And I have been passed in my Crete truck by quite a few Werner and CR England trucks.....

 

In nearly two years with Crete they have yet to get me home late. In fact most of the time I get home a day or two earlier than requested. Your friend was not very smart to take a load that delivered so far from home so close to his requested date.
That has happened to me a couple of times and all I had to do was remind them of my upcoming home time to get them to change the load. It is true that the longer you stay out the more they are willing to work with you. People who try to get home every two weeks will find dispatch less flexible than drivers who stay out three or more weeks at a time. I've said it before, if home time is your number one priority then Crete is not for you.

 

unless you're an o/o with a manageable truck payment, a large savings acct and a spouse that pays for your medical insurance and makes good $!

I've been home since the 20th. I'll be thinking of you guys and gals out there tomorrow while I'm chillin' at my in-laws house sitting on the deck with my feet up, smelling the BBQ, sipping on a Beck's Bier

 

it if funny how some Crete drivers never have a problem getting home, and others must fight for home time.

In the case I mentioned, the load was the only one offered my friend, in an area with little freight, Montana. The driver contacted his home terminal, and was told to take the load, and they would work with dispatch to get the load repowered.

This driver passed the terminals in Cheyanne, York, Lincoln and Ottawa, contacting dispatch each day along the way until passing Ottawa, and got no response from dispatch.

After being told, in effect, too bad by the assistant terminal manager on the last call made about repower, the driver said to hell with it.

Of course, the Wilmer terminal does not have a good reputation among Crete drivers.

 

Please don't think I am trashing your friend in any way but his big mistake was going to Montana in the first place. Even if it is a very productive load you have to realize that Montana is one of the worst freight states in the Crete system. You will rarely if ever get more than one load offer. Montana is a place to go when you have no commitments in the near future, not when you need to be home in a few days. It takes a few months to figure out any companies freight lanes. Before my 2nd time home with Crete I accepted a load down to south Florida that delivered 3 days before I needed to be home in Cincinnati. Big mistake but one I have not made since.

 

No, the mistake was not the driver's. Since requesting vacation time, each time the driver emptied out, he received only one load, which, having hours to run, had to take them.

And regular contact with the terminal resulted in promises to insure the driver would be home for vacation.

But it did not happen.

With repeated Qualcomm and phone messages, and passing by four terminals on the way to the final, there no excuse for not getting this driver home on time.

 

I was sitting in the Columbus Ohio yard trying to get home to SoCal and they offered me loads to CT, NJ and PA.

I called to explain the difference between East and West and got beefed to my terminal manager because I was nasty to them.

So much for my Geography class.......and no, they did not get me home on time.

 

Bumper, as I see it you made two mistakes.

First, trying to explain anything to a dispatcher is a lost cause.

Second, you should have requested a load to New York, then you would have gotten to California.

 

I was in Texas, asked for anything going west and was sent to Long Island. I am thinking they all got a good laugh on that. I think I'll pass on expressing my desires in the future. :shock:

 

That might be wise. I've experienced the same thing myself.