The very best choose Swift - 5 raises in one year!

bradley... i'm making .36cpm. they gave me the 4 yr experience payrate due to my experience. ask the recruiter to show you what the payscale is. it'll show you what you make on what the miles are on that load. its a sliding scale type pay. also shows by year experience too. if you dont trusthim/her, have them show you the paper. everybodys pay is differant due to how they run or the way the company runs them. me personally, dont run overnite, so i'll lose some loads. but thats ok with me. but my checks are from 550/week to 950/week( this is a good week for me) and thats after taxes. i been with swift since dec 2012. hope that helps. but you wont make that much at first and dont expect too.

 

thanks for the information. I am going to phoenix in july to start training and then on to denver for orientation and mentor. I live in Pueblo colorado with wife and kids. It is 120 miles away from denver so I hope I can get home time in pueblo. Im worried about the distance. however I have seen swift trucks in stores around town. I also have saved up some money to help pay the bills for the first year because I knew it was going to be VERY low pay. Do the trucks have 120v plugs in the back for a tv and microwave?

 

Yes I drive for Swift. There is a Target DC in Pueblo. Should be easy as can be to get you home. You can use a 300-400 watt inverter that plugs into the 12 volt cigarette lighter type sockets only. Will run a TV but not a microwave.

 

should be able to park your truck at the target dc in pueblo co for hometime. can ask you dl once you get yourr own truck

 

And I was making better (.38cpm) paychecks back in 2005 with only a years experience and home 80% of weekends it's now 9 years later cost of living has gone up but people are still happy making 500-1000 a week being gone 3-4 weeks at time for what 3-4 days at home. Something is wrong here inflation and minimum wage goes up much more with us left behind you will be able to make more flipping burgers and home everynight

 

An economist could better comment on this but I'll throw my $0.04 in (inflation) anyways, the problem that comes along with the increased pay for drivers is that shipping items now becomes more costly and that cost will be passed on to the consumer, so what's the point of making 50 cpm if you have to pay $7.00 for a gallon of milk (exaggerated numbers, I know).

The solution does not lie in increased pay,but increased efficiency. Team driving and O/O are the future of trucking if you want to make more money, along with more fuel efficient trucks. The more money you can save the more money you can put in your pocket. It's not about making money, you see, it is about saving money.

Trucking is a commodity based industry and is limited on what it can do to turn more profits, however, it can control it's losses a little easier. One could argue that the giant trucking companies who make a ton of money could afford to pay the drivers more but the underlying truth is that the average company only has a 3% profit margin, which is very slim as it is.

Increase efficiency and decrease costs, then you will see more profits. Drivers need to be more open to change and evolve with the industry. Those who do not will be left by the wayside.

 

iit means if they hire 100 new drivers, 100 quit, they hire another 100 drivers, another 100 quit

the same others may stay for years on end

 

Hmmm I promise it was easier to save that money 9 years ago when people made the same as now but milk was 1.99 instead of 3.99 but hey it all about saving the money but yet cant save what you dont make to save.
But I will agree its about decreasing your cost and increasing profits.
my point was why are so many so happy working for a company making the same as many of us did years and years ago.
Now days I payout almost as much in fuel as many of these company drivers make.

 

Umm explain why we as drivers shouldnt make more money? Because the price of everything would go up? Are you serious? ??? You need to lay off the swift brain washing. They could easily pay us more and not affect the price of goods they choose not to because their are 500 people ready to take our place. Swift would still make a killing. Kinda how the stock buy option came along and just like magic the stock price went up $2 over night. They dont care about the drivers. If only their was a way for us to band together and say your trucks wont move unless we get decent wages. Humm if only. ..

 

As far as the saving money goes, I was referring to the business owner not the individual company driver. Saving money back then wasn't as easy as it is now with our more fuel efficient trucks and more efficient logistics system with all the new technology speeding up the process.

If the shoe were on the other foot I'm sure most anyone would pay their workers as much (or little) as they can afford and still keep the worker happy. No one is forced to work for swift or any company. It is a starter company for most and I feel the wages are fair for the inexperienced drivers learning the ropes with expensive company assets. I don't think McDonald's employees should make any more than they already make and some people argue that no one can support a family on those wages, but the job was not intended for someone to support a family on it is intended for kids or someone looking for a second job.

The same could be said for swift. If you can't support yourself on the wages paid then find another job. Anyone who complains saying that drivers should be paid more is a communist. This is a free market economy and no one is forced to work anywhere. If the driver wants to survive then he must evolve and learn how to play the game to his advantage.

With half a brain and some motivation someone could easily make money at just about any company. Most drivers are lazy and have almost no work ethic, so if you put out a little above mediocre performance you look like a rock star and good things will happen to you. If you strive for even greater things and perform your best, then the trucking world is your oyster, because your competition is not that impressive.

I started with swift without a cdl and after training I started making $1,000/week because I performed well and went out of my way to network and find a good dedicated gig. Since then I have been leasing and running very successfully. I will hopefully be picking up a 2nd truck this year and have 4 by the end of next year.

The driver must evolve because the companies won't change. All the pissing and moaning in the world will not influence that. The answer is for the driver to find a niche that works for him/her. I don't really feel as though the companies should change. It is after all a free country. And if people are tired of it then they should quit, but the seats still seem to get filled, which means people are still willing to do it. When the seats start remaining empty then maybe the wages will increase, but there is only so much profit to shuffle around in a commodities industry.