[repete]

The new policy sucks , BUT it's there truck and my dog so either I pay up or Maggie stays home, sorry Mag be good while I'm gone!
If I was still running the 48 I'd pay it or start looking at other Co. this will be hard on alot of drivers

[Karnajj]

Originally Posted by repete

The new policy sucks , BUT it's there truck and my dog so either I pay up or Maggie stays home, sorry Mag be good while I'm gone!
If I was still running the 48 I'd pay it or start looking at other Co. this will be hard on alot of drivers

The problem is the deposit is only good for one year. At that point all Crete trucks will be petless.

[Hoss27]

That's going to be awful crappy for a lot of drivers. On the other hand I WISH they had the deposit/cleaning fee when I drove for Crete. Apparently the person who had my truck before me had a cat they didn't know how to properly care for. Smell was tolerable when I first got the truck but then I got snow/moisture on the trucks flooring. Even after trying to clean and dry it up myself the cat urine smell got on my socks. Never did get the smell out of my boots. How they repay the deposit and the rest of the policy sounds like a crappy deal to me though.

[bluebeetle]

The really amazing thing that some of the drivers who have pets don't understand is that the other major carriers that pay the same as Crete/Shaffer don't allow pets. If you plan on going to another carrier that is smaller the pay is going to be less. With the price of fuel going the way that it is going, the smaller guys are going to have it rough and it is going to be a stability thing.

I have two dogs at home that I love very much. Used to have three until one of them bit my daughter for just trying to pet him. So please don't label me as a pet hater.

Drivers that don't want to come to work at Crete/Shaffer because of our pet policy/rider policy/home time/home every weekend will have to find someone who will offer what they want. When the paychecks aren't the same as what they were getting when they were here, they will have to evaluate the importance of owning the pet.

[repete]

I just talked to my manager reet policy The $600 can be paid cash check or payroll deduction at min of $25 per wk. The cleaning cost will be $125-175 (unsure of witch) As of April 09 ALL pets will be out of the trucks
It's to bad about this but some people are pigs and who wants to drive a truck that had several unwashed pets in it (never mind the dvr) :lol:

[Karnajj]

Originally Posted by bluebeetle

The really amazing thing that some of the drivers who have pets don't understand is that the other major carriers that pay the same as Crete/Shaffer don't allow pets. If you plan on going to another carrier that is smaller the pay is going to be less. With the price of fuel going the way that it is going, the smaller guys are going to have it rough and it is going to be a stability thing.

I have two dogs at home that I love very much. Used to have three until one of them bit my daughter for just trying to pet him. So please don't label me as a pet hater.

Drivers that don't want to come to work at Crete/Shaffer because of our pet policy/rider policy/home time/home every weekend will have to find someone who will offer what they want. When the paychecks aren't the same as what they were getting when they were here, they will have to evaluate the importance of owning the pet.

Crete didn't think this one out too clearly. I will venture to guess that well over 90% of the drivers who currently have pets will not be with the company a year from now. Every time Crete does something like this it just tells the drivers that they don't matter. We have the most restrictive rider policy in the business, our trucks are barebones and Crete has yet to come to any decision about the California idle law but they still send us out here and tell us if we get busted its out of our own pockets.

[Twilight Flyer]

I will venture to guess that well over 90% of the drivers who currently have pets will not be with the company a year from now.

Yeah, but where would they go? I wasn't kidding when I mentioned that Crete isn't the only one getting rid of their pet policy. My guess is that in 2 years, you will be hard pressed to find any major company that allows pets.

There are serious changes going on in the industry as companies look to streamline costs and efficiency and a pet program is going to be one of the first things to go. It's going to get to the point where if a driver wants a pet, he'll have to be an O/O brokering his own freight.

Every time Crete does something like this it just tells the drivers that they don't matter.

I would respectfully counter that if the company goes out of business, a driver definitely doesn't matter. Not to infer that Crete is going out of business because they aren't...but operating costs are astronomical these days. Things are going to change in order to bring costs down.

[unclehotte]

I am glad I jumped Shaffers/Cretes ship BEFORE this BS came into effect. Before I quit last year I was in some of their driver meetings in New Kingstown and ALL I heared was: We need MORE drivers, more more more!!
They claimed they had more freight then they could handle with the amount of drivers in the company. Funny, that from then on it went downhill in miles and more restrictive about what toll roads you can use or if at all. My wife was with me and 3 dogs, which were gladly accepted because they needed drivers SO BADLY. Now that everybody is slowing down they just throw the drivers with pets to the curb. I hope drivers wont forget this in the long run. In my 4 Years of trucking I NEVER have seen such a disrespect for drivers then at Shaffer. Still I stayed for over 1.5 years. The smaller company I work now for pays me way better then Shaffer ever did. Also to make it clear: I brought my truck back to Shaffer CLEANER then how I RECEIVED it!!!

[RottsATruckin]

Hey Twilight I agree there are legitimate reasons for not allowing pets, it’s the excuses that question my intellect (such that it is)
I figure there are 2 legitimate reasons, first is “we have customers that have “no pets allowed on premises policies”, how true, I’ve pulled up to customers gates only to get a policy printout handed to me and I was glad I had neither pet nor spouse in the truck because both would be waiting at the gate.
The second is simply “it’s our truck and we don’t allow it, take it or leave it”
I respect both .
I will however argue that pet owners do not idle more, next time you’re at the TS and it’s 60 degrees out, count the number of trucks idling, I’ll bet less than 10% have pets onboard. (so are they running their heat or A/C, I guess that’s a topic for another thread)
As far as APU’s, mine uses 1 gal per 8 hours, the truck uses 1 gal per hour @ idle, the cost savings will pay for the APU in just over a year. As for the bans, that issue is still in deliberations. Tell a driver they can’t idle is one thing, telling them they can’t have heat/cooling and you’re going to get sued.
I will always maintain there are no bad pets just bad owners, and I’ve seen more petless drivers trash their trucks because they’re slobs than I’ve ever seen damaged from pets.

[jw6831]

Today, no pet policy, tomorrow no smoking policy, dayafter, no eating in truck policy.