Stevens Transport - Dallas, Tx.?

Do not let Stevens B.S. you into thinking you will get more miles with them than anywhere else! They claim a longer than average run, which may be true. But they neglect to tell you about the 2-3 day wait at the shipper just waiting to get the load. The average miles in a week is 2200-3000.
more toward the lower end, because rookies do not get the best runs.
Stop at any truckstop and talk with a few drivers from different companies and ask how many miles they are running a week.
They make you think you are running more miles than other companies, but they are going to pay less per mile, but you bring home more money? Sounds kinda stupid when you think about it. Do you think they charge their customers less to haul their freight than any other company charges? So they have to pay you less. Its a load of crap !!! I know firsthand, I got suckered into their program and only after talking with other drivers from other companies at truckstops did I make my own realizations about Stevens.
The only thing you get more of at Stevens is time AWAY from home! Think about it, 5 weeks away at a strech. Hell when you go for orientation you won't get to go home for over 10 weeks. If you complete the entire training/orientation process. They claim their training program is industry reconized as one of the best, maybe so, I must say it is thorough.
But in the end the personal sacrafices are WAY to great for ANY compensation to ever repay.
I would encourage you to do lots of homework before deciding on any company. But I would NOT recommend Stevens to anyone.

 

i did'nt go with stevens for the very fact that i was'nt willing to do 12 weeks away from home for their chump change.

i spent 5 weeks and that was plenty enough

 

It seems that if you look hard enough you can find something bad about all of the companies. I have asked around and the worst one seems to be Swift. I have heard that Werner trucks are not all they are cracked up to be, this from a driver who does the I-40 corridor. He said that he does see lot's of Stevens trucks and they seem to be in alot better condition than anyone elses. Still waiting on KLLM, Gordon and Schnieder to get back to me. I guess no matter who you go with, you still have to pay your dues and tough it out for that 1-2 years experience to get the better jobs. Thanks for your inputs, though.

 

Your right, Stevens does keep their fleet well maintained. They sell them at about 350-400k miles.
But is a good truck worth the loss of pay and hometime? I agree you have to put in a year or two with a "training company" to get enough experience to make a move to most other companies. But the exterme sacrafices required are a little to much at Stevens.

 

I will admit I did work for them. I went through their training school for my CDL in November 2005 (First Sunday after Thanksgiving). I finished my CDL training (3 weeks). Then came Orientation 1 where you get VERY detailed classroom and driving course instruction especially a lot of backing. I got lucky and went out with a Trainer the following Saturday. I had a pretty cool trainer so the 5 weeks went by pretty quick. Got back to the yard and went through Orientation II more classroom instruction and extensive backing. Which I thought was a hassle but found it to be very beneficial later on. Got my dumb and dumber co-driver and out for another 3 weeks. Breezed through that 3 weeks with no problems then back to Dallas again. Guess what????? More backing. At that time the late Richard Moore was the Safety Director and he was a real safety stickler. Bill Cheney and Adrian are also sticklers and I believe it's their show now. So, of course, to get assigned your truck you have to take a final road test and backing test. Passed that O.K. and got assigned Truck 5765 it was a 2005 T2000. It was practically new. Stayed an OTR driver until I was put on the Peterbuilt dedicated run (Peoria to Ft Worth) did that a while and switched over to the Kraft dedicated. Never had a problem with miles or pay. In fact one of the more unique features of pay is you get paid sometimes 2-3 times a week because as soon as you scan your bills you are paid for that load within 2 days directly deposited.

I left for better pay, but I will say their training is Bar None. I learned a lot and loved the long loads. When I was OTR with them it was common to be dispatched on 1800-2500 mile loads.

I feel they are a great option for training personally. If I'm not mistaken even though you start out at .26/mi you get raises every 2-3 months so by the time you reach the one year mark you'll be around .32/mi

 

I got done with them in december 07. The pay was .26,
six months later .02 more,
3 more months .01
3 more .01,
to get you to .30 in a year.
then .01 a year.
With 6 months exp. I've been offered .37 to start at other companies. that would take 8 years at Stevens.
But yes their training is very extensive.

 

Yeah the pay sucks. They try to pressure you into the lease program to not have to pay insurance and other things on you. Tell you how much mor eyou will make and after all the nickel and dime'ing (sp) you still average what you would be if you had stayed company and still have insurance.

I have 2 weeks left on my 90 period and im am heading back to the yard to go back to the company side. I may lose my APU but at least my whole family will have insurance again.

I have my good and bad but for every time I find a bad they do something good. Communication is a HUGE factor in anything you do at Stevens.

Morphinus

 

My first post!
Going this morning to hear a Stevens recruiter (I assume) and just wondering about their company.
I believe someone posted, "2,000 new hires in 07 but only 100 new trucks!
Sounds scary to me!
Thanks for any info.
P.S. Made a 12 hour round-trip last Saturday to hear Schneider and all I can say is the info provided was not as it had been represented to be prior to the job fair!

 

Mo Fat Boy - can you expand on what you heard and what you found to be on Schneider? Thanks

Charlie

 

Charlie:
I understood the Schneider Job Fair was for "inexperienced" drivers.
What I found was Schneider looking for "team" drivers in the West.
It would be necessary to go to Wisconsin if you are inexperienced.

STEVENS: Went to meeting today. Nice guy...but I knew going in....he was a recruiter. Hard to decide what to do.
I think I want to go the company training route but Stevens is low on pay from what I have read on THIS SITE.
Anyone have CONSTRUCTIVE ideas for someonw who last drove 30 years ago?
Thanks much!