Swifts new Idle policy

hell i wished i would get fired from my company, thatd give me a chance to get unemployment, and sit at home and try to find a good local job. i dont make enough money as it is and if i make a little less so what

 

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you are fired for violating company policy, you don't get unemployment... and their idle policy is in writing.

 

Depends on what state you live in... you can have a policy about "unsatisfactory job performance" and then call ANYTHING unsatisfactory. In Wisconsin, you have to be guilty of willful misconduct to lose unemployment. Trying to stay comfortable so you can get a decent night's sleep and operate the equipment SAFELY isn't willful misconduct in any Judge's eyes, company policy be ######.

My answer is: you don't want it to idle? pay for an APU or Idle Aire. Especially if you're gonna leave me sitting around for 2-3 days at a shot. I put 3000 hours on an APU in 10.5 months. I barely broke 100,000 miles (12k were already on there), and they had the balls to ##### about the hours on the unit. I simply said "MOVE the #### truck and the unit won't run as much!"

 

I know of five drivers that will quit in the next few weeks because of Swift's idle policy ... that will make around 20 drivers out of the same class that did not last 6 months for one reason or another.

Interesting

 

From what I have seen they will not fire you ... they will suspend you or not give you miles ... but it "appears" they perfer that you quit so they don't have to pay unemployment.

Or maybe Swift likes having 50 plus drivers sit at the terminals each weekend complaigning about not getting miles.

Who knows?

 

if you really want to be a smart arse. tell them you're glad it's the company that pays for trucks to sit around and not you.

as for the previous post that mentions giving drivers 4 gallons allotment. times that by 17,000 trucks or whatever swift has. and see how that goes over on the final bill for fuel.

hang in there guys. i'm working on a patent. trucks will carry more battery power. have inverters installed along with truck intalled space heaters and cab mount a/c's. and a newly designed high power alternator to make sure them batteries are fully charged at the end of your trip. won't cost anyone any fuel. PERIOD. elecricity will last 3 days on full battery power drain. without truck ever running. not that you'll be pulling full draw all the time anyways.

there's absolutely no reason something like that can't be built. and it's a heck of a lot cheaper then buying an apu. i'm sure extra batteries can be added to the truck somewhere. with worth case scenario might be building a bracket. extra batteries can be had for a cheap price. the alternator probably already has the capabilities of handling couple more batteries. although something a little stronger wouldn't hurt. it wouln't be nothing to change the thickness of the wiring to the alternator. inverters are relatively cheap. and heaters and a/c's are defenitly cheap. $500 - $1000 total cost. and the beauty of it all is that the truck already has an established electrical system. no extra components needed. other then the basic parts. no switches or wiring to the dash or what not. no engine to buy along with all the extra a/c components. or heater to tie in. ABOSLUTELY NOTHING and no extra bullcrap to keep breaking down. and the only fuel needed to make it run. IS THE FUEL BEING USED TO DELIVER YOUR LOAD. or pickup as the case may be.

now tell me that idea to build isn't a lot cheaper then buying a apu. it's defenitly a lot green as there no motor running to polute the atmosphere. and no fuel to waste. i mean, isn't the problem obvious? lack of portable electricity and accessories needed to maintain comfort. or a home style life living in a truck. it's an easy solution to fix.

i think the bigger problem about the almight apu is this. yes it saves on fuel. BUT, you are paying for that apu. if your a leaser. and most people don't finish there lease, or they do but have to trade the truck in as per company requirements. what happens to that apu??? it's a lot of time and money to install one of them puppies. are you paying to have that puppy removed and reinstalled on your next truck. cuz i hear a lot of trucks getting turned back in. apu and all. your all buying the apu. but i not hearing anyone keeping those apu's.

 

Just one more thing to think about, Snowwy. Any alternative to idling needs to keep the engine warm on cold nights as well.

 

i've thought about that too. the engines come with heater blocks. at least every truck i've been in had them. since they run on 110 vac. they would have there own inverter connected to the batteries. but that would kill the 3 days of battery electricity come winter time. a possible solution would be a heated oil dipstick. since it's more important to keep the oil warm instead of the antifreeze. antifreeze will flow no matter how cold. where as oil has a much harder time. so either a heated dipstick or some sort of heater coil screwed into the oil pan. i've seen dipsticks. haven't seen a coil yet so that probably needs to be invented.

 

Opti Idle if I remember (it's been almost 8 years since I had it!)
Set the brakes.
if you have a switch that says Opti it flip it on
if not just hit your cruise switch and the truck should idle up to about 900 to 1000 rpm and that's all there is to it.
Then set the temperature to your liking and enjoy.
Also set the jake to 3rd stage as you don't want to get shaken out of the bunk when it goes to shut down! Or think someone is tearing your hood off!
You own the truck? Take it to either Freightliner or a Detroit shop and have them set the parameters for you and to explain the way your system works or Google Optimized Idle instructions and see if that will get you anything. I had one where you had to wait for 3 minutes watching the dash for the blinkey yellow light to come on then hit the Opti switch then the cruise control! Drove me nuts till I got it back to the shop and had them reset the stupid thing to just hit the cruise control

Rollover

 

That is illegal as Hell. All the employees can file with the labor board and that will stop in a hurry.