Stevens Transport aviary

The wasted hours/time are not on duty but the burning of the 14 hour clock and and no reasonable way to stop it. 4 hours to unload then a 2 or 3 hour run to your pickup, another 4 hours to load leaves less than 3 more hours to drive for the day. Throw in the days where dispatch waits 3 hous to dispatch you and you had to drive 30 minutes down the road to park since the receiver will not allow you to stay and the whole 14 is ate up setting around off duty

 

These are true,but I was getting a different impression on what he was talking about.Even solo,and Ive picked up a bunch of produce loads since Ive been at Stevens,comes with the territory.Ive never had a load that had to be repowered.Does that mean Ive been lucky.Or does it mean Im very good at using my time wisely,just sayin.Its not eating your 70,its just eating your 14.Any time spent driving your making money.So you better have a fresh 11 to run when that last pick is done.I know its not always possible.But you can change your duty status on the fly with proper planning most of the time.Call the shipper,do you have parking,if not,plan your pickup around having as much time to run once loaded.Dont restart your clock if your not gonna be loaded before your 14 is up.Ride out the 10 and move to the shipper when it maximises your 14.Again,I know you know all these things,but a lot of these guys dont.Again all these things come with experience.To the shipper,questions to ask,do you have parking,what time do you start unloading,what time do you stop loading,are you will call,or are you appointment only.All these are things the new driver has to learn in maximising there log book.Then plan your time around the answers you get.If I just sat at a shipper for 7 hrs,Im three hrs from a 10 hr break.Might wanna rethink your duty status at that point to use your 14.

 

Sometimes things just get screwed up, and it always involves the weekend crew. It is obvious that the hours I put as available on the arrived at final and the empty at final are ignored. I called meat before I accepted the load since I was so short on hours and asked for a load with a DLD for sunday. Got the standard answer they needed the load picked up and would repower me to another meat load on sunday. We all know that did not happen. Repower have their favorites that they keep moving and don't care about the rest of us.

When I am the truck running late it is very risky to turn down the repower and show up at the receiver 6 hours late.

 

I hope that doesnt mean Im one of the favorites,lol.Because I piss a lot of people off.It seems like sometimes you dont get a repower request until its at a time when you dont want it.I.e. trying to get home is an example,then they are everywhere.Always in the direction you dont wanna go.

 

We are on 'the Dark Side' LOL. Also do all of the above, Stevens is not really set up to run teams so we essentially only get repowers when it's reached the 'Oh, crap' stage and there are not enough/just barely enough hours left to get it there on time. As for repowers when we are running 2 days ahead, "We'll see what we can do", translated, "Don't hold your breath, if there's a load in SERIOUS trouble and there isn't a trainer nearby we'll give it to you." As for the DM, he has told other DMs to feel lucky they haven't been on the phone with me when I'm not happy! He would rather deal with my hubby any day of the week.

Don't get me wrong, we are thankful for the repowers/assistance we do get, but we can also see where things could be improved with a little more attention on some people's part. Like the meat load that DLDs 6hrs late, no way a solo can make it but they wait until the last possible minute to repower, then we drive 24hrs straight, w/only 15min fuel stops to deliver. Or the load that was supposed to p/u @ 0800, we sit at T/S empty all day and then get dispatched @ 1700.

I know things will smooth out, been out here 3 years and they always do, but we are currently fighting our way out of the 'hole' due to 3 separate weeks where we got under 3000mi each wk as a team. We were on phone and QC constantly w/no help because it was the W/E so none of the 'regulars' were there.

Thanks for the input. Have safe travels and God Bless.

 

Sounds like you know whats going on.Dont know what to tell you.But taking those repowers that you have to hump rear on is where the quick miles come in.There tough,I know.And the trainers do get most of the two driver loads.Thats what we are,a training company.A good team company is Conway.I dont want to piss you off,lol.But my last 5 weeks out I didnt have to complain to my manager once in a five week period.He said that had to be a record,lol.Of course I train,and they give me the best loads.I understand this.The loads were consistently the best Ive ever seen over a five week period.It was unbelievable.

 

The 14 hour clock doesn't stop. Take 3-4hours to drop at a Walmart and then pick up at a meat plant, another God only knows wait on that load, lets say another 3-4 hours. You have lost 6-8 hours out of your 14 since you left the truck stop. I am not making this up, it's a fact of life with food loads and DC's you know this. I understand about stretching the log book and so does the DOT and they hate 'averaging'. They know this industry as well as we do and when they see loading, unloading and fueling always taking the magic '15 mins' the red flag goes up. There is nothing wrong with your log book looking like this but you will cause them to look at you carefully in every other area.

 

Of course I know this,you didnt read the rest of my posts.And Dot can find something wrong at anytime if they want to be anal about it.There has only been a few times when Ive been asked to see my logbook.Its never been a problem,never failed a roadside inspection.Been inspected numerous times,never had a problem.Why because its legal.

 

It means you've been VERY lucky. Next time we're in the same TS, I want to rub your elbow for luck...then run out and buy a lottery ticket!

 

Me too.

I want to know how one does that legally and on time.