Ok folks, this is going to be a long post, I will include the good, the bad, the ugly and the downright ###### up.
So I got hired by Swift in July of this year, they told me if I can pass a road test, they will put me in a truck and send me on my way. I already knew I could, without an issue, and I did. The guy who "issued" the road tests just said that I was a little rusty, well duh, I been out of a truck for a year. Anyway, I get my truck number and go out to find my truck. It is an older Cascadia with 270k miles on it, do an inspection find a couple issues, take pictures, write them down on the truck paper, and turn it in. I am told to bobtail from Ocala Florida to somewhere in Georgia, to get an empty trailer, and pick up a load. I go get the load, deliver it, and go to pick up another load, when both check engine lights come on in the truck, so I pull over into a rest area and call dispatch, they told me to take it to a terminal which I did. I get to the terminal, put it in the shop, and they say its going to be at least a week before its fixed cause they have to order the part. I call my dispatcher and tell him whats going on, and he says "that's not going to work, let me see about getting you another truck". So they did. I get a newer truck assignment, go inspect it, find an air leak, find other issues, have the shop fix them. I called dispatch and told them the truck is out of the shop and I'm ready for a load. They send me a load picking up down the road going a good distance, so I'm like great lets get rolling. I go pick up the load, and I hear PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS again. The shop didn't fix the air leak! I go back to the same shop it just came out of, and they said "we aren't going to spend hours looking for a leak, if you cant find it, we cant either". I said well I'm not driving it with an air leak, your a mechanic, find it, or give me another truck. Apparently they decided to give me another truck, because I got a call from dispatch telling me to go see truck assignment.
So I go get another load in the 3rd truck, and proceed towards TX. On the way there THIS truck starts acting up, I take it to a TA truck stop, they "fix" it. About 100 miles further down the road it starts doing it again. Now I take it to a terminal and ONCE AGAIN, get ANOTHER truck. This time a KW 680. I drive the 680 for a while, then the QUALCOMM completely goes out, there is a serious electrical issue in the truck, among other things. So I tell them look, send me home, I've had enough of this and I'm due for home time anyway. So they do.
I come back out on the road 2 weeks ago, and get issued a TRADE truck with 499k miles on it, with a note attached to it, and attached to the trucks profile in the computer saying "take directly to XXX to trade". So I take the truck, get up here, and then get a message saying "Just an FYI all trades have been suspended due to lack of trucks all over". So I get here to the terminal, and there are at least 20 trucks here, and they are assigning trucks to people.
Basically it boils down to:
Swift doesn't maintain their equipment.
Swift will lie to you every chance they get.
Avoid this company at all costs, they are nothing but a bunch of liars
Swift: The Nightmare Of The Trucking Industry.
Discussion in 'Swift' started by CallOfTheWild, Oct 17, 2014.
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I think you left out the "good"....
From the "meat" of your story sounds like a bit of a nightmare, like I had for a short stretch last December.
Actually, they do maintain their equipment. Some terminals are better than others at finding issues and fixing them. However, the fundamental philosophy of maintenance is that if the truck is running and the issue doesn't present a hazard, then get it going. Running an air leak shouldn't qualify for something that should be qualified for the road and should be reported to the terminal manager, shop manager, or go above their heads to corporate.
This jumps the shark all the way to hyperbole.
"Swift" doesn't lie to you and the company isn't a "bunch of liars". In your particular situation you certainly had a bad run of trucks. As a new driver you get assigned used trucks. Some are better than others. Some have been abused by previous drivers or not cared for as they should. Some have been idled to the point the DEF system is clogging up and the filter needs replacing or a serious cleaning. Stay on top of the issues with your truck and if it is a hazard, then take it to a shop, call your DM or the terminal manager, and demand another truck.
One interesting thing you had in your post is that trades have been suspended because they don't have enough equipment. Just a few months ago they were selling equipment off because they couldn't get enough drivers. Now the situation has flipped after they made the pay increase.
I do agree that Swift needs a serious upgrade in their service and maintenance. My pet peeves are they don't do any oil analysis nor dyno testing. Their shops are backed up and undermanned to the point that they don't take time to troubleshoot issues properly. They simply plug in the computer and if they can't find an active code then it is all good. Swift's maintenance runs on the US Marines 70% philosophy: if it is 70% okay and it runs then get it out the door.
Now that they are bringing in more drivers that will mean they should bring in more qualified mechanics and start doing a better job of keeping the wheels running safely.Last edited by a moderator: Oct 18, 2014
dptrucker, theBadger719, CallOfTheWild and 4 others Thank this. -
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