Stevens Transport aviary

Other things guaranteed in trucking;

The coffee pot will be empty.
The shower will be cold.
The clothes dryer won't.
With 10 empty pumps you will pick the one that's broken.
The check engine light will wait to come on when you get the 3100 mile run.
The tandems won't slide on your 2800 mile Cali load.
The last spot at the TA will be blindside back with 20 'trainers' watching.
You will rush to Dodge city or Liberal for a DLD 3 days from now.
Weekend dispatch crews have been rejected by Walmart as door greeters.
You will get Big D from a Subway somewhere.
Your heater will break in January.
Your A/C will break in August.
A Swift or CRST truck will hit your truck.
The last empty trailer at 1am will have 8 flats.
A turd in a swimming pool will get more respect.
etc
etc

 

I think your making a huge mistake but to each their own hope it works out for ya.

 

ok. Why? You think I should stay with Stevens and continue to receive negative paychecks? Continue to haul their freight so that I can pay them for the opportunity to drive their truck? Why is it a huge mistake to quit one job for a better one?

 

Everyone has an opinion, especially truck drivers. I see where this is going so lets put the brakes on and see how it works out. Just because it doesn't work out for one driver doesn't mean it won't for another. Good luck Flight and keep us up to speed on how it goes.

 

I never said stay with stevens the mistake is doing the leases, I said good luck.

 

I was asked to help out with a problem and stupid me I said yes lol.
I was on my way to Campbells and said they have another Campbells load that picks up and the cold storage down the street a couple miles. The other driver cant get there and if its not picked up by 1600 it cant be picked up till Monday morning.

They want me to unload, then run over and pick up that load. Then bring it back to Campbells and drop it for the other driver and then grab an empty and gfet myu load that loads out of here at the plant. Sounds simple enough lol.

I get unloaded. I double check and make sure theres a empty for me and I run over to get loaded. I get there in time and get the load and head back to Campbells. Heres where it goes to crap

The security at the gate wont let me in with the load and says I cant drop it there. I explain the situation and that it IS a Campbells load. They say its NOT a Campbells load, even though it was booked by them and is going to the Campbells plant in Sacramento to them its a Interstate Cold Storage load, not Campbells.

I call Stevens and they say they had permision from Campbells. Our CSR had talked to Steve there and he said it was OK. I tell security and they say there a bunch of Steves. Call Stevens back and they call and get the guy Steve to call the gate.

The head security woman comes over and tells me "Steve just called me about this, but he doesnt have the authority to approve that. Were not letting you in and you need to leave now." HAHA, crazy.

So now Im sitting overnight at the truck stop waiting for the driver for this load to get here tomorow, then hopefully I can go pick up my load.

 

Now I will agree with this. I am not a fan of leases. It seems that the lease works out for some but the majority lose their butts on it. And yes, I know... Capital, running a business, no time off, MPG's, etc...

Out of 35 in my class, I was the only one that went on the company side. I didnt want all of the headaches. Looks like I made more per mile tham many alliance drivers too.

 

As a company driver you are paid to drive the truck, period. As a lease operator you are the company, now you are responsible to make that company a profit and just driving the truck will not do that.

 

The biggest misconception about a no money down lease is the fact that most people don't think they need any money.... LOL! You have to have backing (money) to start into a business. While the need for out of pocket monies may be little to none, you need security in savings.
Stevens for example, they give you i think one week free, plus some fuel and several discounted initial truck payments. Most guys go "buy" happy. I need a GPS, a CB, a TV etc etc.... no, you need a gallon of water and a $5 subway at most everyday, and you NEED to save that easy out the gate money you just made the first few weeks. I can speak from experience on this, i saved every penny i could the first 6 months on alliance on when i took it up the dumper with a breakdown, a low mileage week or 3, what have you...... i had backing and security knowing my bills were paid.
Already pointing out a. 05cpm raise, did you know your APU on a JCT truck is usually around $85 a week? There goes your raise.... truck side note? Anyone mention that? Their shop is garbage and will rape your maintenance account worse than Stevens ever thought about.... how about they have the worste safety rating in the industry? Look it up friend, the last time i checked it was worse than Swift. Like i said, i don't care if you leave Stevens and i wish you the best of your potential.
Also, every JCT driver says "roses" and i run this and that..... but what made you go alliance? Roses? Just food for thought, not trying to be rude or condescending, i do care about you as a human and fellow driver...... all the best Flight.

 

And just wanted to point out that 72mph in an attempt to make money on a lease while you're footing the bill for fuel is, well..... kinda silly. You wont make money running a truck at 72 MPH. You run 3000 at 72mph, another guy will run 2600 at 58-62mph, you just took home the same check. Its not about faster, more, or a few cents...... its how much do you keep.