Stevens Transport aviary

nope... always get told they don't offer that anymore. Ever deliver early to a costco? I have tried, but have been turned away both times.

 

That sux on the local pay, they need to do something for your wasted time. Will you at least get a 34 out of it??

No early deliveries for us there either. At least at Morris you can park on site, but you can't check in til an hour before your appointment.

 

What is the matter with these receivers? Sounds like no one wants to go the extra mile to take care of you guys. Man, if I was in charge of receiving, I'd be humpin ### to get things done. No one cares about anyone else any more.

 

Costco is one of the most efficent receivers around. They have appointment times for a reason and they respect them. Checked with them at 0600 this morning. I have a freezer load and freezer day is tuesday. Got told I could hang around and check back at noon. Then the lady says that is basically a no from the manager. TA is still a cluster to park at so I will hang here until I am done on the phone with stevens.

Trkshoney you know stevens policy is no resets under load.

 

Reefer loads eat up the log book becasue of the wasted time spent loading/unloading. Dry van and flatbed have quicker turnarounds.

 

Emulsified is right.The dispatchers will look for drivers that might not know the proper procedures or as Alliance,the proper questions to ask to get the answers necessary to determine if a repower is in your best interest.These things come with experience.As an Alliance driver I can tell them to shove it,usually in a nicer manner,lol.And as far as the bad loads.We all get them.Pick up your load,and then be proactive as you can in getting the delivery moved up,or your DM looking for a repower.The bottom line is,how many miles am I running.Not,oh I had to sit and wait for a meat load .So what,if you still get 2800 miles that week.These meat loads are set up on a tight schedule usually anyway.Any time sitting is gonna be made up usually,because your gonna have to run your a-- off to get it there on time.So be ready to roll when its ready.Quit worrying about sitting,and use your time more efficiently.Sleep,because your gonna need it on an early morning DLD.You have to get the load and roll,not stroll up to the truckstop and sleep. Guys Ive been at Stevens awhile.My worst week in 4 years is 2200 miles.Drivers in other companies only dream about those kind of miles.Quit whining and run the loads your are given,quit turning down loads and run the hell out of them and the miles will come,just sayin. Tlea is right .Costco is usually a dream receiver.They are the most efficeint recever of any of the major retailers out there.The only time you have to get out of your truck is to open and close the doors.Other receivers could take a lesson from Costco.Heck if your thinking of laying down and getting some rest at a Costco,you can probably forget it.Your in and out usually so fast your wondering what the hell is wrong with all the other receivers,just sayin.

 

I would rather deliver @ Costco over Walmart any day. Check-in on time @ Walmart and they take full advantage of their 'free' 2 hours unload time, then finally have your bills ready an hour after that; check-in an hour early, they take the full 3 hours, then the hour for your bills; and heaven forbid if you are 5 min late, it's always 7-8hrs.

TLea, I thought perhaps you had electronic logs which will automatically give you a reset, load or no load.

 

All good advice for a solo driver, but as a full team we are losing a lot of money on meat loads. If it comes out by the DLD, we are at the receiver usually a day and a half early minimum, and forget getting appts reset or a repower unless they have a load in major trouble, doesn't happen very often, so we end up sitting on the other end as well. Plus, unless things have changed in the last year or so, trainers w/students don't spend much time in the meat patch which gives the student a 'skewed' view of how things work.

As for turning down loads, we used to only turn down the loads that we knew were going to put us over gross. Learned that lesson in Florida when we told dispatch we would be over gross and they said, 'just go p/u and scale, maybe it won't be that heavy'. We then spent 2 days at the T/S while the W/E crew tried to decide what to do with a load that was 2000lb over gross. Now there is one region that we try to avoid because the planner seems to have a problem with female drivers. My husband used to get fantastic loads out of the area as a solo, but since we started driving as a team, we get a pre-plan for a good load which is promptly cancelled as soon as the DM goes home and we get a c**p load. We thought it was 'coincidence' the first few times, but after 6-8 times that went out the window.

As I said, all your advice is great for solos, but as a full team it just doesn't work.

 

Why would you say that.Fifteen minutes at every shipper and receiver.You guys staying on duty for these things are wasting your hrs.You have to stretch your logbook.Why would you be on duty for any longer than this.

 

Didnt know you were a team.OK,ARE YOU PERSONALLY CALLING PLANNERS AND DISPATCHERS AND ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT.Short DLD turnarounds,putting in repower requests on ahead loads.Calling the CSR about moving the loads up.Staying on your DM,s behind about your concerns.Sometimes you have to ruffle feathers to get what you need.Im a demanding driver,and I ruffle feathers.Works for me.And then I perform.Thats me.Just sayin.It works for teams also.If your a company driver I know your in a different position.I hate to say it,but go around your manager. Its pretty obvious by what your saying your manager is not doing his job.You need to do the things he is not doing for you.Call planners,call dispatchers,call the CSR.Call the repower guys,you do not have to rely on your manager for these things.Do them all yourself and you will get better results.And then when you get what you want perform.Good luck to you,hang in there.