Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

Texas- Nana -

I tried to PM you but them discovered I must have 50 posts before I can PM. Could you please PM me with that info you mentioned?

Also, as I can't PM you, would you mind providing your email in your PM to me, if you don't mind - Have other onfo to share with you.

Thanks

 

I was not trying to be disrespectful, but did you inquire about teaming with someone until a truck became available? This way here you would have been out there making money until one became available.. Good luck with what ever you end up doing. Remember the grass isn't always greener on the other side..

BTW, I'm a guy the picture is of my better half LOL..

 

First of all don't apologize for your status or whatever you want to call it. YOU have nothing to apologize for.

YOU also don't have to remove yourself from anyones presence. The Truckers Report is OPEN to all PEOPLE whether you are in Trucking or some other profession.

Members come here searching for answers about the industry in many different sectors. The Professional Drivers who can help such members with answering their questions, we DEEM as valuable.

I on the other hand wish to apologize to you, that some ADULTS act like children. We the STAFF here try our best to keep a balance and fairness among all members, and thats tough at times.

CYBER/ADMIN

 

CG, I reread my post several times and I can see where it could have been taken wrong too. I'm working on the way I write trying to change my style. I do write "tongue in cheek" and at times satirically. Sometimes that sounds sarcastic and insulting. So, no harm to me at all. Thanks though for your encouragement and in a couple of months when this stupid leg heals I'll do my schooling and no longer be a wannabe but a student! LOL

In my honest opinion the staff here does an amazing job. This is the best moderated forum I've ever been fortunate to be a part of and I've learned so much. The information I've learned here I've passed on to my husband and he comes home from school each day and says how much it's helped him. We've changed our lives for this new adventure but we did it with solid information and no rose colored glasses and that is due to the information on this forum.

I appreciate so much the hard work put in and frustration received by the mods in managing this forum and that's from one who was deservedly sent on "vacation"!

Any way, thanks so much!

Windjammer2 for some reason I can't pm you and I've learned not to give my email out. So to be general, you have a CDL; go get your passenger endorsement and then go drive a school bus or a metro bus while you wait. Even though the Phoenix job market is in the pits they're still hiring those positions. I realize the pay isn't great but the metro bus pay isn't that horrible. That's what we plan to do if we have to wait. Also, hotels hire drivers for their shuttles, that pay is pretty low. Personally I hope you get a truck today but if you don't then I hope you get something while you wait.

So far our experience with Swift has been good. I demanded answers from our recruiter and got them. I didn't simply accept generalities as my Daddy was a recruiter for the army at one time and I learned from him not to believe promises from recruiters. The instructors have been very honest with us about the waiting list, the slow freight, and the slowing of driver turnover. They've also been very honest that team drivers will get trucks faster. In fact a point was made the first day of my husband's class about those facts and that's why I was surprised that you hadn't been told.

It may change for us, it may be that in a few months we too feel as you do but we came into this with our eyes wide open and making our choices so we feel only we are responsible.

Anyway, best of luck to you!

 

Don't know about what happened to you but when I returned to Swift last month (I am rehire) I got a truck the next day and took it to Phoenix and traded it for a new one and have been running ever since.

 

My experience with Swift has been great. It is the few people who seem to just not care about doing their job till it is finished. Alot of that seems to have been going around all over the country the past few years. Help seems to get younger and younger, and it seems every year younger the help gets, the less they care about quality of work and/or doing a good job and feeling GOOD about doing it.

Now all you see is someone coming into work, doing just barely what they need to do, to earn a paycheck. Just the other day, i was at lunch at a well known steakhouse that rhymes with Bonestar, our waitress was what anybody comes to expect....brings you a refill of soda without asking, and serves you with a smile. I saw another with almost a frown on her face and this "sigh" i heard when she was asked to clear off a couple tables....IN HER SECTION !!!

But anyways, back to what i was saying, there have been a few of those "oh hum" people i've delt with in Swift. They both happen to work out of the same terminal i'm based out of. They will BS you without thinking twice about it. They will feed you ANYTHING they can to get you out of their hair...even if it is for just a couple hours. I cannot say i understand how stressfull being a DM might be, or a planner, but just shoot straight with me.

I took my 6-days off after getting out of my mentor's truck. Then i waited another week, and it wasnt till i said, "i'm coming down thursday (i was 3 hours away paying a visit to my parents...dad wasnt doing that great at the time) and i need to start doing SOMETHING. I either need to be put on a bus to go to another terminal to pick up a truck, or i need to get into a day-cab, and start making local runs." I was told that doing local would be okay till a truck could be found for me. It wasnt till that thrusday morning i planned to leave for the terminal when a truck just happen to be found. Oh, did i tell you, i was told i was #2 on the list for a truck the day i left for home after i completed my upgrade?? really???? two full weeks till a truck was found for me...and i was #2. I'm calling BS on that one....specially when a truck just happen to have been found for me the day i was showing up at the terminal. Think trucks were being assigned to guys waiting behind me, who were there at the terminal. Sad thing is, i had the approval from my then DM to go home, and that she would call me when a truck was found. It took me, almost feeling as if i was harassing her, calling/emailing every day after my 6-days off, before anything was done.

Swift so far is good. miles suck, but then again freight is down all over the country. As long as i can make 1500-1900 miles a week, till the freight starts to pick up, then i'm expecting 2500+.

I try not to let a few bad apples ruin my impression of anything.

 

They must go though 87 drives in a week or too. Just my to cents.


I AM A FLATBEDDER, I TRAVEL WITH ALL EQUIPMENT NECCESSARY. CHAINS (FOR THE UNRULEY ONES), STRAPS (FOR THE SEMI-UNRULEY ONES), AND TARPS (FOR THE ONES NOT TO BE SEEN WITH YOU)!

 

Nana -

Thanks so much for your concern and interest. Your ideas are good ones and will follow-up. I called Swift today with no change. In fact I called recruiting as a prospective student and they flat out told me I would go right into a truck following the mentor period with NO lapse in pay. Just a flat out lie. They also said I wuld get a minimum of 2500 miles a week. I think we are all too aware of how that is going these days.

Anyway, that's the story for today.

RE The forum staff member comment, perhaps they (et al) need to be a little less quick to place judgement upon people. Not impressed so far.

Thanks again Nana - Hope you're out there real soon and best of luck to you as well.

 

Please dont paint the picture that everyone at Swift is 'out to say anything to get you into school.' I know you're just waiting for a truck, but also dont forget recruiters gets a percentage. Kinda sucks that way, but I was lucky enough to get a straight shooter for a recruiter. Didn't promice me anything, didn't tell me 'things are going to go exactly like this'.

You just happen to have jumped thru all the hoops, and then there are some who love to 'hold the football' for you like Lucy, and then you (charlie) come along and try to kick it, and end up flat on your back.

But then again, it is all about your attitude. Even though i fell like Charlie sometimes, i always remember that Swift isnt "Lucy"....its a few people within Swift who are.

 

When I finished by training, tested out had my truck same day. Took it home did my home time and left with my first load from there. Like I said each terminal is different in how they give out trucks. Believe or not, sometimes they have more trucks listed as being on the lot then the actually do. This happens even on my present job, some trucks are out of service, but sometimes the maint department fails to tell the dispatchers or our supervisor, Sometimes it is just miscommunication and that is all..

Still like I mentioned above if you really want to WORK, then see about teaming up with someone until a truck is available. Little money is still better than "0" money. If you can't do that then you should really look into another line of work..