Stevens Transport - Dallas, Tx.

OK-good for you. I WAS. I understand YOU had a different experience-why does it seem so hard for you to accept that?

 

Dont just point at stevens doing that.. I bet LCT is #1 on goverment checks and i know alot others doing it also. and its not just for trainees.

 

Probably not. I would bet money that other companies do the exact same things, but the only one I have personal experience with is Stevens, so I only commented on their business practices.

 

Iam in my truck right now in worchester,ma iam in grad fleet with stevens
went through all the training and still training, but just like to say stevens sucks
for money .26 cpm they baby sit like no other company, and the office has their
head up their ###,s..... But i will say if you know how to deal with people and stand up for your self u can get the best training in the buisness with out a dout you will
know how to run the raod and have confidance doing so. Not all trainers are bad
it is a gamble to get a good DM or trainer. My trainer was cool we talk still all the time if i need help or advice hes there. if your a winer, cry baby you will not make
it at any company period... the nature of this buisness is cruel if you cant stand up
for your self, in proper way you will not be happy with this type of work...
If you are on time, no how to work the system{people} agree to any load, do favors
when asked,{press the right buttons} talk to the right poeple.. the biggest thing though is take responcibilty for your mistakes and learn from them you will make $$$$. stevens is a training company they are hard to work for but they will make sure you know how to do the job. After that 1,2 years the world is yours.... just one truckers crazy thoughs...... "keep on truckin"

 

Howdy all, just wanted to post an experience with going to school at Stevens.

I went to Texas from Rhode Island, flew out there myself because I wasn't about to let them finance me a $200 bus ticket when I could fly for $75. First thing's first with Stevens, everything is financed, there are no freebees...and that's fine.

It would be better if they would be more clear on the phone beforehand about it though. They say "we'll send you a bus ticket". Not a word about it being financed. Maybe some of the recruiters are better about this than others, but mine (Lou Arona) was downright terrible.

Anyway, I get there and I get to the hotel. They put you in this tiny little room with another dude (twin size beds, not double beds), and they charge you $15 a night for it. Personally, I decided I'd just get my own room, since the guy who was already there had very clearly defined his space as being everything but the other bed. He was actually a good guy, but his stuff was just everywhere. Again, they never tell you before you get there that you'll be two to a room. The hotel itself actually isn't bad, its just cramped.

There's not really anything within walking distance from the hotel. You're looking at 2 miles to Walmart. The hotel runs a shuttle to Walmart on Sunday nights, but its a 15 person van, and they run it once, and there are usually about 60 people who want to be on that van. If you don't get on it, you're out of luck.

Basically, if you're out there and you're broke, you're going to have trouble. I'm lucky in that I had a decent savings I could live off if I had to. Stevens will finance you $70 a week for meals or whatever, they'll cut you a check...but you're staying at a hotel miles from a bank or check casher, what do you do with a check?

The equipment and teachers at the actual school are great. Tim, Brenda, Mike Unser...they're great, and if you do go to Stevens, you'll like all of them. The trucks are Kenworth T2000s and the occasionally Pete 387, most of em really nice looking trucks.

Now, I ended up getting sent home for medical reasons. If I failed a drug test, I'd understand it. If I failed the DOT physical, I'd understand that one too. But the reason I was sent home was for a medication I USED to take. I used to take Ritalin, I don't anymore, but I got sent home for it.

What Stevens doesn't tell you before you get there is that they send home 1/3 of every class the day of the physical and drug test. Very few people fail the drug test, and very few people actually fail the physical. Most people get sent home for the very reason I did, a medication which disqualifies you.

And I definitely don't begrudge them disqualifiying me for that, it's a valid medical concern. What I want to know is why that question couldn't have been asked to me before I ever left Rhode Island. It seems to me that would save a lot of people a lot of time and a lot of money if your recruiter would just say "oh hey, what medications are you on or have you been on in the past?"

That was really my one and only problem with the whole thing. I liked the program, I liked the company. I just don't understand why that one question couldn't have been asked beforehand. Ironically, I have a valid DOT physical...I had a valid one when I "failed" theirs, and I got it with the exact same situation I'm in now with the Ritalin. Kinda ridiculous.

If they send you home, they say they'll finance you a bus ticket, because you gotta be out of the hotel promptly. Since I had my own room, I was able to get a plane ticket and fly back the next day. Not everybody is that lucky though. Most people go straight from Stevens to the bus station, with a stop by the hotel for your clothes when you get sent home.

I think that's about it for my story. If you go to school there and it works out, I'm glad to hear it. But I would have preferred they ask some more questions and tell me some more things before I went out there. I was unprepared, which I suppose is on me, but they certainly could have presented everything I needed to know better.

Have a good one all.

 

I don't know how it is with people who go to Stevens driving school, I went there with CDL already in my pocket. Maybe it is different. But I have to repeat myself once again that Stevens didn't "finance" anything in my case. I flew from Jacksonville, Fl, paid for my ticket and they reimbused me two days afterwards. You don't have to take their Greyhound deal. Your recruiter shoud've informed you, that they will reimburse any transportation up to $200.
About the hotel. I've never had to pay a penny for it and since it's free, what would anyone expect? Ritz-Carlton?
You complain about beds in the hotel, how do you think truck bed looks like? If you aren't comfortable in hotel bed, even twin size, you'd surely be miserable sleeping in the truck. And guess where would you sleep for 8 or more weeks? Yes in the top bunk. Which is even more uncomfortable than the bottom one.
Another thing. If you can't get along with your roommate in a hotel, which whom you have to deal with basically just overnight, how would you expect to get along with a trainer for 5 weeks and then another student for another 3 weeks 24/7 in a padded cell?

60 people for Walmart run? C'mon.
I was there and I was broke. I survived. They feed you and they give you roof over your sissy head. What you need money for?

Your shuttle driver will gladly stop at the check cashing place for you to cash your check. Can't ask, can't complain.

That you got disqualified for former using of Ritalin is completely undestandable. Who would by all saints want to trust a 80.000lbs beast to somebody with ADD or ADHD? I wouldn't.
Btw how come you have DOT physical? So you already have a CDL? Why would you go to Steven's school for then? Maybe I misunderstood something. Sorry, I don't speak yankee that well.

Be glad that they got rid of you in the begenning. I can tell you're not cut for truck driver life. The fact, that they disqualified someone with ADD makes me feel a little bit safer on the road. There is enough nuts out there already.

 

StankO:

See, the problem is, I don't have ADD anymore. I was taking the medication, and it worked fine, then it started going downhill. I went back to the doctor, they retested me, and cleared me. I had it when I was a teenager, some people just grow out of it. So all that said, they still sent me home.

I already have a DOT physical because I had a CDL permit here in Rhode Island. My permit lapsed (they only give you 60 days on your permit up here) so I was going to just go through Stevens, cut the middle man. I got that physical a year ago, its still valid for another year, and my situation with the ADD is the same now as it was then. That's what burned me about it, see? I don't understand why I was able to get my physical card out here, but they disqualified me for something that I was already told once was fine.

And I wasn't complaining about the size of the beds in the hotel...I sleep in a twin bed no problem. Hell, I've slept in a truck, its fine.

I think maybe the transportation reimbursement is different for guys who already have a CDL. Right in our class, they had a dude come in and we all signed a promisary note for however much money they were financing. That included the hotel ($315), the bus ticket (if you got one, I didn't), the physical/drug screen (I think that was about $65 total), and money for food if you take it (I didn't). Some people ended up financing as much as $700, with the ticket and the food money.

So they didn't reimburse my plane ticket...you got yourself a good deal there. I'd wager its because you already have your CDL.

I don't hold a grudge against Stevens, I should have done my homework better. And that's all I'm saying here. If you want to go to school at Stevens to get your CDL like I did (cause I can't speak for people who have their CDL and just do the orientation), make sure to ask your recruiter a lot of questions.

Have a good one.

 

I think stevens doesnt take any chances. Once ADD, always ADD. They disqualified some people in my class for 15 years old surgeries, blood thinners (Warfarin), and other, for "normal" people insignificant flaws. I myself had higher BP. They gave me some medicine to lower it. I had to pay $125 for the treatment which they were taking from my paycheck at the rate of $25/wk. That was the only charge Ihad to pay. Small price for getting a good job.
It's all about covering #####. You'll have to that that's the most important thing to do in trucking business. They all do that at Stevens so you'll have too.

I agree with you that they should do more to screen out ineligible people BEFORE they actually arrive to Dallas.

 

I also got my CDL before going to stevens, I flew from wyoming to dallas, they reimbursed me $200. They also pay me $25 per week, until the cost of my CDL school is paid off, or until I am no longer employed by them. They have never charged me for anything, hotel, food.

Now I have a buddy who went to their school, and yes everything is financed, the hotel, the food, the bus or plane ticket, that after completing training, and working for stevens for one year, it is forgiven. But one has to complete the training and one full year of service, and completing training is NOT graduating from school, but finishing grad fleet.

so for stevens to pay for a room and board, and school, one must complete the school, then 1 week orientation, 5 to 6 weeks with a trainer, one more week for orientation 2, 3 to 4 weeks with another student, then 90 days grad fleet, and then the one year clock begins.

stevens is a self insured company, they do not have workers comp, so they set their own level of who they will take, and who they will not. I saw people who were disruptive during orientation that they were medically disqualified for something from their past.

Stevens stress tests everyone with their training program to see who can handle the life style, and stress of being on the road and working all the time. They watch, they test, they demand, they treat you like #### if you let them...or you can respectfully stand up for yourself, and gain respect.

The hotel I stayed at during Orientation was 1 block from a wal mart, and the hotel for oreintation 2 was across the interstate from wal mart and many restauraunts, so both in walking distance.

Just a different perspective on the company.

 

I've changed my mind. Here goes.

Fresh out of truckdriving school. Flew to Tx on their bill. Stayed in the 1st motel but it has a bar. During orientation.They fed us Donuts for breakfast, no lunch then said that if we went to the bar even to get food we would be fired. There was no stores anywhere around.

So no lunch or dinner during orientation. After Orientation I waited 2 weeks before I was placed in a truck. I wanted a non smoking truck but I ended up with a smoker.

My 1st trainer was an ###. Going 68 mph across Ohio. I told him that he's gonna get a ticket...........And he did.

Later that night he threw me out of the truck on a hwy in Hudson Wisconsin not too far from a truckstop. Said it was my fault he got a ticket for 68 in a 55.

I walked to the truckstop. Spent 2 days there untill Stevens put me on a bus back to Tx. 3 days on a Grey hound.... Well about 6 of them because you gotta change busses every few hours.

Got back to Tx and they put me up in another motel that had a pretty good restaurant............Woke up the next morning with "Police line do not cross" tape tied to my door knob.

Spent another 2 weeks waiting for another trainer.

This guy was a very good trainer. I cant say anything bad about him. His name was David M.

We drove around a while, stayed next to cow heads at the meat patch a few days, waited for Corn to be picked in Ca etc.

By now I had been out over 3 months and wanted to go home. Infact I had been within 10 miles of home but they refused my request to go home to see mom.

We got back to the terminal and I went home on my dime for a week.

They flew me back and this time they sent me out as "Dumb and Dumber".

They pared me up with another guy. I did not realize it but he was a flamer. We went to NY where he panicked, got out of the truck, yelled "I cant live like this anymore" and ran down Broadway in NY never to return. Later on I learned that He would do "tricks" at night at the truckstop!!

I ended up getting the truck unloaded and they told me to deadhead back to TX. Then they changed their mind and sent me to the meat patch.

I got loaded and delivered that load. I believe it went to Georga. Here I had to unload 44klbs of meat in 120 lb boxes, labels out for free because this place did not have a lumper or even a hand truck. That took 1.5 days.

I never did get reimbursed for that.

After that load I did deadhead back to TX and never went back.

Thats my Story about my time at Stevens transport.

Carry on.