Swift Is Good

I assume you are running team or mentoring. If not, they will probably be calling you in for a manual log audit with those kind of miles.

Actually the comments about getting rid of experienced drivers is bogus. I just spoke with a driver the other day who hired on with them three months ago. Because of his OTR experience he was started out at $0.39/mile. And as for freight, he said he is running between 2,800 and 3,000 miles per week.

Training is an expensive venture. Even mentored drivers are expensive because they pay the mentor a penny a mile more for the first year a driver drives.

Regarding comfort zones, if you work right within them you can make good miles. But you need to be willing to take a load outside th zone if that is all that is available. When I drove for them they were good about getting you back into your comfort zone if you took a load out. It may take a load ortwo but they will do it.

 

Pawpaw,comfort zones dont get you the miles,i dont know when you worked for swift,a small few!And dont be a hater,if you do your logs right even an audit randomly or every week because your logs are sloppy.YOU SOUND LIKE A RECRUTER OR DM, Drive Safe,IM OUT, Lost Dutchman.

 

I agree 48 gets best miles but I also know I got real good miles within a particular comfort zone. Maybe that has changed. As flor the log comment, I was just joking. You stated you were getting 5-6K per week which is impossible for a solo in a Swift truck because I know from the past that the most you were allowed to legally log in one day was 693 miles and 693X7=4851 and that would mean all driving with no deliveries. That is why I began the statement the way I did aobut making assumptions about your status as either a team or mentor.

Why is everyone around here wants to call people recruiters? Can a person make positive comments about a company or share information from their perspective without being called a recruiter or DM? I was sharing how I was able to make miles while running a comfort zone. You have apparently had problems getting miles in a comfort zone and that is fine. I was just trying to point out that there is an ability to make good miles in a comfort zone.

Have a good day.

 

LD your right 48 gets you higher miles but when I ran southwest I did 2600 to 2900 per week. I had more shorter runs (less then 400 miles) then I did the big ones. But I did more back to back loads with little wait. A number of times I had 3 or 4 stacked up.

 

I still think that Swift is picked on needlessly. I see so many Swift trucks on the Interstates, and have yet to see one screw up, and I have seen others screw up...I don't work for them. I am a four wheeler, but I live in an area that has a lot of Swift trucks and have traveled I-80 and I-15, and I-70, and 40 and 64 and 664 and 81, without seeing any of their trucks in a bad situation. I mean NONE! I have seen others in HOT spots and in accidents....Why pick on Swift?

 

How long ago were you doing Southwest? Those are good miles.

 

Pawpaw its been about 1 1/2 to 2 years ago since I ran Southwest. I rearly refused any loads no matter what the distance.

 

Thanks, Desert Son. If all goes well, I will be back on with them by the first of December. I find it interesting that everyone makes comments about how unsafe Swift drivers are and yet, of the companies I have considered, they are the only ones who are making me go back through the training again since I have less than 3 months experience in the last year. I even tried to get out of it by pointing out that my recent experience with another company was longer than their training but the answer was the same. Since my mentor can skip over much of the basic stuff, I hope we can work on some real difficult backing situations.

I kind of think I like the southwest for this time of the year because it is limited on roads that get shut down but for the better part of the year I will either run 910 or all 48, probably the latter. I agree, turning down loads is not a good thing. I have done a lot of reading and studying trip planning and feel that that is key to making the loads work for you. I was at a disadvantage when I drove for them before because both mentors I had were on Costco Dedicated from Tolleson, AZ to the Denver area. We didn't have to plan those trips because it was pretty much the smae thing every time. I would drive from AZ to Albuquerque then my mentor would drive overnight (imagine that a mentor/trrainer letting the trainee sleep at night) to Denver and wake me up so I would get my backs in putting it into he dock. We would get a back haul out of Denver and usually leave by noon and I would drive to Albuquerque then he would drive overnight to Phoenix. Next day we would do it all over.

Do you still drive for them? If so are you out of Lathrop or Fontana? Wish me luck at orientation. I am not looking forward to the work well part of it since I am getting older and some things don't work as well as they used to.

 

I'm not with Swift at the moment but I will be going back for orientation on the 20th. I have been and will be out of Fontana. I agree with you about work well I could do with out it.
When I trained in 03 my trainer was with the Fedex dedicated. We'd leave Whitter, Ca he'd start driving around 22:00 pm then I would take over around 02:00. We'd do this Monday through Saturday and have Sunday off.

 

I started reading this thread last night and really enjoyed it. If you are new to the trucking industry or thinking about becoming a driver keep these thoughts in mind:
1)Trucking is a life style.
2)Trucking is not a forty hour 9 to 5 work week with saturdays and sundays off(in most cases). It runs 24\7.
3)The trucking industry is ALWAYS CHANGING!
New rules, laws, roads, trucks, engines and the list goes on. 4) It doesnt matter what company you start with, always refer
to rule number(1).