Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

Discussion in 'Stevens' started by Dryver, Jun 4, 2013.

  1. Greyghost828

    Greyghost828 Bobtail Member

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    Nov 5, 2013
    North Carolina
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    Thanks for the info. Sorry to ask so many questions, I'm deciding between Knight and Stevens. Currently leaning toward Stevens. Prospects are limited living here in SW Florida. Stevens looks like they treat their drivers good, have great equipment with APU's, and I've read their safety team stands behind the drivers. I've also read that their training for new graduates is top notch, which is important to me, I would really appreciate being trained well the first time which will help me to develop good habits from the get go.
     
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  3. maxwelltie

    maxwelltie Medium Load Member

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    Mar 13, 2010
    Brookings, OR
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    Well, I pulled the plug.
    Sitting here with Emul enjoying an adult drink and celebrating my 67th birthday.
    Of course I had to come over and 'collect' on our little wager. He said I wouldn't do it, but it's done.
    Went back to Dallas, talked with the powers that be and decided it was in my best interest to enjoy summer as a retired man.
    They were very gracious and made me a nice offer to come back and become part of the inside team, but I have decided to enjoy myself doing some fishing and trying to see if retirement is really boring.
    I'll let you all know what I find out.
    I have a home in Brookings OR. For those of you that have learned to depend on GPS's and electronics and not picked up and looked at a map, you will find Brookings on the southern Oregon coast, just north of the California line.
    Not far from the Rogue River where I plan to pit myself against the Steelhead and salmon.
    I have done my best to entice Emul to come on out and join me, but he says he's having too much fun 'herding cats'.
    He also doubled down on the bet and said I will be back before the end of fall.
    I want to take this chance to compliment Stevens and thank them for all they have done for me over the last few years. They have been fair, always paid me as they promised (but I often wished for more!) and I'm going to miss a lot of good friends I've made both in the drivers group and inside persons.
    To all you newcomers I say, "hang in there. Stevens offers great training, but you won't realize how good it is until you've been elsewhere."
    To all the others,...keep the faith!
    I'll check in from time to time....
    Max
     
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  4. TLeaHeart

    TLeaHeart Road Train Member

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    casper, wy
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    good luck on the retirement max... it is only as boring as you make it.

    A great area you live in for outdoor activity.
     
  5. Bobcat Tail

    Bobcat Tail Light Load Member

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    Aug 30, 2010
    South Texas
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    Happy birthday Max. Enjoy your retirement. You earned it.
     
  6. Bobcat Tail

    Bobcat Tail Light Load Member

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    Aug 30, 2010
    South Texas
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    YAHOO!!! Got my class A permit today. One more step taken, one more hurdle crossed. Be in Dallas in 2 weeks.
     
  7. SHOJim

    SHOJim Road Train Member

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    Apr 19, 2011
    Columbus, Ohio
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    Congrats!!!!!!!!
     
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  8. Greyghost828

    Greyghost828 Bobtail Member

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    Nov 5, 2013
    North Carolina
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    Congratulations, good luck in Dallas.
     
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  9. Curb

    Curb Light Load Member

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    Aug 26, 2013
    Gainesville Florida
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    Man I tell ya if there's one thing I hate doing, it's sitting here. Empty. Waiting for a dispatch. I know it's the nature of the game and such but come on. What happened to these fantastic preplans?
     
  10. Emulsified

    Emulsified Road Train Member

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    May 6, 2010
    Dallas, TX
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    I can tell you what happens to those preplans....
    The computer will show a PTA (projected time of availability). This is usually figured two hours after your delivery appointment.
    If all goes well, you will be available for dispatch then.
    But for a myriad of reasons, trucks don't get empty.
    Now imagine the load planner has a load that needs picking up NOW.
    He'll look at the nearby trucks and their PTA's, give an allowance for what that receiver will actually do (two hour from Ralphs? Target? hah!) and set that plan on the first available truck that should be able to pull the load.
    But sometimes that 1200 mile two day load won't have a team coming available, so it's planned on a solo. But don't worry, we'll REPOWER!!
    Now that solo doesn't get empty or a team gets repower off a load or, or, or...
    So the preplan gets moved to the team.
    Now come the phone calls.
    "Hey! What happened to my preplan?"
    Other than the load planner, no one knows. It got moved!
    It HAS to get picked up, and maybe that solo wasn't the right truck in the first place, but the only AVAILABLE truck at that moment.
    So the solo driver burns up the lines about how he got 'screwed' out of his preplan, how someone 'stole' his load...and he DEMANDS to know why.
    We don't know.
    Simple as that.
    The load planner will have to answer a plethora of questions from all kinds of persons (DMs, FMs, supervisors,) about the load, so the easiest thing to do is NOT TO PREPLAN!
    We often soft plan. That's a preplan that hasn't been committed to the truck, just parked there. If all goes well, it will be 'hard planned' and the load sent to the driver.
    And just a note here.
    I hear all the time how '..I got screwed out of my preplan..' .
    No...it isn't your load until it's dispatched.
    we have to go with what's best for the load. Just because you had a 2800 mile preplan over three days, doesn't mean you'll get it...and if you do, you know that chances are you can't keep it.
    There are many reasons preplans don't happen, the greatest is probably all the crap everyone on the inside has to put up with when the load is moved off of that truck.
    So the moral of the story?
    don't preplan!
     
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  11. TLeaHeart

    TLeaHeart Road Train Member

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    casper, wy
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    I always asked my DM if I had a soft plan on me... did not care what it was, as he would never tell me anyway. If I had a softplan, that meant hang around the receiver for a little bit, to wait for the dispatch, so that I would not head the wrong direction to a truck stop. No soft plan, head for the nearest truck stop.
     
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