Is it possible there is a positive for Stevens

I always told students to plan on spending 125$ a week on the road.

some spend less - some much much more...


budget your meals - try and have handy snacks in your truck - buy bottled water by the case

(28 20oz bottles for $3.98 at wal mart)

the big mistake is guys buy things on impulse etc etc

that ice cold coke looks good in the pilot or flying j cooler - but at $1.39 a bottle - that is like paying 17 bucks for a 4 dollar 12 pack at the store....

THINK

 

My husband is on his last leg of training at Stevens. It's definitely a lifestyle change for us, but we knew that going in and are adjusting accordingly. I can say that when I first joined the forum and read all the negative posts, I was sickened. Now, with some experience under my belt, I can see that the company bashing is more about the failure of the person to adapt and change than it is about the company. I am an accountant and I have had problems with employers. It's the way a working career is. In the end, it's what you want to do with it that counts.

Our experience with Stevens was more about how we dealt with separation, the huge learning curve and the long hours. My husband attended a CDL school for three weeks (about 2 hours from where we live), so at that time he could come home on the weekends. The school had an old house on the property where the trainees stayed. It was dirty and the bunk beds were so uncomfortable, my husband's back went out. We laughed about it, being thankful our home is clean and inviting.

He then came home for a couple of days, then took a greyhound bus to Texas. The bus left at night and it was miserable for him. There were some pretty obnoxious people on the bus. He swore he'd never ride a public bus again. (But he has had much better experiences since). We were worried about the physical as he has high blood pressure, but we made sure his medication was working well and predictably weeks before he went to training. So he passed fine with the stipulation that he has to have it checked whenever at the yard.

Training with the driver for the first 5 weeks was good and bad. He had an excellent trainer that he liked and felt he learned a lot from. He was clean and made sure showers and meals were pretty regular. But halfway through the training, he had a family emergency and my husband was assigned a new trainer. This guy was from hell. He smelled, he never took a shower (claimed once a week was enough) didn't eat hot meals, only snacks and played rap music so loud my husband about lost it. He tried to get the guy to compromise, but he wouldn't. Said it was his truck, his rules. It got really bad, but my husband accepted it and tried very hard to get through it. He knew that it was the luck of the draw and it was important to make it through training and that life isn't always about his own comforts. But we had to have an intervention when the bad trainer decided to stop in some small town and actually bought moonshine which he hid somewhere on the truck and then met up with some guy and went into the woods to drink, leaving my husband in the truck. He called and let me know the situation and so I called his supervisor and told them of the dangerous situation he was in. This trainer was a stranger, we had no idea how he was when drinking hard stuff, or whether he was going to attempt to drive drunk when he returned. Stevens pulled my husband off the truck and sent him a bus ticket back to the yard. They treated him very well and after he gave his report, he had to wait for another trainer, the nice part is that he did not have to start over again. Apparently the bad trainer was fired.

Then my husband got very lucky and the original trainer was back on the road by this time and he was re-assigned to him. He finished his training, went back to the yard for an unexpected very difficult week of testing. The days were very long, from 7 am to about 10 pm, full of classes and testing. Of about 40 guys he started with, a little less than half were still on board at this point. This was a tough week for him, he was exhausted and had been away from home for a long time. He finished the 4 days at the yard and chose his rookie partner and they have been out 1 week. 2 weeks to go, and so far everything is going very well, no problems. He said he will return to the yard afterwards and have to wait up to a week for his assigned truck. We expect he can finally come home just about Christmas time. He then does 90 days solo, then I can join him. I will be living full time with him on the road.

We are middle aged and have no young children at home. For us, this lifestyle will work because we want it to. How younf families with children work it, I cannot imagine. The separation from family is tough. Thank heavens for cell phones, and a laptop with a webcam when he is solo.

All in all, the hardships endured were not directly company related, but in how we perceived and dealt with the situations that arose. Stevens came to the rescue when it was necessary and we appreciated it. I did not act like a beserk wife, yelling and accusing, I called and emailed the situation and they responded immediately. When I read some of the accusitory post (for any company) I wonder how much of it is unrealistic expectations and not comprehending that trucking is not a 9-5 office job with lots of time off. Who knows. We don't expect Stevens to be any different than any other company out there. It's a business and they will do what is best for them, as it should be. However, a wise company will make sure the good employees want to stay. So far, we feel Stevens would make sure we were safe in a bad situation and you can't ask for more than that.

Of course, we are still in training. Who knows what will happen next. Good luck on your training and realize that the training is the hardest part of becoming a trucker. It's up to you to become the best you can be.

 

good post duk!

 

No, he won't have the laptop until he is solo. You have to be able to carry everything you own in between yard time and training, and he didn't want to have to deal with the security of it. We communicated by cell phone alone.

I can't wait until the webcam, though, it can really make a difference to be able to see each other.

Until you are solo, you will be so busy and time will not really be your own. But he says he missed being able to read the politics, see football and just plain read the news! He feels out of the loop.

I have purchased all the things he needs when solo, a fridge, a coffeemaker, a mini microwave and the laptop and internet connection. Life will be much better solo! Oh and he said to be sure have bring a really warm blanket, it's gonna be cold!

 

good question jimmy thats what i'm wondering also will there be any money to send home or will i be using it all up to live while on the road?????

 

He started in September. At the CDL school, there were only about 5 new people coming in each week. At Stevens, the week he came in, they had about 40 (October). 2 guys he knew from the CDL training failed the medical, one for color blindness, one for something else. By the time the 5 weeks was over, about half remained for the 3 week training. The orientation that you first go on is all prep work and backing up testing, the orientation after the 5 weeks is all testing and more classes on regs. The second orientation is the hardest on the trainees, as they are all so exhausted by then. During this last orientation, he said that he saw only about 10-25 new guys came in for new training. As I have heard, Most of the companies are having fewer recruits come in and fewer will be hired. Of course it may be the time of year too. During training he receives $350 gross each week which nets to about $312. While we have been fine financially, as I work, I can see where many cannot do this kind of pay at the holiday time. It could be many simply give up.

Many trainees apparently fail tests and/or quit from the stress of it. Some end up with problems at home and go back. It's a very uncomfortable (completely different lifestyle that is not your own choosing) and stressful time to go through training, so be prepared to deal with it until you are done. Husband says it's all in how you approach it. He is really looking forward to going solo and being able to control more of his own time.

He will be home mid-month. I will try and encourage him to come on this forum and give his overall opinion on the whole experience. All in all, we are enduring the temorary discomforts with the positive outlook on our future. We would go with this company again, they have been a good company to deal with. We have always been believers in the notion that you will come away with what you put itto it. If you really want to be a trucker....just do it, and do it well.

 

Oh and on the pay.....you don't get anything for the first couple of weeks, as it takes time to set up your direct deposit account and you are paid "behind". I want to say it was three weeks, but I can't remember. Once the pay hit the account, it has been coming in regularly. Never a problem there.

 

All of the management of these large trucking companies sit in boardrooms daily, some weekly, asking themselves why the turnover rates are so high or why so many trainees leave before the program is completed. I simply can not understand how these companies have no oversight for their driver trainers. How does a filthy, unclean person become a driver trainer?? Is that the impression large companies want to send to trainees?? You read horror stories all the time on this forum concerning driver trainers and I still can not believe companies allow the worst of the worst to be appointed to such a valuable position. You mean to tell me when these filthy people with their smelly, unclean stink-hole trucks are assigned to be a trainer the company does not look at the truck or the person and decide he/she is not right for the job?? Trucking is difficult enough, throw in a dirt-ball trainer and it even worse. Come-on trucking companies...IT'S TIME TO WAKE-UP???