Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

Don't get me wrong I have had a plan all along I plan to stay with Swift until my training period is complete.

However this trucking industry is even more currupt then I had ever imagined. It seems someone with access to the DMV or someone inside of Swift has sold info to all sorts or other trucking companies. I have been contacted by 16 diffrent companies since I was issued a CDL A liscense.

I plan to get back on another truck here pretty soon and finish my 6 weeks training and then move to a company who can help me more then I can help them. Some people got into trucking for one reason or another and sadly out of the 143 people who were in my class they joined swift because thier local news papers advertised trucking, military, and nursing and this was the end of the road for them.

I did this because it is exciting. I love to drive and travle and to get paid for it at the same time is just a bonus. I still don't let the company abuse me though. I can easily walk away from this company and choose another one and they know it. Whenever I have been having a problem I go to the top man in charge I can find and explain my concerns and let him know he can fire me or I can walk out the door at any moment. They know I can drive so they let me say what I want for the most part.

You people I see here are kind of taking it as the companies give it to you. If I were you which I'm not but if I were I would start treating the companies like they are treating you. Like they are disposeable. Make no mistake about it atleast 25% of the classifieds in the midwest region are nothing but trucking companies wanting drivers. So don't let them screw you over. Remember if everyone just up and walked off thier job and had a non unionized strike the country would stop and even the big companies like Swift and Hunt would be up a creek without a paddle.

 

Professor, I agree with your post. Drivers shouldn't take abuse from any company. But unfortunately, companies like Swift resort to DAC "dirty-trickery" to make examples of drivers who don't roll over and take their abuse. These companies will stain drivers' DAC reports in an effort to keep them on (a driver with a stained DAC can't as easily go somewhere else) or to keep them out of competitors' rigs if they do leave. Yeah, these companies will go that far to reduce their turnover and to tame their competition, and drivers get caught in the middle--a sort of "spider web", if you will.

I know you can go somewhere else if you really wanted. But I bet if you are a driver like me, somebody who stands up for himself and doesn't roll over and take abuse, you will find only bad companies will hire you after your stint at Swift. This is because vindictive ol' Swift will burn your DAC somehow. They'll find a way, you bet. They'll try like hell to keep your paws off some other company's steering wheels.

So. With a burned DAC, what choices do you have? What good is going somewhere else if all you're doing is changing the color of your hood? No good company is gonna hire you with a burned DAC. And if I left Swift, I'd wanna be moving UP....not over. There's no sense in moving if you're moving horizontally. You want a BETTER outfit when you leave that company.

 

ProfessorSwift.You are right on about Swift.Problem is that a lot of young drivers just starting out dont know a good co.from a bad one.I did a short stint with them earlier this year.I didnt ck.them out before I signed on,(bad mistake).I have about 8 yrs.experience,and if I would have found this sight earlier I never would have went with them.The minute I got thru orientation,I started seeing red flags here and there,for instance we have a run for you going to Laredo,TX.but first you have to do a couple of undesirable short runs for us.Then they sent me to the west coast and left me out there,they kept telling me there was no eastbound freight.Now I have nothing against the west coast,but when it aint home it gets mighty discouraging running freight between CA.and WA.Its a beautiful part of the USA,but it aint home to me.Thats just a couple things that I definitly didnt like about them,there are many more.I told them when I finally got back east,(dont ever do that again).They want to control their drivers,and after they found out I wouldnt take any crap off of them,things started to change.A new dispatcer,who honestly tried to do right by me,but by then I had the co.figured out and the damage had been done.I lasted 4 months with them.I think you are doing the right thing by sticking out your training with them,then move on to a better company.I am now getting ready to make my first run with Roehl Transport.I think they are a good co.,but only time will tell for sure.Stay with this sight,and I think you will have an easier time sorting out the good from the bad.The people here had a large infuence on my decision to go with Roehl.They seem to tell you like it is not a bunch of BS,like Swift.JB,and other recruiters do.Good luck on your driving career.

 

Road, sounds like you're taking a road I may take soon. I, too, was once ensnared at Swift. I was right out of trucking school and didn't know which companies to go with. I naively believed all trucking companies were/are the same....what a mistake. I quit driving a while back, and I even got rid of my license. Now I may be starting up again, and this second beginning is gonna see me choose a much better company than Swift.

I hope Roehl works out, man. I may be over there in six months or less.

 

Tip ,good luck if you decide to go out again.I was an experienced driver who got tangled up with Swift.I kind of figured at the time that there was a merger betwenn Swift,and the old MS Carriers.Found out very soon it was a buy out by Swift.I am now going out with Roehl,and I will be posting my opinions of them here.I hope I have made a good choice,but only time will tell.I hope I will be able to post that they are indeed a good co.Talked to dispatch today and I am leaving out on Sat.Sept.2,and I will be assigned truck 3913 every other week.That means I can be home every other week to work on my old 55 Chevy pickup and do a little woodworking,in my spare time.Oh yeah and most important is to spend quality time with my wife.

 

this person sounds like he or she is part owner of swift.... you are able to be a mentor in as little as six months and i have heard the stories up front... from dirvers themselves.... they are leaving swift as we speak and im not just talking about the ones on their six week training... im talking about the ones in school are already tring to find somewhere else to work when they finish the schoo.... this place is a joke and if you go to work for them don't say you weren't warned

 

Hey, thanks, Road Dog. I tried to go with M.S. once, but my work history kept me out. I wasn't "stable" enough for them, so I went with Swift. Man, oh man.

I remember the day Swift bought out Mike Stearns's company. 600 M.S. drivers quit that day.

 

Hello. I went to a Swift Driving School when I started driving. I worked for the company almost a year afterwards. I would like to say that the teachers I had in school were great! They all had alot of years under their belt and knew what they were talking about. I think alot of problem is that most of these companies only offer school for around 3 weeks. There is to much information to teach in that short of time. I don't think it's the driver's fault most of the time. Swift Transportation as a company is very poorly operated. New drivers are treated like a # from the date of hire. They push students through that may not be ready to be on their own. As a matter of fact, while I was in school a student had a serious accident while testing with the DMV. The student crossed over the interstate and hit a ford explorer head on. You can just imagine what happened there. I went to school with alot of great people and none of them were dumb by any means. The truth of the matter is that Swift Transportation treats their drivers like crap. I plan on writing an article on my experiences with them in the near future. You WILL NOT believe what I went through.

 

I went to school with swift and worked for them. The company is a joke! The pay is crappy and the driver managers are worse! Most of my classmates found other employment while they were in school. I would cut my left arm off before I would ever consider working for them again!

 

Not correct. I know for a fact they will offer your a mentor position sooner then one year. I work for the company I watched a service cord offer the position to a guy who said he has only been alone for 3 months. The service cord insisted he take the position.