Swift Flatbed Division... ?!

@RedRover

A follow up to my post, in case your mentor doesn't teach you these things to maximize your earnings:

Swift dispatches are in the form of load offers over the Qualcomm. You also receive a text with the offer, but if you are away from your truck (like on home time and they are giving you a load to pick up when your home time is finished and the truck is at a terminal) you can call your driver manager (DM) to review the load and have them accept it for you.

Swift uses a computer program called "Plus One" to generate load offers. It means they are trying to get you to do one more load each week. Often you will receive a load offer with times for pickup and delivery that seem either too tight or too much time. In those cases, before accepting the load or using Mac 9 to accept the load with alternative times, call your DM and ask, "What are the windows?". The load offer may say you have to deliver by 6:00 am, but the DM might say the customer will accept anything up to midnight. When this is the case, just accept the load "as is" and wait until you do you Loaded Call to give the ETA that YOU think you can make.

If the load has TOO much time, making you sit for a day or two, then after getting loaded you can call your DM and try to request a "T-call" and a terminal along the way. A "T-call" means you drop the trailer at a terminal, turn in your paperwork, and then you are ready for another load. Some other driver will hook to that trailer a day or two later to make the delivery.

Think strategically and ALWAYS communicate with your DM if you think there might be issues with a load. Keep them updated with your ETA. The load planners will use your ETA to look for your next load. If you are going to be earlier than the original ETA, update that with... Mac 32 IIRC.

Get yourself to Platinum status as soon as possible. When you get there you can use a Qualcomm macro to request up to three loads to choose from. It's not difficult to get Platinum, and it gives you an extra $0.04 a mile quarterly bonus.

 

I ran vans just long enough to get us to Phoenix. About 4 weeks. What I do know about mileage is for teams. However many miles we can drive they have. Because teams are rare in flatbed, the majority of our runs to get us rolling are 1200 plus. From there we may do some shorter runs to get us to freight for another long run. We have broken 8k twice. Lowest has been 5500, not counting time down for truck repairs. Biggest benefit for team flatbed is speed in securement and tapping. We run all over the country. Not just triangle. Only place we have not been yet is northwest coast. We are both from Texas and can get there anytime by letting our DM know we want to head to Texas. They will get us a load to Laredo or hook us to a van. Yes if we miss a load on Friday we will run time sensitive vans all weekend to keep running. We've been on flatbeds for 8 weeks now.

The learning curve was not steep, because Phoenix had a great securement class and we both drive very carefully which makes life easy. Backing is different, but as with everything, practice makes perfect. The best part is being away from van pulling. Flatbedders are a much more enjoyable group to work with. It's a night and day difference!!!

 

Believe me, I wasn not saying not to answer dispatch or DM. But sometimes it's better to let it go to voice mail until you have your wits about you before you respond. In a factory they just come pull you off the line.

 

I wouldn't count my eggs with this company worked for them for 6 years out of Utah.. and they lie and decive drivers.

 

You need to tell the whole story instead of drive by sniping. Many people do well there. Based on the other thread you started you either leased and/or are just a piss poor money manager. Now you are looking for every Swift thread.

@RedRover don't pay any attention, I know guys that were successful at Western express.

Your success or failure rests on your shoulders. How can some drivers do good while others do not? The failures are the ones sitting in the truck stop pissing and moaning. The successful ones are those that piss and moan going down the road.

 

I messed up on that last thread and was trying to figure out how his forum works I am new to it. Piss poor money manger I am not. You don't work for a company for 6-7 years as a o/o and struggle its time to go. The miles no matter what are inconsistent as hell. When your a O/o they are not supposed to take loads after your commited.. well seems like a weekly episode on the Costco dedicated side of thin in wvc.. they alone because of that were constantly making me either negative or leave me a settlement take away about 200 bucks! Can you live on that? Cuz if u can your a better man than I.

 

Good for you. It seems that you have the right attitude for open deck freight. I think you will do well.