Stevens Transport aviary

Yeah........good luck with that and let us know how it works for you. First year the hubby was supposed to be home for Christmas in Detroit. Got a Canadian load that was set to cross at Port Huron, with a repower set up to take it into Canada. Arrived at the repower point in Port Huron on the 21st, and surprise, the repower had fallen through. After waiting a full day he was instructed to head back to Detroit while they worked something out. Sat at Woodhaven, just outside of Detroit for a day before the repower showed up. Surprise #2, instead of an empty trailer, he had a load that was headed for Atlanta and due to be delivered on the 26th. Finally got back to Michigan the middle of January for a late Christmas with the family.

 

Seems like the Christmas season has brought the Grinch out in most of the guys that post on here ForrestGump. These figures are from my experience, but, mileage tends to average between 2400-3000 miles per week. Company drivers start at $0.26 per mile; trucks are Pete 387s & 587s, KW T200s, T660s, & T700s, with a few Freightliner Cascadias thrown in. The trucks are very well maintained as each truck is supposed to go through a Safety inspection on the yard approx every 90 days. For Company drivers, tolls are 100% paid, most through EZPass, a few states don't participate in EZPass, but you are able to get a Cash Advance to pay for your tolls, then you are reimbursed when you send in your toll receipts. Lumper Fees are paid for through a Purchase Order and Cash Auth that you will request by QualComm, then you will write out a T-Check to the Lumper Service. If you stay on the Company side of Stevens you will be required to secure the truck an an approved location when you go home, but if you chose to sign with the Alliance (lease) division you will only have to secure the trailer and you can take the tractor home with you.

I know that if I made any mistakes, someone will step up and correct me, but I hope I was able to help out a bit.

 

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Well, as I love saying, the Search function at the top of the page works very well. Using it will provide you information that is ALMOST as good as reading these 400 pages!

C'mon, bro. Show some initiative. It's a required attribute for the Modern Truck Driver.

 

Out of 8 companies I've been looking up, this is the only one I've really asked about...Obviously I can see that there are 400 pages but if I can save a little bit of time by asking instead of reading every page, I will. I'll continue reading though...Thanks for the advise and the opinions. No harm done.

Merry Christmas!!

 

OK, OK, children.
Settle down.
Play nice.

Here at Dodge waiting for the load to be ready. got laundry done, got a shower.
Life is good!
Six dropper, ending in my old back yard, so I'll get to see my son and his wife, have dinner with some old friends and even stop to see my dentist to get my teeth cleaned.
Then hopefully a Whole Foods load to Seattle, drop my student in Portland and if I don't get to Boise in time for Christmas, I'll spend it with my daughter and her family.
But I'll get to Boise. So long as I'm there before the 28th (my grandson's weddding), I'll be happy.

 

good plan, but what we as drivers know!!!!!Don't have to go to loveland for the pallet load, we have them from the cheyenne walmart too!!

And I totally understand your grinch attitude... with all you have had to deal with, and staying on top of stevens to try and make it work for you.

 

You sure you have the correct person????

 

No reason to choose any company based upon what works for someone else. It is figuring out what will work for you. As you stated they all have up and down sides. Stevens training is longer than most others, and in my opinion gives you a better skill set to take on the challenges you will face.

Current drivers average between 1800 and 3200 solo miles a week... again depends on the driver... Me after 3+ years as an alliance driver (lease) I am getting 3000 to 3200 per week. First year average for me was 2400.
training pay is $50 per week. Then 26cents a mile increasing to 30 cents by the end of the first year.
All trucks are less than 4 years old, most less than 2. Stevens sells the trucks once they reach 500,000 miles.
Lanes... all 48 states and canada.
No taking the truck home, must park it at an approved location, Kenworth dealer, Thermoking dealer, or stevens drop yard.

And yes many of us, including me have a grinch attitude, mainly brought out by the lack of communication and coordination in Dallas.

 

well now to recap my day of stupid dispatches....

Made my delivery to Kraft in Stockton CA, and get sent a preplan for campbells soup from Sacramento to Salt lake city... a whopping 700 miles, and does not deliver until Tuesday... Call and ask for something in Denver, or Cheyenne, or even North Platte, or Cedar Falls... I need to be home by the end of the 20th.... well the planner thinks I should grab the soup load, and then repower a produce load coming out of colton to cheyenne... I hate to depend on repowers to get me home... to much out of my control... He says he can not find anything else, and that he will make sure I am repowered home... Have the same useless conversation with my DM...
So I accept the load, and campbells is one of those places that will not answer the phone, and when they do, they told me I have to find out in person if the load is ready... So I drive the 50 miles north, in the dense fog, get my empty weight for tractor and trailer, then drive the 2 miles to drop the trailer, then drive back to the scales to weigh the tractor, so that they know the empty weight of the trailer... so they can load it to the max!!!!!
Then I drive the 2 miles back around to the shipping department, and get told well you are early, way early, this load does not load until noon on monday....
Back on the phone... DM understands, and about 15 minutes later, beep, preplan, produce, going to dallas... okay, well now I need an empty.

Now Cambells thinks the trailer is theirs once you bring it in. So I walk back into the dispatch office, and kindly ask if I may have my trailer back... "let me check and see if we need it first" I get my trailer back, and the gate pass to take it out... back to the truck where the QC says preplan cancelled.....

wait a few more minutes, and beep, new pre plan, picking up in gonzales CA, going to cheyenne wy, and it delivers on the 20th... Call produce to verify, and to be dispatched, but will not dispatch me, as they don't have any information for the load yet. Yard dog has already told me I need to leave since I am no longer picking up there..
I want paid for the miles, 50 up to sacramento, and the 50 back to stockton, where they are figuring this new load from...
Get told to set tight, but I can't, so I roll down to Ripon CA, stop and get some food and a shower...
Call and ask my DM why does it have to be so difficult? he laughed...
Then I get the message to call produce for dispatch...
I call, and he needs to know if I have the hours to get to the salinas area today, as this will be 3 picks, and they all close early on saturday, and are closed on sunday... slow season... Yea, I was planning on that...
Okay he dispatches me, but does not have the pick up numbers yet, as wal mart has not finalized the order....
Then my DM corrected my route line to make sure I get paid for those 94 miles I drove around chasing loads....

So here I am at the Pilot in Salinas CA, with a number of parking spaces still available after dark.

It will not surprise me at all if this load goes terrible wrong saturday.

I will be home for christmas, with or without a load.