Stevens Transport aviary

If there was nothing to complain about, this thread would be about ten pages long.
LOL
Personally, I love to complain. In a good-natured sort of way, that is. Otherwise, I'd almost never post
LOL again.
Like this load. Got to Dodge City and waited. 15 hours and the DLD pass and it was finally ready. I pull around the shack and get the trailer number and start hunting. Searched the entire lot and went back to shack. They suggested looking by the cattle pens. Not there, but I run into a shagger and he barely speaks English. But we both go searching. He goes to his office and comes back with a sheet of trailers and times and there is mine marked loaded about half an hour ago. We search again. He goes back to the office and we go the shack. Half an hour later they tell me truck #### took it almost an hour ago. Which means he was JUST in front of me. Some @#$%^&*()*(&^%$#W$%^& owner/leaser stole my load.
So I call in and my DM is working, and he gets almost as pissed as I do. He says to hang on and someone will get me another load out of there.
Hours later, noon, I get a plan that picks up at Willard cold storage down the street yesterday and then National Beef tonight/tomorrow morning with a DLD of 00:47, then four drops in MA, NJ and NY. EWWWW. But I only have 23 hours then a 0 day and then a 4hr gain. Won't be able to make them. Pheww.
I'm bobtail and confused about the two p/us, so I call and ask. My DM is gone by now and you know what that means. I'm told I p/u a loaded trailer at Willard, take it to National Beef and they load the rest. So I head down the road which breaks my break. Get there and they're closed. Yup, closed.
Call in.
Call in again.
Call once again.
Finally get a call back and they say it was loaded there yesterday, and it's now at National Beef getting loaded.
Wish someone would have told me that before I went down the highway and now have to head back.
Get to National Beef and it's not ready. No surprise. DLD is 00:47, 12 hours.
It is now 1pm and I've broken my break and been up for three hours. Sleep more? hah.
So I sack out after a few hours and figure I'll call at midnight. Call at midnight.
Is it loaded?
Guess.
So I call again hourly. At 3am I'm told it's loading. This time I parked at the FJ since I'm bobtail and the Nat Beef parking is overflowing.
Get the trailer and PTI it and head to the shack.
Goes to MA, MA, NJ and finals in the Bronx- but, I only have BOLs for first three drops, none for the Bronx. I'm hoping the Bronx is just the shipper's address, I've had that problem before, but I'm sure I recognize the last as a hell hole I'll never forget.
So I call dispatch at nearly 4am Sunday morning.
You know how that goes.
At 5am I learn the final is in the Bronx and those BOLs and the seal are in the nose of the trailer.
sigh
Of course by then I've googled each drop and am really glad I don't have the hours to make them. And that last one is the same place I remember from before I spent two years on Kraft Midwest dedicated. NIGHTMARE!
I don't have the hours for this load, so I figure I'll run the two full days I have and let my DM know on Monday morning that it will need a repower that night, I'll have 4 hours left and can get it almost through PA.
Set off 5am Sunday. Drive almost all day and the last hour get a repower message.
sigh
I didn't tell a soul. I could have done another full day. But NOOOOOO.
So I meet the guy at the FJ on 270 just east of St. Louis.
He's on grad fleet and not impressed with his time at Stevens much. And they're sending him on this monster that drops at two hell holes and a ##### of a final on 2nd ave in the Bronx.
Poor guy. And he's bobtail. sigh and double-sigh.
I told him to get with his DM in the morning and let him know where this load drops and finals. They are tricky ones, and the final is a mom and pop with a dogleg back around an electrical pole in an alley right off 2nd ave. Tough one for a seasoned driver.
Anyway, I'm glad I'm not going back there! But now I'm sitting bobtail in St. Louis. UGH! My DM is going to flip out.
And I never mentioned to anyone on phone or QC that I wouldn't have time to make the drops, never sent a running later even though it was released four hours late, and never sent a repower request.
Don't understand that. I could have gotten another 600 miles off of it. I also was getting just over 7mph.
sigh
/gripe

 

The grass might be greener, but that's only because they spray paint it.
Look closer.
lol
I stay because I like it. I might have things to ##### about, but it's not . . .
"I told the garage on the phone that it needed fixed, but they said to wait"
or
"I meant to check the expiration date but forgot."
or
"It's not my truck, why do I have to worry about that officer?"

If something is broken, missing, about to expire or just going wrong, it gets fixed.
I have an apu and electrical power on board. I can refrigerate my food and drink, not just cool it with ice I have to dump and replace, and have to sniff everything before I eat or drink it. I can even keep ice cream and other frozen items. I have AC and heat at all times and don't have to idle to have it.
My truck and equipment are not only newish, they are kept in top shape. I get "Nice tractor. You like running for Stevens?" or "Good looking rig. How's Stevens to work for?" from time to time. I'm run as hard I am willing to run most of the time, or at least fairly often. I get home when I'm due for as long as I'm due. I'm never asked to do anything illegal or drive tired, drive in crappy weather, or overweight or on poor tires Some of the places I have to go keep your backing improving or at least challenge your ability to. I get $20 a month for cleaning supplies to keep my truck clean and comfortable. I get reimbursed for truck and trailer washes. I never pay tolls, and when I do I get reimbursed. If I need load locks, I just buy them and get reimbursed, or request a po/t-check. I almost never go through weigh stations thanks to pre-pass. When I do, because I'm in a Stevens truck, I hardly even get looked at and have been waved through more than once. Cops almost ignore us because they know we don't run overweight, on bad tires, have mechanical issues or about any reason to be inspected other than maybe for undocumented exterior passengers in the southwest, lol. And now they know we are on e-logs, they almost have no reason to worry about us now.

Stevens ain't perfect, no place is, and you can read the early posts in this thread and see I've had my problems and troubles that seemed completely avoidable if they'd done better or acted sooner, but so far I have no serious complaints other than the usual, "They really need to communicate better."

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to prepare for the predictable retorts that I need to get my tongue out of Aaron's backside and that I'm not actually a driver but a recruiter working in Dallas.
lol

 

Oh, BTW, if you get BS'd by someone in dispatch, call back and point it out, and tell them you don't appreciate it. Let them know you won't be doing any favors or helping them out again if they can't be level with you. Or that you might just BS them right back and screw with their load, like stop and get that PM done or have something fixed. Maybe your fifth-wheel won't lock when you repower the load they just jerked you over for them and you have to go to the shop and get it repaired. Or maybe the trailer tires are just a bit too shabby for you to feel safe riding on. Maybe a slack adjuster is out and you can't adjust it in? Let them know you are the driver and if they screw with you, they lose a future way to get a load where it needs when it needs to be there. Let them know if they treat you like an adult, they can depend on you to get it done.

 

Wellston to Cali, and the fuel was in Kansas?
WTF?
I ran from the Pillsbury in Wellston the rail in Chicago many times with loads to Cali for the Kraft fleet. It was my main haul for months. But those were all loads that you couldn't get legal for Cali, probably why they went rail. Some day-cabber probably picked them up in Cali at the rail yard.

OH, and solar eclipse begun! If you're in Texas or west you can probably see the ring of fire effect as well. Cloudy and rainy in St. Louis, dang it.