Swift Academy - Richmond, VA - My Experience Begins

The references are for your training agreement. They're basically for Swifts use in the event that they have to chase you for payment. I needed names addresses and phone numbers for four family members and four friends. This information is NOT used for any sort of marketing. Hope that helps.

 

Day One

The shuttle leaves Candlewood Suites at just after 5:AM and the idea was to get there early to get a lay of the land. The smokers among us found the covered smoking area while the rest of us found the drivers lounge. At Richmond this is a comfortable place with the obligatory television and vending machines.

The morning starts with an introduction and the start of filling out forms. They take copies of your Drivers License, the "hard copy" of your CDL Learners Permit, your medical short AND long form. These forms and items are absolutely necessary missing and one of the, unless the missing item can be faxed you will end up on a bus home to get that taken care of. Everyone had theirs in my class.

The next item to deal with are the drug tests (a whiz quiz) and any missing DOT physicals. They're handled at a Concentra facility about twenty minutes off and you will have your bladder endurance tested.

Then you return to the terminal for the only meal Swift provides ... we had pizza from Little Caesars.

After lunch we signed our contracts. In this portion we were required to provide four names, addresses and phone numbers for family members and the same for four friends. Folks that share addresses are fine but you need four of each. Then we watched a couple videos and a safety presentation.

We were assigned homework and we're turned loose for the day. Homework is somewhat intense. This is NOT a "gimme" course by any stretch of the imagination. You have to be serious and put in the effort or you'll find yourself on a bus home.

The hotel is a lot better than the roach motel at Stevens. So far I'm impressed and at least here in Richmond they put on a good show. That's all for now. Gotta do homework.

 

Day Two
It is very good to report that there are tons of folks that both work in Richmond or attend the school who are the best sort of people. Over the last two days I have met very positive people for the most part. We did have an incident last night where the hotel was searched for whomever was smoking reefer ... turned out to NOT be a student at the academy, but I'm told that it was a lot lizard type female who was hanging out at the grills and giving students a hard time. One fly in the ointment, but unrelated to the school.

Today was the dreaded logging test. Turns out that there wasn't too much to be concerned about. Good teachers = good prep = good scores. The morning was filled with learning how to log and beginning to fill out the logs that will carry us through school and beyond. We tested after lunch and as far as I know everyone passed.

After lunch we began map reading and trip planning. We were also informed that we will have a pass or go home straight back test on Thursday which has tripped up a few historically. I'm not really nervous, but then I'm not really ####y about it either.

More homework tonight. Tomorrow is the dreaded map test. So far so good.

*Raise news: apparently the new raise goes into effect on 8/1. Could be really good we are told. Until later...,

 

Day Three - Attrition Day

Today was the even more dreaded Navigation and trip planning test. We were expecting to loose one, but we lost four... including my roommate. My best advice is to take this class and test seriously. Map reading on a trucking level can be daunting for people who have experience let alone those who have never dealt with paper maps before. This is NOT a set the GPS and go job. It's a lot of work for those who choose this life.

Quick but shocking day. Class in the AM and test before lunch. Retakes if needed after lunch. There are two parts and u can only fail once. We had two that didn't make it to the retest by failing both parts. The second part is the toughest even after going over it in class. Both retakes were sent home as well. Four total.

Tomorrow is the straight back pass or go home test followed by pretrip intro. Gonna rest up tonight to be ready.

More tomorrow...