Stevens Transport aviary

The flatbed-only company is TMC.

 

Stevens home policy is one day home for every week out. Home every 5-6 weeks.
Do some drivers stay out longer? sure.
Either they don't ask to go home or they don't care if they go home.
If the person you're speaking about hasn't been home in 3 months, it's likely he isn't reminding his DM daily or, as often the case, he is in the training period.
Training is 4 days classroom then a MINIMUM of 35 days on the road with an O-1 trainer. If he completes all his requirements in that 35 days, he'll be back to the yard ASAP to begin O-2 training. That's comprised of 3 days classroom, then 21 days out on the road.
Then back to the yard for grad fleet training (2days), truck assignment, and finally dispatch as a solo driver.
Each trainee is given the option of taking a week off between O-1 and O-2. (unpaid). Most trainees forgo that option and go right into O-2 so they don't lose momentum and get their training done faster.
If you choose to go straight thru, you are dispatched with a load to your home area right into grad fleet.
Now depending on freight, that may mean two or three loads before they get you home.
then you get one week home time.
It's possible this person was wrapped up in training and CHOSE NOT to go home.
I live in a more 'difficult' area to get home and TLea is even MORE difficult. (he lives in the middle of nowhere!) but we get home when we want.
If Stevens hires you, they get you home.
But you have to set the time up with your DM in advance and remind him of your upcoming hometime. If you rely on him to remember, you could be away for a long time.

 

Made our drop here in Jacksonville, FL this morning. Raining pretty hard as I tried to back into dock. bright lights on the dock, dark yard, rain on mirrors...miserable.Took three tries before getting it in the hole.
Next driver did the same, then came over to me on the dock and said, "I laughed at your attempts to back in until I tried!"
For you newer drivers out there, a trick that helps in a situation like this is to put your flashlight (turned on) against the dock wall pointing out on the line you're backing your tires against. These bright dock lights will make it nearly impossible to see where you're going and often in the rain soaked lots, the yellow lines are nearly impossible to see. But you can aim for the flashlight easily. Don't worry about running it over, your tandems can't go back that far.
But don't forget to pick up your light when done!
So now we're heading for Orlando for our final drop. Have a preplan from Kraft in Jacksonville that goes to San Leandro, CA.
We hit the lottery on that one! Just love those cross country loads with time enough to do them!
Stay dry everyone.

 

Thanks man.
Stevens school really isnt bad. Theres alot of people that get into this industry with no idea what the job actually intails. When they figure out it isnt for them they blame (insert training company here) and come here to rant abouit it.

Stevens is very structured with lots of rules. It suits some and others it doesnt.

 

DUDE !!! Thats great info right there. Ive had that problem a few times. Im gonna give that a try next time. Thanks !!

 

I love reading Emul's tidbits. They're always excellent stuff to put in the "Handy Hints For The Road" book.

 

The flashlight works great in the rain and in that covered dock that is dark inside or at night when there are no lines.

Well i am not getting home for my dental appts this week, even with the daily reminders. Will reschedule them for my 2 weeks off at christmas time. The price i pay for living where the deer and antelope play.

Delivered my chemical load from NJ to houston this morning. Not a spot to get me home. I was told we no longer do the banana loads to cheyenne. So i washed the trailer out and at 11:30 was dispatched to pick up a coffee load going to atlanta. This place makes champaign kraft look easy. Backed in, dropped the trailer, checked inside and was told we will get to you eventually this was scheduled for pick up friday morning. Now why is it houston dispatch is always a day or more late?

 

Another day without a repower. I did get a qc message from my DM today asking my eta to final...

I bit my tongue but was going to ask what was his ETA to getting me home.

So, ...a day late and a $1 in my pocket. Eta, 11-9 @ 0800, pickup was 11-4 @ 1400 and this is a 1900 mile run. Sucks trying to run without hours...

 

Well it finally happened... 2 years, 2 months and 9 days after starting with Stevens I had my first "incident".

Repowered a 3 drop meat load in West Memphis headed for the northwest. First drop's in Amsterdam, NY. Start checking over my route and see there's a TA about 15 miles from the drop. It's in Fultonville off I90. Sounds good to me so I plan to stop there.

Drive the two days and 1100 or so miles to get there. Arrive at the TA around 2100 last night. I could only find one spot open...and for good reason. It was tight..super tight. Makes Kraft in Champaign look like an open field. Also, it was in a "court" (one way in the row but a dead end on the other side) AND on the "wrong" side. So I get lined up to back down the row and setup to back in the hole. The driver of the Marten truck on the passenger side of my truck hops out and ground guides me. It took 5 or 6 tries and about 15 minutes of getting out, looking, conferring with ground guide, yada yada but low and behold we got her in. Fantastic! Time for a hot shower before bed and an 0900 delivery time this morning.

Once I got back to the truck and took a look at the parking lot I soon realized "Oh poop! If these trucks are all here in the morning, I'm not entirely confident I can get out of here without having Marten disconnect so I don't remove his hood". So I say a lil prayer before hitting the rack that at least one of the trucks next to me is gone in the morning.

Wake up this morning...still have both of my neighbors. Wonderful... Run in and take care of my hygeine. They had the whole C-Store roped off doing some kind of repairs so I couldn't get my coffee there. So I walk next door to the Mcdonald's to get some. I figured the extra 10 minutes might allow for one of my neighbors to leave. No dice.

It's around 0745 by now and, like I said, I'm about 15 miles from the receiver. I get situated and start the truck. I pull out nice and slow and ever so slightly angle the tractor towards the left to create a c-hair more space between myself and Mr. Marten. That all looks great and I ease to the right thinking "Hmmm...this wasn't near as bad as I thought". Then I hear the air horns and shouting....uh oh. That doesn't sound good. I slam on the brakes, set the parking brake and hop out. I'm thinking someone was walking their dog and it ran under my trailer or something as I didn't see or feel anything. Once I'm out of the truck though I see that I had drug the ICC bar and both bottom sets of trailer door hinges across the wheel and fender of the Swift truck to my left! The hell?! How did I manage that? I understand the potential for tail swing but I've never had it be an issue until this morning. Eff me....

Luckily the Swift driver was in his truck, as was his student, at the time. He got out to survey the damage about the same time I did. I was expecting a very angry driver (and rightfully so...I wouldn't blame him). He just walked up to me and asked if I was alright. Then stuck his hand out and said "Hi, my name's Tony.". I wasn't expecting that reaction but I immediately returned the greeting.

We determined the best way to minimize any further damage was for me to stay put and have him turn his wheels all the way to the left and move about 5-6 inches to allow me to get fully clear of his truck. That worked out great. I pulled out of the way and came back to exchange info.

Swift requires a police report be made of the incident so the worse part of the experience was waiting for them to show up. About an hour later they did. Very friendly and helpful though.

I called safety and Corina was pretty friendly about the whole thing. Insurance department..not so much. I just chalked it up to early Monday morning and didn't take it personal.

After all was said and done I wound up being late for my first drop. They were understanding though and took me without incident. Made the second drop in time and now sitting in a service plaza 25 miles from final...due at 0600 tomorrow. There's a Pilot up closer to final but I think I learned my lesson last night about parking in a northeast truckstop late at night

Those of you who have had incidents out here...how fast did Stevens route you to the yard for your saftey review, road test, Fleet 50, etc? Reason why I ask is I'm due home a week from tomorrow. My DM told me they have me preplanned on a Texas load (but no preplan on the QC..go figure) but he didn't know if that meant I was yard-bound...or just getting to California via Texas.

I finally popped my cherry. Yay me.

I attached a pic of the carnage for those you suffering from morbid curiosity.

 

Knew, only a fender bender. Route to the yard is at their convience on that minor of an incident. Dont sweat it and insurance is always grumpy. Tail swing is a ###### when turning tight.

Yep parking in the northeast after 3pm is always a cluster. Many of the recievers up there have overnight parking. Pays to call and ask and verify via google maps.

Finally got loaded and hot footed it out of houston, and stopped at my fuel stop with my 14 up. At least that plan worked. 70 degrees tonight.