North East Region

Stevens picked up most of the entire Kraft company fleet recently, including the trailers and tractors. There are a lot of new freight lanes and these are all part of the dedicated fleet. So far they have concentrated on putting drivers in the fleet that have a modicum of experience (no grad fleet) and it runs separately from the rest of the company in that operations cannot use the driver from that fleet for any other lane or repower unless they receive permission from the FM or DM.
They have moved a couple experienced DMs both in name and physically over to the new fleet and it even has a separate numbering system. You'll see those trucks number 60,000 and up.
So far I'm hearing nothing but happiness from those drivers.

 

Id consider coming back for a sw se region pretty much anything south of 40 lol

 

Pro Stars & Various Freightliners

 

When we first took that over I was called and asked if I was interested. My DM told me it would be around 2200 miles per week. I asked him to repeat that because I was not sure if I had heard him correctly and he again said 2200. He did stress the home time benefits which is not a big issue with me so I declined.

 

Wow only 2200 um i retract my previous comment then lol

 

that's northeast now, in the south east and Midwest they're running around 3000 week or better

 

The dedicated fleets are run more like trucking companies that WANT to move freight.
You have to qualify to get on the fleet and if you don't perform, you are sent back to the minors (general fleet).
The incentive for the fleet managers and planners for the dedicated fleets is to build it up to higher productivity rates and reap the benefits. Just like any other good freight company does.
The people running these fleets are not newbies and themselves have had to prove they are capable and willing to do what needs to be done.
Each fleet runs with it's own 'flavor'. On one fleet, all deadhead miles are paid with the fuel surcharge to the lease operators. Another stresses hometime...and they really do come thru. The key is to find one of these fleets you like and apply.
On the general fleet, the planners learn who will perform and who won't. They reward the performers.
You earn your position, and it's not usually in 6 months.
Each person out there has different needs and different wants. Just the way life is.
So what is good for one person (hometime every 3 weeks) may not be as advantageous to someone that doesn't like running in that region.
I know it sounds crazy to some of you, but we have drivers that ASK for NYC. There are dedicated drivers that do nothing but repower loads into the city and come back out just to repeat it again. They often spend 3 nights per week (not consecutively) or more sleeping in their own bed. I know drivers that will do just about anything to NOT run west of the Mississippi. Or those that love running the 80, and complain all day long if they have to run down on the 10 or 40.
We have drivers that don't care if they EVER get home. Home is the back of their truck. And they enjoy it.
So find what twirls your propeller and go for it!
There are new opportunities that transcend training at Stevens and more coming.
But there will always (or at least as far as one can see now) be the training and new driver side of Stevens.

 

If we ever get a dedicated that runs the whole country I'm in. I just don't want to be stuck in a regional route.