Swift Gremlins

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Why do you call me goober?

 

There is a lot of BS in this industry but the 100% turnover is a very real thing. It is not hard to understand why it is 100%. If one spends any time working with, around, or for one of these mega-crap trucking companies like Swift it is easy to see.

Swift had a turnover of 130% just 8 years ago, so 100% turnover is a big improvement.

The driver shortage is only fake if you take the phrase "driver shortage" to mean lack of drivers. That, there is none and not likely to be one in the future. But if you are a company like Swift and treat you drivers like used toilet tissue, you are likely to fear that someday there might be a shortage of drivers you can crap on.

 

Hey I get it, that's ok ... but see the thing is like G., it doesn't matter to me what you read or not read, you like others seem to be the ones who think this is all about you and the company is out to get you at every turn because they have to deal with the customer and their demands.

 

It doesn't happen. If Swift as an example has a 100% turnover in any given year, that means every driver they have has exited the company and now has been replaced, that is rather impossible. If this happened, the cost to Swift just for the administration within their system would surpass the benefit of that driver in the first year which is the BEP.

Again this is impossible, no company can survive.

the shortage isn't with drivers, it is with drivers who are skilled enough to operate the truck safely.

 

I don't understand it Jerry, but out of the 1,000 drivers we hired this year 1,300 have already quit.

 

I don't understand it Jerry, but out of the 1,000 drivers we hired this month, 1,300 have already quit. That was Swift 2006/2007.

I don't understand what problem Ridgeline has in understanding that.

 

Keim TS is in Jasper. You won't sit and you'll make beaucoup bucks with your attitude. How did end up where you are?

 

I'll chime in on the driver turnover rate. Two years ago 50% of new drivers starting training with Swift either quit or washed out, and I think that is likely the current figure. About 50% that finish training don't last another six months.

I'm not sure what percentage actually make a full year, but already after six months you've lost 75% of your new hires. This is AFTER the 50% that quit or washed out in orientation. Throw in expected turnover from existing drivers with one or more years with the company, and it isn't hard to fathom how 100% turnover can exist with this business model.

The fact is being a trainer with Swift or other "training" companies is the highest paid position. Trainees make "bubkas". It's the reality of the situation. If you get into the gig as a new driver with your eyes wide open, then you have a better chance to reach your goal of one or two years experience and move UP in your plan.

Have a plan. Work the plan.

 

I was in safety at an outfit and if you see new drivers in classes every week what's that tell you. They aren't buying that many trucks every week.