUND and not planning on hanging around very long?

 

Welcome to the world of trucking. I happened to have a very good January. So good in fact that it's very close to my best month in all the years I've been driving. But I also realize that it's an exception not the rule for this time of year. The recession isn't helping things at all either. Don't make the mistake of thinking that the grass is greener somewhere else. It's this way just about everyehere you look. Another month or so things should be picking up nicely.