Stevens Transport aviary

Same here.

Once my hazmat comes through I'm off to pull tankers for hourly pay and nightly hometime. I've been treated very well by Stevens but I'm in need of more hometime...lots more. Have a wedding and numerous other serious commitments to my family coming up early next year and I'd be a fool to try and juggle the 6-7 weeks OTR time required as an L/O (to remain profitable) with 1 week hometime sprinkled in-between.

Things are changing at Aaron Inc., and unfortunately, from a driver's perspective...it's for the worse. The morale of the Stevens drivers I talk to at truck stops and shippers/receivers is in the dirt for the most part. And these are senior drivers, O/O's, grad fleet guys...heck even one of my finish trainers who's been with Stevens for 11 years is ready to sell his truck and go drive "for anyone but Stevens...I've had enough". And he is THE reason I'm with Stevens Transport and have been somewhat successful at this. He had the best attitude and absolutely loved his job and the folks he worked with. And all that vigor and positivity has been sucked out of him. And as truckershoney said...no one has made any effort to discuss his situation and try to get him to stay. I know it's not Stevens' responsibility to make drivers stay but an 11 year driver is a rare creature here. He's one helluva mentor and will be a huge loss to Stevens.

It truly saddens me because I've had the time of my life working here up until 3 or 4 months ago. Then it seems most of the communication from within the Dallas Palace collapsed on itself...the attitudes of the overworked and underpaid guys and gals in the various departments is always something along the lines of "We're answering the phones because we have to in order to keep our jobs...but you're really bothering us and unless you're truck is on fire or you have a meat load that's gonna be late we really don't wanna talk to you...ever". I KNOW that's NOT their intention...I sit next to my DM when I'm on the yard and listen to the stuff he has to put up with from just the 50 drivers on his board. I know that some of the drivers can grind and wear these guys and gals down until they have nothing left to give...and that's by 9 a.m. on Monday! Heck...I've been THAT driver on the other end of the phone...just giving hell because I was having a bad day. I can only imagine what produce and meat dispatch and night crew and Road Rescue and safety have to listen to as they deal with the entire fleet. I know working inside the Dallas Palace is stressful, long hours, crap pay, ridiculous quotas and policies that are almost impossible to follow...and they do the best they can with the little smidgen of freedom that Aaron Inc. bestows upon them. But when their job is affected to the point that it prevents me from doing my job successfully it's time for a change. And the system at the Dallas Palace won't be changing anytime soon so I must be the change...and quite frankly it sucks.

Now that I'm done whining about my side of things...the time has finally come for me to complete my initiation into the Stevens Transport Annals of Shipper/Receiver Hell. I finally got a load delivering to Ralph's in Compton!!! First stime in 3 1/2 years!!! I'm so excited that I've gnawed all the enamel off my two front teeth in anticipation!!! I can't wait to add my own special shade of black to the Color Wall!!! I'm just giddy like a school girl at a Justin Bieber concert about the prospect of having to sit 6-8 hours out on the street before I even get assigned a door!!! I'm thrilled that there's a good chance that I'll be buying a $500 5 mile piggy back ride because my 14 will run out!!! In my best Rick Flair voice.."Woooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Any sound advice ya'll can give me? Load delivers at 1300 on Wednesday and I'll be leaving the TA West at 1100 with a fresh 14. Do I have a prayer?

Thanks for reading folks!!

 

Very Easy to explain, Stevens pay Household goods miles which is zip code to zip code, not the route you have to drive to get there, or the miles inside the zip code. You will get paid 10% less on average than the miles you drive.

 

I would rather have a 1300 appointment at ralphs, than an 0500 appointment. They open the gates and start checking trucks in at 0515, all 400 that have a 0500 appointment... by 1300, that mess is gone. NO parking on the street in Compton either. Yes you have a prayer.

 

Glad that my company doesnt do this. In fact my actual miles is usually less than my paid miles. Not by much (5 or 10 miles) but at least its not 50 miles more like when I was with Stevens.

 

Read the response by Dirty Bob on this thread... it gives directions to on street oarking close to Ralphs... mayne 3 or 4 miles away in Carson... just don't be there when the sun.comes.up or you'll meet the hottest parking ticket lady you will ever see... and she will give you a ticket, but the rest of the day is good. It's right by the rail yard.

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...16-frys-in-tolleson-and-ralphs-riverside.html

 

hey vegas check your messages

 

Majority of trucking companies DO NOT pay practical miles...

Deductions are due on Wednesdays whether you have trips submitted or not. Don't scan in short miles or you could very well be negative based on your deductions. I only scan once a week and normally Sundays just to keep my pay date consistent but there are instances when I'm still under a load that I will hold my trips even longer. One time I was holding into week three when my old DM told me that I had to scan, lol...

So many of the issues listed are industry wide, ...welcome to trucking.

 

News from the inside....
ATT apparently screwed up and the new phone system is on hold until the end of November. Funny too, because all the new phones are already installed and lit up...just not connected to the outside world. Looks funny with two phones on each desk.

There is a 'shakeup' in the works internally. Moving of people around. Everything I've heard about who is moving where is scuttlebut, but if what I'm hearing is close to true, it will improve the training and safety depts. I'll let you know when I know for sure.

 

There may be a fleet wide message to this effect, but fyi....it's winter in some areas of the country. If you are heading over any of the designated chain passes, be sure and pick up your chains from the bank. We've instituted a new chain release process that really helps. The release can be sent from your DM's or night/weekend crew computer faster than we can issue a lumper's pay. This goes directly to the chain bank.
In three cases where I sent chain authorizations out this weekend, the bank received the form while I was still on the phone with the driver.
The old process was to find the proper form, fill it out and go to the fax machine. Often this was delayed and forgotten. Now it's immediate.

Last night we had a driver that failed to pick up chains in Cali. Headed up Donner only to be stopped and checked. He was cited and because the snow was falling, a tow was ordered (by CHP). The bill for the tow exceeded $1,200. I'm not sure of the fine.
I know the overhead signs on the freeway state the chain law in effect in Sacramento, so I'm not sure what this driver was thinking (or not). But you can bet there is a lot of noise going on today.
Snoqualmie was snowed in yesterday as well as Shasta.
Be prepared!

 

I understand the whole zip code to zip code paid mileage, but ... we must ship to and from the biggest zip codes known to man...

Starting.my trip plan... load assignment says 874 miles... GPS Quickest Route says 972, GPS Shortest route says 970 and the atlas is supporting the GPS totals...

100 miles difference on a 900 mile run? Christ almighty, I am already over 10% out of route and I haven't even left the shipper yet. WTF?