Stevens....low Cents Per Mile? Maybe So....A Message To Newbies From Another...

Hi guys and especially those of you still waiting to attend school or trying to pick a company.

Rainy's post re: her first year pay shed some valuable light on what sort of money could realistically be made at Prime during the first year of driving; once let loose from the training environment.

So; I wondered if it was worth doing something somewhat similar for the company that i drive for; namely Stevens Transport.

Now then; first things first.... this is only 8 days worth of driving...nothing like a year...so possibly not relevant? Maybe so. But; I do believe that it shows what can be done with a little bit of 'drive' and willingness to 'get it done'.

Many of you will have done as I and countless others did....trawled the online forums and been horrified by the horror stories about working and driving for the mega carriers. Those of you that were lucky enough to find this site and, I might add, wise enough to read the info posted on here by Brett, G-Town, Errol, Rainy, Old School, Susan and numerous other experienced drivers about what really matters, should have at least begun to understand that what you get out of this thing we call 'Trucking' is far more related to what you are willing to put in, in terms of effort, attentiveness and attitude than it is to which company you choose to start your career!

Stevens, takes an inordinate amount of bashing on other forums, as do the other large companies. Quite a bit of it to do with the starting pay rate of 30c per mile. I have seen comments actually using the term 'slave wages'! Which, personally, i find abhorent!

Brett at al, have plenty to say on the postings of these 'terminal/truck stop rats', 'trolls' (call them what you like). So; i wont add to that particular theme. But I do advise you to read everything you can that the wiser heads here have written on the subject. It will pay dividends - I promise!

I am new to Stevens and I am currently in a probationary period of 'Team driving' (more on that later). So; these figures do not truly represent solo driver earnings. However; with a little simple arithmetic, you can extrapolate some useful potential solo figures.

We get paid per trip, not weekly. Once we scan the documents in at any suitable truck stop, or by an app on the phone, we are then paid two business days later. This simply means that we get more than one paycheck per week, as you will see.

I picked my team mate up in Alburquerque on Jan 24th in the evening mid trip, and we ran as a team until the evening of January 31st. At this point, we have parked the truck and are off for 7 days...earned by completing Graduation at Stevens.

The picture is a screen shot of my Driver Pay page on our company app. It shows that I have been paid 4 times since picking Chris up. The very first payment (Jan 25th) includes about 900 solo miles that i ran on my way to meet him, so Chris's page would show slightly less. But, it does not show our last trip (completed and scanned Jan 31st) which will add about $300 each to the total, so it is a fairly accurate representation of the money earned in the period.

Is it truly representative of an average? As I stated; I don't know...only time will truly tell. But; as i also stated; it shows what can be done...even at Stevens pay rate!

In summary: These are net figures actually wired to my account. - after all deductions. Chris and I both brought home over $1200 for the period shown. In my case, over $1400.

Now; we ran hard and plan to continue to do so. We are 'teaming' with all the associated additional pressures that can bring to the table.

But; I believe it shows that a decent living can be made...and more importantly...it shows that the mileage rate is not the most critical thing. Available miles along with application, dedication and desire to do well are far, far more important!

We already have begun to establish a rapport with our DM and dispatcher. Both of us call ahead to shippers and receivers to try to get in early. Both of us love to keep the left door closed and the wheels turning! But; both of us also believe in a shower every day if possible and eating decently, not just junk. So running hard has not meant living like slobs or being dirty and smelly! lol

It can be done, ladies and gents.

I am more than happy to answer any questions y'all might have. Let me know.

Cheers,

Simon

Looks good. This would be better in the general category. Either way, it will help people. Good luck.

Looks good. This would be better in the general category. Either way, it will help people. Good luck.

Hi Big Scott.

Yeah.... I debated that very thing with myself... i do that quite a bit lol.

The main reason I put it here is that it seems to me that many of the folks considering doing this thing we love ask many, many questions about which company pays the most....potential earnings...etc when trying to decide where to go for training and their subsequent career start.

The point I was trying to get across to them was that earnings are far more related to attitude and effort than where or for whom you drive. You wiser heads on this site have posted many thoughts on this very subject and this was just my attempt at adding my $0.02 worth. lol

In addition, Stevens gets a lot of criticism for their starting pay rate. While I do agree that it's not the greatest, I just wanted to show (as you guys have many times) that there is a great deal more to consider than an eye-catching 'cents per mile ' advertisement.

The company that i drove for in the UK, Turners Transport, took a lot of bashing on the web also. But, by applying myself, taking advantage of their training and ignoring the interweb trolls, I made a great living there for 9 years whilst simultaneously learning the ropes and honing my skills. And; whilst a relatively minor thing, also had a blast!! 😊

Also; although the Stevens haters are more than willing to trash the company for paying 'slave wages', the two things that rarely get much criticism are the training program for 'new' drivers and the equipment. Both of which seem to be almost universally recognised as at least as good as any other company out there.

To be totally honest, for myself as a somewhat experienced driver, the training was somewhat tedious in many ways. It was almost broken down into tiny little bits of info and procedural minutiae....repeatedly hammered home! By the time I left the yard, I was almost desperate to get out there!! Lol.

But; and this is a big 'but' ..... for anybody starting out in this industry 'fresh off the street' ; it's my honest opinion that this approach is exactly what they need!!

As you guys are only too well aware, maneuvering the vehicle is only one part of real world operations. Once out of the gate, the volume of 'stuff' to be dealt with can become overwhelming to 'newbies '. I saw the same thing many, many, times during my aviation days... a relatively inexperienced co-pilot would enter the ****pit full of the joys of life and within a few days, would have that 'startled deer in the headlights' sort of look. "What do I do about this situation?"... How do I handle that?" etc. lol

What, almost universally, saved the day was SOP and their company training. While even the best training is unable to cover every single thing that will be encountered, it does give a really firm foundation on which to build experience and a framework of guidance to fall back on when encountering new situations.

Also; Rainy's post did such a good job on the subject, I did not wish to appear to be competing with her. As stated above, my post does not begin to approach hers as a comprehensive review of earnings over a sustained period. Rather it is merely a 'snapshot', which I hoped would convey my original intent in posting it i.e that decent money can be made even at a relatively low cpm.

So anyway; what started as a quick reply has morphed into one of my usual rather long ramblings! lol Forgive me 😜.

Thanks for the nice reply and as ever ..

Stay safe out there 👍

Cheers,

Simon

I guess I should have written 'flightdeck' rather than '****pit'?