Stevens Transport aviary

Hang in there smokr you are developing one of those "this ain't no BS stories"

 

Glad you made it back to Dallas, but those bus rides are hell. I will never take a bus again. I now have a credit card for one reason, to buy a plain ticket if I ever need it. In your case not an option this time.

I am surprised that they did not secure the truck before you left for the bus terminal. If everything goes well, another bus and taxi ride, and you will be back on your truck.

Positive thoughts for Smokr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


this is a story that everyone should read before starting a trucking career. Shows just how something so little, bad food, can be blown over the top by a cooperation.

 

I am sure that this all happened for a reason smokr. keep the faith brother

 

Good things are happening. Finally finish OR1 and waiting at AMBEST. Have to do the bag drag in the morning to see if I get a trainer. The fellas and I went to get dinner of what we called the last supper. The tension is building and the nerves are at full throttle. I don't want to be a super trucker I just want to do very good and be proud of what I'm doing. So much info was thrown at us , I'm have to do a brain dump to retain it all. So far the experience is great but really need to work on the shuttle situation. That part sucks ##### well check in tomorrow to see if I get a trainer.

 

Big Sgt you are right, the shuttle situation needs improvement. It really sucks on Wednesdays and Thursdays when everyone in OR1 and OR2 is trying to put their luggage in the van and make it to roll call on time.

Here I am in Anthony, TX. I just finished my produce check call. I think tommorow will be my last day with my trainer. After tommorow I will still have a seven days to go to complete my 21 days. I am growing tired of playing musical trucks and dealing with the crapshoot of who will be my next trainer. I am ready to just get my own truck and not have to live out of a top bunk and duffel bag. I am not complaining about Stevens, just the nature of being a trainee.

 

21 days in finishing training? If that is the case, you are a lucky man. I spent 40 days in finishing training because Stevens didn't have enough trucks to go around. Something we were not informed of beforehand. Smokr, hang in there. It really is sad that you have to go through all this BS just to be cleared by the Company Doc half a continent away. Just shows that Stevens is covering their bungholes, and I guess you really can't blame them for that. What we can blame them for, however, is the way Stevens dispatches the infamous Tyson loads. I've written a diatribe about Tyson in Carthage,TX, but have now learned that it doesn't matter which Tyson you go to, they all proverbially suck. I've been sitting here in Amarillo since Tuesday afternoon, and my DLD isn't until 8PM tonight. When I checked in at the guard shack, I asked them if they had a drivers lounge in their colossal facility and they said no. I then asked if they had any restrooms nearby, and one of the guards said "you got a bathroom right outside your truck"! I looked at him and said "I've cooled down my tires many times, and don't mind doing that, but I don't want to have to grease my fifth wheel".After a few moments of stunned silence, where you could hear the wind battering the guard shack like the three wolves were trying to blow it down, he told me they have a vending area somewhere, but at that time I had already decided to Bobtail back to the Petro. I checked on the load this morning, and no luck, they haven't even started on it. I did notice that out of the dozen or so Stevens trucks I saw waiting like me the last few days, none were contractors. Maybe TleaHeart can fill us in on whether the contractors say 'NFW' to the dispatchers if they are assigned a load to Tyson and the DLD isn't at that moment or a few hours from then. The Stevens shuttle situation from the AmBest is pathetic, to say the least. They could easily have someone to drive the Stevens shuttle every morning to go along with the AmBest shuttle to alleviate the problem, but that would cost Stevens another $1500-2000 a month in fuel and labor costs, that's why they don't do it. Keep that in mind as you advance in your career with Stevens.

 

Play nice and jump through the hoops. Yeah, I know. Silly though. I'm not earning, and I'm not earning for Stevens, either. But this is costing Stevens the $205 bus ticket, the $80 cab ride from Wheeler Ridge to Bakersfield bus station, and for the tests tomorrow, there is a tractor sitting idle in Cali, and they may even have to pay for it to be towed to a safe storage place, pay for storage, and then pay someone to go out there and get it recovered.seems to me a plane ticket would have been cheaper and faster hindsight being 20/20

 

Tyson, National Beef, JBS all the same. get there drop your trailer and wait. Now as a contractor I can say no to the load, but I won't get anything better if I do that. Now if one builds a reputation with the meat department of being able to make the tight/late meat loads, they will bump you to a load with a much closer DLD, or to one that is ready. But they the dispatchers tend to not look closely at the hours a driver has.

This week I set in Liberal Kansas for 2 days waiting for a load, got me a hotel room, and was comfy too. then the delivery date was changed after I started rolling from Saturday to Sunday in New Jersey. So I am way ahead of schedule....Waiting to repower a load now, that the driver can not make columbus OH at 5am Friday. I am 160 miles away, just outside of Indy. Not much of an improvement, but as of right now the plan is for me to make the first drop, and then be repowered off of the other 4 drops. We shall see. I have done this before, where I got my original load back, in this case that would suck


Wait times at meat plants/chicken plants tend to be shorter for the experienced drivers. Newer drivers always get the long wait time. We all have to pay our dues

It seems that the planning department, and dispatch are having a tuff time right now keeping things running smoothly. Lots of long wait times, and late loads.

Maybe WGCarver can weigh in on how it is going for him too {hint hint}