My experience so far.....................

Hi Ocean Dan, years ago, we picked on Schneider, Roadway, CF, J.B.Hunt, and more, all great companies. Guess it's the nature of the beast.

 

i think what he (responder) meant was that eventually, you'll start looking at what you're making hourly. One day after spending spending many weekends at a truck stop or terminal, you'll get your calculator out and divide your gross weekly pay by 98 hours (14 hrs/day x 7), and you'll wonder why you're not working two 'regular' jobs and sleeping in your own bed. Once I did that, I started using those layovers to look for another job

then you'll figure out that if you're working 7 days/wk, you need to be grossing around 2k just to make the equivalent of a $16/hr job with OT. Yes it's true that technically you're not working when you're on a layover, but you're stuck. It all really depends on how you value your time.

But you gotta start somewhere, and congrats on getting started!

 

Ok I'll bite on the troll-bait. I started with Swift and over a year later still work for them. You apparently learned nothing.
If sometimes deadheading is working for free then yea it happens. Sometimes you get paid, sometimes not. But you should ASK. Ask and you may receive.

Your question "do you know how long you will be away from home". Yea I did. I WENT TO WORK FOR AN OTR COMPANY SO YES I DID. Your statement/question was absurd.

You sat a weekend at a truck stop with no load. That is why you Qualcomm first then call them and ask for a load if you are still waiting for a new load offer after a couple hours. Its a big company, you got looked over. Sounds like you did not keep on top of things, just sat there and cried. Theres also layover pay. It sucks ($50/day) but it beats nothing. You fail to mention asking for that.

As for not learning a thing sitting at a truck stop (to go along with your sitting around all weekend part) well....I actually gained a lot of insight watching other trucks at truck stops. Apparently you did not.

Swift is not as bad as you or others make it out to be.

 

Like I said, it's really all about how what kind of value you put on your time .. Nothing more, nothing less. If you're happy with the compensation for it, that's all that matters

 

If you find that happening frequently, then it's because of one of two reasons:

1. You aren't reliable enough for your DM to put you on a load before you deliver, or

2. You didn't call your DM on Friday morning to tell them that you will be delivering that afternoon, and need a run for Saturday.

Swift has the freight to keep your wheels moving. Prove that you are reliable, and you will be kept rolling.

 

This bs needs to go bye bye I swear. 1st off I can count on 2 hands the times where I drove 11hr and then had to live unload in 10 years. For the most part the average otr swift driver does 7 to 9 hours driving a day pretrip 15min posttrip 10min. 45min for drophook/live unload. Becusa when it's a live unload after I bump the dock I play my Xbox one or on my laptop playing Swtor mmo until I get the green light. Average otr swift drive does around 68.75 of work a week. Makes about 40k a year some more some a little less. They would need to find a job that paid 20hr in a 40hr work week to make same. For me I would need to find a job that paid 28hr in a 40hr week to make what I did last year as a company swift driver otr. Granted some will argue time from home, but why the hell does any one do otr trucking when knowing that, if they are going to be away from home 7 to 21 days out.

 

Again, it's all about how we value our time. If youre doing the same thing while sitting in your truck as you would at home, then it absolutely works for you. In other words, if all you would be doing at home is sitting around watching TV or playing video games, then there's no difference and it works for you.

On the other hand, if the time spent with your family, or getting things done that you can't possibly do while on the road is worth more than $7, 8, 9 or whatever you're being compensated per hr away from that, then you can't help but place a value on it , if you look at it realistically.

as they say, different strokes ..

Ive been there there done that, i thought grossing 1300wk or whatever sounded great, even if I was on the road weeks at a time. But once I experienced the reality of it, I felt like a chump. Doesn't make any of us right or wrong, but for me, I felt like I needed to get my head out of the sand.

 

like I said on the bottom of my last post why go otr if a person knows you're going to be away from your family. and family that important.