Stevens Transport Aviary . . cont'

You working Emul? I left you a voicemail.

 

Sitting in SLC for the third trip in a row. Getting to know I84 really well. 2 days to make 4 drops, 3 of them tomorrow then I pick up a load of cheese going back to Spokane. Been gone from the house for over a week this trip, ready for a couple days off. It doesn't help that both my main AC as well as the bunk ac quit. Upper 80's here at the J in SLC, higher with all the idling around me. I'm stuck sitting with all the windows open waiting for the sun to go down. Maybe I'll head over to my first drop when it gets later and park there for the night.

 

AC's working fine here, Fozzy!

 

Rant incoming. Dont like it? Dont look.

Had a repower set up Friday for Sunday am 0630. Was told driver would be here waiting. Driver wasnt here. When i called, was told driver is moving and in ashfork az.
Imagine my surprise. Repower was to take place at quartzsite az on i10, and driver is on i40 already well east of us.
Fine, whatever. My load is due 6-24 0800 in fresno, their load was due 6-23 0800 in dallas. Clearly this solo driver is equipped with a flux capacitor. Still, since he is beyond our reach, load is no longer my concern.
Start putting in repower requests. Sent three or four over the next 24 hours. No response. Ok, well my loads on time, figures its ignored since its not in trouble.
BUT. Full team. Load has TOO MUCH TIME. On a route FILLED with late produce loads coming out of cali.
Not my problem. Sure ill sit. Yeah its my dime, but its stevens dime too.
Talk to my dm this morning, find out there were/are at least four full teams sitting on the i10 corridor who have been looking for repowers since late friday on thru today. Meanwhile, there are metric tons of produce loads coming out of cali on the same route running late.
Normally i give the night weekend crew a lot of credit and a lot of leeway, knowing how busy they are, knowing how much crap they catch.
I dont really care what the reasoning is. Yeah yall are busy, yeah drivers are big babies, yeah youve got a skeleton crew, yeah sometimes things slip thru the cracks.
Four full teams, at least. Sitting on loads my grandmother could make otd on her scooter. On a route filled with late. Not utilized. Critical produce loads driving late.
Thats a big honkin crack.

 

These rants need to be sent to upper management and ownership.
There have been some changes internally that lend to this chaos.
Certainly not for the good, in my opinion. I won't go into them, however all it's done is urinated off many of the old timers as well as most of the staff...not to mention the drivers.
There is a reason that will come to light, but not for a bit.
Suffice it to say, the workload has been increased, the training and qualification on the inside has been lowered and there are just far too many inexperienced persons on the inside to handle customer and driver needs.
Load planners are busting their butts, but it's like trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon.
Two thirds of our DMs have little to no experience, and the experienced ones are leaving the slot for another one in operations or just plain leaving.
The Saturday DMs now have to handle FOUR fleets! Fleet sizes vary from 50 to 80 trucks, so it's not uncommon for a weekend DM to have 250 or more trucks to handle.
Impossible.
So it empties out on the weekend operations crew.
The two main bodies that answer the phones, do repowers and help with the QCs are 6 month veterans.
When I come in Saturday nights, I see the wear on their faces...everyone's face.
Your rant is well taken. The problem is just too many issues and not enough people to handle them on the weekends.
But that won't change...for now.
If you have anything like this come up in the future, just call me. If I'm there, I'll take your call.
Can't promise a miracle, but will do all that's possible to help.

 

It did get sent upstairs. Because you are exactly right. There is no win for anyone, and its not fair to take management decisions out on the trenches.
Hopefully its an amazing and profitable reason for all involved.
The new folks will get seasoned, hopefully they season on the good side and not the bad.
Im not usually one to get all hot and bothered over it, but knowing my repower load was late and could have been on time just twisted my twinkies.
I hate waste.
So....sorry i had an attack of the witchy britches.

 

Hmm, Looking to come back driving in the next couple weeks. Are there any issues where I shouldn't? I don't mind having to run hard and I could like not having to call in for every move I make. That would be nice. Just asking before I make the call. Will probably make it anyways I always liked Stevens.

 

Came to the yard to end my employment with Stevens. I have a month left on my one year agreement and offered to continue making my weekly payments until my balance of 19xx dollars is cleared. Was told that I would be charged the full 6000 immediately if I leave. This is after I sat at home for 2 weeks waiting for them to approve the repair of my windshield. I get the agreement aspect but im also man enough to admit when something isnt for me. I shouldve left their truck in queens at the shop and went on with my life lol. Excuse my attitude but im a little upset. Contemplating leaving and allowing them to send whatever bill they choose. Stay safe everyone.

 

IF that was me I would stay the one month. That's 30 days. A cup of coffee in the grand scheme of things. Four more weeks and you don't owe a thing? I've been there, or had other obligations and an extra month of ######## was the difference between a lot of things.

Everyone gets frustrated. I don't know the whole story, but from what you said, if it's really one more month--I'd ride the storm out.

unloader

 

Moved up to level 3 and took out a mountain yesterday. I am thankful for I40...so much better scenery than I10....cooler too.