Starting Stevens orientation

good luck. its going to be hard for you both. everything seems doable now, at the beginning. its a lot harder than it looks, and you both have to be tougher than you think you will.

 

I am not 100% sure, but I do believe they will check more in depth once you are in Dallas.

 

If you have been given a date, you have passed your background check. What may change when you get there is additional information you provide at orientation.
For instance, your background shows no tickets in last 3 years, but you got one between the time they checked and when you arrived.
Or you get to the physical and they notice a scar that may indicate a major surgery you failed to reveal.
If you've received your date, you are almost always good to go.
The most common reason for someone sent home is :
A: Failure of the drug test... this is a no brainer. Anyone that fails this, does so by their own choosing.
B: Med failure due to high blood pressure, high sugar or use of an undisclosed drug that is legal, but not for driving. An example would be use of Vicodin as a regular pain killer.
Beyond that, those that fail for lack of disclosure almost always have been trying to hide something such as a DUI/Drug conviction from the past. In most of those cases, they would have been ok, but the hiding denotes dishonesty and Stevens doesn't handle that well!

 

I had one of the girls in safety run my background when I was on my phone they told me when I changed my address but in 06 and told me that I passsed and that I have to call them when I get my $ to go to school.

 

day 1- classroom only, lot of talking, some movie time. tou will fill out a new app drug test and physical.(unpaid)
day 2- classroom for 5 hr, then on the pad 5 hr.(unpaid)
day 3- classroom for 5 hr, then on the pad 5 hr.(unpaid)

they put you in the worlds worst hotel they could find for this time with no good b-fast, you eat lunch at stevens and dinner is on you

but if you show your stevens id card at the waffle house or the DQ next door to the hotel they give a 10% discount
get a good night sleep every night they kept me at the yard 15 hrs every day.next

day 4- you might get on a truck you might not but you have to sit there til 3:30 or5:00 if you go back to the hotel keep your bag packed they may call you at 11 pm to get in a truck,if not you go the yard in the morning.(paid) they pay you $50 every day you sit at the yard after day 3.
now your on a truck, drive your ### off for 38-40 days make your trainer happy and he might buy you a CB when you get off his or her truck. try to avoid walmart if you can (slow slow slow).

next part of training is back to the yard for 3 or 4 days we call dumb and dumber cass after you get paired in to teams and do the same thing you did with your trainer for 3 to 4 weeks.

wow you finished dumb and dumber with all your limbs attached and now you go back to the yard for another 3 or 4 days and then get put into a finish trainers truck for 3 weeks. after that you go back to the yard get the keys to your new(old) truck go meet your new DM get your bills and haul ### and do your best to stay out of texas. good luck and make some money.

 

I think you slipped a few extra weeks in the training schedule... you will go out on dumb and dumber OR with a finishing trainer, not both.

 

Yeah that's a lot of extra time...
At Stevens Academy in Dallas (don't know bout anywhere else), its 3 weeks unpaid training to pass CDL tests. Then they hire you and you go OTR with a trainer for a minimum of 5 weeks. Now if your OTR training is interrupted, logistics detain your return to Dallas, or you do not satisfy the training checklist in time, you may find yourself out longer than the 5 week minimum. This phase is OR1.
Then its back to Dallas for OR2. This is a week of classroom and backing training (long days), then you are teamed up with another trainee for Trainee Team driving (dumb & dumber. They want us to stop calling it that). They may alternately put you out with another trainer instead (finishing trainer), but this usually is only done if there is an odd number of trainees or something like that. Anticipate Trainee Team. This phase is a 3 week minimum.
Be advised, some trainees quit at this phase, and it could be your teammate. If this happens, you come back to Dallas to wait for another trainee or a trainer. There is also a checklist of requirements that must be satisfied to graduate in this phase. It may take longer than 3 weeks to do so.
After completing OR2, you are assigned a truck, switch from.the $350/ week training salary to $0.26/ mile, and join Grad Fleet.
Grad is a 90 day probationary period.
Complete that, and you join the regular fleet.

 

There are two requirements as I recall for the D&D phase... 7000 miles minimum and 21 straight days in the truck.

 

Oh. I forgot this.
Don't count on freebies.
Your trainer is NOT required to give you anything but an education, and sadly some trainers struggle with even doing that.

Many trainers become trainers because they could use the extra money... Trainees make a salary, so the trainer gets paid for the trainee's miles.

Your trainer probably will not even buy you a lunch, let alone a $100+ CB radio.

If he does, be very grateful, because he doesn't have to do any of that.