Stevens Transport A year in review

2 years ago it took 6 weeks from the time I applied, until I was scheduled for orientation which was 2 weeks later. I don't know what takes them so long.

 

I took the last couple of days of Feb off, and returned to work on the 4th. Been running the wheels off the truck for the past 6 days. finally have to stop moving, log book is out of crayons again .

Miles for February were good.
Total miles Driven, 11193 last year 8897, increase of 2296
Miles Paid, 10822 last year 8453, increase of 2369
Unpaid Miles, 371 last year 444, decrease of 73
Variance percent, 3.4 last year 5.3.

Net pay for February .278 per mile, and my loan from stevens is paid off for the old tractor that I turned in for this new T660. Wear and tear, and parts and tires, and brakes....
Last years net pay for February, .275 per mile

Fuel cost this year .157 per mile
fuel cost last year .182 per mile

Things are improving, and Freight has been great.

 

March 1 to March 7

At home for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd.

Total miles 2381.
Miles paid 2467
Miles transfloed, yet to be paid, 0

enjoyed my time at home, got my 2009 income taxes done, love my accountant, only takes about 1/2 a day.

I hoped that maybe I would get a preplanned load but Thursday morning call to my driver manager to put me back on active duty, and no pre plan. Headed over to pick my trailer up, and prepare to wait, when my phone rings, dispatch meat wanting to know if I was ready to roll? and did I have an empty trailer? Yes and Yes, since I am the only driver for Stevens that lives in Casper WY, I will have the same trailer I dropped off.

A driver is running short on hours, and can not make his delivery into clackamas OR and could I help them out. He shut down the night before in wamsutter WY, 160 miles west from Casper. 10 pm appointment in OR on Friday. I can do that!!!!
Grab my trailer, head for wamsutter, a nice sunny day, no wind , get to the Loves, find the alliance driver who is upset when he finds out I am empty, and him in the middle of no where WY. His DM did not tell him he was getting an empty. I need fuel, but loves network is down with Tcheck. This is the cheapest fuel in the state, so we do a manual authorization, an it only takes 30 minutes for the clerk to get through on the phone to a human to get it done.

Head off hit some wet snow near Ogden UT and Snowville UT, and stop for the night at the Garden of Eden Truck Stop, Eden UT. Always has parking, even at Midnight. Have breakfast, get the question can I make the delivery? Yes I am 540 miles out, which is about 10 hours drive time, 2 to 3 hours unload, and then find a safe haven to park after midnight around portland OR. I head out at 1300 log book time, stop for a quick fuel stop, a quick lunch later, and pull into Fred Meyers at 2130 for my 2200 appointment. Back into the door, see the lumper, walk back to my truck. I have a messed up preplan to pick up in Albany OR, on saturday, when the shipper is closed, but they will load me for $100. But stevens has not given me the phone number to call the guy. Deal with that in the morning.

45 minutes and my trailer is empty... so far so good...will have time to make the TA in Aurora OR. 2 hours pass, I walk in to see what is taking so long, the checker is just starting to check it in. I wait, and he hands me the paper work after 10 minutes. Out to the truck, send in my empty call, and head for the gate. It is 18 miles to the TA, and I have 30 minutes on my log before my 14 runs out. Hope there is parking, or I will make a spot.

Pull into the TA, Idle air section is 1/2 empty, and the side lot has lots of parking spots. Some times it just works out.

Get up in the morning, deal with the problems of the shipper being closed, getting Stevens to come off the phone number, and making them realize that this load can not possibly be in Temple TX on Sunday night 2200 miles away, in 28 hours. Appointment gets rescheduled for Wednesday 2100. Now I can make that, even with bad weather.

Saturday is a gorgeous day, sun shinning, no rain, can even see Mt hood clearly. The guy that came in to load me was very pleasant, quickly loaded me, and he and his boys were off to spend the $100 fee that afternoon.

Head out, enjoying the drive, and stop in Baker City OR. Midnight again, and plenty of parking. Have a good breakfast, good conversation, and head off, stopping for sunday night at Walkers, Price UT on US 6. Friendly ladies behind the counter.

A good start for March.

 

March 8 to 14

miles ran 3002 a good week with a 34 hr reset
miles paid 3236 made a good pay check this week


monday morning, sun is shining on this crisp morning. Continuing with my load of frozen veggies to Temple Tx. Fuel stop is flying J in tucumcari NM, but that adds 40 miles to the trip, so I decide to stop monday night at the loves in Santa Rosa and buy my fuel there. When I get my settlement, This loves was the biggest discount by far over all my fuel stops, and all the others were opti stops. Loves is always a good choice when I am changing up the fuel stops to fit the route. The wind is howling monday night, even with all the air dropped out of the trailer and tractor, I feel like the baby in the cradle in the tree.

Tuesday the wind has stopped, and I can make Temple Tx today, a day early, now to try and get to deliver early. Make it to Tye Texas by 2:30 pm, stop and call wal mart receiving. Get to Dave the dock supervisor and ask if I can deliver early, He tells me if I can be there between 6:30 and 7:00 pm he will try and work me in. I am 230 miles away.... I put the peddle to the middle and run tx 36 down to temple. turns out to be a good two lane road with passing lanes. Pull into the gate at 6:35. No door available, but put it in the staging area. 30 minutes later I am backing into a door. 2 hours later I am headed out the gate with an empty trailer, 64 hours of my 70 gone, and this is only day 6 of 8.
Do a 34 hour reset, after explaining to my DM the next morning why I did not do the run up to Irving that the night crew wanted me to repower. I could not start my next clock soon enough, and then I would have been stuck in Lancaster Truck stops to do a 34.

Enjoyed my day off talking with other truckers, and eating well at Jeans greasy spoon.

Get up on the 11, the same day I would have been dispatched if I had delivered on time, and at 10am, I am asking where is my load assignment? get sent to Bryan Tx to Sanderson Farms....chicken... fresh.... hurry up and get there so I can start my break At least it is not Tyson. Also get told by meat dispatch this is a critical customer, and too many stevens drivers have copted an attitude, so they do not like stevens at this time. Nice to know.

Arrrive, check in, scale out, drop my empty trailer in a door, bobtail over to a dry spot, hard to find, and park. The shipping clerk is short, and gives no information. oh well. Take my walk for the day around the grounds, and the trees. 70 degrees, sun shine. take a nap. watch a beat up Freightliner and trailer back into a nice new sanderson farms trailer...

Driver was clueless he even hit the other trailer, until the damage to both was pointed out by the yard jockey, and the bosses with cameras and paperwork.

Shift change, and I wander in to check on my load. DLD is 8pm, now 3pm. This shipping clerk has the right idea. She wants to know what drivers are there waiting, and those are the loads to be loaded first, if the product is ready. At 4:30 I am loaded and headed out. Opti Stop route is totally stupid and adds 200 miles to get me to Layton UT, just north of salt lake city. DM tries to get me a new one, and does get me a fuel stop on the route I am taking, the J in Tye Texas. Good place to stop for the night, fuel and take a shower. I arrive fuel, scale out for axle, but they have no water. oh well go to sleep, and take shower in the morning.

Get a priority message on the QC from meat wanting to know why I am not rolling? this is a critical customer. Wakes me from a sound sleep. He got a scathing message back, about leave me alone, I know when I have to be to Smiths (kroger) and I will be there. go in take my shower, eat breakfast, and waste some time. Then I roll across New Mexico, stopping in bloomfield NM for the night, where I get some free chicken strips at the KFC, being closing time, and can have a good breakfast in the morning.

get awakened again by the QC beeping, which I had turned down the night before, this time it is When will you be rolling, this is a critical customer.
My answer is a little bit nicer this time, as my appointment is for 10pm, I am 8 hours away, and was planning on leaving around noon. this gives me time to legally leave their property after being unloaded. My plans quickly changed as I at my breakfast and checked the weather. US 6 is getting heavy snow in Utah. finish my breakfast and head out. Will find a place to park close by after being unloaded.

Hit snow at price UT, and the final 8 miles into provo were windy, slick, and was traveling at 20 miles an hour. arrive at Smiths at 7pm, but can not check in until 9:45, but they have a small staging area. Problem solved, a place to park when empty and out of hours. See that I have a recap on the trailer coming off the casing. I could be like so many other drivers as I have a pickup at Hershey in the morning 15 miles away, and just drop the trailer at the plant. But I can't do that to another driver, so I drive the 90 mile round trip to the TA in Tooele UT, to get the tire replaced, get my PM done, and while I am there get the trailer washed out too!!!

Head over to pick up my preloaded heavy ### trailer. Fuel gauge shows empty on the trailer, but it has about 1/2 tank. Scale the load, going to California, and I am 35600 on the trailer, 79600 gross. Go back, they reload, will not cut any product, go and scale, 34500 on trailer, return, they still will not cut product, reload, go and scale again, 34060 on trailer. I slide it into the 6th hole, and head out, will have to do the 50 gallon shuffle, and pray the scales in cali are closed or not paying real close attention to the 40 ft rule, as I am 40'6".

So tonight I sit in Cedar City UT, where I can clean up, and have a nice 8 hour drive again to my delivery in San Bernadino Ca.