Recent Grad Looking To Hear From Stevens Drivers..... Need Info..

kinda depends on what load you have been givin. meat loads as a general rule take way longer then a load of film. produce also has its own time frame.my miles were good depending on who my dm was as well some dms are useless and some were great

 

My miles have been pretty consistent in the 2700 - 2800 per week range, some a bit higher, some a bit lower. My highest was 3400, my lowest 1800, but that was the only week I was ever below 2000.

They did not start out at what I get today, but built to it. I am a company driver, not a lease driver. I am OK with Stevens, I have been here just over a year and it has good and bad as with every company.

Home time is one day at home for every week out up to 5 days at a time. Personally I stay out two to three months before I go home, others go more frequently, it is up to you.

 

While it is hard to do miles week by week, due to some runs spanning the end of one week and the begining of another, and I transflo each trip as I complete it... I like getting paid every few days... these are the miles I drove for the last 7 days.

416
654
314
220
563
532
650
_____

3349

 

Be prepared to wait for a trainer. I just graduated from Stevens driving academy in Dallas. There are OR1 and students that have been here for over a week just waiting. At least we are getting paid our training pay while we sit and watch the same videos over and over and over. There are about 45 people waiting right now.

 

It should be noted that along with that 3349 miles in those 7 days... I did 1 repower, 3 pick ups and 4 deliveries along with driving this miles. Stevens will keep you busy if you prove you are willing to run.

My 70hrs is now exhausted after driving 5 today. Will get back 11 at midnight and 10 tomorrow though so no worries!

 

To all the new(er) drivers out there, this piece of advice in increasing your earning capacity: Learn how the HOS recap works. Understand how to use your hours coming back to plan loads and work dispatches. Learn how to trip plan! I can't say any of this enough.
Every day I come across drivers who are doing resets that don't need to!
Yesterday, it was a driver who was asking me to take a 1600 mile load off of him because he didn't have the hours to run it.
The load was due in 4 days in the afternoon. While he didn't have 32 hours on his 70 at the moment, he had 14 and would regain another20 over the next three days.
That works folks!
A rest costs you money! You can never get that time back. You sit for a minimum of two days, not earning a cent. You can't make that up.
If you are close on hours, all the more reason to run hard up front. In many (if not most) you can average better than 50mph. If you get out and hustle, you pick up a margin...a cushion that prevents you from losing a load.
Often (not most of the time) you can get a receiver to accept a load early if you arrive early.
I see drivers complaining all the time about lack of miles. But when I look at their recap, I realize they are not using their hours and doing far too many resets.
I have seen too many drivers with 5 hours on their 70 just sit. "no sense in running just 5 hours." Well if operations see you are not running, they get nervous and don't know what your plan is. Often we try and contact the driver for a Trip Plan, however, due to the erroneous understanding that night/weekend operations is only out there to screw you, they don't answer phones. So we have no choice but to repower you or take off a preplan. We just don't know what you're going to do.
You'd be surprised at the number of drivers that get a preplan or load assignment, acknowledge it, but fail to roll.
So please...learn how to use your most valued asset as a driver...your hours!

 

I can attest to what Emul is saying on a couple of points... yesterday I had 5:02 available, I drove 4:37 of that. Along the way I made a stop at Walmart so got my weekly shopping in, got parked at a TS, did my laundry, cooked a nice dinner and sat back and watched some TV... a nice short relaxing day. This morning I had 11 so off In went, I get back another 21 over the next two days... plenty of time for any load.

As for a operations and trip planing and their understanding of a drivers intentions etc, I got a message last week telling me when I should break and when I should be rrolling again. Honestly my first thought was "Who the hell is driving this truck me or you?' So when I responded with just a touch of snark I pointed out his times we're 1/2 hr off because I was going to do a PTI also, I then proceeded to spell out where I would be breaking and how 8 planned to use an 8/2 split to endure OTD at all three stops including leaving at 10:30 pm so I would recap hrs on the way in minute detail... mainly because I was somewhat Putoff that I had even received that message LOL... but, I never heard back from anyone again about that load. It was all delivered and I am in the middle of the second load after and as shown by the miles I posted above, I am not sitting around waiting for the next load.

If you have HOS questions post them, I am sure any of us who can offer suggestions will be happy to.

 

Great post. How much time in school does Stevens teach trip planning? Are trainers told to make this one of the top priorities?

 

About 3 hours. your trainer on the truck is supposed to do that with you.