Originally Posted by Heirforce1

I remember when I first went to Stevens in Feb of 04', I'd heard all of the negative things that people have said in this post. It was true about the $70 a week pay and the reimbursement of the bus ticket and the promissary note etc. If you dont pay it back they assign Real Time Resolutions to go after you for payment. I didn't want to stay with them due to wanting to be a flatbedder and right after I got my Tx cdl, i told them this and they immediately made me withdraw from school. Since they didn't allow me to take their final exam, by me not technically finishing school they couldn't charge me full tution only the "upfront expenses I incurred". I escaped with my cdl went on to Western Express and had a great run with them. Every experience will be different but one thing I will say to their credit, the safety training and how they teach you drive is about the best I've seen in a awhile. Hope this helps your decision

I have to ask...Did you mistype your experience or the year you went to Stevens as 2004 and 2 years experience don't add up unless you quit driving for 5 years!

Don't worry about me I get cornfused easily!

I first want to say that I am not in any way, the expert on everything in the trucking industry. I know what I know and can't speak to what others know.

Listen and listen well to what I say now. There is no great trucking company!!! they are all the same, just a different color truck. They all offer benefits and some offer better compensation than others, but they are all pretty close.

Most solo drivers, meaning non-team drivers, will run between 1500 and 2800 miles per week, some drivers can and will run a little more, but those are the real experienced guys, who know the road, the lanes they travel in and know how to run hard when they run.

Most company drivers make between .26 and .41 cents per mile based upon experience. Now add that up two ways. Take the best case scenario of 3000 miles per week and multiply that by the per mile rate the trucking company recruiter has told you that you would earn at the start. Example, 3000 X's .26. This will tell you what you will gross per week minimum, and remember, this is part 1 and is the best case scenario. At 3000 miles per week, if you get to run consistent 3000 mile weeks each week, you can make some good money, but remember what I just wrote "If you get to run consistent 3000 weeks".

Now lets take part 2 and look at the worst case scenario. Take that same per mile rate and change the number from 3000 to 1500. This is not all that great when you look at it, and this is always before taxes and other deductions.

If your doing research right now, the best insight you will ever get is from a trucker. The worst you'll get is from a recruiter. What is the main job function of a recruiter? to sell you on coming to work at their house.

If you study the truck employment ads in these pretty truck stop books, remember, it was the recruiting department who wrote the wording in those ads and they will always paint a country club lifestyle in the ads.

I drive for CRST but my son wants to drive at Stevens. He has a new baby on the way and needs to be working for a company that is very close to home and he chose Stevens. His father in law also drives there.

I am a owner operator and have been for twenty years, spending three years as a company driver and even though that was moons ago, nothing has changed. Nothing about the hiring process ever changes.

So you want to be a trucker, why? Do you know someone who is or was? did you grow up around the trucks? Are you out of work and feel this is a stable career? do you even know what it involves? Do you know the real dirt on the road so to speak?

First off, it is not glamerous work, never was and never will be. I grew up around trucks as dad was a trucker and so was my grand pop. I knew at ten, this is what I would do for my life and knew this because I knew what the lifestyle was all about.

It is tough work and sometimes scary and lonely some of the time. You don't get home until the work is done and it is seldom ever really done, but you have to go to the house sometimes.

When your running the road, for the most part, you are either sleeping in the truck, sitting at a truck stop or at a shipper or receivers dock. You also sometimes get to see a different surrounding and that is a repair shop. Of course, the rest of the time, the wheels are rolling.

Some companies boast new trucks. This does not mean you being a new person is going to go from getting a CDL one day and behind the wheel of a new rig the next. Sorry Partner, it does not work like that. You need to pay some dues and prove yourself. When your with a trainer for weeks then your released out into the jungle by yourself, it is not always a easy adjustment.

Stevens talks about the average truck being 16 months and that is pretty good but it does not mean that somewhere on their yard is not a bunch of three to five year old trucks.

Most companies have no reason to swap out trucks on a yearly or year to a half basis unless the trucks being swapped out have mechanical issues that are too costly to fix or can fetch a profit for them when they sell. These companies pay a discounted rate for their trucks when they buy, so if they sell at market value, they can squeeze a profit at resell.

Someone said that drivers don't get to take their trucks home. That is a crock of horses droppings. If a driver lives in Oregon or Northern California, there is no dispatcher that is going to route a driver back through the home terminal many states and miles away just to drop off a truck. It is not cost effective to do so.

Now if you live in Dallas, TX or the surrounding local area and you drive at Stevens, why would you want to take a truck home anyway? You just spent weeks living in it, now your going to have to look at it in your drive way or yard?

Most of the time, there is a real advantage to parking your rig at the home terminal. You can leave the keys and get the truck serviced or inspected, etc, and then when it is time to come back on duty, the truck is ready to go and you can leave the yard relatively sure your truck is in good shape.

When you are deciding on what you want in the trucking industry and you are new, you need to think about the big picture.

Where do you want your career to be at in five years? Do you want to be a owner operator or lease operator? do you even think you'll be out over the road? will you be a local driver? whatever it is, you need to think ahead and choose the company you go to work for accordingly.

Now let me close out by talking about leasing or owning a truck. If you haven't been in the industry as a driver for atleast three years, you don't belong owning or leasing a truck, period!!! You certainly shouldn't do it because you think you'll make alot more money, because in some cases, you won't.

Some drivers out here who lease operate or owner operate make only a few pennies per mile more than a company driver, once you have paid all of the bills.

If you want to do it because you have always wanted a business of your own, or the carrier your with gives you a better deal than you would get as a company driver, than that is a reason to do it.

If you do it because you can't stand the thought of being at a shippers dock next to a driver from your company and making the same 30 cents per mile, than that is not a reason to do it.

If you lease a truck from a carrier, remember this, your truck payment comes right off the top, then comes your fuel, than comes advances made to you, which are loans and have to in some cases, be repaid, than comes insurances and other costs such as a tire and maintenance fund and this is all before you pay personal income tax and then pay yourself. In some cases, you will have to pay a self employment tax too.

Leasing allows you to be your own boss and with some carriers, to an extent at best. It allows you to call the shots to some extent and you can make a better than average living, if you are willing to run and run hard. If the wheels ain't turning, the revenue ain't coming.

Leasing does not give you a shiny new rig all the time, doesn't always allow you to get home, doesn't mean you'll get rich, doesn't mean you get better loads, doesn't mean your in a specialized class of drivers. It does make you a risk taker. Remember, at the end of a day, you still have to make money and that requires being more than a company driver, it means knowing how to run the truck as a money making entity. Running 500 miles a day, day after day is not always easy.

This is why I said above, if you haven't been in the industry for atleast three years, you don't have any business owning or leasing a truck and expecting to make a successful go of it.

Getting back to Stevens Transport. Don't listen to anyone but those successful drivers and operators at Stevens. If they are successful, there is a reason for it.

Decide for yourself. man up or woman up and decide based upon what fits for you. If it doesn't fit, choose someone else, but remember, there are not many trucking companies who will take you in and completely train you, they just are not where they were years ago.

You have choices, but limited in scope, so choose wisely, because you don't want to build a history of jumping from one training company to another. Eventually, someone is going to ask you why your doing it.

There is only one way to drive a truck, shift gears, back up, park, etc. Schools and training companies all teach the same way. So your not going to gain an edge from one company over another. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it and more.

Well said Long Road, but to clarify one issue you brought up ...

"Someone said that drivers don't get to take their trucks home. That is a crock of horses droppings. If a driver lives in Oregon or Northern California, there is no dispatcher that is going to route a driver back through the home terminal many states and miles away just to drop off a truck. It is not cost effective to do so."

Stevens does not allow company drivers to take their truck home. But that does not mean you have to take it back to the home terminal. They have secure facilities all over to park the truck for home time. Some drop yards, KW / Pete / TK dealers. So you can take it close to home. You just cant take it to your house or a truck stop and park it.