Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

I will send you a PM on here in just a minute

 

Greetings,

First time visitor to this site. I found it through some extensive research into Stevens Transport. I'm interested in OTR trucking, retiring from current job. I'm 49 years old and would like to start something new before I get old. I've been a teacher for 27 years. It's a good time to try the road and see the sites!! I'm not married, have no children of my own and don't have frequent obligations to "go home" though I do speak to my family often (weekly). I'm very task oriented and highly self-motivated. I have some questions that are important to my decision and would like to get some input from inside the industry. It appears that many of the posters here are long time employees and speak from variable and extensive experience. Could someone advise me on what might be my best course for getting some ideas about the timing of my interest and options, whether that be advice to seek responses here and directly through the company??

 

Feel free to ask any questions you have right here, or you can send me a private message if you wish.

 

As corporal clegg said, ask here, there are many of us, both current and former drivers that will answer the question honesty. Also it is good to as the company directly... then see if the recruiters answers are close to the truth.

I am a former driver, and some of the details have changed, but the general life style questions, and the no home obligations are why I did OTR for many years.

 

You did not put your locality in your profile, but that would aid in giving advice.
First off, i would check around for local community college driver training programs. They are less expensive but usually are of a longer duration.
By having your CDL prior to looking for a company to sign on with, you will not be obligated to said company for a specified period of time to repay any training expense. And company training will usually end up costing more in the long run.

 

Hello everyone,

Thanks for reading my posts and agreeing to be my sounding board!! I'm in Houston, Texas. Stevens has a deal here with Lone Star College I believe so school is here when and if I'm ready. Here's a bucket list of questions:

1. I'll find out for sure in early June, but I believe I'm six years from retirement so I would be 56 at the latest when I'm ready to do this. It may be that I actually can retire in 3 years, though. Starting at 56 with the goal of being on the road 10 years sound reasonable? I'm in good health now, no meds and only see my doctor 1-2 times per year on average.....not currently dealing with any long-term conditions that may affect work.

2. I saw something about where to park the truck. I'm assuming I can leave the truck on a Stevens yard and commute to it for work?

3. If I pay for school myself and pay for CDL myself, etc......are there heavy work related costs otherwise?

4. My family (parents,siblings) live in north Louisiana, am I understanding that the way trip planning goes I might be able to plan some of my trips to end in different areas so I may be able to work in a short visit between on road times and such in an area close to home?

5. Just in general terms, because truck driving means your sitting in a truck I'm assuming close to 8-10 hours a day almost straight through? What advice should I heed relative to maintaining good health as I transition and then long-term thereafter?

6. Personality wise; I'm outgoing in that I'm a good communicator, speak to people and build casual relationships with relative ease, and I'm quite comfortable at the same time with hours or even days of scarce to no real contact with people. In other words, I'm good when people are around and I'm just as good when they are not. Quite comfortable either way. Probably a good way to clarify that would be to say that as a teacher, I'm used to heavy social interaction many hours a day at work. But then being unmarried and having no kids, I'm alone often on weekends and through holidays and the summer and I like that time. So I can do both. I'm thinking this lonely long road job shouldn't be a tough transition for me as far as that is concerned?

7. I'm thinking that if my goal is to work 10-15 years and I know that age my limit my effectiveness as a driver late in that period, that I should say that up front through recruitment phase and assure company is mindful that I want to start on the road and as is fitting over the years transition of the road when my optimum usefulness and safety may be more fitting? Maybe then in some logistical function in an office, etc??

**For now, let's start with these questions, and let the conversation take it from there??

 

Sounds reasonable to me. There are many "older" drivers out there.

Yes, you must park the equipment where stevens wants it parked, no problem in houston as there is a drop yard there that they have space at.

That is the way I did it, and the only work expenses were minor things, and comfort related items. Check into also that stevens reimburses the cost of the school with weekly payments.

Forced dispatch, you go where stevens needs you to go. Now with that said, and you are headed through northern Louisiana, and stopping to see family will not make you late for you appointment, then stop and see them. You may also be able to take home time in that location instead of houston, all depends on your driver manager wanting to do the extra little bit of work with the computer to make it happen.

Yes, you will be sitting all the time, you have 11 hours of driving time to get done within a 14 hour window.... advice, every time you stop, at a rest area, truck stop, walk around the truck, one for your health, two to see if anything has changed that needs fixed. It became habit for me to walk around when I stopped, and when I returned, even if it was just a quick pee break... gets the blood moving in the legs. I would also walk from the truck stops to a restaurant of grocery store to get my meals.

It is a long road, with much me time, I time,..... One new driver found out during the trainer phase that he could not handle that, and posted about it. Talking to other drivers is an option, but many times those conversations are billy big rigger stories.

Other times you may set and talk with a total stranger for a couple of hours over a meal, and then both go your separate ways.

Emusified is better suited to answer this question.... throwing it to you emu

Sounds like your going into this with your eyes wide open. We can give advice, from our perspective. And just keep in mind there are as many varied people who are truck drivers, as there are people.

 

super responses TLeaHart! amazing to have feedback to help me. I plan to speak to you guys for a while and then once I get a good balance of information I'll start chatting some with the company to see how it compares.

 

On my first week solo and still loving it.. This was a great career choice for me.