My Mentor Preference with Swift

Hello everyone. I thought I'd jump on the "diary" bandwagon as well as the Swift bandwagon and give insight into my life as a Swift driver.

First, I should say that I am not *yet* a driver for Swift. I am currently attending a private CDL school in the Dallas, TX area. I have already been pre-approved hire; my poor recruiter keeps calling me every week to ask me if I have graduated yet. The issue with that is my school is very poorly run and I've been here twice as along as I should have at no fault of my own. (See my thread on "Fluid Academy" in the schools forum.)

Next, let me give you some background. I am 24 years old, former military, married (for the time being), and have a 3 month old daughter at the time of writing. I have been dealt many curve balls in the last few years, which has led me to where I am now in the midst of an expected and unwanted career change. However, my daughter is the most important thing in my life, so no matter how much I'd rather be doing something else, I am determined to make the best of the situation. Long term, I may not be around in the trucking industry, but I've recently learned to expect the unexpected... I was born and raised in Dallas, but the military sent me to Valdosta, GA, which is where I call home.

I am being hired out of the Atlanta, GA terminal and that's where I'll be sent for orientation just as soon as I can get the hell out of Texas. (Don't get me wrong--I love Texas, but I've grown to love Georgia more.)

My brother was a driver for several companies about 10 years ago, starting out with CRST, but predominantely worked Werner (7 years), and CFI and Melton (flatbed).

I am of the mindset that whether you like your job depends mostly on your dispatch, your attitude, and your extenuating circumstances. I believe that there are good companies and bad companies, but it mostly depends on the above. Having said that, I look forward to making the best of my time with Swift, even though Swift wasn't my first choice. Who knows, maybe I'll end up putting in 20 years with them?

It looks like I will be heading to orientation in Atlanta sometime in April. The sooner I get back to Georgia and onboard with Swift, where I call home for now, the better.

 

I'd like to laydown some ground "rules" (more like, requests) regarding this thread. Having seen what can happen to others' threads, I think it's for the best.

1. Please do not come to this thread to spread slander about Swift. If you don't have anything nice and relevant to the conversation to say and you just want to complain about Swift: Don't! Also, please don't post slander towards or argue with another member. (I think that's against the forum rules anyway.)

2. Also, please don't post slander towards or argue with another member. (I think that's against the forum rules anyway.) I would really hate to have to abandon the thread like 1nonly did because of arguing.

3. Please try to keep the discussion on topic and avoid hijacking it. This thread is where I will post my experiences with Swift. If you'd like to share an experience of your own, please make sure it is relevant to something I said in a post. Otherwise, please start your own thread.

I would really appreciate it if everyone could follow these simple requests. I look forward to the future and sharing it with you.

 

Thanks! I look forward to "comparing notes" with you!

 

It's only a day later and I already have an update. Go figure...

Today I attended a map reading and logbooking class in my CDL school. Most people would find such classes useful, but in my case, no so much. I've attended this class two times before, making this my third. I understood most of what was taught even before the first time for several reasons. It's just the standard policy of this school to teach this subject once a week, even if you've already attended. Anyway, I pretty much wasted a day of my life while bills are beginning to backlog at home. (I quit my dead-end-but-it's-a-paycheck job to come to this school.) Now you see why it has taken twice as long to finish.

The only good news abotu today was that since I successfully straight-line backed and 45-degree docked the first try yesterday, I've been given the go ahead to move into the last stage of training. Now until I am allowed to graduate, I'll be practicing my DPS route, straight-line backing, and parallel parking. I'm going to beg the new instructor in the new truck to allow me to test out next Thursday (their usual testing day, and thus the reason behind the mapping/logbook class every week). I've already had to put off my orientation date with Swift, upsetting my recruiter. I've had to promise I'll have graduated and be ready for orientation by the first week of April. I don't know how he'll react if I have to put it off again. It certainly can't be a positive reaction. I feel I am ready to test out and even my current instructor has said I could pass the DPS test now. I'm anxious to get on the road and really start learning (and earning).

I know this was more of a training related post and not really much to do with Swift per se, but the move to the final phase is big enough to "write home about."

See ya soon!

 

Ever since I started my application process with Swift, I (and my recruiter) just assumed since I live in Georgia that Atlanta would be my home base.

Having just visited their website again, I see that they have a terminal in Ocala. I live in South Georgia (20 miles from the border of Florida), putting me 90 miles closer to Ocala than Atlanta; a whole 1.5 hours difference at 60mph.

I'm in a bit of an internal struggle as to which to choose.

The pros for Ocala: Most freight is north of my home, since my neighbor is Florida and it's the southern most state; this means that "going home" to Ocala means stopping at my real home before I even get to Ocala. If I'm allowed to take the truck home with me, then I will actually end up saving Swift 139 miles of fuel each time I go home. If I "go home" to Atlanta, then I have to drive the 229 miles from Atlanta to home x 2 (for the return trip). Almost all loads in Florida will head north or west via I-75, I-95, or I-10. If I'm headed north on I-75, I'll be able to stop back by the house for one final hug and such with the family before being gone for good that month.

The pros fro Atlanta: Atlanta is bound to be a bigger yard with more options for loads. Florida is notorious for lack of outbound freight. (However, correct me if I'm wrong: My dispatcher could anticipate my coming back on duty and get me preplanned, thus avoiding the lag time.)
That's all I can think of really.

Honestly, I've pretty much talked myself into Ocala, but to really settle the issue, I was wondering if anyone might be able to chime in and give some details on each of the terminals.

• Would I have a better chance of getting a good truck in Atlanta or Ocala?
• Anyone ever had any issues or positive experiences with either terminal?
• Is the freight coming out of Florida so bad that it even affects the terminal loads?
• Is the freight out of Atlanta any better than Ocala?
• More importantly, can I take my truck and trailer home with me away from the terminal?
• Also important is: Do I have to check in to the home terminal before being released to go home?
• Finally, can I change my home terminal at a later time? If so, is it a difficult process?

Please answer as many of these questions as directly as possible. I really appreciate the help!

 

Lugnut, thanks for the detailed response. It was very helpful.

I called my recruiter today to ask him what he thought. The final decision is that I have to go to Decatur/Atlanta because Ocala isn't hiring right now. (My guess is it's probably related to the usual lack of freight in Florida.) I can get it changed, as Lugnut said, later on. The only caveat is (according to him) that I'll probably have to somehow switch my license over to Florida, which means getting an address is Florida since you can't get a license in a state without showing proof of residency...

I'm not sure how correct he is, if at all, but I'll just work it out with whoever is my DM at the time. For now, I just need to get hired and get on the road. I will work on the cushy convienences later.

As for a place to park my truck in Valdosta, the closest truck stop is at I-75 and Madison Highway (US-31?), which is about 15-20 minutes away. I think I could probably work out some place closer. There's a major shopping center with a Super Wal-Mart about 8-10 minutes away. I wonder if I could get away with parking it there...