Swift Info

That was something I didn't know. Good to know!

 

Welcome.....

 

It is best to put the home time request in about 10 days in advance.
Reminders are not needed until you get to within a few days of your requested date.
I usually calculate the distance from home when I'm getting close to my ht date, and refuse any loads not heading in that direction if it will make me late.
And the planners WILL try to plan you in the opposite direction to delay you.

With my current home time they stacked me with 3 pplans, the last of which sent me back to CA instead of MN.
I accepted the first 2 since they were headed in the right direction, but refused the 3rd. I told them - 'Home time request. I need to head east.'
Not 2 minutes later I had a new pplan that t-called right here at home! It really seemed like they were playing with me because it was all set up so quickly.
They play games... so I'll play too.

It's funny with home time at certain terminals, like Phoenix.
We are supposed to be able to take 1 day for every 6 days out, but some will make you clean out and turn in your truck if you try to take more than 2 days off - even if you have been out for 4-5 weeks.
I think the best strategy is to have a home terminal far from where you actually take home time. I'm never near Otay Mesa, and no one bothers me about how many days I take.

In fact this time my PTA was set for me (by my DM I would imagine), exactly 96 hours (4 days, as in 24 hour periods) from my scheduled delivery time. I had been out 4 weeks.
Personally I consider that as only 3 'full' days off, since I worked the day I came in and will work the day I come back. (That is how my first DM figured things, and I like her way of thinking.)
But as it turned out, it was exactly the time I wanted in the first place.

 

If you can be flexible in your home time, take a good look at those "delaying" runs. They can be really good ones, and may be worth delaying home time for a week or so.

I've told my DM that I'll take that load that goes 1500 miles in the wrong direction if I have a preplan confirmed heading right back home. She's done it.

 

That's true. Many times if you are flexible with home time arrival you can catch good loads going the opposite direction that stack you with a nice long haul. It's happened to me several times.

 

Excellent point.
They always want to keep you out longer, and it can work to your advantage if you are not pressed for time.

I have also noticed that the good drivers (good on safety scores, fuel mileage, on-time rating, etc.) get treated better when it comes to home time requests.
My last example indicates that. I took the first 2 little garbage loads, but when I refused the 3rd good follow up one they immediately sent me a great load to my home time.
And when the second of those loads fell through, they still kept me on the one that got me home.


I hear a lot of bad stuff about Swift, but I don't experience that much of it.
I've had worse experiences at restaurants that I've worked at, or security, or computer firms, or other little jobs that didn't work out.
Sometimes it was their fault, and sometimes it was just me being pig headed about something.

Gotta learn when to hold, and when to fold.