Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

If I had a choice I would never take a mentor with minimum experience. I think 2 years 18 wheeler driving experience should be the minn.
I cant believe that 6 months would be enough. If you started driving in March by August sure you got 6 months but you have no winter driving exp. and guess what's coming up next WINTER DRIVING that you probley have never enjoyed in an 18 wheeler.(applies to areas that just might get a little snow and Ice)Driving anything other than an 18 wheeler in the snow will not give you the experience you need. In my opinion anyway just (my 2 cents)
Lets be safe and teach good safe driving habits all year around!

 

I am sure Swift will keep the mentors running them long (>300 mile) runs to keep the trainer at the bottom of the sliding scale. Just what this site needs, some PR Bimbo telling us the virtues of Swift!

 

can anyone tell me if I train on a nine speed will I have trouble with a ten speed trans?

 

No I dont think so. once you learn to shift/ shifting a 9 or 10 will be the same.Just dont use the very low gear if you dont need to(depends on what your hauling)

 

I am sure Swift will keep the mentors running them long (>300 mile) runs to keep the trainer at the bottom of the sliding scale. Just what this site needs, some PR Bimbo telling us the virtues of Swift!

Mentors generally make 2500-4000 miles per week depending on where in training the student is. Its done by whatever freight is available. We are a short to medium length of haul company, that is our niche, so it also dictates the type of freight we go after.

Side observation: Lately we have been extremely overbooked as a company, so it seems the economy is bouncing back, or the inventory levels which were held low, are now at the point of needing replenishment. Let me know if everyone else is seeing more freight finally. I will check the truck stops on the way to work, best freight barometer out there.

Wes

 

well I drove a 40 foot flat bed tow truck in the winter doing what they called "running the mountain" which was I-80 over doner pass (between Sacramento and Reno) and if im not mistaken that is some pretty sever winter conditions 18 wheeler or not. with a car on the bed and another on the wheel lift every single bad day of winter I was there pulling car's and trucks out of the ditch and uprighting rollover vehicles. I beleave that qualifies me for your "winter driving".

 

no they dont really look at just your experience just cause you drove for 6 months doesnt mean your qualified to be a mentor they look at the big picture from your driving record if you have had any accidents to your service falures and your log violations and you have to be aproved by not only your driver manager but the fleet manager and terminal manager and then take a class on being a trainer. sure im sure some people manage to keep a clean record and meet the 6 months requirement and should not be a mentor this is true right along with the fact that there is a good number of drivers for swift that should not be driving at all i agree with this 100% but im just trying to say you cant judge a book by its cover. just because somebody is driving a swift truck doesnt make them a horrible driver. there are alot of good drivers and i think that when you look at the big picture swift has over 20k drivers with that number is our accident history really that bad? i beleave my terminal is at a accident rating of like 8 or 9 % PER MILLION miles i really dont beleave that with 20k drivers and the FACT that so many of the drivers are fresh out of an academy that that number is really all that bad.

 

Ya I guess you'r right ,If I was learning to drive a 40 ft straight truck and pulling basiclly a small pup trailer and you had winter driving experience that would qualify you to drive in the the winter.

But that wasent what I wrote and you talking about two different rigs.

I was saying that mentors should have some winter driving experience before they are aloud to teach a student.

I think pulling a 53ft trailer hauling 80 thousand pounds would handle a little bit different than a streight truck and towing a car or truck

 

so they have changed there way as whom they will hire or rehire? as far as what type of convictin you have?