Stevens Transport - Dallas, Tx.

the other thing is this, this is a very hard lifestyle to get used to. no family for weeks at a time. long drives through some really scary weather. california on monday and new york on thursday. wake up in a different place everyday. moms miss you, kids miss you.... there you are all alone.

do not underestimate yourself. if you can dedicate yourself to being a professional/successful driver, you can.. many great things come to those that work hard and get results, not those that sit back and wait....

 

After reading some of the last few posts I thought people might want a little added perspective. . . I finally got back on the Dallas Yard. Took half a day to see Dr. B. Dr. B has cleared me to go back to full duty status. I stopped in to see Allie in insurance. Filled out a couple of forms for Great West. Looks like all will be taken care off. I won't have any medical bills to worry about. . . But getting back to the current postings.

I came accross a survey that was conducted why drivers leave a company. They came up with some interesting results. The reason I was looking at all for this kind of information is because of some of the interactions I have experienced back here on the good ol Dallas yard today.

Namely Payroll. . . I completed my last two settlements and walked them over to Rick. I got a very poor reception from Rick this time. His attitude was one of impatents and subdued intollerance because I had caused an interruption to his day. . .

Well, It has been my experience that when people stop bringing you work that is when the company starts thinking about sending you home to cut back on expences.

After looking at the survey and comparing results with how things are here at Stevens. I think one aspect of the Company/Driver relationship that was missed is this.

We all play for the same team. The right hand helps the left hand. Every dept has a critical function. Why there has to be an "Us vs Them" attitude can only serve to effect the way we treat each other as employees. There has to be mutual cooperation and a willingness to work together. I think too often folks sitting in the office view us drivers as unworthy of common courtesy and mutual respect. Anyway, before I really get started on the issue here is a link to the survey results.

Top 10 Reasons Drivers Leave:

http://www.onleytruckinsurance.com/News/Top10ReasonsDriversLeave/tabid/143/Default.aspx

I really think Stevens could benefit from taking a serious look at how things are run internally.

 

Glad to see you are back to a full duty status. I think you are right. Internal customer servcie is vital to a company and the level or moralle of the employees.

 

I to chose an independent school (Community College) for my CDL training just for that reason. No they don't do job placement but I'd rather have control of who I work for than be in dept to a company because they trained me.

 

JerryC, glad to hear you are cleared from the broken finger....hope it healed straight!!!!

Yes Stevens needs to look at the internal bickering that is becoming a big problem from my perspective. Top management must lead, and not let each department think it is in charge. Yes there will always be a conflict between dispatch, and safety, as they both think they are the most important, but they could work together, and the company would run much smoother.

As far as payroll, they have been making more mistakes as of late. And rick does seem to hate to deal with a driver, on the phone or in person. Again a sign of mismanagement of the department. They have also gotten much more picky about being able to read receipts. They claimed they could not read the gate fee receipt from hunts point this last week, yet my Driver Manager could read it just fine . So he put in a PO to get me reimbursed for the gate fee.

Jerry, please tell us how you feel about the respect don't hold back.

If it was not for all of us working together, none of us would have jobs, as I can not do it all from the captains chair, and dispatch can not move the freight from a desk.

My biggest complaint with stevens at this time is the attitude of putting out fires, running around like chickens with their heads cut off, instead of doing the job right the first time.

Example; sitting in Murfreesboro TN last week after delivering on friday morning to americold, one day early, and I had notified stevens that I would be a day early.
dropped my load at 0800, grabbed an empty, drove the 1/2 mile to the pilot, where there were 7 stevens trucks, all empty. We all waited all day until 1600 when loads started coming across the QC. My load, a 350 mile dead head to Edwardsville IL, to deliver on Tuesday in Houston TX, 800 miles loaded. My load had too much time on it, while 2 of the load that where assigned that afternoon, should have been picked up on Wednesday, at Interstate, and now were tight, or needed a team or repower, to be delivered on time.

When I started with Stevens, a Driver Manager had 40 to 50 drivers, my DM has 85 drivers now, is so stressed he snaps on the phone when I can get to him.
The QC is my friend to get to him now.

I better get some sleep, on a tight scheduled load from houston, Tyson, to New Jersey, that I was dispatched on after the schedule pick up time.

be Careful, have a good week, and keep smiling, maybe it will get better


The list of reasons was a good read, although I think incomplete.

 

I really appreciate your post. I'm really thinking about going to Stevens to get into the trucking industry. Mainly because I never heard anything negative about their miles or equipment. Tell me because you seem to be more or less a person I can believe here. How are their miles? What has been you average miles weekly? How is their equipment? Is it as nice as it sounds? Do they have APU's on their trucks? What is their idle policy for truck with APU's vs. no APU. And lastly do they allow microwaves, toaster ovens, ####pots, refrigerators ect. I thank you in advance for taking time to respond to this post, as I know you are busy.

 

Thanks for your concerns TeaLeaHeart. Fingers are almost back to normal. All are straight as before.

As far as Stevens being "The job I love to hate". I'm not sure what the answers are to solve all the issues of respect, etc. we encounter back on the yard. As I'm sure we can all agree, It is far easier to sit and complain and point fingers (straight fingers) at each other.

I'm a firm believer that any organization is only as good as the people in charge. BS surely does run down hill.

If there is a culture of disrespect coming from middle management and on down you can be sure it is condoned, encouraged and practiced at the upper levels of Senior management.

One indication of that might be the placement of a very small Suggestion Box in the main hallway by Driver Qualifications. It appears to me if any of us have a gripe about anything or a suggestion or idea. This little suggestion box is the place to put it. In other words I'm not so sure they are really interested in hearing from us at all.

With all of the incidents I have been subjected to and all of the complaining I have heard from other drivers you would think they would have someone mabe in Human Resources dedicated full time to dealing with internal problems and conflicts.

Mabe they could call the position 'VP of Internal Conflicts'. That should be worth about 80k per year. There really needs to be some mechanism in place where we can report gross negligence in Customer Service instead of always having to just Suck it Up all of the time.

I have worked in real professional environment before I know it can be done. All you have to do is hold people accountable for their acctions and what they say to each other. It takes management to reign people back into line and let them know there will be consequences for future infractions.

Put respect for each other as employees high on the prioriety list and I'm confident things will change for the better.

Your situation of being dispatched from Murfreesboro to Edwardsville. . . Again, that is the responsibility of the planners and dispatchers. Someone needs to be keeping an eye on how they execute there job duties. Are they applying common sense to the decisions they are making.

Example of what they did to me one day: I get a repower in Winslow, AZ to deliver in Landover, MD the very next day by 10:00. Sure I had a student with me but that is about 1900+ miles. All I had was 24 hours to get there.

If they know a load is going to be late why can't they just reschedule it without putting undue pressure on the driver.

To top things off. I started my 19 hour clock (Trainer HOS) at 08:00. We drove to Moriarity, NM and arrived there around 22:00. Thats a 14 hour day. I have a student to keep an eye on also. I'm not just going to jump in the sleeper and let a T1 student drive off into the nite.

Nite dispatch called my students cell phone and proceeded to read him the riot act because we still had two hours to drive. He handed the phone to me and I was told that they were going to repower me and someone else would be knocking on my door to wake me up again. I did'nt argue with the girl. I waited til the morning to talk with my DM first. I ended up repowering with an OO in Oklahoma City.

Nothing changed. They had to deliver the load the very next day in the morning.

So your guess is as good as mine. Just what in Hell do they think they are doing?

I think what we are really dealing with are Egos as big as the great out of doors that have gotton way out of control.

Someone must be sitting upstairs in an office somewhere watching all of this unfold. So why don't they do something?

I could go on and on. I don't really want to write a book here.

 

I enjoy reading your post Jerry C. I believe I've found two drivers that will tell me the truth about Stevens. Other that the disrespect you find on the yard how is Stevens overall from your point of view. I'm looking for a company with more miles then they have drivers, great equipment, a fair idle policy, and a company that at the very least will allow me to have the comforts of home while out on the road. What i mean by this a company where I can have my microwave, crockpot, toaster oven refer and ect. If a can at least get most of these things I can deal with the rest of the BS. I understand I do have to pay my dues as a student driver and I want get the best right from the start but, if I could get it sometime in the future that will be ok as well. Also, what is the current deal with the Jake and Cruise when do you get these items. Thanks and keep up the great post . . .

 

Stevens does maintain the equipment. As far as APU's, most of the fleet has them now, but the starting students are still getting trucks with out APU. Idle policy, none if you have an APU, and I think 30% without and APU. Must have a 6.0 fuel milage without, 6.4 with.

Inverters are allowed, they want to install them for you. After that what you put on there to cook with is your choice.

Miles for me, 110,895 year to date. I stay out 5 to 6 weeks, then take 5 to 7 days off. Averages out to 2360 miles per week, for all weeks, or 2780 miles per week for actual weeks worked.

Miles have been down for the past 2 months, I was averaging 3000 miles per weeks worked before this.

This is my relaxation time, after driving all day, to set and read the boards, and answer questions. I do it whenever I have the time.

 

Jerry

A book of compliants is easy to write, it is coming up with solutions that is difficult. A well hidden in plain sight suggestion box. The EGOS of some really do need to be deflated, and that is up to Steve AAron, and Family. I have heard from some old time drivers, that the daughter was going to take over, but she wanted to clean house of 10 people who she thought needed to go, as they were not people who supported working together. She was told she could not get rid of those people, and she did not take over.

So upper management is in limbo, so the underlings all think they are in charge. I have never understood the total disregard for rescheduling an appointment, instead insisting the load must be delivered on time, even though you or I left California a day late, due to the shippers, or due to dispatch giving the load late.

And do not even get me started on the CSR's who schedule the appointments. They have no concept on how to schedule a multi stop load, or schedule the appointment when the place is not even open, because the receiver has changed hours.

I have also worked in a corporate culture, where top management demanded accountability, and got it. They also gave respect, and control to those that held themselves accountable. So I know it can be done. At this time it is obvious that no one at stevens is held accountable to their word. Sorry, the driver is, will you be safe and legal for on time delivery?