Stevens Transport aviary

If you have the right tax person and are good with receipts you can avoid much of that tax stuff. Dont forget to charge yourself 60 bucks a night for sleeeping in your truck

 

I hope that EVERYONE had a good holiday and if you are out in the huge snowstorm that you are safe!

 

And once again, you are also a 'newb'. Give it a couple of months before you get all 'Rah, Rah, Sis Boom Bah' on us. You CAN do OK with Stevens if you run smart, but you're not gonna become 'financially set'. As I said previously, Hubby & I just completed our lease, 1st for me, 2nd for him, so I do know what I'm talking about!! Also, Hubby has 20 years of previous experience in the Detroit area, so he knows all the 'ins & outs' of truck maintenance, etc (we have had several weeks that our fuel costs was -0.04 if that tells you anything!!). We've been out here for 4+ years. There are 'highs' and 'lows' with freight, holidays are one of the 'highs'. Stevens was also able to pick up a lot of Fed Ex & Limited loads which made things even better, but all of that is gonna slow now that Christmas is over. Both you and BigTruckChuck need to get back to us at the end of February or the middle of March after a few bad weather weeks. We have overall had great success, but there also some weeks that we ended up in the 'red' the best that we could do. Just read through this and the other Stevens threads, you will find plenty of drivers that started out strong, but didn't even make it a year before things fell apart and they left for greener pastures.

Good luck, hope things continue to go well, just don't be surprised when the 'tide turns'!!

 

Shutdown in Fultonville, NY. It doesn't look like it will stop snowing anytime soon. Safety told me they havexa lot of ice with this storm when I called for my weather master talk. I got here about an hour after it started snowing on me. Just as I got off I 88 onto Rt 30a. Dark and snowing, my favorite. Couldn't get through to safety last night so I sent in the macro asking to be put on shutdown, no response so I hope they did it. Stay safe out there.

 

If I never step foot in that TA again it'll be too soon.

I'm currently stuck in Rhode Island waiting for the weather to clear up enough so my flight can leave and I can gt back home! I'm supposed to be back on the truck tomorrow at 0800...don't think it's gonna happen. :/ At least I have an understanding DM.

 

First student off the truck, did 8,000 miles our last 10 days. The 24 hour shifts wore me down good so I spent a couple days (including Christmas) at the yard. Met a couple guys (and one girl, lol) and played a bunch of cards. For me, I couldn't of had a better time (well, beer and ***** would have been better, lol)

Skipping time off to take another student so looking at ~13 weeks out but the money is hot right now so keep it rolling.

Heading out Christmas day, Asked Will, gimmy something please to keep me from this weather, especially with a green student. What do we get? A 200 mile 2x stop run up to Oklahoma City. I was ready to spend another day at the yard on weather shut down as it started to snow in Dallas the exact time we were ready to roll but ...I left anyways. So, we are off and running and hoping to salvage more than 1,400 miles this week but at the mercy of a repower doesn't bring me much hope. Although I was called 3x! while in Oklahoma City to repower trucks that were running late. Hmm, 3 drops with a blown appointment on one and no miles? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA, lol...

 

We just picked up in Norfolk, VA headed to Oakland, CA. Got a call at 1730 EST asking to repower a load to Iowa that is due at 0400 tomorrow. We changed our routing on this load to run I40 to avoid snow and now they want us to voluntarily go up into it?? Said 'No, thank you.' 'But they are offering you an extra $200' 'Hmmm? Miles + $200 to run into a snowstorm, then go to the meat patch? Plus we won't be able to make it on-time, No!'

 

I just can't get away from the snow. I asked for a load going south, they happily obliged, then I got stuck in Fultonville, NY on my way to pick it up. Got there a day late, no problem, they had me in and out so fast it made my head spin. So I took off as fast as I could headed south, right into another storm! Got stuck in a traffic jam near Scranton last night just before my fuel stop. Shut down there for the night and got up this morning to 3-6 inches over the day. Crap! Well, it's a drop on the other end so no harm there, just gonna short my pay for this week. Glad the wife is still pulling down a check until the end of January.

 

Trkrshoney, Mistermino...you did what was right. Listen to the offer, but if it doesn't fit YOUR needs, don't accept it!
In the end, it's YOUR business.
We often call and ask impossible repowers. You don't ask? you don't get!
Last week, I offered a swap that cut the truck's miles from 900 to 500. He grabbed it! Why? He was tired of going to Florida and was wanting to get out west. Before I left, we were able to find him a preplan from Houston to Phoenix.
Everyone happy.
But if I hadn't asked...
And had he said no? Well, that's just part of my job.
Hope everyone is doing well. Time to head back in this morning and see what weather havoc will bring me today!