Stevens Transport aviary

flue · Apr 27, 2013

Emul, Thank you for trying. And THANK YOU for caring enough about the seriousness of those requests to be passionate about the refusals. Most of all, thank you for caring enough to put your anger at the refusals aside, and doing all you can when those who refused to help come to you for similar help in the future.

KMac · Apr 27, 2013

pattyj said: ↑

I see so many of you guys picking up loads at tyson in Dakota City,NE and some sit for hours /days waiting.
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I guess I was lucky when I picked up there about three weeks ago... I was in and out in about 40 minutes. The load was ready and waiting for me..

TRKRSHONEY · Apr 27, 2013

Interesting report from one of the Informants about Pilot Travel Centers. http://www.thetruckersreport.com/f-...etter_Test_Campaign1_25_2013&utm_medium=email

Dryver · Apr 27, 2013

TRKRSHONEY said: ↑

Interesting report from one of the Informants about Pilot Travel Centers. http://www.thetruckersreport.com/f-...etter_Test_Campaign1_25_2013&utm_medium=email
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TA and Petro must be loving this. But they could be shredding all their paperwork too!

KMac · Apr 27, 2013

TRKRSHONEY said: ↑

Interesting report from one of the Informants about Pilot Travel Centers. http://www.thetruckersreport.com/f-...etter_Test_Campaign1_25_2013&utm_medium=email
Click to expand...

The Cleveland Browns didn't come cheap you know... Jimmy needed some extra coin I guess.

TLeaHeart · Apr 27, 2013

pattyj said: ↑

I see so many of you guys picking up loads at tyson in Dakota City,NE and some sit for hours /days waiting.
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I never sat there more than a night. Many trucks seen setting at a Tyson plant, have a reputation of being late, or not running hard, so they get to set a lot. I had a reputation with meat, that I would run hard, I would help out by picking up a load that there was no way I could deliver, knowing it would be a pain in the behind repower, and I would tell meat before I even headed to the shipper I could not make it due to Hours of service. I found the "meat patch" to always be a beneficial place to be... I took many 34 hour needed resets in a hotel room, bobtail in the meat patch... a refreshing way to recoup. It is all about communication, and reputation.

And the new guys will sit at the meat plants. They have no reputation.

Dryver · Apr 27, 2013

Emulsified said: ↑

A general primer on freight.
The trucking world does not correlate to even flow of timeliness. It's more like semi organized chaos.
Shippers rarely have things so reasonably smooth that they can plan doors, product and appointments evenly. They just know they have X amount of product to move each 24 hours.
So they place orders on the board, often days in advance.
Then comes the joy of scheduled manufactuer, raw product and FUBAR issues.
Imagine making taquitos. You can manufactuer 50,000 per hour and ship 300,000 in a truck. But somewhere in the run, a bunch don't make QC. So they have to over run the schedule or hope to come back and make up the difference before the truck backs into the door. This throws shipping behind. But then one or more of your dock workers calls in sick...or just plain fails to show up. (happens all the time)
See how that affects you, the driver, before you even finish your break?
Now throw in the gem that the load had been planned on another carrier, who at the last moment calls and says, Psorry, we don't have a truck available."
Stevens is a carrier of nearly 2,000 trucks. See how we have to scramble to cover so many loads. Now imagine you're dealing with a carrier of 500 trucks. They just don't have the resources to cover all the loads if something goes wrong.
Yes, I know, in a perfect world, we assay our assets in a given area and accept only the loads we can cover.
But when the loads are given out on monday for a friday shipment and no one told us there would be snow in Wyoming and winds in New Mexico, it's hard to move 300 trucks to the midwest in time to pick all the loads.
If we plan on a percentage not making it (and believe me, we DO!), but the snow doesn't come and the winds don't blow...well we have TOO MANY trucks sitting in Effingham.
Yes, the planners can see your logs. We can see just about everything. From the moment you turn your ignition on to when you set your brakes.
But we still have to cover the loads.
Here is the dirty little problem that no one wants to admit openly: There is far more capacity than there is freight.
There are plenty of trucks sitting around looking for a load. Many of these trucks will run for a lot less than Stevens. We are not the cheapest kid on the block. A far cry from it! We sell SERVICE!
You cannot believe the number of shippers that WANT the low price and will try some carriers, only to have to come back to companies like Stevens that CAN and WILL deliver on time. What does Don Miguel say to Kroeger when the product in this week's add is still on a truck 1,000 miles away?
Sorry?
That doesn't cut it.
We are constantly told by our shippers of how we are doing.
I sit every monday afternoon in a meeting where the failed loads of the past week with Tyson are discussed. This sets the tone of which loads have priority for repowers. Tysone is a big account that pays on time and pays well.
Those kinds of accounts don't just grow on trees.
So a planned truck doesn't make it for a myriad of reasons and we have to look around for one that can make it work.
No, your break isn't up. But you are the only truck available to pick up the load and get it moving.
Yes, we plan to repower it, but that's a crap shoot too.
Now add in the drivers that just don't care...that meander along as if they have all the time in the world. Or the drivers that decide they'll 'teach us a lesson' for giving them a load to the Bronx. Or the drivers that don't communicate, and you have a recipe for repowers.
Add in the number of trucks that break down, the training team where the student walks off the truck because he's being 'treated like a log book'. (often students don't understand that driving is moving every mile you can with every hour you have).
On any given shift, I have 40 or more trucks to repower and I'm not even on the repower team!
All night long we get trucks that shut down 40 miles from the receiver and send in a repower request. What? We're suppose to find a driver willing to give up 400 miles to help us with 40?
There is a lot more that goes on inside than most drivers can imagine.
No, we're not perfect. A darn sight from near that point!
But the challenges are daunting.
We on the inside get to know which trucks are good and which ones are not good. We make decisions based on history and needs.
Some people inside consider moving freight more important than a driver's wants. But I can also tell you the lengths we go thru to get drivers home in emergencies is incredible.
One of the things that galls me to no end are the drivers that are so self centered that they won't make a sacrifice for a fellow driver needing to get home due to a death, an illness or hospitalization. I'm not talking about giving up a load because a driver WANTS to go a certain direction or because we need to repower for OTD...I'm talking about family emergencies such as a kid in the hospital, a mother given 48 hours or a spouse who just got word she has stage 4 breast cancer and wants her husband to comfort her.
I had all three of these last week and a host of drivers that refused to repower a load when told the reason.
You wonder why the inside crew can get bitter?
Try telling a driver you are really trying, but can't find a load going home for such an emergency (even tho there are 6 and they all refused.)
Yes, I understand what it's like to get he shaft with repowers. But at least listen to what we have to say.
There. I've ranted far too much, and probably will hear about it. But it has to be said.
We try very hard to take care of the drivers, but we also have to take care of the shippers or none of us will have a paycheck.
I'm going to work.
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Stevens Transport 'WAR & PEACE', well written, good insight. Someone take the bottle away from him.

KMac · Apr 29, 2013

Beautiful day in Seigleman AZ I just parked and I am out of hours... time to bust out the grill! This journey will continue sometime after midnight Central time.

Dryver · Apr 30, 2013

cricket . . . . . . cricket . . . . . . . cricket . . . . . .

TRKRSHONEY · Apr 30, 2013

Since it's so quiet, a little update, Hubby is averaging 2800-3000 miles weekly w/Averitt Express, home EVERY WEEK-END for 34-60 hrs. I'm settling in at my new job, home every night to spend time with our 2 new babies-- 1yr old boxers. Also getting to spend time with the kids & grandkids.

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