Starting with Stevens in January, looks like...

Training companies are like colleges. They need a constant supply of new students. The turnover rate has nothing to do with the quality of drivers produced. Would you berate Harvard because of it's constant turnover of students? It's the business model that best fits that company. Stevens is not a freight company primarily. Their first line of business is to train students. They use freight as a means to do it.
Most people are not born with a shift lever in one hand and a steering wheel in the other. Very few people have any idea of what HOS are, the skills required to navigate a 70 foot plus vehicle thru traffic, how to back, what a PTI is or a number of other things.
You learn this at the hands of a trainer. Most companies don't train. They want drivers that already know the DOT rules, have experience and can be handed a truck and make money.
This is aquired at a training company. People may not like this, but it's the way it is these days.
Most people that come into trucking, leave the industry. It's just not their cup of tea. Training companies don't care if you leave, just so long as you complete your training and they can get that money from the government.
Harvard doesn't care if you practice law or medicine or work in the business world with your degree. They care that you stay and get an education so they can make money.
The purpose of a training company is to give a driver a start, train them in the rules and give them enough experience to allow them to move onto the next tier company...one that requires a year or two or more experience before they'll hire them.
I've yet to meet one person that went thru boot camp that would choose to do it again. But I've yet to meet one person that went thru boot camp that isn't glad they did.
It's the same analogy.

 

So I've got about 8 or 9 post cards from Stevens telling me "all roads lead back to Stevens" out of kindness then huh... And all the talk about starting with a company you can stay with is bs.. At how yaw treat your drivers is pathetic plain and Semple. The closest thing I found to a happy driver in my 6 months was a hand full of drivers trying to become a trainer and hoping things get better where they can atleast suport them selves.. you got to be there a year to be a trainer and then what... A merrical and they start treating you like a human being... Naaa I still call BS. Stevens exploits new cdl and non cdl holders that don't know how bad there getting screwed. Your running freight like a driver so pay them like one. Stevens Transport is pathetic now matter how you sugar coat it.. Polish a turd its still a turd

 

I am not trying to become a trainer, and i am not leasing... I have just about 6 months... So far everything has been as expected. Of course I did not come here with unreal expectations and knew the pay scale and agreed to work.for it. No one held a gun to my head.

I doubt I will be here a year from now as I have no intentions of leasing or training...but as I stated in an earlier post, my experience has been very different than what you describe.

 

Your opinion and you're welcome to it. I did very well as a driver there. Some do well, others don't. Just like most other companies.

 

That is true some might like it but I don't see how.. I did end up with some small victorys. Like my trainer screamed at me the whole time I was in the truck. He was going to have me back in a hole at a truck stop. He was screaming at me to turn the wheel this way and that.. I got fed up with him so I poped the brakes got out and walked up to him. In a not so nice way asked him witch hole did he want me to put the @&$& thing in. got back in the truck and put it in there in 1 shot lol he didn't say a word. I found out a month or so later that I was a lot better at backing then he was when we went to nyc. He tried for 30 minutes to get in the dock and I asked him if I could try it.. I got it in there on the first try all I needed to do is pull up about 10 foot to get the trailer strait.. He made me get out of the drivers seat and pulled it back out and tried for another 45 minutes and when he did get it in a dock it was 2 doors down from the one we were suppose to be in lmao

 

I went through Stevens school and was with them for about 8 months before I found a local job. I think that most of the regulars in here will agree that Im not a huge fan of the trucking end of Stevens but I have said again and again that I feel they do a great job at training. On the trucking side of it I blame Stevens for some of my problems and I also blame myself for some of it.

As far as Pre Alliance, you have already stated that you were not truthful in your statement. Stevens does NOT MAKE you go pre alliance. They give you the choice. I was the only one out of my class that didnt go pre alliance and the only one that stayed as a company driver. From best that I can recall, I averaged 2400-2800 miles a week. This was about the same, if not more than the pre alliance/alliance guys were driving.

As far as the motels, Crosslands wasnt a bad place to stay. I didnt have any complaints about it. Americas Best was a total dump but have you seen the motels that the other trucking companies put you up in? For the most part, they are about the same. If you wake up and get to the shuttle pick up at a decent time you shouldnt have a problem getting on the shuttle. I drove the shuttle for a week so I saw what the loads were like. If you wait for the last scheduled load and expect to get on and be there on time, it probably aint gonna happen. Only once leaving Stevens did we have a problem and that was because our instructor kept us late.

Time off, I took a week off between OR1 and OR2 because it fell on July 4. I went a good 8 weeks once I went solo without home time, but that was my choice. My DM actually told me that she was scheduling me for home time. Any time that I ever requested time off, it was given to me without any problems.

During my entire stay at Stevens, one time I had to go visit the Alliance recruiter as part of my check off sheet. I politely told him that I wasnt interested at the time and might be later. He called me once a few months after that and again I told him no. I have to say that I am pleased that Stevens didnt hassle me to sign a lease like I hear other companies do. Twice in 8 months aint bad and neither time did he put any pressure on me.

When I informed my DM that I needed to return to Dallas to turn my keys in, I was in Arkansas with a load going to Laredo. I got repowered to Waco then back to Dallas. I was pleasantly surprised at how I was treated when I left the company. I even had my paycheck on time and it was correct. They didnt hold any money out for anything.

My experience at Stevens wasnt the best, but it could had been much worse. Sounds like to me that you are just a disgruntled driver that wants to bash the company instead of being fair in your comments. Blame everything on Stevens because you failed. Again, you have already proved that you are not trustworthy in your statements.

 

I bet that 95% of the drivers at Stevens could stay there as long was they wanted to. I doubt that Stevens tells very many to hit the road and when they do it's probably a wise decision. Have you read the stories that Emul posts on here about the idiot drivers?

Stevens IS a company that you can start with and stay with. Its just that YOU choose not to stay there.

 

I get this funny feeling its just a bunch of recruiters that keep replying.

 

Hey Emul... Did you ever think that I would be called a recruiter???

 

lol thats hillarious