Profile For Jamie

The mentor at Crete is someone you call. They are not in the truck.

This. It's just an experience driver who has worked for Crete for X amount of time, who we can call if we ever have any questions about anything Crete related. So we dont have to bother our DM, etc for simple things.

Well things have been going great so far with Crete, they are a lot more stricter on a lot of things compared to Schneider. Tomorrow is my last day of orientation, then ill be assigned my own truck. They also assign a mentor to all new employees, drivers who volunteer their time to help new crete drivers in case we forget how to do something a certain way, etc.

Well first day is over with, went smoothly. A lot of the paperwork was done on iPads, excluding a few things. So it helped speed up the process a little bit.

Thanks everyone! Today is almost over, so far got a lot of paperwork done, watched all the videos they want us to watch today and Wednesday. passed my DOT physical, passed the road test. So far so good. They asked about some missing employment history, so not sure if that will be a problem yet or not since I was unemployed during that time.

Passport is considered one of THE.BEST forms of ID that establish identity, citizenship and right to work.

If you're using your SS card - make SURE IT IS NOT LAMINATED. A laminated SS card is considered INVALID.

Funny that it is your second trucking gig - yet you still have to come up with all the ID you did when you first started out.

Best of luck (though luck isn't a factor, it's SKILL AND EXPERIENCE NOW) in your new gig at Crete.

Rick

I've should've gotten a passport before, would been so much simpler.

My SS card is not laminated, just the orginal paper copy used it at Schneider as well.

Thanks none the less, I'm trying to find it still just incase otherwise, they will either accept my two forms of ID or sadly I'll be sent home until I can get a new copy which wouldn't be ideal of course.

I had mine when I went, in addition to my DL, passport, SS card, and retired military ID. I'm not sure what copies they need to make.

This is a tough one because on a Sunday, you won't get a recruiter on the phone.

Maybe look on Google for orientation and see if there are any answers there.

When I came to Schneider last yest, I had my birth certificate. The wife and I store all our important documents in a safe, but when I went through it, I was unable to find my birth certificate, so not entirely sure what happened to it since then. I would have went to the health office and got a new copy, but they're not open today.

Looked on google and seen its suggested to have it, based on other companies.

Call your recruiter if you are UNSURE.

Most companies want to see a B.C., (though a passport will suffice) - as much to verify citizenship/right to work as anything else. I have a couple of B.C.'s (but none with a raised seal), but I have a booklet & passport card as a form of ID.

Rick

I tried to call before making this thread, but was not able to reach anyone from the recruiting department or anyone else that knew for sure if I needed it or not.

The i9 form they sent me, said I could choose one thing for list A or any combination from list B and C, which I have one from each list my driver licenses and my original social security card.

I'm starting orientation tomorrow at Crete and was wondering if I needed my Birth Certificate? I have my driver licenses and original copy of my social security card, but I'm not able to find my birth certificate. The I9 form they sent me said I could use my driver licenses and another form of identification from the second list which listed both my social security card and or birth certificate.

But I did decide to go with Crete Carriers for many reasons, one being that they have a pet policy which is important since my wife will be coming on the road with me for awhile, and we have two cats.

Good thing you added the cats part - had me worried for a second!

Great job. Best of luck!

hahahahaha, I didn't even notice that until you mentioned it!

You must be excited to start with your new company. Good luck with Crete. Are they going to have you go out with a trainer or is orientation only required?

I am very excited! Thank you. I will only have to attend orientation for 3 days and I'll get assigned my own truck. Although I wouldn't want to go through a training phase again, I would have done it if they wanted me to.

Oddly enough during my time on this dedicated account, everything has went smoothly. I have always been professional, friendly and provided the best customer service I could. I got a call today from my DBL mentioning that a delivery I made Monday, a customer called in saying I damaged property. I didn't remember which customer it was at first, since I do a lot of deliveries each week. But I did end up remembering because I sent pictures to my DBL regarding this delivery since my work phone was messing up at the time. During this delivery, my forklift developed a leak and leaked either coolant or oil on their drive way, which everything seemed fine at first and they said it was not a problem. But I guess they decided it was a problem after I left. I don't believe it's going to be a big deal, since it was out of my hands(I inspect my forklift daily) really plus they signed a damage waiver while signing for the delivery.

After consideration, I did ultimately decided to leave Schneider for Crete. I gave Schneider a two week notice in order to find my placement for this dedicated account, which they did and his training will be completed by the start of next week. I explained my reasoning behind me leaving Schneider to my DBL, he understood and thanked me for giving him two weeks to find a replacement driver. During the last almost two weeks, I went about my day like I would any other time, showing up to work on time and getting my deliveries done in a timely fashion and even doing some favors for my DBL.

Schneider has been very good to me, and I would highly suggest them to basically anyone looking to get into the trucking industry or even experienced drivers. But I did decide to go with Crete Carriers for many reasons, one being that they have a pet policy which is important since my wife will be coming on the road with me for awhile, and we have two cats.

I will be attending orientation this coming Monday for Crete, and look forward to it.

Your wheels would lock up, since the low air would make the spring brake activate.

A friend of mine who has been driving about 7 years crashed his truck at the start of this year, got a few tickets such as reckless driving, driving to fast for conditions and one more I believe. He was hired at Swift a few short months later. That doesnt mean they would hire you, since I'm sure like most companies they take it on a case by case basis.

Jamie...I honestly don't want to tell you what to do... but seriously, I encourage you to exhaust all opportunities with Schneider, including ones on the horizon. Winter is approaching...is that the best time to change companies, as the risk of a mishap increases?

Not pickin' on yah Man, just trying to help you do the right thing for the longer term. Crete seems like a lateral move to me requiring you to reestablish yourself as a safe and efficient driver over the winter months.

Good luck.

I know you guys are just trying to give me the best advise possible based off your experiences and such, and I will take that advise to heart and have a discussion with my DBL and anyone else regarding any opportunities Schneider might have that would fit me better. Thank you guys!

Jamie, I drove for Schneider for two years, operated out of the Lebanon (TN) OC and stayed almost exclusively in the Midwest (IN, IL, OH, WI) areas.

When I wanted different areas, I got the okay to run west to CA, CO, AZ. When they needed drivers to handle some Target dedicated out of VA, I did it. Same with Walmart in PA @ OH.

Please consider talking with your OC leadership team. I ONLY left SNI for better hometime. If you leave them just for the sake of leaving, you must start over proving yourself. That’s often easier said than done.

I did the Northeast runs when I had to, but I didn’t stay there. Maybe some discussion with your team could land you with more of what you want without losing what you’ve built.

I hope this helps.

I had a completely different conversation regarding my time spent in the North East, I am out of the West Memphis, AR OC and when I was OTR my time generally went like this: I was usually sent to Texas the first few days, but then I'll get a load going to Ohio or something like that, and then it'll send me to PA, NJ, NY, NH, ME and those states where I will generally spend almost all my time in, until it's close to my home time, then they'll start sending me back mostly to the northern states to get me closer to Arkansas, then slowly make my way down here. I have talked to my DBL and the person right above him about the time I spent in the North East and how I didn't really like spending the majority of my time up there.

But it might be worth mentioning again, Schneider makes you wait 6 months minimum I heard when you want to switch between 'jobs' such as dryvan, flatbed, etc. But I shall see what they might say.

Has it occurred to you that approaching Schneider with what you'd like in a job, might yield a positive, yet unexpected result?

Before I switched to this local account, I did take the time to talk to my DBL and the person right above him(forgot the correct position), but there wasn't much that could be done since they said something along the lines of it's about lucking out, since they have a lot of freight in the North East. Now that isn't exactly what they said, but it was the gist of it since I don't remember word for word. Due to my area I live, job wise there wasn't much to choose from, OTR/Regional/Local(port and the account I am on now)/tanker OTR and the family dollar account. I didn't want to team, so that limited my options a bit.

My point is...you go to Crete, you might be missing out on other really cool opportunities with Schneider if you do not have that conversation, and further to the point, don't expect Crete to bend over backwards to please you if 30 days in you decide it's not what you want. Things change with the bigger companies as they are always taking in new business...that might favor your desire for the future.

It might be worth mentioning again as maybe things have changed since I switched to this account, so before I up and leave; I'll contact a few people within Schneider to discuss those type of things.

what do they haul?

That question actually slipped my mind, since it was dryvan it didn't really bother me as much I guess?

What do you expect to improve by going to Crete?

I really don't know what to expect or how to answer that question honestly.

Isn't the Crete OTR job running dry van?

Yes I am going back OTR doing dryvan with Crete(if hired), which isn't what I planned originally when deciding to switch to another company.

What exactly do you want Jamie?

Again I cannot honestly answer that question, besides by saying I really loved over the road and Schneider is a good company. But I didn't like spending the majority of my time in the North East. That's is mostly why I didn't want to go back OTR dryvan with Schneider, because they simply have a lot of freight in that area, so a lot of solo drivers tend to stay in that part of the country the most.

I mentioned in another thread I made not long ago, that I have been considering leaving Schneider. I did end up putting an application into Crete Carriers and talked to a recruiter which answered all the questions that came to mind. I am currently waiting for them to verify my work history and all those things. I have heard a lot of good things about Crete, I had the chance to talk to a few of their drivers while I was OTR and simply liked what they had to offer. Schneider is a great company, and besides a few polices I don't agree with; I have nothing bad to say at all. I have had nothing but good experiences here and everyone has always been friendly. I did end up staying with Schneider for a little over a year which is recommended to do, and I simply feel it's not a company I want to stay with long term for no one specific reason, more of personal feelings I suppose.

Nothing is set in stone yet, since they are simply going over my application and verifying my driving experiences, previous jobs, etc. But so far everything sounds good.

I don't plan to up and leave Schneider without any type of notice, I plan to put a two week notice(if I am 'hired' at Crete of course) in for many reasons. Two of those reasons are - 1: Schneider has been good to me, so it's the right thing to do. 2: There are only 5 drivers on this account, so it would put a strain on everyone if I just up and quit without notice. At least it'll give them two weeks to get another driver down here or hire someone.

Decided to post an update on here, just to let everyone know what's going on.

So far I have had no problems finding the places I had to delivery too on this account, but it was a fun experience from just having the GPS take me directly there.