I personally have no qualms about the time Ive spent with Swift... I actually started a thread about them in the favorite trucking companies section and dont want to make a duplicate post so check it out if you want or dont if you dont...

Here's a crazy twist to this thread. I've just finished going through the Schneider training and am Thinking of going to Swift so I can get more time with a road engineer. I've applied to other companies but most do not accept the Schneider training as being sufficient.

After I went through the Schneider Training Academy I only spent 4 days with a training engineer on the road. I don't think that is enough. I told the person who was testing me during my Skill Qualifying testing that I didn't feel confident in buttonhooks and backing. He told me he couldn't send me back out with a TE unless I failed the testing. As you can guess I passed the SQT and then passed the state CDL test, an Schneider employee gave The CDL test. Just to show you how confident they are in me they gave me a " Trade in truck" with 750,000 miles so they won't put any money into it. I couldn't get to pass a pretrip and could look at the ground through a hole in the cab by the bunk. The Mechanics suggested I ask for a different truck and when I did my sr told me to take it to the shop. I really feel I was ripped off. I know of people from my class that spent 3 weeks with a TE and the training cost them the same. I really wish I had gone to an accredited 3rd party school. From my experience Schneider is no better then the other mills.

Originally Posted by TruckDriver05

Hello. I went to a Swift Driving School when I started driving. I worked for the company almost a year afterwards. I would like to say that the teachers I had in school were great! They all had alot of years under their belt and knew what they were talking about. I think alot of problem is that most of these companies only offer school for around 3 weeks. There is to much information to teach in that short of time. I don't think it's the driver's fault most of the time. Swift Transportation as a company is very poorly operated. New drivers are treated like a # from the date of hire. They push students through that may not be ready to be on their own. As a matter of fact, while I was in school a student had a serious accident while testing with the DMV. The student crossed over the interstate and hit a ford explorer head on. You can just imagine what happened there. I went to school with alot of great people and none of them were dumb by any means. The truth of the matter is that Swift Transportation treats their drivers like crap. I plan on writing an article on my experiences with them in the near future. You WILL NOT believe what I went through.

I plan on writing an article on my experiences with them in the near future. You WILL NOT believe what I went through.


truth of the matter is, we can all WRITE an article or book on all our experiences in trucking. they may read better than a Steven King thriller.......

Originally Posted by SchneiderACE

Here's a crazy twist to this thread. I've just finished going through the Schneider training and am Thinking of going to Swift so I can get more time with a road engineer. I've applied to other companies but most do not accept the Schneider training as being sufficient.

I'm having a little trouble with that statement. Schneider's training is accredited by PDTI, one of the most impartial and fully recognized training evaluation institutions that screens truck driver training programs for quality and content.

After I went through the Schneider Training Academy I only spent 4 days with a training engineer on the road. I don't think that is enough. I told the person who was testing me during my Skill Qualifying testing that I didn't feel confident in buttonhooks and backing. He told me he couldn't send me back out with a TE unless I failed the testing. As you can guess I passed the SQT and then passed the state CDL test, an Schneider employee gave The CDL test. Just to show you how confident they are in me they gave me a " Trade in truck" with 750,000 miles so they won't put any money into it. I couldn't get to pass a pretrip and could look at the ground through a hole in the cab by the bunk. The Mechanics suggested I ask for a different truck and when I did my sr told me to take it to the shop. I really feel I was ripped off. I know of people from my class that spent 3 weeks with a TE and the training cost them the same. I really wish I had gone to an accredited 3rd party school. From my experience Schneider is no better then the other mills.

So you quit? No wonder why trucking companies are turning you down. If a person will quit during or shortly after training with a company, they are not considered great long term prospect material, and companies look down on that pretty hard.

I've never heard of a 4 day training session, post CDL training, and then turning someone loose on their own, unless it was for one that went through a refresher course and had prior driving experience. And I've sure not heard of it happening with Schneider. What's missing from this story?

Which academy did this occur at?

Thats exactly what happened and no I don't have prior driving expirence. When I applied to the other companies it was not under the assumption that I quit. and they were very sympathtic to my position. They all thought cramming all of that stuff down in 12 days was way to short a time. A person is not required to work for Schneider after STA. The contract clearly gives payment options. The wrongs of my story didn't happen at the academy. But at my OC. I take it you really don't work for or really know that much about Schneider, Besides what you read here.

Nice attempt by a swifty trying to salvage some reputation

You'll have to forgive folks for questioning your tale, but it is a tad unusual. There are many things that can be said about Schneider, but it has been quite a few years since anyone has made a claim that their trainig is not adequate. At one time, quite a few years back, they had a horrrendous accident rate, and their reputation wasn't too good. But they made a change about 6-7 years ago to reduce their accident rate, and the majority of that imporovement came from their handling of new driver training. And by doing so, tey have earned the reputation and accolades they have gotten for their efforts.

So when you come on with your tale of not getting adequate training from Schneider, it causes a lot of questions to pop up in everyone's minds. The usual complaint is that the time spent with the trainer was longer than needed, not shorter. Similarly, they tend to get rid of their trucks around the 600,000 mile mark, if not earlier, so you getting assigned a 750k unit is a bit unusual. And since a hole in the floor of the sleeper would be an instant major violation of the DOT inspection and safety rules, that's a highly unusual thing to encounter as well. After all, the exhaust on a truck also runs though the same area, and having a hole there would be a major safety and potential health problem. In fact, that area is one where I have never even heard of there being a hole, so it's more than a little bit strange that you had one in your assigned truck.

So you'll have to bear with us if people kind of question your story, because there are some real questions brought up by it.