Just got accepted to Stevens Transport

Don't be shocked by the hotel in Dallas... it. Sucks, ,now the roach coach that parks at the drivers lounge has some excellent Carne Asade Tacos!

Congrats... now your real learning will begin.

 

Why would you put someone you ask to do you a good job up in a nasty flea bag hotel???? But this is Stevens. Hang in there. Keep your eyes open. You don't have to do any year if a good opportunity comes along. If not get it over with and never look back. They are going to #### with you worse then the military. That's what they do. For many decades now. Don't let any dispatcher push you into anything you don't want to do or feel capable or comfortable doing. Everyone learns at different pace. You'll be OK.

 

I got my start with steves. they don't pay diddlysquat, but it was a great training exp. good equipment, good exp. I can almost promise you that if you have a good attitude and don't refuse things you will stay busy. don't expect to make enough to retire there.
don't let them scare you about hunts point and NYC, take any nyc load they give you. they pay extra 75-100 bucks to go into the city. I live about 200 miles north of nyc, im a local driver now. im in and out of nyc every day with a sleeper truck and 53 foot trailer, there are a lot more places youre going to be going to for stevens that make nyc look lovely.
I never understood why they tried to scare us about nyc so bad....that's one thing I never understood.

go there, 2 years seat time and then get the hell out and get a job that actually pays.

no complaints here as far as training / work / trucks / it was as good as it gets as far as a training company goes.

 

That military background will pay off in trucking, ie. discipline. Don't sweat the small stuff; look at the big picture, pays off in trucking and keeps everything in perspective.

 

Chinatown, I just wanted to say thanks. Of all the forum regulars, I appreciate your experience and insight the most. I am a vet, and I too believe that military training and experience will benefit me, especially in my first year.

Stevens is also high on my list of companies to start with. I want to go to Con-way Truckload, but if I can't swing the tuition to the JC they hire from, there is a good chance I will try to get into Stevens training school. Milo161, please keep us posted about your training progress.

 

Awesome stuff Milo!!

I'm with Stevens also, been out with my trainer for a few weeks, I've been trapped on the east coast for most of the past week, like a black hole out here ...........once you get to east coast hard to escape it lol.

Make sure you get all those loyalty keychain card things at the truckstops, i've been using mine for free coffee and snacks when I can.............

One thing my trainer showed me was to keep a little personal log "The Captains Log" he calls it. Use it to write down anything you need to in it. He makes a record of all of his communications with dispatch and what not, anything weird or abnormal comes up he writes it down and he'll even go so far as to write down his meals he eats at truckstops so he can go back and reference how good the food was or wasn't. He will also write down names of people he meets on the road like other drivers from stevens, waitresses at a truckstop, cashiers, names of people he meets at a shipper/receiver.......he can the go back and reference it at a later date......we pulled into a receiver the other day, he pulls out the book since he had been there before, walks into office, and was all like "Hey Bob, how are ya, how has the fishing been going"......obviously he had found out prior that "Bob" fishes a lot......this made for a smooth time at the dock, got unloaded before some of the other trucks.....it's a nice touch he has added to my training.......

Glad to see you out here, maybe we will bump into each other some time!

 

Glad to hear the training is coming along great for both of you. Good information Milo, I don't write all that stuff down because I would have trouble finding it to reference, but I remember a lot so it works for me.

The shipper at one of the Tyson plants in Arkansas for example, gave me the keys to his pick up to run to Walmart while he was loading my truck. It is good to make friends out there.

P.S. - Milo, Cajon is a piece of cake.