Swift: The Nightmare Of The Trucking Industry.

I've had my share of lemon trucks as well.
But that is not the norm.

I'm sorry that you have had so many issues in such a short time, but it is simply bad luck.

There are very few shops that do a 'bad' job of keeping the trucks well maintained. Most of them really try to do things right.
There are a few that actually go above and beyond to make sure the truck is in good shape, one being Inver Grove Heights in MN. They have always taken good care of me.
They have fixed things that I never knew about because they really check EVERYTHING when it goes in.

I'm headed to Denver for my next home time and the truck needs a couple things fixed. A b-service and some front tire wear issues.
That is a terminal that is a real crap shoot, both for down time and sometimes quality of work.
Only sometimes, because most of the time they are very good. But they are usually very overworked, so the down time is usually the main problem.

 

If I was you I'd transfer out of Ocala ASAP. Columbus is a good terminal for repairs and to be based out of - Ocala is a joke...

 

I've always felt Columbus had their stuff together, ran through there a lot early part of this year running coast to coast. Always in and out of the shop in a hurry.

When I've been OTR it seems Columbus planners also treated me right.

 

I had 7 trucks in my first 6 months with Swift. I was brand new and unproven as a driver so I didn't expect to get a "nice" truck. All of them had issues and at 6 months I told my DM if she couldn't get me into a RELIABLE truck I could no longer stay with Swift. At that point, even with crappy trucks breaking down, I was 100% ontime, no accidents, no critical events, bad DOT Inspections etc..and have maintained that.

She got me routed to Phoenix and I picked up a brand new Volvo. At 60K miles I gave it to a newer driver at my terminal and picked up another brand new Volvo at the Greer terminal. At 80K gave it away again and picked up a brand new ProStar at a dealer in Amarillo. I had zero problems with the Volvos and love my PornStar. So for the last 2.5 years I've had no maintenance issues resulting in a breakdown.

Things didnt start out rosey for me but I hung in there. Now I get all the miles I can stand very consistently and have a truck I enjoy.

As a Company driver how you deal with short term setbacks will determine how successful you'll be at Swift. And trust me when I say I've wanted to toss the keys back more than once.

 

i agree with the OP. especially if u trained thru swift. they will take pretty much ur WHOLE paycheck. i was getting 60$ checks, when i got a check at all. i also had chunks missing from my steers, and they wouldnt replace them. didnt stay at swift long.

 

I trained at Swift in San Antonio and have nothing negative to report about my experience there.

I made decent money when I started. About $500/wk after taxes. I make pretty much twice that now. I never ever had a check as low as you. I would have to question why that was happening as you didn't explain the reasons you couldn't make any money.

 

Is the Detroit shop a good one or bad one? How about Gary?

 

I too attended the San Antonio academy back in '06. I had a great time - especially having a 3 day weekend to party on Riverwalk!!!

 

Detroit not bad

Gary is the armpit of swift I can't stand that place it sucks shop sucks.

Columbus not bad

Memphis not bad

Syracuse hit or miss mostly not bad
Richmond not bad

Atlanta was good now turning to it sucks
Jownstown sucks

Martinsburg not bad

Houston swift/central yard should just have a tactical nuke drop on it it sucks

Salt lake don't know since they moved was not bad
Phenoix not bad

Albuquerque not bad but its getting close to sucking category

Denver not bad use to suck

Menteno il not bad

Menash not bad but starting to suck

Sumner meh sucks unles heavy haul

Portland hit or miss mostly not bad

Willows not bad

Junaper sucks but sometimes they are not bad 20% time

Lathrop not bad

Reno not bad

Lancaster sucks 60% time