Is Stevens Really The Best Training Company?

nascarchuck · Dec 24, 2012

I remember it being $15 a night. Yes, you will have a room mate. Maybe several during the length of your stay.

Truckerkai · Mar 23, 2013

Thanks for your input. I am about to go to CDLI School and am trying to get all the info. I can get. I have a good paying job but have always wanted to drive. this kind of information is like gold to me because I want to be successful. thank you so much for sharing.

Emulsified said: ↑

Let me try and explain in simple terms how freight gets allocated at Stevens.
There is a load planner for each region of the country. One planner for each freight type: Produce, Meat and General.
Not each region of each product is the same. For instance, the Produce planner does the entire country except the Left coast. The second planner does California and a third one does WA, OR, ID.
Meat is divided up amongst several planners.
There is a hierarchy. Meat is at the top, Produce in the middle and GF at the bottom.
So, as an example, when planning S Texas, there isn't any meat, (GF covers the processed meat coming from Mexico) so produce gets first pick of trucks available. Produce really only ships from Laredo and Houston (bananas from the port). A lot of produce from Laredo is very time sensitive, so the Produce planner gets first dibs at any teams that have emptied out there. The second planner then handles everything else. Frozen, dry, processed meats...whatever.
If there are 12 teams available on tuesday and produce needs 6, he gets first dibs and GF will get the other 6.
The planners make their choice of any truck based on history of that driver and experience. If a truck has burned that planner before, he'll get picked only if there is no one else available. If that driver has done well by that planner, the planner will give them the best loads based on hours available and the critical needs of a load.
This same pattern of choosing is used by all the planners all over the country.
If the truck is a grad student, they'll use you but only for loads that have extra time or are non critical. If a planner has used a grad student and they've done a good job, they remember and tend to start running them more.
Planners get to know the good runners...the ones that 'git er done.'

Now once a planner has one of these trucks in their area, they try and keep them in their area or snag them as they pass thru.
So let's suppose you are one of those trucks and get a load from Laredo to Raleigh. A different planner, probably meat, will plan you from one of the meat plants such as smithfield and send you west.
As you pass thru Texas, on your way to where ever, the produce planner may spot you and try and use you for a repower that ends up back in Laredo, but the whole time knowing he'll get to use you for a new load out of Laredo.
You can get into a 'regional rut' just because the planners recognize you and tend to hoard you to themselves.
For some drivers, they love it. Others will get bored and ask to go elsewhere.
Now while all this goes on, the repower boards (I'm one of them) grab whomever they can and send them where ever the load needs to go, so you can find yourself suddenly off to another direction.
Also, DMs will physically wander over to our area and start 'begging' for a particular load for a particular driver. The planners will often accomodate the DM. This is where your DM is trying to get you home or to Aunt Sissy's 80th birthday party in Oceala, MO.
Drivers that learn the system and develop relationships with the repower people and the load planners, learn how to game the system to their advantage and keep running more.
Even in my short time at the boards, I have a list of trucks that I look at when I first log on and figure out who is where and whether they are a candidate for a repower. Then I look at which loads are in trouble and if one of these drivers can help me.
Often these drivers keep running, but all over the place. No rhyme or reason...but they keep running.

So the first thing a grad student has to do to be successful is prove he/she is willing to run. If you have a 1500 mile load spread over 5 days, don't average 300 miles a day. That doesn't impress anyone. Run your 500-600 miles per day and send in a repower request the second day. Then follow it up with calls to the repower boards and your DM and the planners.
You'll get known and you'll get more miles that way.
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