Central Refrigerated Truck Stop

Best of luck where ever you go! Know you are always welcome in our little corner of the forum!

 

Thanks, widow! I may just post up my progress here as well, lol.

Can anyone here tell me if they've had any experience with Swift, whether it be driving for them or just being around them on the road? I've been doing tons of research on em', but I'd like to know what you guys here think of them..

 

Now come on I really really don't want to be Canadian. Please wait just one more year before you give us to Canada. Will have finished my degree and out of this dying state.

 

Ignore PM Jess I figured it out finally

 

Some of the best parking lot accidents I have ever seen have been with Swift trucks lol. Though when you have like 18k trucks on the road the odds kind of stack in your favor for it being your companys truck.
Also be it Central or Swift, you will still be one of Jerrys Kids. Since he owns 100% of Swift again, after his buy back like 3-4 years ago, and he owns majority of Central, though family members own like 49%.

It is honestly probibly not that different. They just have allot more trucks and allot more drivers. That means more trucks and more drivers fighting for limited freight. Also if Jerry does ever have to declare bankrupcy at a company, I don't know which one he would let fail.
Personally if I were him it would be the larger one, then he could down size and start fresh again. Since he started swift with 1 truck (different name then) he can do it again.
I honestly dont know why he did not downsize swift more when he bought it back. They had lost allot of contracts while they were publicly held. He needed to get a little smaller and focus on the contracts he still had. Then strive to get new ones once he was set to go.

But good luck with them. Hopefully trucking will be everything you hope it will be.

 

LOL you got ur answer anyway

 

that was my first thought too. But that comes frome inexperiance and trying to back too fast imho.
Like was said good luck with swifty

Oh and thanks Jess

 

Hey guys, I am looking at Central really hard as a wannabe and have a question. I had a DWI back in 1985 in Oklahoma. The trick is that I was in the Military carrying a Texas DL. OKC would not recognize it and issued me a temp number, therefore the DWI has never shown up on my Texas DL. Should I be concerned?

 

Since coming back to AZ from Central's program, I've spent some time looking into other trucking companies. Swift's headquarters are here in Phoenix on 75th ave. in an area filled with transportation related businesses. Nice set-up, about the same as Central's or a bit larger even. A string of new dark blue T2000's lined up in the front, similar to Central's red 386's that were there when I was. They have a separate office bldg devoted to recruiting and related tasks, including a (very expensive) training simulator. Training trucks were newer than Central's and one day I followed one out of curiosity. They didn't go anywhere challenging and stopped for some reason after a few minutes. Too hot to get out so I didn't talk to them.
I can tell you this, their recruiters are absolutely pathetic when it comes to returning phone calls!! Traci in particular is useless. Cindy is OK, but not overly helpful. I think I have finally come to the conclusion that they have been ignoring me because they don't want to take a risk on someone with my recent health history and age. Can't blame a company for that I suppose. The economic realities of the times dictate how much risk a company can accept. Still, a phone call would have been nice.
Moyes ownes both co.'s, so I suspect their policies are the same. Their pay is some what different however. I got a recruiter to give me a copy of their "linehaul driver pay plan".
Training Pay: $450 WKS 1-4
$500 WKS 5-6 ( with a different finishing trainer )
After that mileage pay is variable based on 1) length of dispatch, 2)driving experience, 3) west or east ( not sure how that is defined. Miss. River?)
For example: no exp., 300+ mi, west = $0.25.
@3 mos., " " = $0.26.
@4 mos., " " = $0.28.
@6 mos., " " = $0.30
@9 mos., " " = $0.31
@1 yr., " " =$0.32
@2 yr., " " =$0.33
@3 yr., " " =$0.34
@4 yr., " " =$0.36
@5 yr., " " =$0.38

Drivng in the east would generally pay .01 more, and occasionally .02.
I obtained this info from Swift about the first of August.
If the numerous postings from other drivers are to be believed, it would appear that Swift has more than its share of dissatisfied drivers. Almost makes working at Central seem like working for Nike ( free lunches, massages, personal trainer, etc. )
I have spent a good deal of time recently looking at other options as well. For any who may be interested, one other company that stands out is Millis Transfer. They also have their own school; three wks, $2500 with $500 required up front, at least 6 weeks with a trainer and probably the best training pay around: wks 1-2 = $500
" 3 = $550
" 4 = $600
" 5 = $650
" 6 and up = $700
Unfortuantely, most of their freight is in the east, lots of beer runs from AB in St. Louis and they don't hire much from the western states - at least not from AZ. http://www.mtidriving.com/index.html
Interstate Dist. offers their reefer drivers $0.37 mi with one year experience. And they don't use HHG to figure miles.
Whatever direction you choose to go I hope you are able to see it through to the end. So often life's journeys take us down roads we never initially imagined.
Personally, I hope to finish at a local school what I started two months ago in SLC. Shaffer is hiring recent CDL graduates and they look promising at this point.

 

Lextec and I are set to be on the bus in a little more than 7 hours. We are mostly packed (I have to add just a couple of things, remember I am a woman). It seems like so much stuff to bring though (3 bags and our laptop bags). It can all fit at the end of the bunk and still give us room to sleep, scrunched up it may be a bit, but it should work (thank goodness I am not 6' like my sisters). I can't wait to get the workwell test over with. I sort of slacked off and didn't run through everything yesterday, just my horrid 50 lb up to eye level. They said we may go straight to the Ramada, depending on how many couples show up.

Ssccrab, good luck at Swift. When Lextec was trying to go through and evaluate the different companies, he couldn't get anyone to answer EVER, and the voicemail for the recruiters was ALWAYS full. Keep us updated. I hope things go well.

Chipper, thank you for all of your kind words. I do hate that we won't be kicking you out of the dorms. I really do hope things go well for you, and that you continue to let us know how you do.

Poobah, thank you for all of your posts too. You are a tremendous help.

Jess, I want some buscuits! JJ could bring some when he comes back through the terminal to drop off his latest student.

6-pak, I really hope all the new people didn't scare you off, and we are hopeful to see you as our trainer on the 8th (or whenever it is).

We will keep y'all updated someway as to what is going on. I think I'll go through withdrawls, no forum reading for the next two days. How many pages am I gonna have to catch up with when we make it through the bus ride?