I have been with them for a little over 3 1/2 years. Swift for the most part has treated me fairly. Some times they can piss you off, but what company does not. It all depends on your attitude and communication with your DM. They have been steadily getting better. And since Jerry took it over he has been trying to focus on the driver. And make it a little more enjoyable in the terminals. Ill just be glad when they get rid of those old MS trailers. Most have disappeared but some are hanging around.

It's not too hard.

-lift & carry a weighted milk crate (60ish pounds) about 15 feet & back, 3x

-step up & down a truck step unassisted 3x

-stand on one foot for 10 seconds, then the other

-pull a bar with 100 pounds of force

-push the same bar the same amount

-pull down on a tiedown with enough force (can't recall how much)

-more cratelifting, from floor to waist height 3x, then waist to head height 3x


It's easy unless you're horribly out of shape, or just absurdly tiny.

You know Ron well? Seemed like a nice guy though, but he was goin up the split so I lost talkin to him about West Akron. I will say this, his truck was clean which in Northern Ohio is tough to do in the winter. But I'm not gonna judge a company by how clean their trucks are. A company is really the boys and girls behind the wheel and their dispatch support. If I went with a company based on how clean their trucks were, I'd be with TMC. Not that the old 'Trucker Marine Corps (TMC)' is a bad company, I'd say overall they're respected drivers but I''ve heard they'll run you into the ground and I just don't want to work that hard. Again, it's hearsay. If you want to find out about how good a company is, you're doing the right thing, asking questions, not just listening to a presentation.

I've heard swift was working on fixing allot of the problems over there. But really the thing that gives swift such a bad name is the quantity of under trained newbies out there running into things, over people, and just generally doing stupid stuff

I hope they continue , it bring good laughes to the rest of us to see what ol' swifty hires all the time ........They think their volvos are general lee's

I was almost ran over by one while chaining up my truck. I didn't find it funny one bit! 5 minutes later another one did hit a guy about 8 trucks ahead of me when he was chaining. this was last winter on Donner pass

DAM YOU GOT SOME BIG ONES MEDICINEMAN I WOULD NEVER CHAIN
I FIGURE IF ITS THAT BAD SCREW IT I WILL TAKE A NICE LONG NAP AND BEABLE TO WAKE UP AFTER THEY PLOW

it's just chains. If you run out west you get used to them. Although I can say that it the first time in 12 years I ever put a set on.

Swift recruits heavy in the schools. They have one of the largest fleets in the country. I almost did Swift flatbed, but that division didn't seem to pay much. So then I heard about TMC and Maverick. I was wavering between the two, and TMC was open for orientation every Monday vs Maverick places you on a waiting list until they can get a trainer lined up FIRST.

How did you like TMC? I'm at orientation in SC right now. Their equipment is almost brand new (between new and 3 years old) and their structure appears "military". They are very particular about certain things, which is good for the equipment and good for keeping their claims-free % to 99+%.

Their attitude towards the people sometimes I get the impression that they aren't people oriented. Their lunches (at the S. Carolina location) are complete garbage. I don't expect gourmet, but they could ASK you (and the rest of the class for that matter) for a diet preference and try to accommodate. It's free, but trying to ask for a salad or something different they looked at me like it was a strange question. I asked 2 different instructors and now I'm the salad king. Anyway, between that and a bad run-in I had with one of the instructors, I wasn't too impressed about the morale. But I figured when we get our own trucks, it'll be worth it.

[quote=notarps4me;335698]I wanted to drive for Maverick. How did you like them as a company? What about their training/orientation? The recruiter seemed more professional than many of the other corporations and they check you out fully BEFORE they set you up with an orientation date. This is part of the reason they do NOT do prehires.

Their specialized freight was what I may have gotten into. It's .41 cents/mi loaded and unloaded now I understand from their website. But I wonder how many miles do you actually get. With 2500 miles/week that's not bad for a new driver. This is assuming you want to do flatbed.

-more cratelifting, from floor to waist height 3x, then waist to head height 3x

I read somewhere that they make you lift 75 lbs. over your head 3 times then 85 lbs over your head 3 times. I was concerned about the 85 lbs over the head. i can lift that, but I don't know about over the head.