Stevens Transport aviary

Guess things have changed because my hubby didn't sign off on the student he had and he was allowed to progress. Maybe it was because he went on to a finishing trainer, IDK. This guy continually refused to do a trip plan, spent all his time critisizing Stevens methods, and pulled out/turned in front of cars multiple times.

And Corporal Clegg, it's trainers w/students that we have repowered that are not using a meat lock, no load locks/or improper number, not running with lights, etc.
So I am safe in surmissing that if they aren't doing it themselves, they are not teaching their students. Also had a trainer that was teaching his student to run their tires at 90psi, even tho Stevens teaches 100psi. When I was checking pressure on trailer tires the student said, 'I just checked them last night, they're fine' I told him that they were all at 90 instead of 100, his trainer told him, 'well, they just run theirs at a higher pressure'

 

And I have repowered 2 husband / wife full teams that weren't using their meat locks, reefer below 1/4 tank, not using headlights during the day, had trash piled up on the passenger floor board so high that it cascaded out onto the ground when they opened the door like a Walmart waterfall....it goes on and on and on.

Point is...there are good, bad, great and just downright deplorable drivers of all walks out here. There some terrible trainers...there are magnificent ones.

The financial boost one gets from training is only logical. You think we should house, train, entertain, and sometimes feed a student for free? The extra miles and, consequently, the extra pay, is our compensation for taking on a full time, 7 day a week, 5 week straight job ON TOP OF running the truck...or our truck AND business if a contractor.

And I agree with you that there are some horrible trainers that don't do their duty (and I have repowered them too).

 

Anybody been to the Pilot in Atlanta at x51 on I285? I think the next time somebody asks me to do a repower there I'm going to refuse. My load was a little tight for my hours yesterday so they had me go there and a new grad fleet driver who just recovered a truck from a wrecker yard took it. He had a pretty severe air leak where the airlines connect at the back of the cab. It was in the red line and since he had no trailer he hadn't noticed it. I could hear it over the sound of his engine.

So then I get a call from another DM, can you help me out, got a load going to Montgomery, AL that delivers at 9 am. Sure, I say, when is the driver getting here? Around 8 hours. This was at 4 pm. So I tell him, I'll be asleep until 2 am, make sure to tell him NOT to wake me up when he gets here.

So at 11 pm guess what happens. Knock knock. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. So I explain tothedriver that I'm sleeping and wasn't he told not to wake me? Nope. Ok, go find a parking spot while I try to go back to sleep. So he leaves and goes 40 miles to another ts. I am trying to go back to sleep and get a Qc message telling me he is there. I reply asking if it's ok for me to bobtail over there during the danger zone.

I get an attitude from dispatch at this point asking why I didn't swap while he was there. Really. I'm in the middle of my break and they expect me to hook to a trailer then sit in the lot waiting for a spot to open up while I'm on break because apparently the other driver was incapable of doing so, then made a decision to leave without checking with anybody.

So back into bed I go after telling dispatch I'm now so unrested that doing this repower is not safe. Knock knock. Drivers back and hitching at me about having to pay for the fuel his choice made him burn. Dispatch calls me and wants me to take the load.

Next the driver drops the trailer in front of a bunch of trucks after handing me the paperwork. So I'm on route to Montgomery. Sitting about 29 miles out. Had a heck of a time staying awake.

All this could have been avoided if the DM had done as he agreed and the driver hadn't been such a bleep.

 

that Pilot is tighter than a Cholla's pair of jeans!
I never would use the place.

 

"it cascaded out onto the ground when they opened the door like a Walmart waterfall...."

"tighter than a Cholla's pair of jeans! . ."

I am impressed at the quality of descriptive writing going on around here, as my daughter would say; very Barnes & Noble.

 

The husband/wife teams don't even play in to the conversation, they are no different than the solo drivers, in that once they are off the trainers truck they are on their own. My issue is with the trainers that don't even run according to Stevens policies, no daytime headlights, no meat lock, parking on exit/entrance ramps, inadequate load locks, and yet are still allowed to train. The student is getting short-changed. And I haven't even mentioned the trainers wearing flip-flops, drinking every night, etc.

 

Some of these things, while well taken, are nearly impossible to enforce unless drivers report them.
I can say that if we receive a report of a driver drinking, and they are verified to be at the location where they were reported, safety will send a surprise car (taxi) out to pick them up and take them to a drug/alcohol test.
As for meat locks, lights, etc...those need to be reported to the training department. I know Bill takes these very seriously and speaks to each driver that has been reported.
Multiple reports for the same violation?...well...where there's smoke, there's fire!
Where trainers are reported to have violated the rules, students are interviewed and if verified, the trainer is brought back to Dallas. Depending on the seriousness of the violation, it will be handled on his/her next safety visit to the yard, but if serious enought (HOS violations, Sitting Ducks, U Turns, etc) they will be relieved of the student on the spot and routed back to Dallas immediately.
The problem is we all see this out in the field, but it rarely gets back to the people that are charged with enforcing the rules.
Trainers (good trainers) are most apt to report a sloppy trainer.
The training department reviews every trainee report on their trainers. It is taken seriously.

 

I hate that I bust my ### and do everything that is required of me AND MORE but yet when I ask to make time off (even at 10 weeks), I still get a song and dance from operations that ....ahem, "....nothing is available." to put me where I want to be. Anyone rolling across 70 from the east with a load going into the Memphis area? lol

I got 1200 miles left on this load going to Denver with a TIGHT delivery window (Sunday @ 8am). I hate to give it up but did I mention 10 weeks!?!?

 

Just a suggestion if this ever arises again... pull your trailer out, let him back his in, then do the swap... you still have your spot and he can.still.run down to the other TS.

 

fozzy you were way more polite then i would have been in that situation.