Stevens Transport - Dallas, Tx.

You just did implying they r under paid .
Its true you really are a recruiter.
When the actions of a motor carrier lead to or aid in a truckers death at 43 I would hope you as a jbhunt employee would not make a lame excuse
Because there are no acceptable excuses.bottom line
but i understand you have a job to do
sounds like you need a sabatical too
i would imagine everyone on the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,etc..FLOORS . needs one also
Hey you can propose the jb hunt sabatical program to your upper managment instead of giving them bonuses the money will instead go to drivers and dispatcher's alike for month long sabaticals.
you never know until you try dude.
good luck

 

I just found this forum with the help of fellow member "notarps". My first company was with Stevens Transport and I chronicaled my experience there on another message board. I have "cut and pasted" it here to share it with everyone. BTW, this took place 3 years ago...

The day started at 5:30am, caught the shuttle to take us to the terminal at 6:30am. Had to wait 1.5 hours at the terminal until class started.

63 drivers present (about 25 no shows)

The instructor (for the lack of a better title) is extremely cool, very personable and seems to be honest. The morning was spent going over Stevens policies and and doing paperwork. They served us pizza for lunch.

After lunch, all drivers that had been to another school other than the Stevens school had to do a short, simple road test. This was just to see if you could do simple manuvers. I had a small learning curve as the T2000's have a longer wheelbase than I was trained in and in school we used 48' trailers, but I figured it out quick.

Here is where I had my first questions about the program....

They had us in groups of 5 to a truck for this short road test. We had a guy in the class that had 19 years driving experience in our group and since they screwed up the paperwork for him, today he was treated as if he had just got out of driving school (they said that they would "fix" the problem tomorrow". This guy no only had 19 years experience, he was also a trainer for a school for the last few years. Our company trainer that rode in the right seat basically "pencil whipped" our driving test, they had all of the marks filled in before we got 1 block down the road, and even though some of us did better than the others in our truck, we were all scored the same, for the most part. The 19 year driver wasn't too happy with his scores (rightly so) and asked the trainer about it. She (trainer) told him that she didn't like to score people too high as "she doesn't know them or how they drive" (isn't that why we were raod testing????). After arguing for a bit, she (trainer) said "fine, give me your score sheet" and she yanked it out of his hands and gave him all 5's (which is not what the driver was asking for), he just wanted to be judged fairly.

After I got done with that, I filled out more paper work and then went on the skills course and did some backing.

Tomorrow will be a long day report for physical and piss test # 6:00am. We will go until 10:15pm tomorrow night. The rest of the week (Tues. & Wed.) will be 7:00am til 10:30pm.

My only real complaint so far is no clear cut plan on the schedual of events this week. Another is that there was an uncomfirmed rumor floating around today that we will not see a trainer untill well after Christmas, if that is the case, I will be pissed, I was prepared to wait 1 week after orientation, but not too much longer. I was told that "normally" trainees will be teamed up with a trainer before the end of the week and with the holidays it would probably take 1 additional week. I guess I'll just have to wait and see...........

More tomorrow.....
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OK folks.....sorry for the missed update yesterday, I will try to cover the last 2 days.

Orientation is from 8:00am til 10:00pm........8 til 5 is all information....Safety....Thermo King.... s Harassment....Payroll......Insurance and such.....then from 5 til 10 we are on the skills course driving. This is one area where Stevens really has their act together.....there are over 20 trucks and trailers for driving......their skills course is really good to with about every scenerio imaginable on it except for mountains and weather....

Yesterday, we all went in for our DOT physical and drug test. It was a complete joke. Over 60 physicals and drug tests in 3 hours with 2 nurses and 1 doctor, that should tell you enough............ BUT!!!!!! I did fail my glucose test (I guess Mt Dew for breakfast was a bad idea....)......I went back today and passed with flying colors. We found out today that 3 guys failed their drug tests.

After the physical, we spent the next 4.5 hours in the class room learning policies, rules and regs. Then drove on the skills course from 5 till 10.

Another really good part about Stevens, is their emphasis on safety, there was a REALLY good presentation today from the Safety guy on accident prevention, it scared the malarky out of some of us and really drove home the point of safe following distances. It really was amazing what a little bit more time will buy you when you need to stop. They are V E R Y big on the 6 second rule, and after listening to the presentation today, they made a believer out of me...

So far on the skills test, I have passed with flying colors......Truck stop "pull in and pull out", this is a really good realistic test..........Blind side backing.....paralell parking........the "shifting course"........90 degree backing......serpentine backing and straight line backing. I also passed my road test on the first day.

G.O.A.L. Is a BIG thing with them, and you must practice it EVERY time you back up, even if you need to make small pull up corrections.

Classic, we did find out that there actually WAS a schedule and it really is accurate, we were just never told about it until we asked today.

All in all, it is turning out to be a good experience and I'll tell ya, their equipment is top notch. Every person working there has been very nice and accomodating. The skills instrictors are all fun to work with.

The deal with the 19 year guy and 4 other experienced drivers got worked out, they only had to do a road test and 3 skills tests.........they will all have their own trucks assigned to them by Thursday and then they will be out on their own.

One thing I have found by talking to a LOT of the drivers in the drivers lounge is that there are more than enough miles there. You name it, you can run it.

Also, we heard the lease presentation today and I must say, it sounds V E R Y lucrative and I will definitly think about it if I decide that I will stay driving OTR.

Getting late, I'll write more tomorrow....
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Well, today was a really busy day. The first half of the day was spent on logbooks, hours of service, fuel, payroll, issuing T-Check cards, Qualcom and we met our Fleet Managers.

We then went out to the skills course for the last time, I did parallel parking, 90 degree dock backing and the serpentine backing. I pretty much nailed everything and I was signed off on my orientation and I will be available for dispatch to a trainer as early as 9:30am tomorrow. They will either send me out with one at the terminal, fly me out to meet one, or if time isn't as mutch of an issue, bus me out to meet one. Never the less, they told me to pack my bags in the morning and be prepared in a moments notice.

Once I go out, I am sure that my updates will be a little more sporadic as my posting will only be able to be done at truck stops when we are sitting.

So, I will go out with a trainer for 5 weeks... after that...3 weeks with another student just like me (the veterans call it "dumb & dumber").

More later....
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Well, orientation is now over. We are all standing by waiting for trainers. There have already been about a dozen matched up. They match them up by age and smoking preference. Since it seems like I am the only person in the trucking industry (why is that???) I will probably be one of the last ones out. Word has it that Stevens is going to let us out after Wednesday for the Christmas weekend, but at this point in time, I am prepared to spend Christmas here in my hotel room as funds are running short, keeping me from making a quick trip home.

All in all, my experience here has been good so far. I have learned quite a bit since being here. I will list below the "pros and cons".....

Pros:
The equipment is awesome and the moment a truck gets dirty, it is cleaned, both inside and out.

The people here are very nice and they'll bend over backwards to help.

Each driver has not only their Fleet Manager and Dispatcher, but they are also assigned a counselor that is there anytime a driver just wants someone to vent to. Family members are also welcomed and encouraged to call for any and all questions and problem on the home front.

For students coming out of school, their skills course and program will really hone all of your skills in a short amount of time.

Cons:

There is not enough communication from the instructors to the students from the outside schools on expectations and Stevens proceedures (see on of my other posts).

The 3 meals a day that they give you are sometimes worse than jail food.

I don't smoke and I really don't mind smokers, but the building smells like an ash tray from 20 feet away because everyone stands just out side the entrances and smokes, even the mail entrance.

Not all of the skills course trainers work as skills course trainers all of the time. About half are drivers that are awaiting maintenance on their trucks, so they fill in for $10 per hr. About half of them pretty much treat you like malarky, even if you do good on the course.

Thought these aren't Stevens people, the hotel shuttle drivers are dangerous and rude.

Out of the 60 people in the previous orientation class, there are still 6 awaiting a trainer. Out of our 60 or so people in our class, there are about 50 left...........Why would you bring in 60 more on the week of Christmas for another orientation class, knowing that there are no trainers available????
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Sorry for the lapse in posting. I got with a trainer a week ago Monday. Here is a summary of the last week...

I got with a 27 year driver on the lease program. I was in a new Pete 387.

Left Dallas for Stockton, CA....we only went a little ways the first day and parked for the night about 35 miles out of Dallas. The next morning we received a Qualcom to meet another truck in Weatherford, TX to repower a load that was going to Riverside. So, we met the other truck and swapped trailers. We were 20 minutes late for the Riverside unload and received another Qualcom to drive to Barstow to repower another load going north of Sacramento, CA. We made it on time and dropped the load.

We then got a load in Orange Cove, CA (3 pallets) then went to Coachella, CA for the rest of the load. We then set out for Boston, MA.

Over the last several days, I was experienceing some sever leg pain and I just thought that it was from the shange in lifestyle. But in Columbus, OH (day before yesterday) I couldn't stand it any more and called my family physician and he wanted to see me immidiatly. His concern from my symp0toms was a blood clot. So, Stevens sent me home and I saw the Doc yesterday. It was something else that will take 48hrs of rest and heavy antibiotics to cure. I am awaiting a call from my Counsilor to tell me when I can get back on a truck.

In the 8 days I was out, I personally drove about 3200 miles. The trainer drove approximatly 2000.

I have done all of my required mountains (Tehachapi, Cajon and Chiraco... all in excess of 36k. I also got to go up Tehachapi with only a 4k load and got a good unexpected taste of a minor traction skid in the rain, that sure helped to build respect.... Cajon was in very dense fog and rain...

My only complaints so far......

The trainer I had was not a very good teacher. He also scared me with his driving a few times, (driving while very fatigued....lots of weaving and jerking) plus we narrowly escaped a crash in the rain (rearending a car). Plus, I realize that in a "team" setting that it is hard to shower everyday, but I would at least like more than 1 in 8 days.

More later....
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Stevens has good points and bad points, but I think that the good has so far outweighed the bad. The toughest this was getting through the holiday and getting a trainer. I actually hung out at the trainee fleet managers office door and talked to the trainers as they went in looking for students and got one before they even got to her desk instead of "waiting my turn". Just remember that a lot of what they tell you in orientation is "eyewash", they are desperate for warm bodies and I am convinced that the only ones that won't make it through orientation 1 are the drug test failures, all others will make it. Until they get out on the road.....
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Ok.... it's been a while since I have posted an update......

I went out with my trainer on the 27th of December and I was only out for 9 days before I had to go home for 4 days due to a medical condition. Everything is OK now and I got cleared to go back out yesterday. I didn't have a very good experience with the trainer I had, so I requested another one.

The first trainer claimed he was all "old school". He was a lease operator and we were in a 387. He had 27 years of experience, 3 of those with Stevens. He claimed that he had 3 accidents in those 27 years, all jacknives. He claimed that "only 2 were his fault". At first, I thought that he would be a good trainer, however as the days wore on, I had realized that I had made a mistake by going out with this one. First off, the guy just wasn't a good instructor. He got very intimidated when he was asked something that he didn't know the answer to, he almost seemed insulted that I would ask anything other than what he told me. on top of that, on a couple of occasions I feel that he was dozing at the wheel until I said something to him, and it wasn't even late (before midnight). We were running pretty hard (about 800 or so miles per day). We also nearly escaped a wreck in the rain (rearend). I felt he was following too close.....If there had been someone next to us, they'd be dead.....

Another big draw back was the lack of a shower, I realize that it is hard to shower every day, but for the 9 days I was out, we showered once....

The guy did teach me a lot, however there was no way I was going to stay on that truck for 5 weeks with him.

I did get all of my required mountains out of the way.

So, I returned to the yard on Sunday and jumped through all of the hoops on Monday to get off med hold. I found me a new trainer today and I can tell that he is going to be a good one, we spent a bit longer talking and now that I've been out, I knew what all to ask so I would know if we would get along. He too is a lease operator with a new 387.

So far, the support at Stevens has been awesome. For those that are wondering about the miles. No fear, there are PLENTY of miles if you want to run them. The trick there seems to be to not turn down any loads and keep the dispatch and fleet manager happy. We ran from Dallas (pickup) to Riverside (repower) to Sacramento (drop) to Fresno (pick up) to Coachella (pickup) to Boston (drop). All of this in 8 days of driving.

I leave in the morning... I will post more when I can...
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Well folks, it has been a while since my last post, so I thought that I'd fill you in on everything.

After my bad experience with my first trainer for 9 days, I got with another trainer for the remaining 26 days. He was great and taught me a LOT about the business and all of Stevens policies. We ran our ##### off and I was doing between 550 and 650 miles per day, averaging about 1800 per load. Whoever said that Stevens drivers did not get miles, did not know what they were talking about, or they were always late and the Fleet Manager gave them the short runs.

I came back to the yard on Saturday and started orientation II on Monday, there was once again a LOT of info thrown at use in a short amount of time. We spent 3 hours per night practicing backing. The next step in our training is trainee teams, or what the senior drivers call, "dumb & dumber". We pair up with another student and we will go out for 3 weeks before we go solo. This has proven to be a REALLY great concept. We (my training partner and I) have already learned a LOT from each other because of the difference in trainers that we had. We were assigned our truck today and we hope to have a few nit picking repairs completed so that we can be dispatched sometime around 2:00pm tomorrow.

I will fill you in more in a weeks or so. In the meantime, if you notice a Stevens T2000 with white steel wheels, give it a holler, it just may be me. I would give out my truck number, however there is no telling where that could lead to from this forum.

Be safe...
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Hello from Kingman, AZ. I am now out with my training partner, we left the yard on Friday evening and were headed to Tolleson, AZ for the 2nd of a 4 drop load when we got repowered to take a load to Sacramento, CA. Things have been great, we have a really good fleet manager and even though our truck is a oldie (450k miles) it runs out nice. We only have to do 21 days and at least 7000 miles before we go back, get our own truck (one with around 200k miles) and go to the Grad Fleet, we will do that for another 90 days before we are off probation. My co-driver has decided to go into the Alliance fleet (lease), he likes to run and is single, so he will do good in it. I will fill you in more as time goes by.
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Hey folks!

First off, I hope everyone had a great Christmas!

Well, I didn't fall off the face of the earth. But believe it or not, I no longer drive a truck (I know, you're shocked).

OK, here's "The rest of the story".....LOL

OK, the last time I wrote was Feb. 7th and I was out doing what they called "Dumb and Dumber" (as they called it at Stevens). I had my training partner picked out from day one and I though that we would make a great training team (or so I thought). Come to find out, hi trainer didn't show him squat about anything, other than to just drive. So, guess what I had to do? Train him! Ended up, we #### near got in a fight a couple of times. Seems that he never ran the West and had never been down any of the mountains and thought that he was going to play supertrucker and run with the guys that had jakes (we didn't have one). We smoked the hell out of our brakes going down Tehachapi maxed out. I called the fleet manager and told them that I would go another mile with him and to send me a bus ticket. We worked out a deal where I would "do all of the mountains" and stay on the truck. so away we went and ran our ##### off.

So, there we were with 1 week to go and we were passing through Missouri (our home state for me and my co-driver). We stopped by the house for a visit since I hadn't been home in a while, my wife had the flu (or so I thought) and went on out merry way.

We stopped that night in Salina, KS (headed to Denver) and spen the night. My son called and my wife had gone to the Dr.....she had Pneumonia. So, I called my Fleet Manager and told her to get me home. She told us to keep headed to Denver and she would try to get us a repower back the other way. She was unable to....so we made our delivery to Denver and SAT FOR 2 DAYS waiting for a load. I seems that Denver is the "black hole" for Stevens. You can haul in there, but you will end up deadheading back to Kansas to pick up a meat load. Well, my son called and told me that my wife had to be rushed to the hospital. I called my fleet manager and "blew a gasket", wanting to know why in the hell she hadn't gotten me back home (2 1/2 days had passed). Well, they arranged for me to catch a plane (at my expense), so we went to the Flying J in Aurora. My codriver was driving and sorry, but I had to laugh (though I felt bad about the driver of the "other" truck), but as my ####### codriver was looking for a place to park for the night, he drug the front off a brand new Freightliner at the fuel pumps. I hoped in a cab and left him there...........

Momma turned out OK, and I returned to Stevens to get my own truck.........what a freakin' nightmare.....There were no trucks, so I had to wait about 9 days to get one. I finally got one and took my first solo load out of the yard to Pueblo, CO. I dropped it and deadheaded to Liberal for a meat load. Another freaking nightmare.......I sat there for 2 days waiting to get loaded. It was a good load though, 1 drop south of Atlanta and the last drop in Tampa.

I picked up a Tropicana load in FL and it was to go to Cleborne, TX (WalMart). This was the beginning of the end.....

Well, I get to Cleborne and drop the load, Cleborne is just outside of Dallas (Stevens yard). I say for several hours waiting for a load after turnig in my "empty call". I got tired of waiting and called my new fleet manager........A mistake.....

For those that aren't familiar with Stevens policies, well, when you pull into the yard, you are to go directly to the "Safety Lane". There, they look over the truck (with a fine toothed comb if the mechanics need work). And then you can bet that you will be stuck for a week. Now granted, I had ONLY BEEN OUT 10 DAYS, and they wrote up a TON of stuff on my truck. I got pissed and "blew another gasket" and went and asked my new fleet manager why in the hell I was routed back to the yard. He said that there was a note on my "screen" to get me back to the yard ASAP, because my wife was in the hospital!!!!!!!!!! FROM 3 WEEKS BEFORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In a nutshell, I told them to stick it up their #####, packed my stuff, and walked.

I went home and got a job driving a cement mixer (glorious huh?). I did that for 3 months while I looked for something else.

I got an opportunity to go back in aviation and jumped on it. I am now back in Wichita (Derby actually) Kansas as a mechanic for Cessna at their Service Center.

As I close, I just wanted to thank everyone here for the input that was given throughout this endeavor. You all were a great help. I really enjoyed driving and Stevens, through their screwups, lost someone that was very dedicated. Will I ever drive for a living again? Who knows..... But if it ever happens....It won't be for Stevens.
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i read the whole thing that #### was long

 

lol.. me too.
some very good info in there. this is what Steven's does to people all the time. they left my uncle setting at a Harris teeter for 5 day's! our local trucking school kicked Steven's out of their school because of the horror stories from student's.

 

LOL! Sorry for the length of the thread. Everything there took place over the course of about 3 1/2 months.

It sure was a learning experience for me. Going into it, I thought that Stevens would be the best of the "training companies". Boy was I ever wrong. The amazing part is now that I look back on it, I just can't believe how some of the drivers actually loved the company, espacially after comparing their pay with other companies out there.

On another note, I will most likely be heading back out on the road here within the next 8 weeks and no, it won't be with Stevens! LMAO! I have worked in aviation for quite a while and that, combined with the current employer I work for, I am just plain burned out and need a change. The kids are older now and the wife unit says to do what I want, sooooooooooooo, you know the rest of the story. I was always happiest when driving...

 

No problem i love reading bad horror stories about other carriers.
if you live near st loius or somewhere on the eastern side u might give millis a try.
Hopefully you have better luck at your next carrier whomever it is.
best regards
bum

 

It seems like you almost had a good experience until you wife got sick, anyways long or not it was a good post.

 

You may wants to check your DAC Stevens may have burned you pretty good and sad to say many companies take it to heart. I'm just saying have all your ducks in order in case you get asked about it.

 

Best of luck.Maybe try being a "FREIGHT HAULER" easier than runnin "CHILLI"

 

Well wish me luck I guess.... I am taking a dive into stevens next week.....