Stevens Transport aviary

There are two screens for any driver. The front screen lists the dispatched load and basic driver information such as home time, how long before being scheduled to go home, how many days out since their last time home. It does not show the endorsements. You have to 'drill down' to find that information. Their is information for the last 5 comments on the front screen. Things like your Produce call, your check call. Basically the last five QC messages or something put in to refer to the present load.
The 'back screen' requires another couple key strokes and will have long term messages and more details. If you know where to look, it will show the endorsements, but not if their current.
You're right. He has to cover that issue when on the yard. There are a couple holes in the system. A person's renewal may come while out on the road and won't be covered until they come back on the yard. The other hole is when the driver fails to provide proof of renewal or tells Driver Services that they didn't renew, they put a comment on this back screen. It's up to Safety to remove the endorsement from the driver profile. If someone fails to note this or it slips thru the system, the endorsement is not removed.
I think that is what happened with this driver. With this case I suspect there will be a change. Not only will the driver have a fine to pay, but Stevens will have one too..likely much larger. And it will count against Stevens CSA.
Still keep in mind, there is plently of blame to go around. Trkshoney is right. High value loads require two drivers. Someone blew it there too. Trust me, the dust is far from settled.

 

If you're not comfortable, don't do it. You'll know when it's right (if ever) for you.
You can get a lease anytime. Take your time, do your homework.

 

I ran Hi-value loads, Hi-value hazmat loads often as a solo driver. Never had a problem. It depends on the driver, and that drivers history.

I have watched Will dispatch me from the yard, and there are two large boxes that always popped up on his screen that he had to bypass to get to the load screen, one box showed canada eligible, the other Haz mat... the information is there, if the dispatcher wants to look. But the driver knew, and the driver is the captain of the ship.

The first 6 months of 2012 was a ruff year, lots of time on loads, hard to get repowered when I was running early.

Had my pee test today, will start training with Gazelle transport next week, hauling crude oil, and home every day.

 

You have plenty of time to decide. In grad fleet you'll be company anyway even if you go pre-alliance. Plenty of time to decide.

 

I ran at least one high value load. Dont remember the specifics but I think I got it out of New York. I was solo on the company side.

 

I always chime in when someone asks about going Alliance. My typical reply is do your homework and find out all that you can about the program, the good side as well as the bad. I know people that have lost possessions as well as at least one wife because they couldnt bring any money home. I also know of others (several in here) that claim to make a real good living with Alliance. But the again the same applies to the company side as well.

As for repowers, I put in for several of repowers because I was early. I dont remember not getting the repower when requested.

But... Dont think that because you have a load going into NYC and are running a day or so early that you can repower away from NYC. I got setup for a repower in Youngstown Ohio going into NYC thinking I wouldnt have to go. Wrong! I just went in a day earlier!

 

Congrats!!! I'm jealous of the 'home every day', can't wait til our lease is up and we can get away!!

 

Repowers don't work the way we have all been taught.
There is a 'repower' board. Greg Stevenson runs this and does a good job, but it can be overwhelming for one person.
Every morning, the DMs, Dispatch and account CSRs will review their fleet and notate which trucks are running late. They are tagged with one of three tags: W for watch, R for repower and C for critical.
Any truck tagged critical will take presidence. This is a load that just can't be late for any reason. Meat loads often fall into this catagory. Produce and General Freight, seldom.
The different people will begin working on repowers immediately (usually starting around 8:30). The idea is the best options dissolve as the day goes on. By the end of the day, it's pretty darn frantic as we look for repowers and the options are usually pretty thin.
Most of the fleet has been driving all day and potential trucks just don't have hours available.
Teams, whether true teams or training teams have limitations. For instance, T1 thru T5 students cannot drive after 0200 and must be in the jump seat logging line 4 if the trainer is driving.
Teams often have nice loads. They aren't going to want to give them up for a 300 mile shuttle. I can't blame them.
Now we have all been told to send in a message asking to be repowered if we want off a load for whatever reason.
That shows up on the repower board with an R. But the R is red, not blue. This indicates it's a driver request. Since there are so many other needs....C's and R's already there...that NEED a repower, the red R's are largely ignored.
If you want off a load, first of all, PREPLAN!!
If you know you have too much time, don't wait until the end of the day to say anything. In the morning, call your DM and tell them verbally you want to repower, "where can I help any load in trouble?"
Now your DM will likely keep you in 'their pocket'. Not share this information with anyone so they can use you at the end of the day if necessary.
So you need to call the dispatchers individually and let them know you are available.
Let's say you have a load from Holcomb to Sacramento. 1800 miles. And you have 5 days on the load. Typically you will ask for it to be rescheduled, but that isn't easy. I'll cover that in another post if someone reminds me.
Instead, call the dispatchers when you reach or are close to Cheyenne. If they know you are available they will try and match you with a truck running late. For instance, if you made it to the J in Cheyenne after leaving the plant, before starting your clock, you call Eddy, Michael, Sam, John, or whom ever, they'll immediately look at their running late fleet and figure where they can use you. Suppose they have a truck starting their day in Ogden and heading to Morris. They'll ask you to stay put, don't start your clock and flag you for a repower on that truck when it reaches Cheyenne. You may not see it on your screen, but it's on the system screen and now no other DM or whomever can touch you. Now later, during the day, they find another truck that is even more critical, heading to St Louis. They can change the repower, but no one else can.
Sure, you sit all day, and will run at night, but you're off the load with extra time.
If your load is running on schedule but just by the nature of the load you're running at night or start late in the day (say 2pm) you are prime for repowering. We love you. But there is no sort routine to find you so it's just by luck.
Here's how a repower is found:
Truck A is running from Laredo to N. Platte NE. They are 5 hours behind. It's a Walmart load. That will receive high consideration.
The truck is presently running N on I-35 around OK City.
We will look for one of two scenarios: First, is there a truck around this truck that hasn't started their day yet, that can grab the load and finish the run on time? We'll search OK city, then Tulsa. We look for any truck that is within 50 miles, at that moment, that might work.
Second, we look to the future. His route line crosses I-70 at Salina KS, so we'll look for trucks in the Salina area we might be able to stop and freeze their clock (split sleeper) or will have enough time to grab the load when truck A arrives several hours later. That's a big guess and often doesn't work. Normally because any truck coming thru there will have few hours left by the time Truck A arrives.
Now consider you are sitting in Salina in the morning getting ready to run. You have that load with two extra days on it that you think they'll get you a new appt on. (won't likely happen). You call John who handles Walmart and tell him you're available if he needs help. He'll tell you to sit still, don't move and he'll tag you for a repower. You sit all day, get the load at t 8pm and finish running it the last 300 miles.
You negotiate a preplan with him to be part of the deal and after you're empty at 0400, you'll head over for your preplan.
That's the way repowers actually come down.
If you're proactive, you can make the system work for you and everyone is happy. You saved John having to spend 40 minutes looking for a repower and he'll remember your for that. It's amazing what Greg remembers about drivers.
Well, I gotta run. My saturday to be working.

 

Thanks Emu for taking the time to explain how this process works and some of the better ways to ensure that we are noticed for availability. It really does help to know some of how the inner workings occur so that it makes it less frustrating for those of us out on the road as with an understanding of the process now I can see that it is just not ignored. This was very helpful.

 

just for anyone who was curious.