i meant to say i left in March of 2008, and does swift reimburse drivers for showers? also what about truck washes, how does Swift take care of them?

Hi, I am an o/o driving leased to Swift operating out of Sumner Wa.

Originally Posted by Spudweizer

chaining- was voluntary but not recommended by usx. how about swift? ?

chaining is expected but there is usually not a problem if you feel that conditions are too unsafe for driving.

Originally Posted by Spudweizer

inverters- usx would allow 1750watt but i never needed that much as i only ran a lcd tv and xbox 360. or only my laptop. if there are no inverters how do other drivers use non 12volt items like these? i didn't need a fridge or nuke box to make my food glow.

Driver installed inverters are not permitted. The shop will remove them. Some drivers use inverters that are connected with battery cables.

brake adjustments-usx policy was (paraphrase) touch them and you are fired!! so all brake adj tickets were given to usx. how about swift?

Swift wants the drivers to be able to do a small amount of maint like changing burned out trailer lights. I have never been asked to do a brake adj on a trailer.

trailers- generally well maintained even if rusty but tires were like "run her till she blows!!" or take it to a shop and -some times- they would send road service if you were at a customer/rail yd when you found it. how was swift?

OnRoad will try to get you to drive a flat to a place where it can be fixed. If you stand your ground then they will send a truck.

doubles- usx didn't have any and i dont want to pull them even though i hv end. for them.

Heavy Haul div does do some doubles. Regular drivers don't do them.

Height- usx trailers are 13'6". i heard swift ran either 14' or 14'6" i can't remember which, but are they randomly assigned to drivers, or are they only given to w. regional, dedicated?

There a few that are around. I have not personally seen any new 14's come into the system. (if you get Lewiston you will see a couple that are on the way out of the system )

Location- I live in sandpoint a few hrs north of Lewistion yard, can i take truck home?

Up to the fleet manager but probably not.

how are mechanics at that yard compared to others?

Small shop with excellent techs!!

how is the freight out of that yard...other than the obvious potlach paper mill for outbound loads?

Potlach provides regular outbound loads, loads inbound are more of a problem.

western regional- usx is getting rid of their solo drivers so i was used to getting 1000-1,800 mi a wk. how are mi. with swift?

Miles are getting tough for everyone. Middle of list for solo drivers in Sumner used to be around 9K, now it seems to be the high 7's, but that could be weather/holiday related.

usx w/reg. was really southern,ca to portland,or to phoenix and maybe seattle and screw the other 8 western states. can i regularly run the other 8 western states with swift?

Potlach ships paper everywhere!!!!!

Also i would not be opposed to running west of i-35 states does swift occasionally send a driver out of his region to say...okc or houston? if yes is it by load destination, or by occasional driver request for scenery change? usx would be like...if its west of i-5 "we may never get you back for a long time!!!" was common reply from usx.

It's sort of like that at Swift. Once you leave your planners area, you become the pawn of some other planner, and one that your DM may not have any influence over.

Idleing- usxpress( i left in March 200 didn't care about idleing as long as it wasn't careless like being in the t/s or terminal while trk idles away. otherwise we didn't worry about it. i know Swift has the optimized idle or what ever they call it but how does it work on hot/cold days or on 34 hour restarts? can i run my xbox 360 and tv when i'm on a restart?
Does Swift penalize solo's for using optimized idle during restarts/layovers? i heard Gordon moniters their optimized idle % rates.

Swift compiles stats on everything that is recordable by the qualcomm unit. DCI (driver controlled idle) is one (a big one) of the stats that they will give you. They like to see it under 10%.

Home time- usx was 1 day for every 5 then 1 every 6. 24 out= 4 at home...starting the day after i got home till the day before i leave. Example, if i got home for 4 days, and i arrived on the 1st of the month at say 12:30pm then the first day of my four started on the 2nd so four days would end on the 5th. so i would have to leave on the morning of the 6th.
how does Swift compare?

I have no idea how company drivers are doing now.

hopefully more people will fill you in. Personally I have always liked Lewiston as a terminal. It's quiet, has a lot of parking and lacks the drama that too many other terminals suffer with.

Frenzy

thank you for your reply i appreciate that alot. but i am curious on your reply here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spudweizer
inverters- usx would allow 1750watt but i never needed that much as i only ran a lcd tv and xbox 360. or only my laptop. if there are no inverters how do other drivers use non 12volt items like these? i didn't need a fridge or nuke box to make my food glow.

Driver installed inverters are not permitted. The shop will remove them. Some drivers use inverters that are connected with battery cables.

you said "driver installed" at usx drivers were not allowed to install either, instead drivers were required to furnish the inverter and its parts and the shop was the only one that could install them. Does the shop then install the inverters? my laptop and xbox 360 are in the 700 watt range.

AND last question for you as others can answer the rest. you said

"Swift compiles stats on everything that is recordable by the qualcomm unit. DCI (driver controlled idle) is one (a big one) of the stats that they will give you. They like to see it under 10%."

With optimized idle on a cold or hot day or on 34 hr restart, how does idle remain below 10% i mean is there a difference between what DCI and the optimized idle unit does?

No "installed" invertors. Cig lighter plug ins ok.

Originally Posted by Spudweizer

i meant to say i left in March of 2008, and does swift reimburse drivers for showers? also what about truck washes, how does Swift take care of them?

Our showers are no longer reimbursed and they are not paying for truck washes. For now they told us our trucks will just have to be dirty. We also have to get fuel at the terminals now, so no more shower coupons at the Pilot or anywhere else unless you are in an area without a terminal and need fuel.

Originally Posted by Spudweizer

thank you for your reply i appreciate that alot. but i am curious on your reply here...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Spudweizer
inverters- usx would allow 1750watt but i never needed that much as i only ran a lcd tv and xbox 360. or only my laptop. if there are no inverters how do other drivers use non 12volt items like these? i didn't need a fridge or nuke box to make my food glow.

Driver installed inverters are not permitted. The shop will remove them. Some drivers use inverters that are connected with battery cables.

you said "driver installed" at usx drivers were not allowed to install either, instead drivers were required to furnish the inverter and its parts and the shop was the only one that could install them. Does the shop then install the inverters? my laptop and xbox 360 are in the 700 watt range.

AND last question for you as others can answer the rest. you said

"Swift compiles stats on everything that is recordable by the qualcomm unit. DCI (driver controlled idle) is one (a big one) of the stats that they will give you. They like to see it under 10%."

With optimized idle on a cold or hot day or on 34 hr restart, how does idle remain below 10% i mean is there a difference between what DCI and the optimized idle unit does?

2 weeks ago our DM said they want the Idle to be under 28%.