Swift - New Pay Scale complete details

1. Swift is a good choice for starting out. Pay attention to the number of drivers at Swift that have been here quite a number of years. Once you get onboard there are opportunities for you to get into dedicated, local, team, flatbed, and/or training/mentoring.

2. 3 weeks would be the LOW side of how long it will take you to finish training. You need to complete 200 hours of behind the wheel driving experience. Normally that takes about 4 weeks on average. I've had trainees take as little as 23 days or as long as 48 days. MUCH will depend on how motivated YOU are to DRIVE.

3. The FLEET average for OTR drivers is hovering around 2000 miles per week. However, that includes EVERYONE. There always seems to be a significant portion of the total OTR fleet that need significantly more home time or want to live a lifestyle on the road that includes frequent breaks or lack of pressure to meet deadlines. Once planners and DM's figure out how YOU run they will plan you accordingly. Every driver's performance is tracked for total miles per week average, on time percentage, percentage of available time to drive actually spent driving, etc. etc. Longer runs that have critical deadlines are given to "runners", while shorter runs with wide open windows for delivery are given to the "Lazy Larry's".

If you are motivated to drive OTR and can stay out on the road for 4-6 weeks at a time and know how to "run and gun" and learn how the system works and communicate well, then averaging 2500 miles or more is EASY. When I run solo I consider a bad week to be anything less than 2800.

 

No... that's what maverick does too I believe... .36 or .46... screw that.

 

Its all tempting, but I enjoy my privacy... don't care what the excuse is for the camera, accidents or not. Sounds stupid but I have my reasons why I'd like to protest this.

 

Here's my thoughts regarding the upcoming camera system:

I don't mind having an outward facing camera. Been thinking about installing my own system anyway. I've personally got mixed feelings regarding the inside the cab system. As long as it is only used as advertised, to record 10 seconds before and after a critical event is triggered, then I don't see any big issue with that. I've never triggered a critical event and don't really expect to be doing so, so it's a mute point as far as I'm personally concerned.

I also recognized the potential for abusing the system if the company in the future decides to take random videos that aren't triggered by a critical event. In that case what's to prevent a driver from simply using handy dandy fix-it-all duct tape?

 

I agree, a camera capturing the events ahead, fish eye lens, makes a million more sense than to capture the driver. What are they looking for? Driver didn't have 2 hands on the steering wheel? All drivers in the fleet will be punished if they don't check the mirrors every 12-15 seconds... I'm just against the idea that a camera is facing your living space 24/7......... I don't care if you have curtains or not, its just freaking weird and I'll never get used to the idea.

 

From my read through of the marketing materials, the system is recording a continuous loop that will only save and send a 20 second segment if you have a critical event. That seems to be how Swift will implement it, but what we DON'T know is whether the system is capable of being programed to "capture" segments in anything other than a critical event.

Right now if someone records a Hard Braking Event, overspeed, or trailer tilting too far because you are taking a corner too fast then Safety will get a record of the event with a Google Satellite View and Street View of the exact location, speed, time of day, weather, etc. What they don't know is what the driver was doing just before the event. Talking on a hand held phone? Fixing a sandwich? Looking in the left mirror as they are changing lanes to the right? There ARE a minority of drivers in the fleet that are generating the vast majority of CE's. I can see value for Safety to be able to review with a driver exactly what they are doing that is putting them and the public at risk.

Do I want to have an inward facing camera? Not really. At least not one I would control.

Duct tape fixes a plethora of problems.

 

You don't really think that they're going to be ok with you covering the lense, do you..? They pick up on that as soon as you start the truck, and you will get called #### near immediately.

Now, the company that I was with for a while that had cameras, they were OK with you "hanging your hat on it" when you were parked. It's better than nothing to guarantee privacy when you're off duty.

 

This is what I see as the biggest concern. I've had one critical event in over 2 years. But I don't know if these would be programmed to just capture critical events or would it be any time we hit the brakes harder without causing a CE or if we nail a pothole or...

And then there's just the issue of having this thing pointed at you. I have a dashcam already and wouldn't be as much (key phrase "as much") concerned with just an outward facing camera but one facing me is where I would draw the line.

 

Also, don't they audio record every sound you make in the cab?

 

This is the precise flawed logic they will use from corporate. "You've never had an event that would trigger it". Lepton I respect you so don't take this wrong. If that's truly how you feel then ask corporate this question. If I don't have to worry then why are you making a capital investment in an Orwellian device to be installed in my truck. Oh btw, if the camera lenses are obstructed, it's a critical event. When they installed these in school buses you couldn't start the bus if the cam was inoperable.