I've just completed the driving academy, I will have orientation around Feb.3 ish, after that will go on road with mentor for 6 weeks. I became cool with on of my class mates and he wants to team up. I would like the advise of some experience drivers in this reagrards. I leaning towards doing it because I figure the truck will keep moving and at min, I know we can pull in about $50k a piece in our first year. Thats doesn't include the couple of raises Swift gives you during the first year.
You'd be much better off teaming with an experienced driver and benefiting from his experience . There's a lot you didn't learn in the academy .
Oh ok, now in terms of income I kind of figured it out. I figure as a team we will have to get 5-6k miles a week in order to make it worth while. Anything less than that will be just about the same pay as a solo driver. I'll contact the recruiter to see what the average team miles are and go from there. Unless someone on hear knows???? Thanks for responding.....
Uhm... The recruiters job is to get you in the truck so they will tell you whatever they need to get ou in that truck. You want to hear 5-6k miles a week, they will tell yo 6-7k and a free lolipop on delivery. Runnning team isn't all that easy. The truck gets smaller by the mile and eventually you get on eachothers nerves. heck, even solo you get on your own nervesbeing stuck with yourself for long periods of time. I think team works okay for a married couple because they as a couple make the money together, you know it goes to the same household. However, I don't think team pays enough to for two separate individuals. It is easy to believe it is going to be a 50/50 split. However, it doesn't always roll that way. one driver may take 70% of the miles leaving you only 30%. so again, with a married couple no big deal, as a couple they get 100%, but for two separate individuals, kind of sucks for the one getting only 30%. If you are going to team, it would be wiser to team with someone more experienced.... You really don't know what it is like out here until your out here, what you learn in school is not enough and does not prepare you, it is like heading off to college after kindergarden, and with the so called training some companies provide you are only a smidge more prepared. I have been where your at, just out of school and trying to map out my future with an atlas of dreams and speculations. I have managed to do well and make my way fairly good, better than most have. I did it by not buying into the hype, not rushing into any decisions and setting myself up for success on the tails of the experienced drivers out here. I am glad I listened and I am better off for it.
i have a friend who drives for swift and she told me when you finish up with your mentor and head to the developmental fleet, that if you are running teams and if your partner blows a stop by being late and you are asleep in the sleeper. they wil remind you that you are a team and it is both of your responsablity to make sure the stops are made on time. just something for you to think about.
So do you want the advice of experienced drivers, maybe some sort of experienced team drivers from Swift or do you just want to ask the recruiter who doesn't have a clue what's going on with freight? I'm just asking. You'd be much better off asking here than the recruiter about this. I run team with my husband for Swift. The dispatch order for Swift is Team trucks, O/O trucks, Mentor trucks, solo trucks. So yes teams are at the top of the dispatch order and will do better for miles than solos most likely. MOST LIKELY It all depends on where the truck is and where the freight is. I'll be blunt, the likely hood of you running 6k a week in miles on the OTR fleet right now is not likely. Freight is slow. You'll be doing good to see 3500 to 4000 per week. And it isn't going to happen right away because after you do your mentor training you then have to be on the developemental fleet. You have to either be on the trans-con fleet or a dedicated fleet to run those miles every week all year long. We're on a dedicated fleet to W-M groceries and yes we run between 5-6 K a week in miles. But we're pulling reefers for W-M and that freight has gone up as the rest of the economy has gone down. Listen to the other drivers on this forum they have experience. I have less than a year experience but it is with Swift as a team. I realize you're excited and that is great, welcome to the Swift team! You're going to catch a great deal of......................crap from some drivers on this forum because you're Swift. LOL It's just the way life is. Please don't let your excitement cause you to not listen to good sound advice. Even if you don't take it.........do yourself a big favor and listen. Let me know if I can help you in anyway. I will if I can, we live in the PHX area and run out of Casa Grande. Use to be on the Phx OTR fleet. Oh.......one other thing: dress like a human!! Don't sag your pants, let your belly hang out and for the love of GOD don't urinate in the fuel islands. If I see you I'll take a photo and turn you into the company and there's a darn good chance I'll hurl a windshield wash bucket at your rump. Please don't embarrass the rest of us at Swift. Thank you.
Lavender, Gearrat, and Texas-nana, I thank you all for responding to my questions. Yes, I'm pretty excited. I passed the skills and road test this morning. I've made the decision to run solo. If it ever gets busy and teams is a high demand with many miles, then I'll look into it at that time. Hopefully I get hooked up with a good and clean mentor. I heard some mentors request students with a high road test score. I scored an 9, so I thinks that pretty good. I know I have LOTS to learn, but I know for a FACT I'm not gonna tear up any transmissions. Texas-Nana, I'm a firm believer appearance is EVERYTHING to me.
Awesome... It does feel good to get that test out of the way. I am actually a bit erked right now, the yahoo I am running with is being moody and stupid ever since he realized we weren't going to play around, date, or whatever, that I am here to learn and drive... So... to punish me for not doing the "natural male/female" thing as he says... he has gone off somewhere and left me inthe truck with no friggin keys... It isn't too cold out thank goodness... however, I don't like the truck unlocked when I go in to eat or use the restroom... However, he may have cooked is own goose... because one of the bosses called me and asked me to get an empty weight... Told him I couldn't cause I have no keys to the truck and yahoo is gone..... he called back a couple hours later and yahoo wahs still gone... He was pissed that I have been left here with no keys and no idea where yahoo is or when he will return.... I told him that figured he was just being moody because I rejected his advances and the boss really didn't like that... He had told him not to pull any of that bs with me.... Oh also, the boss wanted to know how we both missed the suspension thing in our pre-trip... and so I explained that yahoo doesn't do pre trips or post trips and I was sleeping after driving 11 hours straight and was tired and went to bed... So... cooked goose anybody.... Although this is not a good experience running with this yahoo... I am actually glad in away, because I have been so blessed with having had good professional drivers train me, that running team didn't seem like it would be bad. However, I now realize that teaming can be difficult if you are placed with an idiot like I have been this trip. Anyway, the boss is going to get us back and have a word or more with this yahoo... So, I just have to deal with it a bit longer... It is almost comical however, because I know he is trying to get a reaction out of me and I have no intentions of giving him that satisfaction... He is too under armed to have a battle of wits with me.
