Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

There is nothing anywhere in that school paperwork that says you have to work for Swift. But if you go to their school and you don't go to work for them, you will be expected to pay the full price for the school and it becomes due immediately. That said, I have known drivers who went to their school, did not work for them and were able to set up a payment plan with Swift. Other companies will often cover your training up to a certain dollar amount when you are new and go to work for them. Some drivers do that. If you do go to work for Swift, you pay $75/week and they return $37.50/week to you for the first 13 months...it's all on your pay stub. If you stay with them for 13 months, your school is paid off and you only had to pay half of it. They will continue reimbursing you $37.50/week for the next 13 months. If you stay for 26 months, you will have gotten the entire amount reimbursed to you. Yeah, it kind of sounds complicated, but it's one way they try to hang on to drivers.

I know Swift is forced dispatch for its company drivers, but when deciding on a preplan, there are three areas to check if not committing to a load: first, HOS; second, HOME TIME REQUEST; third, Other...with lines for an explanation and you have to call your DM. All three of these options are available for both company and o/o.

Idling: I am in complete agreement with you on this one with a caveat: Even as an o/o, I do not like to run my truck if I don't have to. I sleep better without the engine noise and I'm not using fuel. However: I think if the temperature inside the truck is over 75 or under 55, you should be allowed to make it livable. That's why they installed Webasto heaters (for wintertime) in all of the trucks. I carried a 12V fan and screens for the windows when I was company. In most cases, I was able to make it comfortable inside the truck. If I had to run the truck for what I thought would be an excessive amount of time (like when it was -5 in Walcott, IA and the Webasto couldn't keep water from freezing inside the cab or it was 85 and humid as all get-out in Memphis, I messaged my DM to tell him I was idling and why. A few times, I was above the threshold, but since I messaged him at the time of the occurrence, they never gave me any grief over it. My overall accumulated idle was 6% as a company driver. I believe they won't turn a hair at 10% and rarely do anything other than a friendly reminder until you hit 20%.

As for miles, I had no trouble getting miles when I ran company for Swift. You should be looking for a different DM if you don't think you're being run sufficiently. And stop trying to turn down the short runs. I did nothing but short runs for a while because everybody else was turning them down. And I made some bank doing it. It's a little bit more work, but in the end, the same guys were hanging out at the terminal b***hing about their miles while I was making a decent pay check.

There were some times when I had family issues arise that needed my immediate and personal attention. I told my DM what was up and he got me where I needed to be...and even offered to put me on a plane to get there in one case. I was close enough and had the right load that with a little creative writing, I was able to get where I had to be.

If you think Swift babysits their drivers, try Prime out for a while: you have to call in personally each time you pick up a load, they do not trust you to run high-value as a solo, you are on electronic logs because they don't think you're smart enough to fill out a log sheet, there are gadgets in the truck that, well, one of them puts out an static signal in one speaker or the other when you get too close to either line on the road and the other looks ahead of you and sees traffic in front of you....which is okay, because you can see how far you are from them and how fast they are going, but it also will slow you down to whatever speed that vehicle is going, will engage your jakes and hit your brakes HARD if it thinks you're too close. All of this activity is recorded in the MCT and Prime has it recorded in their base computer. Too many of these and you get a phone call or placed on safety hold until you take a class. Company trucks are governed at 58/61 (58 cruise, 61 throttle) lease trucks are set at 62/65.

I think I'll stay with Swift for a while....

 

Agreed 100%.

 

I have to agree with these guys too..You can create a big problem for yourself by ticking off your DM and soon after...no miles,no hometime,no nothing..If you have the hours and can get the job done,why not do it?..It all adds up on the paycheck too...

 

Sounds like every other company.

 

I interviewed with several companies and received several offers. I interviewed the companies more than they interviewed me.

Schneider was the quickest to respond, though every interaction I had with them came in a form letter, a scripted phone call, or an attitude that they would be dictating the interview process. This was very impersonal. I thanked them for their interest and continued my research elsewhere.

Valley was another company that showed interest. Their drivers indicated the company does not care about the 11 hour rule, "if they have miles, you need to run them." This attitude came through when I talked with the company as well. I figured CSA2010 will catch up with them sooner or later or I would likely get fired the first time I told them to pack sand because of HOS.

Maverick was another company I checked out and who were interested in me. Good company, however their terminal is just too far from by home; I was not willing to make the three hour round trip to get to and from terminal.

PAM was one of the dozen or so other companies I did not go with for various reasons.

Swift is the company I chose. Though they were one of the lower paying of the bunch, they have many personal benefits for me the others could not match OR did not care to talk about.

Swift has been very personable since our first conversation, in both their words and their actions. The company and its employees I have had contact with have welcomed me into their "Family." Everyone has been eager and willing to show me the industry and provide guidance.

My Mentor (Trainer) is an owner operator who has been with Swift for more than a decade. He has been a company driver, a company lease truck operator, and now a owner/operator. He has had nothing but good things to say. He has taken every opportunity to teach me the right things to do to be successful.

My experiences with this company have been positive and enjoyable.

Now, I realize there are many people out there who have had good and bad experiences with Swift. I can only share mine.

As a manager and business owner for more than twenty years, it has been my experience that most employee / employer relations problems have stemmed from unrealistic expectations of employees. Despite an employee handbook that spells out EXACTLY what is expected of the employee, most disgruntled employees have admitted to never opening the employee handbooks; let alone actually reading them.

My message here is that not every company is right for every employee, but more importantly, not every employee is right for every company. If you feel that a company has failed you, maybe it is you who failed you. Read the fine print, the employees manual, educate yourself on what is expected. If the terms are not to your liking, simply move on.

Don't put yourself in a loosing situation. I know of NO company that wants you to fail. When you fail they lose, when they fail you lose. For it to work it has to be win/win.

If a company did not hire you, it is because YOU WERE NOT THE BEST PERSON FOR THE JOB and not because they want you to fail.

Note to recruiters: It is unprofessional and slanderous to post fictitious derogatory "accounts" in hopes to drive applicants to your company.

Applicants: Investigate ALL companies for yourself as I almost did not consider Swift merely because of negative information I read on a few "Forums." Then a recently terminated Schneider driver I meet joked about posting negative stories under several different names after he was declined a job by Swift. I am at Swift and could not be happier at this point. Also, remember, nothing is perfect or flawless ALWAYS.

 

You KNOW you're having a bad day when Swift declines you!

 

If they decline you as a driver..just wait 72 hrs and apply for a DM job !!

 

Probably true. This just came to my attention. Truly incredible.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=71351&news_category_id=7

 

I've driven for Swift for almost 2 full years. Though i've had issues with getting home when i wanted, that goes for almost any carrier. I started out at .26cpm. I'm running at .35cpm now. For the life of me, i dont understand why other drivers seem to care so much as to spend their time hating Swift and its drivers for such low pay. If a driver is happy with it? let them be. Why is someone elses pay any interest to anybody BUT said driver? We all had to start somewhere. We all had to get our foots in the door. Some drivers have it easier than others when it comes to finding a company that might start out paying .50cpm (or whatever), and some might not be able to afford or get approved a bank loan for $5,000 to go to a 6 week college course. So what....let em be. for MOST drivers, they use Swift as a stepping stone...like me. After 2 years, if i can find a local gig, that happens to pay more, i'm there. If not...i'm more than happy to stay where i am till something better comes along.

one poster in this thread a year or so ago said "...every driver will be gone in 9 months..." Well, i'm here to prove that comment is 100% false.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Injun
...If you think Swift babysits their drivers, try Prime out for a while: you have to call in personally each time you pick up a load, they do not trust you to run high-value as a solo, you are on electronic logs because they don't think you're smart enough to fill out a log sheet, there are gadgets in the truck that, well, one of them puts out an static signal in one speaker or the other when you get too close to either line on the road and the other looks ahead of you and sees traffic in front of you....which is okay, because you can see how far you are from them and how fast they are going, but it also will slow you down to whatever speed that vehicle is going, will engage your jakes and hit your brakes HARD if it thinks you're too close. All of this activity is recorded in the MCT and Prime has it recorded in their base computer. Too many of these and you get a phone call or placed on safety hold until you take a class. Company trucks are governed at 58/61 (58 cruise, 61 throttle) lease trucks are set at 62/65.

Need to clear the air hear. I'm currently with Prime (leasing). 1) calling in on every load - No. only with High Value 2) re solos and high value - theses are HIGH VALUE and with that comes responsibility as well as the load being hot. Two drivers are necessary 3) Having been on paper logs and electronic, LOVE the electronic. Only reason one would not love them is if they have some reason for needing to "run around" the logs. 4) re you not liking the lane diversion and collision avoidance systems.......sounds like you SHOULD be working for Swift.

Keep it safe and legal out there buddy!