Stevens Transport?

I went through the 1st 5 weeks of training, yes, $350 a week sux, but the training has been great and it's an awesome experience being out there. do yourself a favor, make your own mistakes, it's the learning process of life. i'm leaving tomorrow for my next 3 weeks, then i'm most likely hitting the lease. learn how to manage your life, transport isn't a job, it's a lifestyle.

niehus1 Atwater CA wrote:

I am going to go to school for Stevens in Sept. Is it true you won't be home for at least 8 weeks from when you go to orientation?

YES THATS TRUE!..training was good and thorough BUT.. trainee cpm sucks and last i knew you dont get a truck with a engine(jake)brake for your first 6mos as a solo driver

who has more "roll overs" than stevens transport....most trainers are new to trucking.2 years or less experience.when, i was there,a trainer took an exit to fast.rolled his truck.killed the trainee in the sleeper birth.that was oct 2007.a horrible story.stevens has the highest rate of rollovers in trucking. it is not a good way to die

I've heard a lot of good and bad about stevens...I agree wit those who say"its what you make it"those who complain all the time aren't going to get very far in life....I'm going to Stevens in April...I've been job hoping for almost six years since I graduated from high school...I'm 23 years old single with a 8 month old daughter...I'm ready for a long lasting career in a stable industry and I'm ready to work for it...any advice from high vets or someone who's been to Stevens?

You are going to find good and bad posts about every company that you do a search on. I was very happy at Stevens but obviously some weren't. I went with the lease program because I have been an independent contractor for most of my life. I netted $68,000 in my best year but I wouldn't recommend the lease program if you have no experience in operating a business. There are a lot of little expenses that most overlook both as a trip settlement reimbursement and/or a tax deduction and these little expenses add up to thousands of dollars per year! The lease program involves much more than just driving the truck. Stevens is a great company,I wish I still worked for them and contrary to what some are posting here they have one of the best safety records in the industry.
http://safer.fmcsa.dot.gov/CompanySnapshot.as...

BRYAN 305.you are a good candidate for stevens.sign that 1 year deal.get the training and then move on to a job to support your family.trucking is good. i'm with the teamsters now and it is good.after 1 year with stevens,the teamsters will hire you also. stevens has the best equipment. the pay is not great ,but you are young stick it out for the year.....stevens is not for everyone.my complaints are not for everyone.older people with set bills,and expectations of income,should not show up at stevens.that is just the truth...and stevens safety record is one of the worst....stevens is a good stepping stone for those just starting in life. if you are older and have a set life that you would like to maintain.stevens is not for you

Thanks whatchout for u advice.waw.I almost did big mistake in my life.

Thanks u all for u advice about stevens.i think houston comunity college is better.

Stevens22 is right in that most companies pay a better cpm than Stevens does, but you must also consider the miles these companies can get for you. Stevens kept me running and I heard a lot of drivers complaining that their company didn't. As far as safety is concerned, once again, Stevens has one of the best safety records in the industry. In my previous post I supplied a link to the government data to back up my assertion, while Stevens22 is merely voicing his opinion. For example, why in the world would he recommend a company that he claims to have such a poor safety record as a "stepping stone"? Do your homework on any company that you are considering. Don't rely on hearsay, because when you start driving you will hear a lot of similar whining at truck stop driving lounges that you read here.

safety? my first 9 months there.9 rollovers.a trainee was killed when his trainer took an off ramp to fast.fact.oct 2007...maybe it has improved since then...maybe it has not

Oct 2007? 5 years ago? Wow ok. Yea when I was at Stevens,(as a lease driver & trainer) we had a bad stretch back in 2005 for a month or two with rollovers, run off road and jacknifes; but every company that size has stretches like that. You can isolate a small period of time and use that against a company if you want, but you have to look at the overall figures to be fair and, once again, Stevens has a 'satisfactory' rating with the DOT.'Satisfactory' is the highest rating you will find with a company the size of Stevens as far as I know. Some smaller companies have 'good' ratings and there may even be a few companies out there with 'exceptional' ratings, but I sure haven't seen it. Anyway, like I said in my previuos post, you can walk into any truck stop driver's lounge and ask a question about any company and you are going to get half and half, good and bad response. For example, myself and another man met each other at the school at Stevens. We passed the road test on the same day, we got our CDL on the same day, we went through orientation together, we were a trainee team for three weeks, we both went with the lease program and we both became driver trainers. For years he was miserable at Stevens while I was happy.
Go figure.

Im in my 3rd week out on my own and I am bored to death!!! I kept my gps on on the last load and I spent 30 hours sitting and 13 hours driving. Im so new im not sure if this is normal or not, but the past three weeks I have done more waiting around than driving. It wouldnt be bad if I had a tv or something to do, I repowered this morning and got an empty trailor and its 8:12pm and still nothing. The dispatchers on weekends suck. They gave me the wrong load number and didnt know the right one till I had an hour left to drive this morning making it impossible for me to take this load. Its been like this since I been on my own. Ive done 3400 mile in 19 days. Is that good or bad? Suppose to do alliance, but 600 a week truck payment and these miles arent adding up. Im not bitchin....just would like to know what the norm is and how I can adjust my train of thought to all of this. Especially the boredom!!!!!

Stru32 wrote:

Im in my 3rd week out on my own and I am bored to death!!! I kept my gps on on the last load and I spent 30 hours sitting and 13 hours driving. Im so new im not sure if this is normal or not, but the past three weeks I have done more waiting around than driving. It wouldnt be bad if I had a tv or something to do, I repowered this morning and got an empty trailor and its 8:12pm and still nothing. The dispatchers on weekends suck. They gave me the wrong load number and didnt know the right one till I had an hour left to drive this morning making it impossible for me to take this load. Its been like this since I been on my own. Ive done 3400 mile in 19 days. Is that good or bad? Suppose to do alliance, but 600 a week truck payment and these miles arent adding up. Im not bitchin....just would like to know what the norm is and how I can adjust my train of thought to all of this. Especially the boredom!!!!!

It sounds like they are running you to make sure they get their money back from you 1st.
3400 miles in 2 weeks is pretty darn bad, the norm is 2500 to 2800
a week or 9500 to 10.000 a month.

Stru32 wrote:

Im in my 3rd week out on my own and I am bored to death!!! I kept my gps on on the last load and I spent 30 hours sitting and 13 hours driving. Im so new im not sure if this is normal or not, but the past three weeks I have done more waiting around than driving. It wouldnt be bad if I had a tv or something to do, I repowered this morning and got an empty trailor and its 8:12pm and still nothing. The dispatchers on weekends suck. They gave me the wrong load number and didnt know the right one till I had an hour left to drive this morning making it impossible for me to take this load. Its been like this since I been on my own. Ive done 3400 mile in 19 days. Is that good or bad? Suppose to do alliance, but 600 a week truck payment and these miles arent adding up. Im not bitchin....just would like to know what the norm is and how I can adjust my train of thought to all of this. Especially the boredom!!!!!

Ist thing I would do is throw that stupid GPS out the window, A truck driver shouldn't rely on a GPS you could get yourself in a real jam if it's wrong, you can't just turn around anywhere you want with a semi-tractor trailer.

I would use an atlas and street maps and call the shipper for directions, most have them recorded in the phone message, you might have to listen over & over because they rattle the directions off to fast, write them down in a notebook you have just for directions, a GPS is more for an experience driver that knows the highways and the cities he's going too!

For example, a GPS will tell you to run on the GSP,(garden state parkway) in NJersey, buzzzzzer WRONG, you cannot do it.

Stru32 wrote:

Im in my 3rd week out on my own and I am bored to death!!! I kept my gps on on the last load and I spent 30 hours sitting and 13 hours driving. Im so new im not sure if this is normal or not, but the past three weeks I have done more waiting around than driving. It wouldnt be bad if I had a tv or something to do, I repowered this morning and got an empty trailor and its 8:12pm and still nothing. The dispatchers on weekends suck. They gave me the wrong load number and didnt know the right one till I had an hour left to drive this morning making it impossible for me to take this load. Its been like this since I been on my own. Ive done 3400 mile in 19 days. Is that good or bad? Suppose to do alliance, but 600 a week truck payment and these miles arent adding up. Im not bitchin....just would like to know what the norm is and how I can adjust my train of thought to all of this. Especially the boredom!!!!!

The boredom is coming from being in unfamiliar places you don't like, You have to make your dispatcher pre/plan you better when this happens, You won't feel this way if you're in places you like and are familiar with.

Never except a load to a place you don't know or like without a pre/plan to get out, like I said make them do their job, if u'r sitting they aren't doing their job.
The worst thing for a truck driver is to be stuck somewhere you don't know or like.

Being u'r just starting out, now is the time to get what you want.
They won't bother you because they want their money for hiring you,
if you quit or get get fired they'll lose their $10.000 dollar tax credit for hiring & training you, so get all you can now.
If they lose you now they lose.

Stru32 wrote:

Im in my 3rd week out on my own and I am bored to death!!! I kept my gps on on the last load and I spent 30 hours sitting and 13 hours driving. Im so new im not sure if this is normal or not, but the past three weeks I have done more waiting around than driving. It wouldnt be bad if I had a tv or something to do, I repowered this morning and got an empty trailor and its 8:12pm and still nothing. The dispatchers on weekends suck. They gave me the wrong load number and didnt know the right one till I had an hour left to drive this morning making it impossible for me to take this load. Its been like this since I been on my own. Ive done 3400 mile in 19 days. Is that good or bad? Suppose to do alliance, but 600 a week truck payment and these miles arent adding up. Im not bitchin....just would like to know what the norm is and how I can adjust my train of thought to all of this. Especially the boredom!!!!!

Your train of thought?
Where do you like to run, North, South, East, West,? What?
Who do you like to deliver too?
Who's your favorite shipper?
What's your favorite truckstop or hotel?
Is your dispatcher giving you runs where you have to stand on the excellerator for 11hrs a day?
If he is you have a quit chat with him and tell him look man it doesn't do me any good to run out of hrs at the end of the week, get loads that you can split log, with the electronic logs it's easy, you just have to log all your time off in the sleeper or it won't work, Split logging is great because it allows you to stop rest, eat, shower, or see that favorite waitress you like at the Petro.

There's no reason in the world to run a truck driver 11hrs a day after all you get paid by the mile not by the hour, they love to mistreat the new drivers this way, If they want you to run like they're paying you by the hour then they should pay you by the hour.

Getting paid by the mile you decide how you run not some smuck that goes home at 17:00 5:00pm.
it's your CDL not theirs.
Just pick/up & deliver on-time, If it's to tight don't except the load.

Stru32 wrote:

Im in my 3rd week out on my own and I am bored to death!!! I kept my gps on on the last load and I spent 30 hours sitting and 13 hours driving. Im so new im not sure if this is normal or not, but the past three weeks I have done more waiting around than driving. It wouldnt be bad if I had a tv or something to do, I repowered this morning and got an empty trailor and its 8:12pm and still nothing. The dispatchers on weekends suck. They gave me the wrong load number and didnt know the right one till I had an hour left to drive this morning making it impossible for me to take this load. Its been like this since I been on my own. Ive done 3400 mile in 19 days. Is that good or bad? Suppose to do alliance, but 600 a week truck payment and these miles arent adding up. Im not bitchin....just would like to know what the norm is and how I can adjust my train of thought to all of this. Especially the boredom!!!!!

The new drivers really want to be careful about protecting their MVR's (driving record)and your CSA-2010 safety scores, Dispatchers will try to bully with threats and Dac-reporting, Ok; Once you f--k up and get a preventable accident on your driving record they got you, now you can't go anywhere, no good company will hire you, Now they can run the crap out of you and pay you whatever they want, who the hell you gonna complain too?

You just screwed up your driving record ha ha.
Forget the Dac-report just as long as your driving record doesn't match the Dac don't worry, it just looks like some a$$hole company trying to bad mouth you,( I love that), leave with a clean driving record and a good safety score and you can go anywhere.
It's a real challenge, most drivers fail they can't do it know why?
They come into the industry "BROKE", know how the company knows u'r broke? If you arrive on a Greyhound bus u'r broke.
I go to all orientations in a Hertz rental or my car depends; the moment I start hearing Bull$hit I'm gone.

Men need to start taking better care of themselves, that way these piece of $hit trucking companies will have to start treating drivers with the respect we deserve.

Lease-Purchase-Programs, PLEASE, give me a fricking break, it's just a scam; the company leases the truck to you and you pay all their bills for them, any company with a lease purchase program is a sign of money problems.
Learn to take better care of yourselves so you won't get taken advantage of, learn your rights, and definately watch what you sign, read everything first.

Although there is a way the Dac can hurt you badly,

"TRUCK ABANDAMENT"
"QUIT UNDER DISPATCH"
Stay away from those, those will bury you even with a clean driving record.
Just make sure you turn in the truck where they tell you.

is it true with stevens you get 2 ,1500 mile hauls a week ? and can make additional money loading/unloading with each haul ? whats the news on that ?