Swift Sucks

So Swift believes there is a safe speed to drive on ice that will prevent you from sliding off it? The ATA follows common sense? Heavier and longer trucks, lax immigration laws, cheaper foreign labor no fair labor standards for drivers etc etc..

Company's like Swift have their drivers perform in a often time company created unsafe working environment by their dispatching and maintainers practices and then they say they are concerned with safety?

Lets see, does Swift use Vorad collision avoidance or paperless logs? Do they have APU's on all their trucks like many company's or not use shippers that delay their drivers so their drivers are comfortable and well rested to drive? or do they use anti cab roll and road walk technology to decrease driver fatigue and improve safety. Do they hire high quality mechanics and fire any dispatcher who dared even ask a driver to run a load when they were not ready to run or thought the conditions prevented it without retribution? Do they stick up for a driver when the driver reports operations to the safety dept due to trying to force a mission impossible on them or drive unsafe equipment? Hardly

They, like most OTR company's ain't doing much unless they are forced to, or it does not hurt profit. Like most OTR carriers they talk a lot of PR but don't do much walking.

 

So Swift believes there is a safe speed to drive on ice that will prevent you from sliding off it?

Yes, dont be driving on the ice. My example, which you took out of context, was showing how an accident is preventable even though a citation was not issued. The ATA would say the same thing, why are you driving on ice?

The ATA follows common sense? Heavier and longer trucks, lax immigration laws, cheaper foreign labor no fair labor standards for drivers etc etc..

The ATA is made up of truck drivers, a good start is to get involved with the ATA then and work on your concerns.

Lets see, does Swift use Vorad collision avoidance
No, we tested many trucks with it, but there were some problems with false readings and it can cause a driver to ignore it. We have spot mirrors on all of our trucks.

or paperless logs?

Since less then 1% of the entire trucking industry uses it, I will answer this still. We have been testing many vendors software for it, and looking at partnering with qualcomm to make our own, which we are testing right now.

Do they have APU's on all their trucks like many company's

We run about 70% of our fleet with full APU's, that is hot and cold. 20% with webasto heaters only, and 10% with nothing at all. We are testing what direction we want to go. Cost of APU's vs the maintenance, and amount of times they are correctly used are big considerations. It might be better and cheaper to go idle air down the road.

or not use shippers that delay their drivers so their drivers are comfortable and well rested to drive?

There are very few companies that would say no to any freight. The tool that ALL companies except the smallest use is detention billing. Depending on the drivers 70, they are ready to work up to 14 hours, so even if a shipper takes 7 hours to load, then your going to have only 7 hours to drive that day. Depending on how much time was given to deliver, if it was tight, then its going to be late due to shipper, and we deliver late, and driver is paid 5 hours of detention.

or do they use anti cab roll

Yes, we do. We started that in 2007.

road walk technology

I have never heard of this, please elaborate.

Do they hire high quality mechanics

Just like drivers, we do hire an assortment of new and experienced mechanics.

fire any dispatcher who dared even ask a driver to run a load when they were not ready to run

Depends on the situation, but yes we do. We will fire a dispatcher if he try's to force a driver to run illegal, or pushes the driver to run beyond their abilities for the weather conditions. If a driver just doesnt want to run because they are not ready and have been sitting a while is different, it all depends on the reasoning they are not ready.

or thought the conditions prevented it without retribution?

Depends on the context that you mean. If they are in, lets say TX, and dispatched on a load to MA, and heard that its snowing in PA and NY and they refused, no that is not acceptable. If they are in bad weather, and its above their ability to drive safely, then they find a safe place to park, and inform us. Our drivers dont need our permission for this, they just have to tell us when it occurs.

Do they stick up for a driver when the driver reports operations to the safety dept due to trying to force a mission impossible on them or drive unsafe equipment? Hardly

The head of our Safety dept. is also the head of our HR department. So yes anything reported to safety is strongly looked at, and an investigation would be started. As far as a mission impossible, that all depends on the driver I guess and what you mean. I have seen a 300 mile run with no weather considerations, fresh hours, planned on a driver, and he informs us that its impossible for him to deliver in 12 hours, by the appointment time. So his mission impossible would not be the same as yours.
Sorry I missed the unsafe equipment part. If its a DOT safety concern, no you will not run the equipment. If its a conveniance concern (bumper pushed in, need a scratch painted over, cd player is not working, my cabinet door needs a new latch) then you will need to work and try to get those items fixed during the weekend when freight is slow.

They, like most OTR company's ain't doing much unless they are forced to, or it does not hurt profit. Like most OTR carriers they talk a lot of PR but don't do much walking.

Think I answered most of the concerns you had.

 

The ATA is made up of truck drivers, a good start is to get involved with the ATA then and work on your concerns.

ATA is NOT made up of drivers. It is made up by trucking company executives. The organization for drivers is OOIDA, Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association. They are a main representative organization looking out for the interest of drivers.

 

#52
18 Hours Ago
vickw


I'm sure you believe what you say about how Swift is, but I have worked for 4 different well known OTR carriers for many years. All of them ran unsafe equipment, all pressured the driver to run illegal or when they might not be ready or face retribution, and all had poor maintains practices and tried to do things on the cheap IMO, and treat their drivers not as individuals with different levels of experience and intelligence, but basically as a group of throw aways who they only hired because no one else would do the job.

I see the drivers that get out of Swift trucks, I see the equipment they run, and I see were they go to pu loads because I was there also in many cases, and I have had friends and even family that have worked or trained to work for Swift. When you are out on the road all year long you can see how others operate and who they hire and what they run and how it is maintained and I think you have a grandiose view on the reality for the average Swift driver, working for Swift or any large carrier IMO. The only thing I can say is there seems to be a disconnect between the office and reality on the floor of the factory, or truck in this case.

The ATA represents trucking company's and their standards represent the wishes of their larger members, not the driver.

I commend you for your stand but Swift is just another shifty large company that from their history and the way they hire, operate, maintain equipment, and treat the average driver tells me you will be nothing more then a tool to keep the mill going at Swift.

 

Also remember when one of your Swift dp'r tells a driver to give them a "legal eta" to a customer after they sat for 8 hours at the shipper when they were ready to drive and are logging it as sleeper time , what legal means. As defined in the rules, it is not just the amount of time they have to drive the load or HOS, but that they are alert and physically fit to drive.

Just because it is legal to extend the 14 hour rule with a 8 hour break waiting at the shipper does not mean it is safe to do so when I have to drive along side one of your swerving trucks with a new truck driver in it at 0300 in the morning.

 

I stand corrected, although it looks like drivers, mainly Owner Operators, are also members, and it looks like all facets of transportation or transportation related services are members. So it would still not hurt to probably join both and work on concerns.
- From ATA Membership website- "For over 70 years, ATA has been the driving force in effecting change, improving your bottom line, and seeing that the industry’s interests are vigorously promoted. No other organization dedicated solely to serving every facet of the trucking industry has the clout of ATA.

Whether you are a private, truckload or less-than truckload carrier, tank or flatbed, specialized or auto hauler, whether you supply a product or service to the trucking industry or you rely on the trucking industry to move your goods, join ATA today.

Wes

 

I agree, and bottom line is they should not drive if not alert. (They also better not be logging it sleeper berth time, or we will not pay them detention...since we can't pay if they were not working according to the logs) Now if they are telling me this 2-4 days a week, week after week, then it has turned into a different type of issue that involves ability to perform duties.

Wes

 

I'm about as paranoid as anyone, but if what you're saying is true, why don't more companies hire 21 year olds? The reason as I understand it is their insurance is higher. In cutting them out they cut out a lot of newbies.

 

I have to disagree on the pay per mile thing. Driving is nothing like crab fishing and shouldn't be compared. We can pretty well predict how long it will take to get from point A to point B. If you have to use all rural roads, and takes longer, that's not the driver's fault. That has nothing to do with skill or effort. It's also predictable. A motor carrier can factor that in to the cost they charge. Drivers are now monitored all the time through on board computers. You can pay them by the hour as shown on their logs and cross reference to make sure they're truthful. Drivers will have the same percentage of on-time deliveries whether they're paid mileage or hourly. If they are late, they lose their bonus, if they are consistently late, they lose their job. There's no reason why carriers can't pay drivers the way everyone else gets paid. Millions of people make hourly wages and are highly productive in their work.

I think this country would benefit highly from switching drivers to hourly. They'd speed less, drive better, and preform better inspections.

And no, for me it's not all about making money. Safety is a factor too. Driving while severely fatigued and risking my life and the lives of others is not worth the money.

And yes, I was fooled with that safety BS at Transport America. They gave long speeches every day of orientation about how a load of freight is not worth a person's life, but then I got out with the trainer and found out it was.

Yes there has to be a line drawn where a driver should be able to preform work duties without being unsafe due to fatigue, that line to me is pretty much the HOS regulations. But at certain companies including Transport America you're expected to log certain on-duty work as off duty, and you're expected to shorten your 10 hour break, and interrupt your 10 hour break by delivering during it, so on. I was fired from Transport America for being unable and unwilling to do these duties.

Of course they too used the words that I was "unable to drive for reasonable times without being severely fatigued" and "unwilling to work," on the official record, but on the unofficial record I was cursed at by my trainer for refusing to back the truck into the dock before the end of my 10 hour break. I was then told by the student-trainer manager that I was expected to deliver when a customer wanted me to deliver, whether that was at the beginning, middle, or end of my break. And just in case you think I'm full of it, I'm doing just fine with my new company that doesn't want or require me to cheat.

They gave me that line that they never force drivers to drive tired. It's a ##### lie and you know it. People like that give trucking a bad name, they cause death, and ruin families. But that's all ok because the cost of settlement is less than what they'd lose if they didn't make drivers work tired. I hope those CEO's get run over by their own trucks.

"I'm a Transport America driver. I kill people in my sleep."

 

We can pretty well predict how long it will take to get from point A to point B. If you have to use all rural roads, and takes longer, that's not the driver's fault. That has nothing to do with skill or effort. It's also predictable. A motor carrier can factor that in to the cost they charge. Drivers are now monitored all the time through on board computers. You can pay them by the hour as shown on their logs and cross reference to make sure they're truthful. Drivers will have the same percentage of on-time deliveries whether they're paid mileage or hourly. If they are late, they lose their bonus, if they are consistently late, they lose their job. There's no reason why carriers can't pay drivers the way everyone else gets paid.

There would not be many problems for paying a driver hourly while under a load. True, its generally predictable time from point A to point B, the problem would occur on waiting on loads and the loads that the consignee wants delivery past transit times (500 mile load we want in a day and a half, not in a day). Especially the way the economy is right now. Its argumentive that the economy is in a recession, but its a fact that trucking is in recession. So this would increase the payroll beyond layover pay and regular transit times, which currently no one would be able to transfer to a customer. Another problem is, and I currently have many hourly drivers, they do less work. If I put one of my hourly drivers working on one of my accounts that I pay per load, the hourly gets less loads turned in a day, but its not due to safety. Longer lunch, take longer talking with people (It took me 30-45 minutes to get my paperwork from the cute blonde shipper). In order for transportation to go hourly, all the trucking companies would have to change. Take every big carrier you can think of, and they do not even add up to 10% of the trucks on the road. That would be the first challenge, the second would be getting the shippers, the one who are paying the freight charges, to accept an increase in rate that this would cause. We all know that if they dont have to take an increase they wont. And they would not, because there would be trucking companies underbidding, which in turn means they are paying less per hour to the drivers. (This would inturn put good paying companies out of business because they can not lower the rates, and meet their expenses)

I do forsee in the distant future that the OTR truck driver will mostly go away. As companies follow the examples of Walmart, Target, etc.. that create distribution centers that are responsible for stores within 200 mile radius, we will see more companies become local or regional only. This does not include the power of the rail.

Millions of people make hourly wages and are highly productive in their work.

Very true, but they are better supervised, and generally in a predictable line of business that pays better margins then the best trucking companies out there get (20% Operating ratio, expenses divided by revenue, is one of the best OR's in trucking, and there are not many of those out there). If you have to lay off office workers, you have no overhead that is still attached to that position. If you lay off drivers, your still paying for the trucks, as either lease payments or depreciation expenses. Not sure what a good answer would be. I do favor a percentage based pay. That way its still incentive based, and if you like to take your time and sight see, its your pay. If you deliver late and now have to wait another day to deliver, it affects your pay. You can technically tie in fuel costs to a percentage base pay, so if drivers watch their idle and mpg, they can earn more, or less if they dont care. If I win the lottery, then I would start my own company based on this.

They gave me that line that they never force drivers to drive tired. It's a ##### lie and you know it. People like that give trucking a bad name, they cause death, and ruin families. But that's all ok because the cost of settlement is less than what they'd lose if they didn't make drivers work tired.

I am sorry to hear your previous company expected that out of you. I can not comment on them, as I do not work for them, or hold a management position there. My terminal, we practice what I preach. It starts with me, and the DM's and FM's make sure it happens. Of course it's easier for our company to repower a load from a driver and still make ontime delivery then it is for smaller companies. This also is not just at my terminal, but across the company. We are self insured up to the first 10 million, so it makes zero sense to push a driver illegally on a load that probably pays less then $1000 (after expenses we would profit 30-100 dollars), and open ourselves up to exposure for up to 10 million.