Stevens Transport. Anyone Have Experience With Them?

I received some info yesterday on Stevens Transport and will be looking into their company. Anyone here have experience with them? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Woody

Some conversations I have had with other truckers were very favorable toward Stevens Transport. The only reason I didn't choose them were that they do payroll deductions for their CDL school, and although you sign an agreement for one year, you really only pay off the interest in that time. It really takes something like 3 years to fully pay it off. I'm on my phone at the moment do I can't look up the details of that. But all in all they are supposed to be a great company, and as a plus all of their trucks have APUs.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Some conversations I have had with other truckers were very favorable toward Stevens Transport. The only reason I didn't choose them were that they do payroll deductions for their CDL school, and although you sign an agreement for one year, you really only pay off the interest in that time. It really takes something like 3 years to fully pay it off. I'm on my phone at the moment do I can't look up the details of that. But all in all they are supposed to be a great company, and as a plus all of their trucks have APUs.

Actually their tuition reimbursement program was one of the reasons I first started looking at them. I met with a private school yesterday and one of my concerns is that the school runs 5995. Stevens will pay 62.50 per week to cover the loan payment. After two years they pay off the balance. Strongest program I have seen so far. Although it may be different if you attend their own school.

It's funny you mention that because I was thinking about posting a thread after a discussion with another company yesterday. I have been waiting to start training with Knight for several weeks. They still don't know when the school will be open (close to me) so I started looking at other options. If I go through their training program it costs 3400, which I pay back through payroll deduction in full. If I go to a private school they will pay me $35 a week up to 5500.

So if I go to their school it cost me 3400. If I go to private school it costs them 5500 (assuming I stayed long enough to pay it off. The recruiter almost acted like I was kind of silly asking if they would reimburse me for attending their school even though it would cost their company less money

Woody

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Hey guys, just keep something in mind....

Obviously none of us wants to waste a nickel if we can help it. But at the same time we don't want to make major career decisions based on a small difference in tuition or tuition reimbursement plans. Now several thousands dollars is no small chunk of change. But once you start talking anything less than about a $2000 difference it becomes a moot point. Why?

Well you'll gross $1000/week pretty regularly out there, especially once you've gotten a few months running solo under your belt and your first company starts throwing some raises your way. So $2000 sounds like a massive amount of money until you put it into a bigger context and realize it's only a difference of two weeks pay in your new career.

So make sure you're not choosing a particular company or school based on a difference of a few hundred dollars or even one or two thousand. Make sure you're picking a school and a company that you feel suits you best in the long run. In the end you'll be a lot happier getting the training you wanted and working for a company that suits you well.

I've always heard, "You never regret buying quality" and that's something I've always lived by. If something is important to you, make sure you go the extra mile to get good quality. In trucking, good quality could mean the type of training you get, the type of freight you'd like to haul, the type of truck you'd like to drive, the regions of the country you'd like to run, and of course the pay & benefits they offer.

Consider all of your options and think things through carefully. But in the end, make sure you go with a school and a company that suits you well as opposed to ones that save you a few bucks. This is a whole new career that most of you will be doing for many, many years. Trying to save a couple thousand dollars by giving up the things you'd really like isn't going to be a decision you'll be happy with shortly down the road.

Now of course if you have no choice because you're limited on funds then you do whatever you have to do of course. But if you have the means to get the training you want and go with the company you want then make it happen. You'll be thanking yourself endlessly for doing that.

I realize that this site is a positive site, and I am not interested in making a company appear worse than they really are. However, I must inform others of some important facts about this company, and let them come to their own conclusions.

On the basis of my uncle's recommendation of Stevens' training program, I chose to check into what the company had to offer. I attended 3 weeks of training, and had a mostly positive experience. What I found was that most people could pass the 3 weeks of initial training as long as they made an honest effort. (A few were disqualified for failing the drug test or the required physical, and some simply chose not to move forward.)

At the conclusion of 3 weeks, I was paired with a trainer who would coach me as I drove across the nation over the road. My trainer was a lease operator, and he was very protective of his truck. Understandable. I drove to the best of my ability, as my trainer made efforts to strengthen my weaknesses.

Unfortunately, my trainer spent a lot of time and energy yelling at me like a boot camp instructor. He would needle me about trivial matters, such as what I ate, or how high I chose to position the driver's seat when I was behind the wheel.

Finally, a week and a half into this second phase of training, we reached a breaking point when I missed a turn in a small town. Before driving past the turn, I was unsure, and I asked his advice about whether the turn looked right. GPS said I was in position for a turn, but it looked like a neighborhood street. He said, "I don't know, you tell me." As I drove forward, he pointed down the street and said, "See, that WAS your turn." And then, "Sucks to be relying on GPS, doesn't it?" I said, "Sucks to have a trainer who won't help you." At that moment, he told me I would be getting sent back home 800 miles away.

I pulled into a grocery store parking lot to try to turn around, and he told me to stop the truck. About 30 mintues later, I was standing with all of my bags off-loaded in 20 degree temperatures. Fortunately, the people who worked in the grocery store helped me get to a hotel about 2 miles away.

This happened on a Friday evening, and my designated Counselor was not set to return to company headquarters until Monday. In the meantime, the company fronted me $200 to take care of myself in this emergency, which was nice. Still, I was left to wonder what to do.

I chose to stay one night in the small town, take a taxi the next day to a bigger city, rent a hotel room there for a day, rent a car the next morning and drive on back home (which is in the same region as the company's headquarters.)

I drove for 13 hours to get home, and returned the car near my home at 10:00 in the morning. Then, I spoke with my designated Counselor.

She asked me what had happened, and I explained as above. She then asked me where I was, and I told her. Next, she said, "Why did you not report the company's headquarters at 8:00 in the morning?" I explained that I had needed to return the car, and that I was unsure of what my family's plans were for using our own personal vehicle. She informed me that since I had not been at either a safe haven or the company's headquarters at 8:00 in the morning, I was considered to have deserted the job. I said, I had made all of my decisions in an effort to survive after being thrown off the truck. Unbelievably, she told me that "just because you chose to get off the truck" doesn't mean you shouldn't be in designated place at a designated time. Why in the world would I have voluntarily decided to throw myself off a truck at the edge of a grocery store parking lot?

On paper, I owe the company thousands of dollars for the training I received. My driving record will also be adversely affected by not returning to complete my training. Still, if this is as much understanding as I get after being dumped in the middle of nowhere, I see no reason to struggle to move forward with this company. Obviously, my situation is only one particular situation. I see many things that the company is doing right, such as maintaining state-of-the-art equipment and striving to hold fast to safety standards. However, if something like this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone.

Make sure you consider everything. Is there a reason you want refrigerated? Will you be sitting a lot for live load/unloads? Is the pay per mile better or worse than others and why? Stevens' tuition reimbursement is why I considered them. But many other factors led me somewhere else. Good luck.

Just FYI... OP Is over 1 year old... this is an old thread....

Just FYI... OP Is over 1 year old... this is an old thread....

Yeah, sometimes threads here have a way of coming back...

kind of like a Zombie now that I think of it....

Oh, yeah... here it is!

AMC's new spin off of "The Walking Dead"...

Introducing... "The Walking Thread"!! LOL

Can I be Darryl ? I'm great with a crossbow.

Can I be Darryl ? I'm great with a crossbow.

We may have to have a drawing for that one.... seeing he is one of the coolest characters on the show.