My Swift desires

I've been with Swift for almost 9 months.

The Good/Bad

Honestly, my viewpoint on how good or bad it is depends on each person. I'm sorry if this comes across as being overly ambiguous. My take home pay has been very INCONSISTENT. Some weeks I'll bring home $600. Some weeks I'll bring home $150.

My pay is good when I am not trying to get home. That's because they'll dispatch me anywhere and waiting for a load usually doesn't happen. I have a good DM who works very hard to keep all of the drivers in his fleet rolling. The issues pop up when I get close to my home time request. Then they have to start looking for freight that will get me within a reasonable distance to the house. They also often have to try to set up a "T-Call" at the drop yard 60m from where I live. This (according to my DM) is something they don't "like" to do because there may not be another truck in the area to cover the load. A couple of times, as is the case this home time, I am taking my time off while under a load that has the time to allow it. Though I'm not getting the number of days I requested/earned. (1 day off every 6 on the road. I was out for a month)

So, the week that I want to get home usually winds up with very few miles. I'll spend a lot of time sitting while they try to find what I need. Not good for my paycheck (or their profits either actually).

I don't take excessive time off though- to those who would ask. I have tried to keep true to 18 out, 3 in. So, as I said.. When I'm out and not trying to get home my miles are consistent. As soon as the HTR comes.. Miles go down the drain.

The other big "issue" I have, I believe is shared by others. This would be the condition of a lot of the trailers out in circulation. I have had quite a few issues with picking up pre-loaded trailers that really needed to be in the shop. Often times with "borderline" problems that may or may not earn you a citation at a Scale House. Meaning, it would depend on the mood of the inspector.

I feel the trailer issue is a hand/hand problem with both the company and drivers. Swift has a lot of trailers on the road. So many that I think it's close to impossible for the shop personnel to keep track of maintenance needs of each trailer. So it is also the responsibility of the drivers to do proper inspections of any trailer they pick up. There are drivers who do, and drivers who don't. However sometimes those of us who do- can have issues with trying to get the trailer repaired. Long wait times at shops, tight delivery schedules, crybaby CSR's that don't want to do their job (Customer Service Reps- those who talk to customers over service issues like late loads etc), or whatever screwball reason.

Moving on.. I live in SW Oregon, and I haven't talked to anyone who's out of the Houston Terminal. I can't give any insights as to what being based out of there would be like.

One more thing to touch on in regards to the consistency of miles. You need to remember that as a company driver you are expected to take what loads are sent to you. Some say it's even "Forced Dispatch". If you are a plain old OTR guy- you are not going to know how many miles you're going to get each week. You may get a couple good 1500m+ loads back to back, or you may get stuck running a bunch of loads that are under 600. Yeah, the short stuff can add up to equal the big stuff. In theory that is true, but in practical application it can be a different story. Especially when you get sent short stuff with WAY TOO MUCH TIME on it to deliver. You may, or may not, be able to get the delivery time changed. That will depend on your DM, the Planners, the CSRs, and the Customer. So don't always count on it.

Other things to factor in:

It may take you a little bit of "break in time" to find your groove as you figure out the system. This can have an impact on your miles as well. This will go away of course and once you get in that groove things get pretty easy.

Starting wage. .25cpm is just about enough to starve on while you get your feet on the ground. The first few months (in my case) were tight but things got better. After six months you'll be at .30cpm and life will get a bit more comfortable.

Dedicated Fleets:

I believe Nana is on a dedicated fleet now. The reason dedicated fleets are so sought after is you work for one customer. The perk is the miles are usually super consistent and predictable. Depends on how the fleet is run. For example, I talked to a guy who was on the Target Dedicated out of Albany, OR. He said he got all of his loads for the week given to him up front, so he always knew where he was going and how many miles for that week. He was also home every weekend.

Also, some dedicated fleets pay more per mile. So you add that on top of the consistent miles they can offer, it's easy to see why Dedicated runs are sought after and coveted by those who have them.

Anyway.. I hope this helps. I wrote this up before being fully awake and full of coffee.

 

Talking to drivers in the terminal. Wear very tall boots!!!

Call and talk to a recruiter and see hwat you can do! Never know!

If you saw some of the characters in the driver lounges at terminals you might get scared and run

 

I myself take home over $700 a week on average, but a new guy Isn't going to see that. In time he might.

 

Zero deductions, check today was $665 and change. Best so far. I go to $.32 cuz today is my 6 month mark. Out West it would pay $.30@6 months.