Stevens Transport aviary

It's easy to sit on the sidelines and say that, but if you knew the history of what I have gone through with this company since October, you would not be trying to coach me right now. A couple of things:

A: I never said Steven's was being unreasonable. I said that that they are incapable of doing their jobs...for a number of reasons...the biggest being a lack of communication. I also said that they are very quick to throw a driver under the bus if it will save them from getting their ### chewed. After all, we're just a bunch of uneducated rednecks that don't know the difference right??

B: Bonnie did help me through my situation. However, this is where it went wrong. She told me that she would hold all truck payments until I was back in my truck. Now they are saying that they only held 3 of them.

That is not holding all payments until I'm back in my truck.

First off, I was recovering truck 9499 for Stevens on December 12.
Second, They are charging me for a truck payment on Jan. 2nd. I wasn't back in my truck until the 3rd.
I don't even care that much about the payment for Jan 2nd. It's them trying to charge me for a payment that was due over a month ago when they had plenty of opportunities to take it out before hand without double dipping my paycheck right when I come back from time off. To me, that's downright sleazy, and if they really cared about the driver, they would not be doing that.

Now. If Bonnie had originally stated that she would only hold 3 truck payments, then this would be a non-issue. Unfortunately, that's not what she said, and now our bank account is going to severely suffer. What it boils down to is that she is reneging on her word.

I have no idea how I could prove my case as it is my word against Bonnie's. I'm just a low life truck driver (see above.) Who do you think they are going to believe? I thought we were able to trust our coworkers. At every job that I have had, people worked as a team to accomplish a goal. You could trust them to do what they said they were going to do. At Steven's, they put on a marvelous facade, but it truly is every man for himself.

 

Wasn't trying to "coach" you, but rather help you how I best could at the time being.
You are right about one thing pertaining to the occasional lack of communication. Sometimes all the hands don't touch, and you have to guide them do so.
By telling people how screwed up you think they are and that they don't know how to do their jobs isn't going to make anyone want to listen to or help you. Its a big place and a long chain of command and my friend things do will get "lost in the sauce".... if you will.
I know of no one that works for free here. I understand your frustration, but by sitting around even more........ you're just getting further behind. Could take a 2 hour lunch Monday and get the same resolve as you will by staying put. When you lease or buy a truck it becomes a business, and in all businesses there are unexpected events and setbacks. Its up to you ultimately to grab your business by the horns and make it work. You could go back company or find another job, but I think if you put your mind to it you'll do fine. Not to mentioned you'll be better and smarter in the future to things pertaining to this industry. Sky is the limit for you man.

P.S...... if you stay upset and worried/hacked off, babies will be born with no clothes on.

 

The lack of communication is a problem at stevens. So are the turf battles as each person protects their fifedom.

Flight you have been caught in the blender and being used to save stevens money. But dujo is correct, diplomacy and tact are a better solution than a threat from a driver to not work the weekend. Especially in january when frieght is slow.

Your bank account is not their concern. You must tell your DM to use your home time account it is not automatic.

Always get any modification in payments for the lease in writing. Now bonnie is correct that once you turned in the recovered truck you were assigned back onto your truck. 3 weeks, then you went home for a week off. She did do what she said even though in your mind you were not back on your truck until after you went home.

I hope you take this as insight, into running your own business. I have dealt with bonnie, over a misunderstanding, and she has always done what she said she would.

Temper the attitude when talking to stevens. They hear it all day long. Want to iimpress and get things done, be professional, calm, and look for a solution.

At times I have not followed my own advice and it has cost me in the long run.

 

I can understand what you guys are saying, but I still think that there is something very fishy with what happened.

T: This was all set up after I recovered the truck for them. Bonnie and I had a deal that either they would pay my air fare to go home and back to Jersey, or they would withhold my truck note until I was back on the truck. To me that rings differently than what happened, but it is probably a communication failure.

99.9999% of the time, I never get an attitude with them. When my DM told me to bring a load to the yard, and then denied saying that after the fact, I let it go without a word...and even gave him a Christmas card the next day. When John Thompson told me basically to pet my wife on the head and tell her to be a good patient girl when I had another payroll issue, I said nary a word. When I worked construction, I saw a guy get chased by another guy wielding a sledge hammer for less. I believe that I have been more than patient and professional with them.

But....when you are getting the hammer from the home front, and the job is not paying you, one can tend to lose his cool a little bit. My conversation with John, however, was a calm one minus the dialect. There was never any raised voices. I was calm but firm, and I made sure that he understood my point of view...and that I am not one to try to snow over or otherwise take advantage of.

I won't park my truck, but it sounded like a good idea at the time.

 

"Flightwatch", I know that you don't want to hear it, but Bonnie has gone over and above for you. It was your choice to go home and not go pick up your truck when it was ready, yet she still held payments for you. My husband was on 'med hold', I was running solo, and we had to go back to Tennessee for a family emergency. We were off for 13 days while my younger sister died on Hospice Care, then was buried and Bonnie refused to hold any truck payments for us. She offered to set us up on a 'payment plan' to handle the payments and cash advances. Since we had just left the yard the previous week we ended up behind 3 truck payments and no pay check for the time we were on the yard. Looks like we may just be able to get caught up in time to head back to the yard in March.

 

Well I called craft, they are not open till the Tuesday. So I put in a repower request but from what I have heard the chances are slim on a weekend.
I have been trying to get ahold of STEVE who is the man I helped out on this load. Cant seem to find him.
The CSR is gone till monday so it looks like my "go getter" attitude and "Willingness to help" just cost me four days of pay. Hard to explain to the wife who is trying to manage finances at home. Still trying to recover from training pay. I know I have to put in my time here so I am far from discouraged. Lets just say I will alwys have enough time to make a load before I except a repower again.

 

I'm in morajity, new Mexico with a load going to Cali if anyone is interested. Still has 1100 miles on it. Can't make it for the first drop. At the t/a

 

I think I speak for all the drivers on here in offering our thoughts and prayers for you and your family in the loss of your sister. In the big scheme of life our daily troubles seem a lot smaller than yours at this time.

 

On the phone now, got a repower, lucky me. Cool thing is I am meeting the guy in Phoenix so I get to run the remaining miles off this load and pick up his after that. Trying to get info on that load now. We shall see, might still take you up on that offer!!!

 

Thank you so very much. The hardest part of it all is that she was only 44 yrs old with 17 yr old twin daughters. We definitely appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers, especially for her daughters as they try to cope with losing their mother and trying to complete High School. I know their dad is there for them, but they have never really been close to him.