New Pay Program

It is through Aetna.
I am paying $200 per month for pretty basic coverage with vision, just for myself.
It has a $6,000 per year deductible.

This past year the premium went up from $150 last year, and the deductible from $4,000.
Same coverage, plus ObamaCare I guess.

I'll probably be dropping it at the end of the year.

 

That was why they rolled out the new pay package. There's a shortage of drivers industry wide right now and Swift was bleeding all their experienced drivers who got better offers that didn't exist a year or two ago.

 

KC... You can do so much better than swift. I don't understand why anyone would do the kind of work that a truck driver has to do and only get paid .26 yet they have ignorant drivers flocking over daily by the bus load. .26 is a slap in the face, and it's slave wages. I would feel like the biggest ***** driving for them knowing how much I was making them, and them giving me crumbs. There are plenty of company's out here it's a buyers market but drivers settle for 26 CPM and then your a underpaid seat warmer/number. A poster mentioned stop hating on swift, swift is raping drivers left and right whether company or lease. You are there *****. You could do some research and maybe find a smaller company and you'll find they pay a hell of a lot better, a much faster truck, and the dispatchers know you, your not just a number... Do what ya do... Swift will still have 1,000 newbies on Monday and have 1,200 quit on Tuesday. Good luck

 

I guess you know all of this from personal experience of working for Swift??

I've been with them a few years as a Co driver. Have no interest in O/O. I regularly take home $850-900+ a week, drive brand new trucks (mine goes 65, good enough), first name basis with all at my terminal and many others at different terminals, get solid miles, the paychecks are almost always correct and don't bounce, when I need something fixed it gets fixed, etc etc. Working for Swift is like any other truck company..gonna have ups and downs.

Believe me, I am not their biggest cheerleader by far but once you understand their culture and how to get things done the rewards and "perks" will come your way. If you're not lazy there is no reason why you can't make decent money without being micromanaged running OTR for Swift. I run OTR by choice but next year gonna do regional out of TX.

 

And sometimes it's not just about the money.
I know, it's a strange thing to say these days.
But I don't base where I work on the money.

There is a mercenary attitude that I see too much of, and that I have always been opposed to.

I am comfortable here. I know the system, many of the people, I get the miles. I have a few gripes from time to time, but I would have gripes anywhere I went.
There is ALWAYS something to gripe about, if we want.

Sure,.26 is a fact for a new driver. Maybe not, though, with the new pay.
But that is the same no matter where you first start out in a new field. The pay is low at first... So what? It soon gets better.
It is not an insult to anyone! It is being given the chance to enter and move up in a new profession.

 

why is it that people who do not work for swift or any other company fell they must trash it???

i know i m new but i have herd from 4 or 5 different people that the pay raise at swift means new drivers right out of school starts at 33 CPM, yet the super truckers that do not work for them claim its not true.

instead of being an ###### why not help out new people trying to change their lives??? not everyone has the option of starting anywhere swift will take people and give them a new life and job when others will not even talk to them. No i do not know much of anything about trucking, i'm just trying to learn, but i see the people who trash talk a company 9 times out of 10 NEVER worked for them...

 

i was not "trash talking" swift. I was stating the pay is garbage, along with ALOT of company's. You would have got that if you read my post. You don't understand all the headaches drivers have to deal with on a daily basis, and to receive .26... That would be insulting to me... But that's just it, everyone is entitled to their opionin, I'm not one to bash a company for no reason. Infact I've helped about 20 of y'all at truck stops trying to back in not just swift, anyone I see.. While the other drivers just laugh. I know everyone has to start somewhere... Like I said. For what swift gets paid for a trip that you'll do for .26 CPM pisses me off, not the driver but the company paying the driver dirt to haul a load that pays them very well. Once you have been driving for a little you may realize it you may not... It it may not bother you. I started with Roehl at .33 when I left I was at .35 with my company now I'll be up to .45 by next year. Alls I'm saying is if you do research and find a good fit for you and money isn't a major factor then good for you, and your happy that's all that matters. However for me, if I'm going to be away from my family and girlfriend for weeks at a time dealing with the BULL**** I/we deal with daily then I need to make more than 800.00 a week. That's how I feel, I don't expect others to feel the same or be in the same situation I'm in. I just try to help drivers realize what they're getting into before they're getting into it, that's all. No bashing or trash talking

 

I've heard about all the crap we have to deal with, with the shippers and receivers and the planners and dispatchers and ...
I've experienced, well, not much of it in nearly 4 years OTR.
Every once in a while I get hosed on hours because a shipper or receiver is very slow. Every once in a while I have problems with a planner.
I don't think I've ever had a major issue with any of my DM's.
Many of the problems most of us experience are much due to the drivers attitude, and not anyone else.

And, T_TRUCKER, you have been trash talking Swift.
And it's all about what they start drivers at. You find it offensive that we should start at the bottom of the scale.
But that is what 'bottom' really means.
It is starting out like any other job - at the bottom.
It is a beginning in an industry that can lead to better.

Personally I am grateful for companies like Swift.
When so many demand 1-3 years experience, Swift takes in the new drivers to let them gain that experience.
Many times to the detriment of Swift, I might add, since it is the new drivers that have the most accidents.

I'm even more grateful to Swift in how they run their operation.
I have never been forced to run when I felt it was unsafe to do so. The same can not be said for many carriers I have read about on this forum.
I have never been asked to fudge my logs. The same can not be said for many.
I've said no, for many reasons, and it has never hurt me.

Swift has treated me well, for the most part, which is why I haven't jumped ship after nearly 4 years with them.
And there are thousands of drivers with much more time than I that seem to feel the same way, since they are still here.

 

hell i am just hoping to bring home 500+, i just need enough to help out m mom who recently had a stroke and enough for me to live on while on the road.