Stevens qualifications are higher than DOT. They are self insured and I am sure that is one reason for it. But I will say they are flexible, I had a stroke a couple years ago and I was having a tough time finding a company to hire me. Stevens said if I pass all the medical tests and get signed off by the Doc here I was good. Been here for over 2 years now minus a 9 month period I left for family issues. Another reason is if you do not tell the whole truth they will not hire you. ie 'forget' to tell them this or that medically they may see that as a deception and that is not good in an industry that is monitored by the government. last part is just my two cents.
Ok so back to where I left off! This class has 39 people and 16 are on med hold. Thankfully I am not! I feel like the day flew by. There is the physical of course which takes up about 4 hours + signing your official application. After lunch you get your driver manual for Stevens and have insurance paperwork to fill out. Then its dinner and out to the yard. The yard stations are mostly backing and you will practice two of them for 2.5 hours each. I was back in my room around 10:10 tonight. I will have to be up at 630am for tomorrow. I do know why the 3 from my class were sent home and none of it was blood pressure related. As for the 16 today I have over heard protein in urine for 2 and high blood pressure being tossed around. Hopefully they all can pull through in the end! Finally there are several alliance drivers / trainers and a company driver out helping on the yard with our skills. They are allowed to pick a student to train. The company driver is saying he is going to pick me which is completely fine by me! He seems like a good guy and neither of us smoke. I would rather not wait here til Friday or Saturday if I don't have to.
I'm already on the road! Writing this from the top bunk as we speak. I only was able to get an hour of driving tonight due to the 14 hour clock already ticking in school but it was from Dallas to the Fort Worth area. The last two days in Dallas was pretty much your standard big company orientation. Speach here, papers there, please sign here there and here. The yard was more backing skills. Out of the 39 people I would say 12ish got trainers today. Overall orientation was not a bad experience. My first load is about 900 miles and the plan is to get sent to Oakland soon after to get all 3 mountains out of the way. Hopefully this will work out as I'm very excited to drive to the West coast. In my 1 hourish tonight I coupled to two trailers at the yard with no issues and did a swap at a truck stop with no issues. There is a lot to soak in and learn about trucking. I've definitely opened pandora's box by starting this adventure but I'm glad I did right now.
now the learning begins, soak it all up, question but don't argue with your trainer. Pay attention, it will frustrate the living out of you for a while. Take a break when needed. The five weeks will be over before you know it. And yes it is an adventure.
Fun stuff! I drove just shy of 400 miles according the Qualcomm and we repowered in Amarillo tonight. Our delivery is early on the morning then we are off to Kansas and then off to Oakland, CA!!! I'm super excited. I need to get some rest. Lastly my god these truck stops are crazy expensive. Would love to own one of those bad boys and roll around in cash every night. The drive today was very good and extremely uneventful except for some dense fog in the morning. My downshifting only got better as the drive went on. Night guys!
Today was another good day of driving for me. Uneventful just how I like it and was really hitting my downshifting through the towns. We are waiting towards the evening to take our load (HOS) and will be heading to Oakland, California! I can't wait should get all 3 mountains in one go. So far this has been much better then expected. The no bathroom / shower whenever you want is the only part I dislike about trucking atm.
Don't worry ajb, you'll find more to dislike! As for costs, keep this in mind when you get your first truck. A 700w micro from Walmart is about $40, and at the least, an ice chest (electric cooler if it fits your budget) will save you hundreds of dollars per month living out on the road. You can buy lot's of foods that don't need refrigeration and fix in their own package from Wally World. They pay for themselves the first week.
What is the starting pay, (cents per mile), for a beginning truck driver who has finished training, orientation, along with having completed going out with a trainer?
