Stevens is a Good Starter/Training Company, BUT...

So I’m not sure if this has already been said before but I’m going to post this here anyways. I’m not going to bash Stevens Transport up and down because they’ve been overall good to me, but one incident soured me to them and I’m in the process of ending my relationship with them.

I’ll post the overall takeaway to this story first, that way anyone who doesn’t care to read an entire narrative can see this point and move on.

Stevens doesn’t give a #### about their loyal drivers who’ve been with them for awhile. They prioritize their students over everything.

Now to anyone who’s interested, here’s my specific experience that soured me. I’ve been with Stevens for about a year and a half now. I stayed because I got into their Northeast Regional Kraft dedicates fleet which pays well and keeps me busy...very busy as a matter of fact. I also have an arrangement with my Driver Manager who is actually awesome and isn’t anything to do with the problem. He gets me home every weekend from Friday evening to Monday morning and also pays me for the empty miles to and from home. I did Stevens’ infamous sleep study in orientation which they more or less make everyone do and state it’s a requirement by FMCSA which is an outright lie. They diagnosed me and made me use a sleep machine which they made me pay $880 for (out of my pay incrementally) and got mad when I asked if I could go through the VA and get one for free being a veteran. Out of the question. I was brand new fresh out of CDL school all bright eyed ready to get out there on road so I went along with it. Well a year goes by with no issues and I don’t wear my machine at home and when my med card comes up due for renewal, they flip #### on me. “I’m out of compliance” and “you need to wear it everywhere you go whether you’re in our truck, on home time, on vacation, everywhere.” I’m sorry, but how can a company legally dictate what I do outside of their truck? Their response is is FEDERAL LAW and I’m in violation of FMCSA regulations. No I’m not. There’s no law saying CPAP machines are mandatory. The FMCSA curbed that regulation because of lack of evidence that CPAPs actually prevent accidents. I argued this and was offered to be fired and sent home if I didn’t ablige. I gave in and they sent me home to use my machine for 5 days before they’d give me my new card and let me back into my truck. I couldn’t even sleep in it.

I wear the mask for 5 days and proceed to call the company quack (aka the Doctor) and cannot get ahold of him or anyone in the clinic. I kid you not...it takes me 2 WEEKS to get ahold of someone and actually speak to doctor ####nuts. Their excuse? We were busy with students!

So I lost 2 weeks of work and pay sitting at home trying to get ahold of literally anyone aside from my DM who couldn’t get ahold of anyone himself as he was helping me. Their students are more important than one of their longer tenured drivers who’s never had an accident, never had a service failure, never had a fuel usage problem, always took loads that others refused into Wyoming and the PNW during winter or NYC without complaining and always eager to help. They’ll call you nonstop when they need something but if you need anything FORGET IT. And when you call, nobody is friendly. They just ask for your truck number and that’s it. You’re just a number. I understand that’s the way it is in a lot of companies which doesn’t make me mad but the 2 weeks of nonstop calls to voicemail boxes that aren’t checked or are just deleted pissed me off and sent me packing.


My advice to anyone new: If you want to go to Stevens for their great training (it IS actually really good) then great, go for it but once you’ve got a year or so, run. Far away and don’t ever look back. Their students are the big payday and once you’re graduated from student status and Don’t become a trainer for them...you’re nothing.

 

Drivers who got their CDL through Stevens are under contract but I got mine privately through the GI Bill.