Swift transition is making me crazy

Dam that sucks !!!!!!
about to drop this trailer here in Mississippi and use the 3/4 's of a tank of fuel and bobtail towards home . Lol
I bet I could almost make it to . Lol



Edit: I sent a few messages in today since 10:30 thismorning and have yet to get a response .
Hell I even sent in a mac 19 , and once you look it u will laugh .. hahahah

 

Hi everyone! I feel your pain...Really, I do, this has been a complete fiasco with swift taking over.

All you people trying to decide between Central or Swift...Absolutely no difference now. When it was officially announced over the qualcomm that the "purchase" had happened, it stated that "nothing would change"...B*!!S*!t!!!!



If it says "Central" on the side of the truck/trailer, make no mistake, it is 100% Swift.

First off, take pictures of every incoming and outgoing qualcomm message so you may have recourse if it's their word against yours if they screw something up on a load. Pain in the #####, I know, just do it. I was doing it occasionally even before the swift buyout but only to cover my #####.

Now I am doing it for pretty much every message.

Here is my background with Central Refrigerated and what has changed for the worse.

My 1 year original contract expires 03/15/14. Not a minute too soon.

I had made a commitment to myself to finish it out from the very beginning so that I get the one year OTR out of the way.

Plus, I didnt need them coming after me for the money, get CSA screwed with and I also try to live up to what I say I'm gonna do.

With that said, if this whole mess with swift had started shortly before it actually did, I don't know if I would have been able to handle it.

It's all I can do to not walk away on a daily basis. If I walk I just feel that it would be 11 months down the drain.

If I stay in truck driving, I already have a really decent local chip-driving job offer that gets me home every night with 3 day weekend and I can choose to work 8 or 12 hours a day.

I was going to completely get out of truck driving but that could actually fit into my retirement plans.

Anyway, I digress. Here is what has happened:

Starting my 8th month I had to turn in my Prostar to get another truck (by they way, I like the Freightliner much better).

The truck change occurred shortly after the swift purchase of Central.

The first few loads I received were either extremely tight on time-to-deliver or impossible.

I kept telling my DM that maybe I shouldn't accept load 'cause of the weather and tight schedule.

She said if I had hours on my clock to accept them...Okeydoky.

I never had a re-power my first 8 months. Since then, I quit keeping track of how many re-power's I've had.

I use to trip-plan my loads very well. Now, I don't even bother...I just drive. They can clean up their own mess.

My DM doesn't send me 4+ messages a day anymore asking me what my ETA to the 99 is.

I can hardly ever get a hold of her on the phone now and my messages go unanswered for hours on end.

Is there even a night shift anymore? How about OTRM? Payroll? Nobody answers the phone or qualcomm messages anymore.

I can't get an express code or comcheck now. I don't know how I'm suppose to pay a lumper when I need one. My DM says everything is on the comdata card now

If I put my departure mac in when I'm too far away from the shipper/receiver, the system rejects it. That's not good, especially at some of these places that want you outa' there right after load/unload.

Also, I use to put my departure mac in after i scaled in case I had to go back and get load reworked. I don't think the load is officially ready to roll until it is verified by me to be legal. It's my CSA and money on the line there.

If I sit at a shipper/receiver for more than 2 hours I get a computer generated message every hour asking me to explain why.

The first time that happened I simply replied "Reality".

Now I may reply or may not. I don't think anyone reads my replies.

No trip-pacs anymore. Now I have to stand at the scanner and scan stuff. If there's a line, I have to wait in it.

I use to sit on my bed and leisurely fill out my trip-pacs (I could do that anywhere) and then in the morning, drop them in the box on my way to get coffee.

My driver code has changed. Haven't memorized it yet. Oh well.

They gave me some swift stickers that I'm suppose to put on the side of the truck.

I haven't done it yet (been 2 weeks) because I can't put them on in the dark/snow/wind/line 2.

Also, why am I putting them on? Oh, that's right, 'cause I'll do it for free. Not.


If the way things are now with Central/swift have been the way that swift has always been then swift destroyed a fairly good company.

Hey, you know what they say "If it ain't broke...Break it".

Central was not perfect by any means but in comparison, they were much, much better to work for and they actually seemed fairly competent.

I don't even get any safety messages anymore. Is Wolfe still working there?

People have said over the years that Central and Swift were "one-in-the-same".

Wrong. As I, and other Central drivers have found out, they were like night and day.

When I looked into companies to get my CDL (over a year ago) I had many choices.

I made my decision based on internet research and truckersreport.com.

I chose Central Refrigerated for certain reasons. Me, myself and I made the decision...I chose Central, not swift.

Back then, swift dropped off my list of considerations very quickly. Same with England. I wasn't desperate.

Now. I work for the company that I did not choose.



To any people trying to decide between swift or Central, don't bother reading any comparisons on this website or anywhere else on the internet. You will work for swift in either case.

So here I sit for another 24 hours waiting for the next load to go to. It's a good thing I dont have many bills or leasing a truck.

March 15'th baby! I've done my time. I am out on parole. A free man.

Take pictures of those qualcomm messages people. Cover your #####.

Good luck to anyone that decides to stay with swift/Central. Your gonna' need it.



Cheers

 

I can relate to everything said .
Those computer generated messages , I reply to all of them with the most smart ### thing I can think of at the moment ( and trust me I come up with some good stuff)
There can't be anyone there nights or weekends anymore!!!

I called in on one of the first days this took place , and had a guy on the other end of the phone tell me to be patient we are trying to get used to the new system .
I said "Patient!!!" No . Tou guys have someone looking over your shoulder right now telling you what to do , do I have that luxury? NO I don't , I am out here all by myself (with my big boy pants on) trying to figure out what the hell is going on. I got silence from that . Lol
And as far as saftey: you know I express ed my concern just a few days ago . I asked does Jeff still work for the saftey dept. Not that I read every safty message that they sent , but atleast you knew someone was there .

I am supposed to be home on friday , heading to nebraska now so we will see how that plays out as well I guess.

 

I never thought it was possible to take a 34 restart while under a load. Never happened in 1 yr and 2 months working here. Tomorrow morning it will. I will get fresh hours then deliver a load an hour away and probly sit for another day for next load. Yay, micromanagement!

 

Hahaha used to be if they seen you couldn't cover it you sat before the pick up. Or they just plain found something else till you got some hrs back wither midnight that night or the next two days .

 

Oh i got plenty of hours and dont need the reset its just they are giving so much time to deliver some loads lately, and the sitting in between the loads is making me research some other companys and possibly jump ship soon

 

Oh , my bad .
Yea I know what ya mean , this is crazy !!!
Its like nobody even works on the central side of things anymore , I called today on hold for like 30 mins F that , so I called right to swift , and was like hey I need some help . Oh ok what do ya need the guy said ....
Hahahaha really well I ain't calling central anymore . Lol

 

Oh! Heres the other thing guys/gals...Even tho I still don't know how I'm gonna write a comcheck when I need to I'll tell you how you can get the money for loadlocks and stuff just in case you haven't figured out how.

I found out how this works after 3 hours of trying to get an express code and finally called Comdata.

Yes, a Comdata representative was the one who told me how to buy loadlocks using swifts system.

1) Send mac for "company advance in the exact dollar ammount you need.

2) Wait for P.O.# to arrive on qualcomm.

3) Hand the card to cashier and purchase the item. Don't use your PIN.


Sounds simple enough. It's easier than a comcheck for sure.

I don't know how that is going to work with a lumper tho. Maybe I'll call comdata back when that time comes 'cause I probably wont be able to get a hold of anyone at the company.

But, but, but. Here is a something I don't like:

Those funds that they put on your card...They are getting intermingled with your own personal funds.

There is no separate company/personal side to the card.

If they would intermingle a few hundred thousand/millions dollars of company money with mine that would be fine but otherwise, I don't like that arrangement.

cheers

 

Ok here it is man , lumper send a mac 40 (it says lumper in description )
Wait for the reply , call comdata , use option 1 to register check , put in amount , put in check #.
You will not get a express code any because u registered the check yourself .
Hope that helps ya , I had to figure it out myself. Lol. ( cause we never get help anymore )

And thanks for your help as well .

And yea if thwy put a few extra dollars in my acct for all my troubles . I am making a withdraw .lol

 

Did you call the receiver and try to change the appointment?
We used to do that all the time. This is my third winter with Central (Swift now) they try to add some extra time incase you have to shut down because of snow and let's face it... I know some drivers that if it is snowing, they wet their pants and park the truck.
But, we would call and change the delivery appointment. Even the broker loads that say "do not call destination to change appointment".