Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

Bulldog..sorry to hear about the fustration....
Makes me wonder at times if those in a position to dispatch/manage trucks and drivers, Have a real insight as to what they are asking a driver to do, and the true ramifications a driver would face. All it takes is for one small thing to go wrong and it could mean your livlihood.. Afterall they will still have thier job...
I'm getting all worked up now over it all so I'll stop now..Best of luck to you.

As for all those who feel a need to "bunch up" drivers of a certain company just because of what they see a handful of them do is something I will never understand.

 

Funny you mention safety. I was thinking the same thing when it came to safety because they preach it so much. Unfortunatly when push comes to shove they are about the dollar and thats when rules bend. I got a fresh dose of theirs an ### for every seat last week. I called my mentor and he has the hardest time understanding how my fleet in the company gets away with what it does. Only thing I can figure is its a nitch fleet I ran in and they would rather pursuade drivers into bad situations than do it right.Thing that sucks is someone up their is not doing their job right and good drivers suffer for it. If your a normal OTR driver you most likely will never experiance this. Only thing you will have to watch out for is bad delivery times and wrong loaded /Empty miles quoted if being dispatched
from Memphis. Only becasue of new dispatchers. They are pretty green in that neck of the woods.Take a real good look at the bottom of that screen. Caught them saying I was only dead heading 40 miles and was around 250 away. True story. Not saying its the norm but it is trucking and you have to watch your butt.

On to the current issue.I was told emails went out for me to switch fleets and to check in. I did. Guess what I found out? DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!! They called and said I was terminated. Have the voice mail still on my phone. It goes Hi, (My name) I'm returning your call because you wanted to discuss your termination. So I returned the call. Asked when was I terminated? I never put that I quit over the qualcomm. SEE where this is going? Next was a response of , Well no one has heard from you. I ask well who said that and how long have I been devoid of contact from the company. Reply was well I asked your DM and he said he has'nt heard from you in days. HMMM! I say is this the same DM I went to safety about trying to push me into a violation on my logs? Ofcourse no answer just silence. Plus my fleet shuts down on the week ends. Than I said you make it sound like its been weeks since I have been in contact. So I named who I talked to and when. That I had left a message for him (being who I was talking to in this conversation) Which is why we were talking now. Also that it had only been one in a half days since I talked to someone. WOW! Its like Amazing all of a sudden I'm reinstated and can transfer. ITS A MIRACLE! HALLALUYAAAAA!. So in short they terminated me thinking they could sweep me under the rug after I made a complaint about being pushed to violate my 14. Nice, but remember its all about safety. As for my complaint nothing. Look they know whats going on and turn a blind eye to it. After all its the driver who will get the violation not the company. Think about it!

 

Communication is certainly the key. Now if you could get most or at least even half of the driver managers to answer their phone so one could communicate or return the driver's qualcomm message, this would go a long way in communication being key. The farther up the chain of command, the harder it is to talk or communicate with someone. It's hard to "communicate" with someone on the other side of a locked door (I'm referencing Phoenix in particular). Even when you have an appointment to talk to someone "important", you are left waiting til they see fit to talk to you. It must have something to do with their god complex.

My hubby didn't have problems with Swift, the company. He got the miles and we lived quite comfortably. He had a good rapport with his planner. He had issues with certain individuals within the company. The human factor is where the problems lie. When those certain individuals come to the realization that their poop stinks just as much as the driver's poop stinks, they will be an asset to the company. But until then? They will continue to have problems and high turnover. When the majority of your company consists of rookie drivers, it will continue to cost you more. Make the environment comfortable and you won't have so many leaving for greener pastures. This same can be said about most of the mega carriers.

 

My hubby didn't have problems with Swift, the company. He got the miles and we lived quite comfortably. He had a good rapport with his planner. He had issues with certain individuals within the company. The human factor is where the problems lie. When those certain individuals come to the realization that their poop stinks just as much as the driver's poop stinks, they will be an asset to the company. But until

So So True.....There are days when I say to myself.."If they (dispatch) could do their job as well as they expect me to do mine, how much better off things would be.

 

Swift, jb, werner, schnider, us express all suck get with a small company one that knows you by name not a number u wont regret it.....

 

I am so glad to hear that you have yet to encounter a problem such as the one bulldog has. But only with 1 1/2 years behind you..it's not a matter of if,, so much as when this will happen to you...lack of communicatiion that is. I for one, in the three years with Swift have had many "lack of communication" problems. OH !! the stories I could tell you...all with one thing in common "lack of communication.
Does'nt make Swift the Company bad,,but more that some dispatch/planners could use a little education in communication...

 

I see by your profile,,you've been a driver for all of 2 years. Guess that makes you some kind of an expert...I think most of us would like to know which great company you drive for...To make such a statement such as this without merit or facts, sure makes me hungry for more of your pathetic insight. So if you don't mind please do us all a favor and keep such comments to yourself..thank you.

 

lets look at this why would Swift want you to violate. maybe make a customer happy but they have enough trucks sitting at any one time to repower and get you down the road. now why would your DM want you to push he gets more money from his bonus! I had a great! DM at swift and we had our times but he was always looking out for me. if I said its too bad to drive he said shut down if I can't make it don't accept it. If I'm running late which only happened once. he repowered me with 1 hour of me letting them know I was in trouble on time. If you have trouble with a dm just ask for another. not taking sides just looking form outside.

 

Cept for all the people who agree with him. Big companies suck. Universally.

 

I don't believe I disagreed with him. To make a statement such as that without a "WHY" they suck. Rather than saying Driving for a large company is not for him, he prefers the smaller more intiment company. Would be a more intelligent way of getting his point made. Also I believe the purpose of this thread is to "Report a bad Truck Company". So if you guys would'nt mind could we please stick to the topic.
Thank You.