Stevens Transport is Not the Place. U

The Op could be more enlightening by describing the 3 preventable's, now it is no secret that Stevens business model is being a Training Company, which provides the industry with drivers. You get your license/refresher/school and get experience and move on to greener pastures if $ matters to you. The issue to not getting paid might be a clerical error that could be ironed out with a phone call, but than It could be possible that advances took a big bite out of the expected earnings. Something tell's me that the OP is looking for the pink-rainbow and purple ponys......... Good Luck !

 

hmmm...transflo...something Stevens charges drivers $2 a month for, is available at a lot of major truck stops. I only have to wait to find that TS when I have a completed trip report. Also, "there's an app for that". Trip envelopes and snail mail??? Why? Scanned my first trip using the transflo app last evening...we'll see if I experience any glitches.

Also, I agree with another poster on the cash advance thing. It seems a lot of new drivers don't understand that concept but will just spend it all before it's paid.

My my only concern with Stevens Transport is the condition of some of the trailers. Sometimes I wonder if tires are lifted when the trailers are left in lots or across the border and I always check the inside of the trailer after unloading for damage done by lumpers.

 

Well, keep in mind when I talk of my time at Stevens, that was between 1998-2000 when your choice for sending in trips were the self addressed stamped envelopes your company provided, TripPak which Stevens didn't use, and paying for your own express postage with FedEx or UPS. I chose the latter using FedEx 2nd day as it was the cheaper of the two. No Transflo back then.

 

Stevens is in the process of replacing all the old trailers. Most are gone. We purchased 1,000 new ones last year and are taking delivery monthly now. My question, that no one inside can answer is, "Why are they 13'-7" instead of 13'-6"?
Tire conditions? The bain of responsible drivers! I hated the constant picking up of trailers with flats, bald tires, gouged, even MISSING tires (empty rim). They do a good job of replacing or repairing the trailers and tires as the drivers note them, but drivers who sit around getting the things fixed are not compensated so too often they just pass the thing on.
Trailers that cross the south border are subject to missing lights, tires being swapped (along with rims), even brake shoes missing!
Too many drivers never pretrip the Thermo King, so low oil, coolant, bad belts, dead batteries...all common.
But if you bring it to the attention of Road Breakdown dept, they will fix them without problems.
I think the real issue isn't the condition of the trailers, it's that the new drivers are not being properly trained, and current drivers are not held responsible for problems they just pass along.
If a driver burns a load, fails to monitor the reefer temps, fuel level or doesn't care, the inside joke is, "don't worry. We'll bring them back to Dallas, give them a gold star and a NEW truck!"

 

I saw that 13-7 in sign and wondered about that.

 

Hey Packrat...cool...didn't realize you were speaking of times before transflo was available. The transflo app worked out for me just fine for the first trip using it...no payroll issues Also, to Emulsified, thanks for your reply...I agree with you in thinking that some drivers do not check those things on the trailers. Perhaps out of ignorance (inadequate training in my opinion) or just plain laziness but in my very limited experience thus far I have seen many trailers in need of repair...it just seems dangerous to ignore certain trailer issues and while not getting paid is a concern...well...on second thought I won't go down that road.

Googled the 13'7" thing a few weeks back and asked around...next time I'm on the yard I'll ask the trailer shop guys as I haven't gotten a good answer on that one yet and post it here if y'all think it'll be useful info.

 

I learned my lesson years ago when I was in the Marine Corps about cash advances. It was a very hard lesson to learn, but in retrospect, it was a good lesson learned!

 

Most likely the reason the OP wasn't paid for his last 5 loads, during his last month of employment..is because he came back from home time. That's where they get ya.. even when you are not working and on home time, (or stuck on the yard dealing with stuff they find to trap you there).. you are being charged/billed for health insurance...life insurance.. school loan payment, anything you are still making payments on such as the meat lock..also any payments on deductibles for unknown amounts on any fender benders or truck damage, even if it's a tiny clip of a sign that put a 1 inch crack in the front spoiler, or if it was a hit and run by someone else while you weren't even in the truck (I know from personal experience!)...all this continues to be billed to your future loads. So you come back and work for sometimes weeks to pay all that back, while also paying the current weeks' deductions. I took no cash advancements at all, and still had negative paychecks or a very small paycheck. We're talking less than $100 for one load that took days to complete.. ran 1,500 miles and got paid barely enough to eat on or pay for a shower. I couldn't even earn enough free showers (on their opti-stop bullcrap) or use them before they'd fall off within a weeks time, since I spent all day and half the night driving, fighting through gridlock traffic due to an accident, or stuck stranded at rest stop on weather shutdown for two days that I never got paid for, even when I wrote in large letters across the Tripsheet that I-80 was closed to all traffic for two days and where I was, etc.. They did this to me multiple times with both weather shutdowns and mechanical breakdowns. I was at Kenworth for 4 days, and never got paid
a single dime. Yes, they knew where I was..they sent me therr.. and I spent the 5th day at ThermoKing for 5 hours. I got sick of spending daysss getting their truck fixed (babysitting it) all the time.. qualcomm going down constantly.. spending up to 14 hrs at shipper/receivers and not once in 5 months was I ever paid a single cent in detention pay. I would write it on my Tripsheets and tell my DM. The reason you don't get paid, is because you have a crooked DM.. they keep the money Stevens Transport is paid by the shipper/receiver for having their truck parked there, and they keep it for themselves..
I had a perfect driving record..no accidents and no tickets, when I came and when I went. ..and my DAC report had better reflect that! (need to check it). The last straw for me was when they were trying to force me to violate a DOT regulation against my own better judgement and safety, and the safety of other drivers. They're response was "Well, Stevens will pay any fines you receive." ...at that moment any hope I had of continuing with this company just died..
I'm happy to be home, making other plans for my life and spending time with my family, without the stress and judgemental attitudes and "bullying" of the various department employees there, as though it's a collective game of seeing how fast the can break you down. I do receive threatening emails, texts and phone calls on almost a daily bases, threatening my DAC report, and a law suit regarding the No-Compete clause in the contract they had I sign, before even getting there! Which BTY, states that you agree not to work for any other company in the same industry, for one year, or until the loan is paid off. Which luckily, is not enforceable in my state. I do believe everyone has a right to checkout the employer and decide for themselves whether they want to be employed by them AFTER going down to Dallas and BEFORE we are trapped into signing a contract with them 2,000 miles from home. Just the same as they have a right to check our employment history. They have the right to send us a statement for payment, report it on our credit and garnish any future wages if we don't pay up...and we should have the right to work for anyone else we wish to. They should not have the right to all those things AND control our livelihood and continue bullying us and continuing a false imprisonment to them.. and filing false statements to drivers DAC Reports!
The lid needs to be blown off this sick form of manipulation, lies and the hidden Human Labor Trafficking SCAM that's REALLY going on here!