About to go very OTR with Swift

Discussion in 'Swift' started by Driver#3141592, Jun 26, 2020.

  1. Driver#3141592

    Driver#3141592 Light Load Member

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    From the sound of it I'll only be physically going to orientation for one day. Due to the pandemic I'll be doing most of my orientation online and then going in for one day for a road test, drug test, physical, etc. I was told to expect to go back home for a day or two while I wait for the drug test results to come back and they I should be assigned a truck.
     
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  3. Driver#3141592

    Driver#3141592 Light Load Member

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    Jun 26, 2020
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    In fairness I haven't said anything good about Swift (at least not yet). I haven't even started orientation yet. They could turn out to be absolutely awful. They seem to be the best company for me right now on paper so that's who I decided to go with. In fairness, as I pointed out earlier, my driving experience is a bit stale so I don't exactly have a ton of options. Still, I'm pretty optimistic that this might work out well for me. I guess I'll find out.

    That being said, my recruiter has been awesome. If anyone is thinking about going with Swift I highly recommend you call John Smith directly at (800) 555-123 [Just kidding].
     
  4. bryan21384

    bryan21384 Road Train Member

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    You come off as a smart guy, with great intentions and willing to work, and run anywhere. You're going to do great at Swift. I wish you all the best luck getting back out here.
     
  5. rachi

    rachi Road Train Member

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    Im surprised that they are not going to make you do a "refresher" where they make you ride around with a "trainer" for a week or two. Anyway, good luck, sounds like you got a good plan.
     
    born&raisedintheusa and Coffey Thank this.
  6. dptrucker

    dptrucker Road Train Member

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    depends on his drive test.
    I was out of a truck for 3 yrs and they was going to give me a truck rite away.
    I didn't know how the elogs worked so I did a 50 hr with a trainer.
     
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  7. Ffx95

    Ffx95 Road Train Member

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    I only remember the first 10 digits assuming round up. 3.141592654
     
  8. Driver#3141592

    Driver#3141592 Light Load Member

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    Here's a question. I have about 5.5 years of OTR driving experienc all of which is verifiable (it's for bigger companies and it's all on my DAC report which I have a copy of). All of it is from the last 12 years. I only have about 2 years of experience in the last 5 years. How many years of my experience should I be expecting them to count when placing me on their pay scale? My recruiter gave me the impression that they'd be counting me as having 2 years of experience. He also threw out the number 42 cpm as my starting pay although he provided no context for it such as which coast that represents. Am I getting ripped off if they count me as having 2 years experience or does that sound fair?
     
  9. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    Since they could have you starting out as a new driver at base pay, it would seem fair to me.

    They are giving you that 2 years in the last 5 years, wherever it fell in that time. But 1 year off could start you at the very beginning.
     
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  10. Driver#3141592

    Driver#3141592 Light Load Member

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    I've been reading through the thread about Swift terminals and a lot of them sound like they're worth avoiding. That makes me wonder how Swift's fuel routing works. One company I worked at assigned us specific fuel locations with each dispatch that we had to use. Another company gave us a list of authorized fuel locations and let us choose any locations we wanted from that list. Does Swift do something similar to one of them? Or something completely different? If it's assigned locations then I guess avoiding a certain terminal won't work since I could get assigned to fuel there on any given load.
     
  11. Moosetek13

    Moosetek13 Road Train Member

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    We are given fuel stops, but now there may be 2 or 3 to choose from.

    I take the fuel stops with a grain of salt.
    If I am picking up a heavy load I may bypass the fuel stop and call later for another.
    And I tend to never fuel at terminals if I have enough to get me a bit further. I like points and shower credits, and hate the extra time it takes to go to/through the terminal.
    Swift doesn't like that attitude, but...
     
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