Stevenson Transport

Thanks for the info. I will be there in three weeks for orientation 1. Good luck out there with your finish trainer.

 

As for Stevens' reimbursement. My advice is turn it down. Stevens' pay rate is pretty bad, and you are going to get a huge after you make the jump to another carrier when you get a year of experience under your belt. It actually costs you money more money in the long run in lost pay to stay. I started my career at Stevens in 1999, and at the time they were still giving $350 a week for training pay, but when you got your own truck, they gave you 22 cents a mile. I'd run 3000 miles a week and still be making only about $350 a week. After I got a year in, I jumped over to Jb Hunt, starting at 37 cents a mile. That's a huge difference in pay. If you take the reimbursement, quitting like I did, because they lock you in a contract for three years, will cost you a bundle. It's not worth it.

Stevens is a great place to start. Their training program is top notch. It's just not a place you want to stick around at after you get a year of experience.

 

They did NOT lock me into any contract for paying me for my own school. They pay me $25 per week until I quit, or until the tuition is repayed which ever comes first. Pay is 26 cents per mile to start today.

things constantly change, so verify everything you read here before making up your own mind.

 

Mr.Mustard I appreciate your advice. I am making a career change and have elected to go with Stevens primarily for the training. I have heard their training is good and you have bolstered my encouragement in that aspect. As for the remedial training pay I think most outfits out there pay $350.00 per week to train. Swift pays $450.00 per week then $500.00 per week the final phase of training. I have heard their training is not as extensive as Stevens. After training Swift pays a paltry .25/mile. Upon completion of Stevens training pay is at .26/mile. After one year Stevens pay is at .30/mile. I'm not exactly excited about Stevens pay scale to start but I will sacrifice a bit less for the superior training. As for the driving school reimbursement I would have to concur with TLeaHeart that it is a straight $25.00/wk. no strings attached. However if you attend Stevens driving school I do think you are locked into a long "pay-back" period. I hope I can make a good pay jump like you Mr.Mustard when I choose to leave Stevens. Then there is TLeaHeart who obviously made the Stevens system work much to his advantage. If I could make it work like that I may hang tough. Thanks for the advice and be safe out there.

 

You need to read the fine print on that. I don't know what they are doing now, but the tuition reimbursement came with a three year agreement when it was offered to me.

 

For mine, Stevens is going to repay my tuition at the rate of $25 per week ($100 monthly) for up to 36 months. This will not completely cover the cost of the school but it is better than completely paying for it myself. There was no contract or time of service commitment for Stevens. They will do the reimbursement as long as I continue my employment with the company.

 

Swift's training is so bad that last year a hundreds of drivers had their CDL's pulled that went through Swift's CDL school. I personally know a guy who had 2 years of driving experience under his belt, and he still had to go home and be re-tested to get his CDL back. I have nothing against Swift drivers, we all have to start somewhere. Stevens' training is top notch. When they are through with you, you're going to be one of the best drivers on the road. But on the same token, I'll say this, .26 a mile is peanuts. You are going to have to run your butt off to make any money. There is going to be a LOT of weeks after you go solo that that $350 a week training pay looks pretty good. There were many days if it weren't for the money I got from lumping my own loads, I wouldn't have been able to eat. I'm just telling you, once you get your year of experience under your belt, you are a LOT more marketable, and there are carriers out there willing to pay you a lot more per mile.

 

If this is true, there must have been a law suit or something that made them drop the three year commitment. I'm still skeptical, why would Stevens make this offer? What's in it for them?

Oh yeah, which reminds me....You guys going through orientation..when you go solo, and get your own truck. Keep track of your miles. Keep all of your receipts. I spent 2 hours of my time every payday fighting for the money that always seemed to get shorted out of my paycheck. I don't know if Stevens has changed in this regard, this was my experience back in 1999. The training was top notch, I do not regret going through it. But, the year after I finished my training was the most miserable time of my life. Running 3000 miles for a $400 paycheck just didn't cut it.

 

To qualify for the government reimbursement for their own school, they must offer it to all trainees. Fine print states, $25 per week, up to 36 months, no commitment on my part. The shortest piece of paper I signed at Stevens.

3000 miles # .28 = $840 gross pay. Todays pay.

2200 miles, the current company driver average, $616.

 

That's GROSS pay. That doesn't include all the goodies they take out. It doesn't take into account for the 800 mile load you ran and didn't get paid for because they can't find the paperwork and swear up and down you never sent it in. I don't know if they finally went to Trip-pak, but in 1999, we were told to mail our paperwork in, and we wouldn't get paid until they received it. You'd be surprised at how many loads would get "lost in the mail." I took to Fed-Exing them at my expense. I'd put 2-3 trip envelopes in one Fed-ex packet. Still, one of the trips would get "lost in the mail" while the other two in the same fed-ex envelope arrived in time.

At the time, I was getting paid .22 a mile. I NEVER saw a check over $450. And I opted out of the health insurance, because I simply couldn't afford it.