Newbie - Looking at Stevens
 

Hey fellas, been here for a few weeks reading up and boy am I glad I did. I'm about as green as you can get when it comes to truck driving so I needed a company that would train me. I was going to go with CR England but I am not now, thank you all. It appears that I may go with Stephens. I live near Allentown, PA and was just looking for any advice on other companies that would work well. I don't like swift and SNI is taking forever. Any and all suggestions are appreciated! Thanks everyone

Werner has a training terminal in Allentwn in fact a buddie of mine is there right now. if you were ever in he military they offer a good pay. I have heard horror stories about them, but who knows. I actually called Steavens Transport Their training is 3 weeks $350 then they stick you in a truck with another 3 weeker and you drive team for 3 more weeks @ $350. I thought that was crazy. I wouldn't want to trust my life to a newbie. it is one thing to kill myself but to trust a new guy... I don't think so. They have nice KW trucks and outfit them nice. have APU's in them.

I am an Army vet but does Werner hire people with zero experience? I read that too about going on the road with a newbie, pretty scary.

Stevens/Werner
 

Mike C,
"ever in the military they offer a good pay" Werner does hire people with no experience, all truckin' companies love vets for the following reasons, which are just a few. They work well on their own, can routinely pass drug tests, understand responsibility, and focus on gettin' the job done. Werner doesn't "offer good pay", they want you to augment their cpm by using your VA ed benefit cloaked as an "apprenticeship". And what do you do for ed benefits when you decide driving isn't for you and your hard earned VA ed benefits are gone. It doesn't take long for the ten years after your discharge or retirement to go by.
As far as Stevens, you can do better. BOL

If you want proper training going through a company driving school, Stevens Transport of Dallas will be your best bet! The other companies give you the bare minimum and stick you with a trainer that just wants your miles, then when you get in your own truck, your realize you still do not know enough.

The next best option, since you have your VA bennies, is to find a good private training company (Note: Not Roadmaster) and pay for your own training. Then you will have other options besides the big companies, although the pay will take awhile to get in the comfort zone! But that goes with any new driver!

By all means, stay away from CR England and their training and lease program!! I know several guys that are still trying to dig themselves out of a financial hole, and a bad credit report!

I was shutdown at the Pilot in Waco the other night, and watched a trainee with another large carrier, with his trainer standing outside of the truck, trying to back into a rather large spot! IT was obvious the school had not taught him anything about backing, and the trainer was not offering any advice either. One thing about Stevens Transport, when you get done with their program, if you pay attention and apply what is being taught, you will definetly be able to back into just about any hole that the 75 + foot long unit will fit into! Even the worst H.E.B. and Walmart docks.

If reefer transport is not your thing, shoot me a PM with your interest, I can try and help you! I am not a recruiter for anyone! Just hate to see people get promised the moon and end up with dirt!

Have a great day!

Cool, thanks a bunch. Can't PM you, I guess you need at least 50 post before that. I got a call back from Roehl transport today as well. It seems they pay real well and I would like to get into flatbeds too. I do like the miles Stevens offers but I don't know much about reefer trucks.

I'm considering Stevens. I finished school in January. I would've gone with a company right after school had I known my current company was gonna screw me! :evil:

Re: Newbie - Looking at Stevens
 

I explored all my options and found I was eligible for free training on the government's dime. I am starting a PTDI certified school here near Tobyhanna, PA. If you can get free training or a low cost loan on your own that would be better than sponsored training. Otherwise try Schneider. They seem to be one of the less evil companies with training.

BOL

I wouldn't get out of bed for .26 cpm. Those are some cheeeeeeeep wages, driver.

well lebron james you knucklhead, he is starting...as in brand new driver. you are experienced...that is why you would not get out of bed for 28 cents. but maybe he would, maybe he neads to get started somewhere to get experience, maybe 28 cents and good miles would provide for his family in a good manner where maybe your cost of living is higher than his. when are you going to get over yourself and give some decent advice beyond coolie carriers suck, otr suck,etc. remember it was an otr driver that brought the stuff to you to deliver on your 20 to 25 stops per day job.

:lol: :lol: :lol: Your shorted the count there driver! It was a bunch of OTR drivers, that provided the stuff, fer ole FrostyMug to make his 20 to 25 stops per day!!


And...Ole FrostyMug(....LeBron James fer you newbies) keeps failing to mention not only which OTR company he gained his driving experience from..but he never mentions which unionized LTL carrier he drives ......or works the dock for !! :P :P :P :P

Re: Newbie - Looking at Stevens
 

You are headed in the right direction Mike. Glad you listened. Now just make sure that you continue to disregard the mysterious "CALLER NUMBER BLOCKED" solicitations that will begin to come your way from the sewers of J.B. Hunt.
BOL

.26 cpm…you'd have to be retarded to pimp yourself out hauling groceries for that kind of chump change. Better off going down to the nearest rest area and drop your pants and bend over a fuel tank. Christ what a chicken$hit outfit! Plus I heard they install grass burner exhaust systems…who the hell is the moron specing their trucks? Probably never drove one in his life

Why run your tail off for .26 cpm when you can make the same $$$ at a higher rate for less hassle? 3,000 mpw reefer miles at .26 cpm is a whopping $780 on the gross….not even jed in his doublewide with the polyester curtains and redwood deck would be living high off the hog.

You’ve got to get the best runs for the best rate. The idea is to run less for more -not more for less. Bear that in mind and you'll come out smelling like a rose! If reefer is your bag, then at least try and hire-on to a better paying carrier like Marten or Shaffer.

I believe they are the same company now, unless they split the sheets again! First, he will have to find an accredited school that is on there list, seeing as he has no experience! Then, he will get hired on and be with a driver trainer for 6 weeks - last add showed making $250.00 a week! Then, when he gets his own truck - he will be making a whopping >01 cent more than Stevens.

So while you advice has some merit, it is not completely on the level! With no experience, he will be in the .26 - .28 range for at least 6 months to a year! Remember - you were there once!

I ran for Stevens when I first started OTR, and yes, my average pay on the company side was around $750.00 week! Was in some of the best company spec equipment on the road, with an excellent maintenance program. In 3 months, I went to the Alliance fleet and was taking home - look and read - taking home - after expenses - $1200 - 1500 a week!

So life is not all that bad at the Stevens sweat shop! There only problem is the same as all the other reefer outfits - they want you on the road 4 - 6 weeks without home time! But that is standard with the big fleet reefer outfits, including Martin and Schaefer, unless you get on their dedicated regional stuff - which with 0 experience - he wil have to wait a while for that!

Fire away!

Not necessarily

they are makin some damn nice doublewides nowadays!!!!!

I've read this a few times here lately. Not true, at least not in LTL. It may happen on occasion for some long haul or where there is no return freight but for the most part we pull our own freight beginning to end. What do you think we're doing all night long with all those doubles? As a matter of fact our contract forbids outside carrriers unless there is no return freight or everyone and every truck is being used. We have sleeper teams that run Harrisburg, Fontana, Dallas, all over. We have laydown runs, meets. We are a trucking company ya know. Not that I have anything against OTR but I dont know where you guys are getting this from. I'll bet contract carriers pull less than 10% of our freight. Maybe more at smaller companies, I dont know. But every LTL company has a city operation and a linehaul operation.

yep, snowman is right to bad Orlando is a no return frieght site as our yard is full of contract carriers, the local says to give them some time and they will be gone but UPS is not a stupid company they know how to play the game.... As far as wheter or not CFM is workingthe docks or driving it does not matter he is still making the same pay if he is working UPS Freight, I am a $20 an hour dockworker now with garanteed 40 a week and getting 10 to 15 ot every week, not to bad for moving frieght with a fork lift, it is hard work but so be it I don't mind with all the benefits I get the pay off is worth it....

Timberwolf

The teamsters must not know the difference between a dockhand and a truck driver. They start you guys off load the trucks before they even let you drive one. Whats next are you guys going to be dockhand/driver/mechanic all in one. CFM preaches his bs that the drivers should pay the mega carriers that they work for, but yet you guys pay dues for your boss's salaries every month. :lol:

Hey Young ZW,
When I started at UPS Freight in July of 2007 I started right off driving, no dock work what so ever, I started at $18.58 an hour, now at just 10 months of employment I am making just under $20 an hour, OT kicks in at anything over 8 hours a day, My family health plan is a garanteed $100 a month with no increases for the next 7 years, That in and of itself is huge..... Before the union I paid $195 a month for health insurance. Now it is a total of $1200 a year for a great health insurance plan garanteed not to rise in price for the next 7 years.... not many companies can do that.. I am paid for all holidays including little ones like July 4th and my birthday. in July I will have two weeks of paid vacation along with the 4 personal days I can take at my discretion. I have protection from a boss who is having a bad day and feels like making the shit roll down hill in my direction. Plus a whole host of other benefits to numerous to get into. As far as my monthly union dues go it is just under $50 a month for now even with that I am still coming home with an extra $45 a month in my paycheck, go figure, just for your information my dues do not go in my bosses paycheck, where did you come up with that one?????? they go to the union and yes they are getting rich, but at least I know for a fact that for the next 7 years I am garanteed 40 hours a week of pay can your company garantee that? Yes I may have to work the docks for a while due to my senority rating but what the hell it is what it is I am still making the same cash and benefits. You have to look on the bright side my chances of getting into an accident have just been reduced drasticly. I have no problem working the docks in fact it is helping me get into better shape. I am still home every night, and on the weekends and when it comes to holidays I will be home as well getting paid. At some point I will be back in the drivers seat it is just a matter of time. The Union has good and bad just like every other factor in life but at least being in the top 90% I know I have a garanteed paycheck coming in for the next 7 years... You cant beat that in this day and age.....

Timberwolf

Job security my butt :lol: Go ask an old PIE driver how secure his job was.

I'm not looking to start some union vs. non-union war here guys. As we know Lebron James (CFM) has stirred up his fair share of $hit in the past and he has no right or reason to criticize anyone for where they choose to work at. Everyone in every line of work I'm sure tries to maximize profits and do as best as they possibly can for themselves and their families. As an example we all know that Wal-Mart pays their employees next to nothing wages, with little to no benefits but yet we don't sit there and tell that guy or lady that their stupid for doing so because we know that they are there to make a living, but yet everyone in trucking will bitch at Swift or CRE driver for trying to doing the same. There are places that I would never work at here but people in my community are dying to be employed there. There is a pipe factory here that is 130 degrees continuously, you have to drink a full glass of water every 4 mins ( company policy ) in order to not pass out, but yet they have more applicants for these positions than they have openings. Anyways, as the trucking industry combined we all need to look for ways to help each and keeping this industry a vital part to the economy. Without our trucks no one could survive. Look around the room almost everything you see was a one point hauled by truck. So hats off to the men and women who day after day continue to do this job to keep America afloat.

Something about NEMF.......





You figure it out.

Young zw you say job security my butt, in reality who has job security?, The big A hole in the white house does, all of his croanies do until he has to cover his butt then they go away ( "you did a good job Brownie")
Bottom line all the freedoms that our fore fathers wanted for this country have been used and abused and now we are forced to work in a greed filled society. 98% of American workers have no job secuity or employer loyality that is just the plain truth, but at least if I am helping to make some one else rich then I would like to get a decent pay package that is garanteed not to change at any time along with it, UPS Freight does that and as long as I am employed with them it is garanteed for the length of the contract 5 yrs now I was wrong when I said 7 yrs it goes until July of 2013. I may be low on the senority list but I am not in the bottom 10% those are the guys that will go first then maybe it will hit me who knows, are you garanteed employment free from changes and lay offs? I bet not.
Your company right now can come out and say due to the cost of fuel you are no longer going to recieve detention pay, or we are going to institue a new policy concerning breakdown pay instead of 24 hours it is now 72 hours. They can stop matching 401ks if they like or anything else they so choose to do. With the union contract UPS can not change a thing concerning pay, retirement, breaks, hours, and almost anything, that is my point at least there is some secure feeling in that..
Just my opinion

so running team out for a few days, or what you call lay down meets are not over the road drivers????

in addition, whether the otr driver is within your company or not that otr driver still made the cushy local job possible. i think you missed the point snowman, otr is otr. would you want to do those team runs, probably not. well i don't wanna bumb 25 docks a day. just a personal preference. nothing against your job.

cushy local jobs, hah thats funny...
yes they pay well and the hours are great for the most part but cushy, not
Like you said bumping 25 docks a day, some with no docks and the consignee wants you to hoof it off the back, yea right, then you have some dock workers who could care less about thier job and load any way the want, so lets say 14,000 pounds on the right side of the trailer and then 7,000 on the left, your first stop up in the nose with all others stops in the back. It is just like any other job they all suck in some way or another....
You just have to weigh the pros and cons to what you as the individual want from your daily drudge in life....

Timberwolf

well i was trying to make the same point as you...to each their own kinda' thing. i guess CFM and others like to put down OTR drivers for their choice in what they want to do...thought maybe the same treatment is in order. who does CFM work for? does anybody know? to me and maybe others out there they would not wanna do the bumbing docks all day, and i know for sure as shit i ain't humping no frieght..leave that for the shit for brains that can't figure out how to do a job without some union boss telling them how to do it. and who gives a shit about your pay? why is it that it always comes to that...."my job is better than your cause i make more" sounds like a playground fight. you know what since i am in the right mood, you all ups guys and whoever like to put down every otr company around let me try one. Buster Brown is the biggest shitbag company out there. spend years waiting by the phone while your family starves to death, tehn when you get in good they look for ways to try to get you out before they have to pay the full retirement. they even make you take a mandatory unpaid break everyday...what a bunch a scupbucket bottom feeders.

wow, that was more fun than i thought it would be. maybe that is why you guys constantly do it, cause you cannot think of anything remotely inntelligent to say.

i know i sound like a dumbass putting down ups that way, but it is somewhat true.

think about it next time y'all open your pieholes.

can't wait for the responses...and before you go insulting my company and pay there CFM, uhm lebron james...make sure i didn't recently switch jobs. all without asking you what i should do.

And you know how UPS operates how ?? Have you worked for UPS ? If so, where ? I spent 31 years at UPS. I now have a comfortable retirement due to my work and that of the Teamsters on my behalf. So will the UPS Freight Teamsters, no matter what you say or think. As far as PIE, you can blame that one on T. Boone Pickens and the "trickle down" theories of Ronald Reagan. PIE (AND C/F, because I just KNOW you will bring that up next) were both profitable companies. Deregulation and corporate raiders destroyed PIE. I know, I was on the committee that saw their books and C/F. Both times we were told "no the contract doesn't need to be re-opened, we're fine"....No-one posting here that I can see has anything bad to say about OTR drivers, just the one's that haul freight for NOTHING. You say we should "stick together" ?? Yet in your useless posts you just lambast people who believe in organized labor. UPS Freight workers are just now finding out just how advantageous it is to have a strong union behind them and we (the employees of UPS-active and retired) are very happy for them and welcome them to the IBT. 2 suggestions jedfxg: spell-check is a wonderful thing and perhaps you lighten up on the beers and posting....

Good Lord, can't we have a post without it turning into an argument over OTR vs. local? This is rediculous. For crying out loud, aren't you ALL truck drivers? Some people just need to ignore Lebron James or CFM or whoever the heck he is.

Yeah you were on the committee that oversaw their books :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: They were so profitable thats why they closed down :lol: :lol: :lol: What a dip$hit.

Yeah, pretty much. But they pay good.

What the hell are you talking about?

They would...if it wasn't for the Teamsters.

This has nothing to do with UPS - it's state law. After 6 hours or local work, you must take a lunch break according to Ohio and California state laws...others states are similar.

Who are you pulling for now Jed? CR England? :lol: :lol:

Exactly. That is where the lines get blurred.

I'm trying to stay out of this because we've really hijacked the thread but anyway. I'm not a city driver I'm a road driver so the only docks I bump are at the terminal. Our road drivers move our freight, our city guys deliver it and pick it up. Our road runs are on schedules, whether solo, team, home daily or laydowns they are out and back, returning to the home terminal. Is that OTR? I dont know, probably not in the common definition. I dont care for city work either so we can agree on that, although it would be nice to work days. And just to clear the record I have never put down the OTR driver. Ask feederfred about the argument we got into last year because I actually defended the OTR guys. Especially new guys or guys who live in remote areas who dont have alot of options. I admit I post alot about LTL but I do it without putting down OTR. I believe LTL pays better and gives me what I want. The down side is its more like a job, less freedom, hard to break into. I agree to each his own. However nobody should be asked to work for .26 a mile, thats just wrong. I do think readers are entitled to know everything about trucking and make their own decisions. LTL has virtually zero turnover compared to over 100% for OTR so that right there tells you something. I think people deserve to know. I just wish it could be debated without the name calling.

Your right snowman you aren't one of the ones that bashes OTR but theres plenty of others that bash OTR for no reason. They talk about how great their jobs are and how their benefits are protected but yet their so worried about what everyone else is doing.

To the orginal topic starter- Stevens will keep you out for a few weeks at a time. The have damn nice equipment that looks well maintained, but on the down side their starting pay is rather low.

to some people 26 cents might be considered good money. i really do not have a problem with ups, just heard rumors from outside and within the company from other drivers that run the same routes as me. i was trying to make a point maybe succeeded, maybe not. i have lightened up on the beers to feederfred or whoever the brown guy was...i drink mich. ultra, very light low carb beer.

AH no moron, READ the POST (or didn't you pass the 3rd grade...) I never OVERSAW their books I was on the Joint Council 42 committee that ASKED to see their books. Your a pretty big man hiding on an Internet board aren't you ?? Speaking of idiots.....Enjoy life @26cpm in that Swift truck....Perhaps you could actually READ a book every now and then or are you too busy being a "big strapper" ??? I'm at the Pilot in Fernley, Nevada, every Tuesday around 9AM. I deliver their fuel part time....

I'm in Gators Sports Pub Coshocton, Oh every Fri and Saturday nights so your more then welcome to come up this way cuz i run regional and don't get down to Nevada ever. Oh, I have to ask- If you didn't see their books then how do you know they were profitable? Aww the teamsters said so right :roll:

Oh and you did say you saw their books -Heres the proof you dumb Unions Personal Slave driver

Forgot something-

You must not be making some big bucks if in addition to driving UPS you also have to have a part time gig :lol:

Let's get this thread back on track please. :wink: