Detailed info about Stevens' costs

All major carriers negotiate fuel prices on an daily basis. Depending on the location and the company, some of these become significant. Stevens uses these to program your 'opti stop' on each load, calculating fuel mileage, distance and other considerations.
As a company driver, you must purchase at these stops. As a contractor, you may purchase anywhere, but if you purchase at one of these stops, Stevens passes the entire discount on to you.
As an example, at one stop last week, my discount was more than 28 cents per gallon cheaper than the posted cash price.

Fuel surcharge (FSC) is a program designed by the government when fuel went crazy after the original deregulation of trucking.
It is based on current national fuel costs as calculated by Lundberg.
It will float accordingly.
Each week the FSC is adjusted.
The FSC is charged to the shipper at the rate based on the day the freight comes on board. (FOB).
Stevens pays the contractors the FSC for any load. It is not paid on deadhead miles since you do not have freight on board.
So, currently, I think it's 0.435 per mile.
If I pay 3.85 per mile for fuel and get 7mpg, it costs me 0.55/mile. Now deduct the 0.435 per mile FSC I am being reimbursed, and my real cost per mile for fuel is 0.115.

 

The fuel surcharge varies week to week depending on what the national avg price for fuel is. Its been about .45 cpm here lately give or take a few cents.

The discount runs about .10 to .30 cents per gallon depending on the fuel stop.

 

@Emulisifed Nice detailed post on it, definitely is a lot easier to understand. So in essence, if you purchased fuel at one of the suggested locations, your getting an extra $0.435 cents profit. Might not sound like much, but when you add it up, if you have a load going, theoretically, 1,500 miles... you'll get the profit of $652.50 passed back to you (1,500x$0.435=$652.50) -- right?

I'm sure I screwed my math up somewhere here so correct me if I'm wrong.

 

You will always get the FSC on loaded miles, no matter where you buy fuel.
However, if you buy fuel at the opti stops, you will get an additional discount on the purchase over the cash price on the pump.

So, again, if the cash price is 3.85, I may end up paying 0.10 to 0.30 LESS per gallon. I'll see that discount on my settlement sheet.

The FSC will be paid on all loaded miles.

 

And more and more I read about Stevens the more and more I want to go and work for them Security sucks.

 

do you like working for stevens? my husband just started driving w a trainer , said his working 12 hr days no time off and 300 a week..

 

12 hour days are very common in this industry. New trainees are paid $350 per week until they complete the two primary training periods (OR1 and OR2). When you're out on the road, there really isn't any 'time off' other than your 10 hour DOT rest period. I tell drivers to consider their training period like boot camp.
I never met anyone that would ever choose to do boot camp over again, but I never met anyone that was sorry they had gone thru it.
It's a process to get to your goal.

 

It's not just Stevens, that is the trucking life. You are at the mercy of the load in the trailer and the DOT rules. He knew how little he would be paid while training and an OTR driver will always be working/driving those hours. Deliveries at 3am, long waits for loading and unloading and then driving through the night becomes the norm. Once training is complete the pay will go up but the first 12 months is a little rough. I hope he thought this career through before he signed up. Good luck.

 

Update on costs currently in school in CO. You have a choice of paying 3500 or 4500 financed at 18%for 27 or 28 months with a one year contract to drive for Stevens.
Attraction to me is the Stevens claim that their driver's get the most miles. You can run 6 days a Week before getting taking a restart of 34 hours, going by the book. Instructors are straightforward about how a week can go especially if you miss an appointment, and lose the subsequent load for pick up. I went through a year of wandering if trucking is for me. My goal is one+ year over the road. I have got a keen interest in the Alliance program. If you apply you will get details about pay and school and their Alliance lease advertising.

 

Gave stevens a year plus and they still sent my loan to a collections agency. Everyone of the guys i stayed in contact with from driving school went through the same situation. Food for thought. And I'm not trying to down play them, we've all moved on to local better paying jobs. Just looking out for those trying to better themselves. Think twice.