Stevens Transport aviary

Here is a question... Are the dispatchers or planners able to see our logs?

I ask because after driving 658 miles, and using 10:55 of drive time, one hour into my break I get a load assignment to pick up at 2200. Do they not see that I can not drive for at least 7 more hours?

I called and left a message. I want the load if I can pick it up in to morning, just not sure if I can.

 

Not completely off topic, but my son, who majored in economics, told me of a paper he studied during one of his math courses that posed the argument that 2+2=3. Sadly, I was unable to follow the logic.
He also majored in communications, which meant I got to hear the logic for an hour before he finally ran out of breath, bless his heart.

 

So I see complaints about repowers. Couldn't make the appointment because too many miles in too little time. If you are driving back and forth between repowers.... aren't you free from the worry of waiting to load and unload, sitting around for the next dispatch, dealing with lumpers, etc? If you complete 1000 miles out of 1400 (whether solo or T-5 or team) because you are out of hours, didn't you get the better end of the deal?

Just trying to understand.

 

The issue in my case was whether or not there was actually going to be a repower waiting. This time they found one.

The new issue I am having is being sent a load assignment that picks up 4 hrs after I parked following 11 hrs of driving.

After calling in and leavimg a message pointing out the issue I recieved a qc telling me to pick this up after my break since they load all night. Of course then I wake up to the sounds of "You Have A New Message" asking if I am at the receiver...

For any new folks reading my complaints here lately, please note that they all revolve around picking up and/or delivering loads... not about not having a load. In other words, I am still getting paid. Plenty of miles...2200 in the last 5 days and 1950 in the next 4.

 

As it turns out... sometimes things just work out. Got to my shipper at 04:30 for my 22:00 apt (last night) and as it turns out they did not have the product until about 45 minutes ago. So all is good!

 

A general primer on freight.
The trucking world does not correlate to even flow of timeliness. It's more like semi organized chaos.
Shippers rarely have things so reasonably smooth that they can plan doors, product and appointments evenly. They just know they have X amount of product to move each 24 hours.
So they place orders on the board, often days in advance.
Then comes the joy of scheduled manufactuer, raw product and FUBAR issues.
Imagine making taquitos. You can manufactuer 50,000 per hour and ship 300,000 in a truck. But somewhere in the run, a bunch don't make QC. So they have to over run the schedule or hope to come back and make up the difference before the truck backs into the door. This throws shipping behind. But then one or more of your dock workers calls in sick...or just plain fails to show up. (happens all the time)
See how that affects you, the driver, before you even finish your break?
Now throw in the gem that the load had been planned on another carrier, who at the last moment calls and says, Psorry, we don't have a truck available."
Stevens is a carrier of nearly 2,000 trucks. See how we have to scramble to cover so many loads. Now imagine you're dealing with a carrier of 500 trucks. They just don't have the resources to cover all the loads if something goes wrong.
Yes, I know, in a perfect world, we assay our assets in a given area and accept only the loads we can cover.
But when the loads are given out on monday for a friday shipment and no one told us there would be snow in Wyoming and winds in New Mexico, it's hard to move 300 trucks to the midwest in time to pick all the loads.
If we plan on a percentage not making it (and believe me, we DO!), but the snow doesn't come and the winds don't blow...well we have TOO MANY trucks sitting in Effingham.
Yes, the planners can see your logs. We can see just about everything. From the moment you turn your ignition on to when you set your brakes.
But we still have to cover the loads.
Here is the dirty little problem that no one wants to admit openly: There is far more capacity than there is freight.
There are plenty of trucks sitting around looking for a load. Many of these trucks will run for a lot less than Stevens. We are not the cheapest kid on the block. A far cry from it! We sell SERVICE!
You cannot believe the number of shippers that WANT the low price and will try some carriers, only to have to come back to companies like Stevens that CAN and WILL deliver on time. What does Don Miguel say to Kroeger when the product in this week's add is still on a truck 1,000 miles away?
Sorry?
That doesn't cut it.
We are constantly told by our shippers of how we are doing.
I sit every monday afternoon in a meeting where the failed loads of the past week with Tyson are discussed. This sets the tone of which loads have priority for repowers. Tysone is a big account that pays on time and pays well.
Those kinds of accounts don't just grow on trees.
So a planned truck doesn't make it for a myriad of reasons and we have to look around for one that can make it work.
No, your break isn't up. But you are the only truck available to pick up the load and get it moving.
Yes, we plan to repower it, but that's a crap shoot too.
Now add in the drivers that just don't care...that meander along as if they have all the time in the world. Or the drivers that decide they'll 'teach us a lesson' for giving them a load to the Bronx. Or the drivers that don't communicate, and you have a recipe for repowers.
Add in the number of trucks that break down, the training team where the student walks off the truck because he's being 'treated like a log book'. (often students don't understand that driving is moving every mile you can with every hour you have).
On any given shift, I have 40 or more trucks to repower and I'm not even on the repower team!
All night long we get trucks that shut down 40 miles from the receiver and send in a repower request. What? We're suppose to find a driver willing to give up 400 miles to help us with 40?
There is a lot more that goes on inside than most drivers can imagine.
No, we're not perfect. A darn sight from near that point!
But the challenges are daunting.
We on the inside get to know which trucks are good and which ones are not good. We make decisions based on history and needs.
Some people inside consider moving freight more important than a driver's wants. But I can also tell you the lengths we go thru to get drivers home in emergencies is incredible.
One of the things that galls me to no end are the drivers that are so self centered that they won't make a sacrifice for a fellow driver needing to get home due to a death, an illness or hospitalization. I'm not talking about giving up a load because a driver WANTS to go a certain direction or because we need to repower for OTD...I'm talking about family emergencies such as a kid in the hospital, a mother given 48 hours or a spouse who just got word she has stage 4 breast cancer and wants her husband to comfort her.
I had all three of these last week and a host of drivers that refused to repower a load when told the reason.
You wonder why the inside crew can get bitter?
Try telling a driver you are really trying, but can't find a load going home for such an emergency (even tho there are 6 and they all refused.)
Yes, I understand what it's like to get he shaft with repowers. But at least listen to what we have to say.
There. I've ranted far too much, and probably will hear about it. But it has to be said.
We try very hard to take care of the drivers, but we also have to take care of the shippers or none of us will have a paycheck.
I'm going to work.

 

Offtopic.

Word of advise to any new Stevens drivers. When you go to Orientation 1 "DO NOT SIGN UP FOR STEVENS HEALTHCARE PLAN". It costs WAY TOO MUCH and they DO NOT PAY.

I was charged every pay check and when on family leave due to an emergency at home I needed to see a doctor. Got pre-authorization, confirmation numbers and everything and they paid NOTHING.
Do yourself a favor and buy your own insurance like BCBS. Im out all the money for the healthcare and an $1800 bill from the doctor.

 

HAH! I wonder what would happen if loads were scheduled for when they are really ready instead of sometime around that time, maybe, sort of.
I remember a time when I called a freight forwarder to schedule an appointment for pickup on a shipment going to China.
"So, what time will the load be ready?"
"It's ready now"
"No, I mean, what time will it be ready for pickup?"
"Well, it's ready to be picked up now."
"We can't pick it up now, so when will it be ready for pickup?"
"When can you have a truck here to pick it up?"
"Whenever you have the load ready" My head met my desk.
The driver calls me the same morning, asking me when the load would be ready. I said it was ready now. He said but when will it really be ready? I said it really will really be really ready NOW, and IF he wanted to come by and pick it up now, that would be fantastic. After some more hemming and hawing around about it, he asks me, "Why did you schedule the appointment for tomorrow if it's ready now?"
"Because dispatch promised me my driver would be wearing My Pretty Pony Underoos when he got here if I picked that time"

 

I see so many of you guys picking up loads at tyson in Dakota City,NE and some sit for hours /days waiting.