Graduated from CDL school and just got my first offer! Swift!

You have to start somewhere, but you might want to wait for other offers.
Where do you live?

 

What is your goal, short-term and long-term? Have you decided the amount per week you need to make, how often you need to be home, how long you need to be home, when you get home, etc, etc., etc.? EVERYBODY wants to make good money, be home a good amount of time, etc. You need to put numbers on your needs and then compare what Swift drivers in that regional division are getting compared to what you need to have happen for you to be happy. You are not going to change what the company gives you, you are going to get what they give drivers in that division, so make sure you figure out what YOU need to have to stay there. When you choose a company you are choosing the pay, conditions, benefits, amount/frequency of home-time whether you knew it or not.

 

Check with IWX Motor Freight before making a decision. A driver posted yesterday he's in orientation right now and the CPM is .70
IWX Motor Freight | With IWX You’re Covered.
The Equipment – Upgraded and Worry Free:
State-of-the-art Freightliner New Cascadia Tractors with Automatic Transmissions, Lane Departure Warning System, Premium Interior Package Including Heated and Ventilated Seats, Double-bunk Walk-in Sleepers, Power Inverters and Optional Sirius/XM Satellite Radio.

 

Magnum Companies – Innovation With Value

 

Do what is good for you. That being said, what's good for you is going to take a lot of research. I came out of truck driving school in 2000 and of course all the megas were showing up singing the praises of each of their companies.

I decided to go with a SMALLER company (no longer in business), they had about 200 trucks and pulled reefers. They touted 29 cents a mile! Assigned trucks and home every 2 weeks.

Reality, 23 cents a mile, no slip seating and I was lucky to see the front door of my house every 90 days. Matter of fact, it was 90 days before I saw my house, then another 90 days..Rinse repeat. The 29 cents a mile? 6 cents was a bonus paid quarterly if you ran so many miles per quarter. I made the mistake of mentioning that we were coming up on that bonus to my dispatcher and I needed X amount of miles to hit it...Guess what happened. NO MILES, suddenly I'm sitting for 3-4 days between loads, hundreds of miles from my house. Quarter ends, BAM LETS ROLL!

Do your time, USE your first company like they are USING you. Get your experience, protect your CDL, your PSP, your Drug and Alcohol Clearing house records.

If you make a mistake on the road, STOP, Don't compound a single mistake into MULTIPLE mistakes by continuing on.

Thousands of drivers start with SWIFT every year, do it better than everyone else. Good luck Driver.

 

Don't jump on the band wagon unless it suits you. Recruiters love to LIEEEE

 

Midwest? (pretty vague answer)
Regional? (also pretty vague)

Is that good, you ask?....

Well, let's see.....hmmmmm.....

With Swift -- you'll likely be out with a trainer for 3 weeks; at Schneider, I was with a trainer for 4 1/2 days....

If your Swift terminal is like many of them...there will be a number of drivers there who are "million milers"...or even more. They're a great potential learning resource. I never met anyone like that at my first home terminal.

As I write this -- there are other new drivers here on the Forum that would LOVE to be in your shoes -- with a solid offer from a solid company. But no one will hire them (for various reasons).

As I write this -- a good number (over 9,000) of drivers over at Yellow Freight get out of bed each day, and wonder if they still have a job with Yellow. You won't have that problem, with Swift. Ever.

Add all of the above factors up....and you tell the rest of us -- is that good?

-- L