Stevens Transport aviary

18 update... coming into mid week of week two of training, we are becoming salty and inwardly seeing those who will make the cut. I'm know expert driver but it can be a challenge to drive these ragged out trucks on the hill. You can smell the burnt clutches. you might get a eight speed or a ten. Throttle could be sloppy or hyper responsive. Better focus on pre trip inspection. The next stop for these rigs is the parts yard. The Plus side is if you can drive these you should be able to drive anything. That would be a handy set of skills to have, maybe thats the method IDK.

 

Zip code to zip code isn't completely accurate. We had a delivery to the railyard in Haslett, TX, then a pick-up @ Kraft in Fort Worth. We checked the zip code map, went thru multiple zip codes, 20+ miles, but got paid for 1 mile.

 

The zip code used is the center of town. So if you have a load from Seattle WA to San Diego, it doesn't matter that you picked up on the north side of Seattle and delivered at the border. They use the downtown zip...98101 and San Diego is 92101. From downtown Seattle to the north city limits is about 20 miles and the same distance from downtown San Diego to the border.
KMac, I'm willing to bet the routing on your load is wrong in the computer. I found and fixed one of those tonight when the driver called and questioned it. He was being paid 233 miles. After researching it, we found the cities in the routing were off and it added 90 miles to his route.
I suspect it was because the load had been changed a couple times and somewhere along the line, the load planner missed the routing.
Always question things like this. It's your money.
And, no...no one is trying to cheat you. It's just human error. It doesn't cost anyone inside a dime to make the route correct.

 

I've have been told numerous times they will pay me foot this or that. Correct this or that. It never happens. Call it what u want but the driver always gets the short end.

 

Thanks will check on this. It just seems like a huge variance to me.

 

remember that is the way the crow can fly, not the way the roads allow you to go. I always hated the less than 1000 mile loads, as the unpaid miles to get there where always 10% or more. Especially if you get a north/south run, or a run where the interstates do not go.

 

Kraft is on the same road as the haslett rail yard. just across the tracks, and 3/4 of a mile down the road.

And from the yard to Kraft, gets paid at 30 miles... even though it will take you 50 to get there. They override the zip to zip, when it is to stevens advantage to do so.
the place you really get screwed on mileage is large cities with multiple drops or pickups... get paid 1 mile when it is 50 miles across... Houston TX, Bakersfield CA....

 

That IS the truth! I remember getting into a new Pete during the backing exercises on the hill and just saying OMG, this is how the truck SHOULD shift and feel! The school trucks have had a very very hard life, lol...

Just a thought, I'd LOVE to get into one of the school trucks now to see if they CAN be shifted!!! lol...

 

why bother with a clutch lol