Going Great With Crete So Far

I add my miles up by the month. Later on after a few years, you can see trends like which months are busy, slow, etc.

I also track average mileage for the trips, then break that down even further. Avg mph, hours of driving, total mileage for each month/quarter/annual/lifetime, fuel and DEF purchased. I also track my spending for everything.

Another is fuel mileage using actual math, not the gage on the dashboard.

Something I do to pass the time other than drive/eat/sleep.

I seem to recall that you said your averaged 56 mph. Is that for driving time or all on duty hours?

For me, that’s just my average for actual driving. Over the past four years, each year’s has been between 55.4 and 55.7 mph, all paid miles, empty or loaded. My On Duty, not driving time each day is minimal, and normally will consist of only fueling, pre trip, drop and hook , checking in/out at the customer.

You really need to look at miles in a monthly or quarterly context when evaluating your performance.

I haven't been with Crete long enough to evaluate my performance monthly/quarterly but I am planning to do that, I currently keep track of different information related to each load on a spreadsheet which I will then use the site I'm working on to automatically calculate the information from the spreadsheet and then give me data related to my average performance and I will go from there on improving in areas I need to improve on.

I well remember Jamie's frustration with his paychecks varying considerably from week to week. That's what happens when you end up dumping a lot of last week's miles onto this week's paycheck. Then you're behind the eight ball trying to make a decent check for the next.

I actually want to make it clear that during the time I drove for Schneider my paychecks wasn't low due to the load falling on another pay period, because they actually pay you for the miles you drove that week and not when the paperwork is submitted. Example; If you had a 600 mile load and only drove 300 miles before the end of the pay period, and the rest within the next pay period then you would get paid for partial miles you drove before the next pay period. I'm not exactly sure why my miles were so low during my time OTR with Schneider, I would have to factor in being new and still learning, staying in the north east doing a lot of short haul loads which took up a lot of hours and waiting around for preplans.

This isn't me bashing on Schneider either, because I have had good experiences with Schneider and enjoyed my time working there besides some of my pay while I was OTR which as I said above could have been my own fault.

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Coming over to Crete, I have learned a lot of companies do things completely different with how they handle loads, when they're paid for, etc. Which isn't bad besides when the last load being something that falls on the next pay period. Since they could mean the difference between a 2200 mile week and a 3000 mile week like it was for me last week.

Made it back home for my home time, was a pretty exciting first few weeks. Went from east coast to west and back east, and then some. Got some high hopes with my future with Crete!

Jamie, forgive me if I sound like I'm your Mom trying to help you. I just have an observation that I want you to think about.

You're in what we call the "homeymoon" phase of this job. You've been here before. Here's a quote from you at the beginning of your career at Schneider.

I got my first load assignment last night, I left out of my home OC in west Memphis heading 844 miles away near the Mexico border. I knocked out 488 miles today, pretty happy.

You eventually got frustrated with the job and switched to a dedicated flatbed account with Schneider. Once again you were expressing excitement and enjoyment with the job for a few months, and shortly you switched to Crete.

Now you're excited again.

was a pretty exciting first few weeks... Got some high hopes with my future with Crete!

It's all understandable. But it's wearying if you end up never really figuring out how to sustain your enjoyment of this career. New companies, new assignments, and new challenges are exciting. Maintaining a daily level of inspiration in trucking is what makes it have a lasting rewarding effect on our careers.

Crete has a great reputation, and so does Schneider. You had some ups and downs at Schneider and it eventually wore on you. Your solution was to make a change in your job. It worked for a while, and then you found another change in jobs and here you are - happy again! To be honest, I'm happy for you.

I just want to see you manage your highs and lows a little differently. Why is that important? Because trucking is filled with challenges. It provides us with highs and lows on a daily basis. There's going to be days where you think Crete stinks. You know what I'm talking about. Trucking serves up frustration at times.

Here's how I manage this issue. I set goals for myself. I'm the person responsible for meeting those goals. That forces me to act in a proactive way to maintain my levels of satisfaction with this job. It puts all the responsibility on me. That's why I've always pushed this idea that the name on the doors of the truck have no effect on your success or satisfaction at this career.

No matter who I'm working for, I know they want me to be successful. Their success is bound up in mine. That's exactly why they hired me. The one thing they can't do is make me successful. That part rests on my efforts and understanding of the complexities of the career.

You've been learning all along. You are definitely improving. I just recommend you stay focused on what Jamie's responsibility is in his job satisfaction. Crete can't provide that key element of satisfaction. They can provide the work, and the work will provide the challenges, but ultimately the driver provides his own satisfaction with the job.

Honeymoons are great, really great, but they are short lived. Careers are long lasting and must be sustainable. Enjoy this honeymoon, but prepare to develop yourself into a professional with focus and lasting success.

Things are still going good this week as well, figured there was no point in updating so often anymore. They are still giving me great loads with good miles and keeping me preplanned.

Today I had to deal with probably the most unpleasant person I've encountered since coming into trucking, this lady was so rude and had a nasty attitude from the very moment we started talking. When I picked my last load up, I messaged Crete before I even left the shipper that I would not be able to make the delivery time due to how far it was, the appointment time, and my hours left for that day. Everything went okay, I gave them my safe and legal ETA, they told the customer and the appointment was updated to meet the new delivery time. Yesterday I got a message asking me what my ETA was since the customer wanted to know, so I informed them I would be getting there by 2:30am on 11/22/19 and they said they would inform the customer. So I thought everything was fine, I confirmed they would be open that early to accept the delivery, and I was on my way. When I arrived at the customer, the lady at the receiving office was basically refusing to give me a dock door since there was only one person working nights in the receiving and shipping department, and I guess he was supposed to be doing something else but trucks kept showing up. She kept saying how I wasn't supposed to come in so early, and all kind of things. I simply explained that I told my company when I picked the load up that I wouldn't make the delivery, and they were in contact with your company to get my appointment updated from anytime from 11/21/19 at 05:00 until 11/22/19 at 10:00, all say heard was 10:00, and was about to shut the window but I said hold up, and I pulled out my phone and showed her the messages between me and Crete and the appointment being updated and that I would be late if I was to come back by 10:00. After going back and forth for a few minutes she finally decided to give me a dock door and based off her attitude I thought it was going to be hours, since she said to back into dock 1 and he'll get to you when he gets to you. About this time she was talking to the forklift driver and made a remark "If today turns out like yesterday, I'm quit; just walk out". I was professional about the whole thing, thanked her, etc.

I was out in about two hours and 30 minutes which wasn't to bad at all, and still made the pickup time for my next load which was mostly a first come first serve kind of thing, I was there as soon as they opened. It may not sound as bad as I'm typing this up, but of course I don't remember word for word now but yeah kind of ruined my morning, but I got over it haha.

I forgot a part of the above post, when I told the lady that my appointment was until 10:00, all she heard was 10 and told me to come back at 10:00 and was about to shut the window before the rest of it happened.

I should probably read my post before hitting submit since I cannot edit it after that. Bad habits from other online forums I'm apart of.

Drove 642 miles today, by far the farthest I have driven in a single clock. Got everything planned out for my delivery tonight and my preplan for tomorrow.

Drove 642 miles today, by far the farthest I have driven in a single clock. Got everything planned out for my delivery tonight and my preplan for tomorrow.

Sounds like an AWESOME day's work!

That's a very respectable day, Jamie.

Best my personal best which was 642, today I drove 660 miles. Pulled into the truck stop with 8 minutes on my drive time.