Stevens Transport aviary

Amen, bro. Michigan's Indian summer is over. Rain in Detroit and cold air are on the way. Slow down all! Drive carefully.

 

I drop down. Why? Because they need so many trucks to use the toll road to make it profitable. Im not helpin them with that. Its the principle of the matter.

 

New CDL holder (private school) and I start O1 with Stevens this Sunday. I'll admit that the winter is a concern of mine seeing as I have not driven in snow and icy conditions before. And here I'm setting out to begin my training right when winter begins! I hear they take you to all 4 regions in the 48. The Rockies or Smokies, New England, PNW, ect. I'm pretty confident in my abilities to drive, but a bit of trouble in the shifting department. And that's the "concern" I mentioned above. On dry pavement is one thing when missing a shift. Ascending or descending a grade is a WHOLE nother thing! Then through some snow and ice in the mix and... well you get my point. Just hope I get a good trainer. Regardless I'm ready!

 

Depends, i run them when it saves me time and/or money. I only drop down if i won't make enough on the load to offset the cost, but since most of the loads that i run through there are usually multi drops, it's worth it to run. them.

stuck in Cali with no freight, TA east looks like the stevens yard, minus the red shirts.

 

I'll drop down if there's time on the load. But it depends on which road and where I'm headed. Sometimes the mileage difference of running US highways with all the stoplights offsets the toll costs.
I'd rather keep the speed constant and mileage better if I can offset the toll cost by saving fuel.

 

The bear may be coming back. Talked to a recruiter today. I've been off the road for a year and a half. I was told I would need to do the whole 8 weeks training again, which I can deal with, but they said they may want me to go through the school again, depending on my road test. I'm sure I'm a bit rusty, but I don't think I want to go back on the hook for the school again. If that's the case I'll go do a refresher somewhere. Decisions, decisions.

 

If you still have your CDL then what's the big deal? A refresher? Sure why not.. make that a mandatory thing to see where the driver is at. The whole 8 weeks? Seriously? ...that's ridiculous unless the driver couldn't perform in the refresher. School??? They gotta be smoking sumthin! I get that rigs are not the same as driving a car but again if a driver can pass a refresher.. then? It would be different if one didn't have their CDL anymore and it's been 10 or 20 years.. just saying

 

Just remember that CSA2010 puts the same responsibility on the company as the driver, so some of them have said the way to "fix" their problems is by putting every driver through their driver training program, CDL holders included.

 

Back through school after only 18 months off the road? WOW. I can understand driving with a trainer for a while but re doing school is absurd.

 

We all miss a shift now and then.. the key is don't panic, give it a little throttle, and slip it into gear. And don't sweat the winter, the policy is enforced, if the driver does not feel safe driving, you park in a safe haven, truck stop, rest area, call safety, and you are shut down. Dispatch can not override safety. And do not try and let dispatch or your driver manager talk you into rolling if you are not ready too.

I did have one meat dispatch call me after I stopped for weather, heavy snow in Indiana. I was going to take a short break, and wait for the sun and plows to do their job... But the meat dispatch called me, telling me I needed to roll, other trucks in the area were rolling... yep they sure are, but I70 is closed in Indianapolis due to a chain reaction truck wreck... He did not care, and insisted I roll... I hung up, called Karina in Safety, explained to her what was happening, and she put me on weather shut down, and told me to enjoy the day off... I was not to move until the next day, and she would inform the Meat dept why....

Meat tried to take the load from me, but could not find another truck in the area to repower the load... so I delivered to Carlisle PA, and Pottsville PA a day late, and both places were happy to see me, and unloaded me quickly.

Last winter, I stayed out of the weather the entire winter... I was either in front of the storm, or days behind it.