Considering a career with Stevens

Well good luck driver, The important thing for you I guess is to get settled in with a company that will keep you moving, get some road experience and then the sky is the limit.

 

Thanks Suncoast. I don't have unrealistic expectations; *I just retired from the Post Office* and will keep my head in it learning as much as I can. I hope my choice does not come back and bite me.

 

When you're getting thousands of dollars per new trainee hire in government handouts, that kind of gives you incentive to only hire people with no experience...plus the fact that you pay them crap (.26 cpm), THEN deduct the tuition from their paycheck and even have the nerve to charge them 2 bucks per week just to transflo. Not to mention how many experienced suckers in the company sign up for that Alliance Fleece agreement. Yeah. I did my 1.5 years with Stevens and moved on. Didn't make any money there, barely got 1500 miles per week, never turned down loads.

 

I hear ya RubberD, Like I posted Dallas is closest to the 20 and taking the bad with a grain of salt with the intent of getting experience is my short term goal. I know there are downsides to everything, but making the most out of life is 100% attitude. Nobody ever has handed me easy, but many have offered advice; some good, some not so good. It is up to me to make a decision of what to filter and discard. I am looking forward to the challenges and if Stevens is an exceptional one all the better for me if I endure and succeed.

 

Everyone's experience is unique... unlike RD... I am getting plenty of miles... average 27 - 2800. That .26 only lasts about three months and then you jump to $.28 for three more, then $.29 and finally $.30 at one year. Is that a fortune? Certainly not, but is not slave wages either.

At $.30 with an average of 2700 miles per week, over a one year period... taking the maximum home time of 5 days every 5 weeks, yearly pay would be $36,450... and keep in mind this is just milage pay, you may also get stop off pay, detention pay, fuel bonus etc that increases it.

At a time when the median income for a single worker is $26,708, you are at least above average.

Again everyone's experience is different. For an entry level position however, this is a good place out open a few doors.

 

KMac I agree. Granted I stepped away from a $74K a year job sitting at a counter in what most everyone would consider a cushy job with the Post Office. This will be a world of difference in too many aspects to list on a Trucking thread. Money, $74K is not everything and there is always another side to every story. I have my retirement, insurance so in that respect I am slightly ahead. I am not tied to the whipping post when it comes to absolutes. I am flexible to a degree on what my expectations and basic needs are. I have my Class A with all but a Hazmat endorsement, so I will bypass that part of the training. With an intention and desire to pick the brains of whomever is my trainer in an effort to best prepare myself. I approach this next chapter of this adventure of life eagerly. Thanks again to all who have given their $.02 it is all helpful in one way or another.

 

Laith, I am not trying to hijack your thread; just jumped on it as I am also starting come monday the 13th.

 

As an example, I just tranflowed my last two loads in... Friday I left Fowler CA headed to Los Lunas, NM and a Sunday morning delivery, I made that and then dead headed to Amarillo and picked up a load for San Diego for delivery this morning. I made both pickups and deliveries on time and just sent in 2600 miles for the 5 days.

Again not the same for everyone, but I seem to be in the right place an awful lot. Now I am going to take a nap because to make on time delivery I got up an started running at 12:45 am this morning.

 

Thanks KMac, if I can turn in something along those lines I will do ok. At .26/ mile x 2600 would work out to $676. Take away 25% for taxes would be $507 straight mileage with no bonus, ie. *top off pay, detention pay, fuel bonus etc.* $101.40 a day straight time for the five day average. Factor in cost of my training and the repayment, I am going to be running pretty skinny for the first few months.

 

I just got my pay analysis for April... keep in mind I am still a month shy of my first year with Stevens...

Total miles driven 11,959

That works out to roughly 398 miles per day or 2790 per week

My pay per mile, factoring in MPG, Stop off, Detention, etc worked out to around $.34 per mile

So weekly in April as a Company driver with less than a year at Stevens, I averaged roughly $948 per week gross.

Again, not gaining any ground on the Rockefellers, but certainly not starving.