Swift Transportation - What The Recruiter Didn't Tell You

What a concept!

 

Um...
Got that a bit mixed up.

It's 'work your tail off'.

Working off your tail is what lot lizards do.

 

At my one year mark I was at .35 cpm. .38 cpm if you count the three cent bonus for always being a platinum driver.

 

Is it safe to say for a new driver orientee you'll be making .25 cents a mile for 6 weeks?

How much per mile does it go to once you're solo?

 

No.... being "Solo" is being a new driver.... Being a student, you make a different pay point... It's changed in the last two years, since I was a student, and am no longer with the company. The hardest part about working for Swift, was taking so much crap from other drivers, because I worked for Swift... but even that was few and far between. Most drivers where very helpful and friendly. Giving out Bear reports, even from a Swiftie, were much appreciated.

 

Once I was solo it was $0.25 per mile for the first three months, or "X" amount of miles (I forget which). Soon after that it was $0.28 per mile. This was all for Western States. If you pick up and deliver east of the Mississippi River I think it is a couple of cents per mile more, but I never had that during my stint working solo.

Now I'm running a dedicated account on a team, running coast to coast, and averaging over 5000 miles per week as a team, so the pay is running at $0.33 per mile averaged (meaning I make $0.33 per mile for 1/2 the miles on every trip). This has been a good gig for running in the 1st quarter, when freight is slow.

One thing to bear in mind is that once you have a few months experience, you can let your DM know that you are interested in a dedicated account. There are opportunities for dedicated accounts once you have experience. Many drivers say that their recruiter "told them" that regional or dedicated accounts are possible. Sure they are. Once you have experience and have DEMONSTRATED that you can run on time and get the miles in, then dedicated accounts are possible.

 

Yep. I was solo on National for all of 6 weeks before I landed a dedicated spot with Target. The "trick"? 100% OTP (on time performance) and zero incidents. Show that you are a team player by taking every run offered that you can legally do on time. Don't reject loads just because of distance (they could be heading you to where the freight is) or destination (such as Northeast). Suck it up, buttercup, and enjoy "no northeast loads" after you land that dedicated position in Texas.

One bit of advice: Dedicated store accounts are boring as hell. The miles are consistent, and the CPM is usually better than National, but you are running the same roads and going to the same places day after day. People get bored, and jump to other positions/companies, so most locations have a position or two available.

Swift is aggressively going after dedicated accounts, so the positions are there. When you're at your local (or a nearby) terminal, talk to people. Talk to the person at the window. Ask who to talk to regarding dedicated accounts.

Good luck!

 

And the reason I stick with OTR. Dedicated is great if you need consistency in your life. My personality is the opposite.

 

I hear you. However, I was at 25 cpm, and couldn't pass up 43 cpm on the dedicated. Fortunately, when freight load permits, I can sneak out for a couple weeks of OTR fun.

 

You also have to watch out accepting a load that says "No appt time set yet". I accepted such a load and later received my delivery appt, which was 1 week to deliver 750 miles. Most terminals will let you T-Call your load, which is something the planners or DM should handle anyway but not always the case. Once you accept a load, they aren't as concerned or hard-pressed for time (you already commited). Then you hope thats not in a place where freight is slow.