Diary of a current Swifty

Well, it wasn't a very long wait to get loaded. The warehouse guy told me he couldn't make me wait because, I quote, "that hat is just too cute." Being young and female certainly has it's advantages. However, by the time I was loaded, I barely had time left on my 14 to get to a truck stop, so I had to wait until this morning to drop in Memphis. I'm on the yard now, waiting for a preplan. I've been informed it might be a long wait.

 

Nope. Whatever gets the job done.

 

I had the rest of Saturday off. Sunday I went to Jackson, TN to pickup a load to Fort Smith, AR which delivered this morning (pd miles-444). I'm now in Muskogee, OK waiting for a load which will go to Sunnyvale, TX (pd miles-308 ). This should have been preloaded and ready at 1530, but the shipper is running behind and they haven't even started loading me yet. The delivery appt is 1630 tomorrow, but I was hoping to deliver early (that's allowed at this customer). Doesn't look like that's going to happen now. By the time I get out of here, I'll be too tired to go all the way to Sunnyvale tonight.

P.S. It's now the 8th and I'm not in Phoenix. They've been bad about my hometime requests this year. I hope this isn't a permanent trend.

 

Overall, I'm generally happy with Swift. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being best, I'd rate them an 8.

Pros: *Diverse company with lots of customers. If one customer goes under or is lost, it's not such a huge blow to Swift. *Truly a nationwide company with many opportunities for drivers who want to travel and for drivers who want to stay close to home. *Not much of our freight ends up on a train- Swift specializes in short haul and it just doesn't make sense to put a 4-500 mile load on a train. *Our equipment is kept in decent shape. *We are never forced to run illegal.

Cons: *You'll get razzed a lot by drivers who think Swift is just horrible and you must be too since you drive for them. *You may get a mentor who has only driven for 6 months. *If you take more than 3 days off you must clean out your truck and turn in the keys. *Their mechanics leave something to be desired- like skill.

That's all that's coming to mind right now.

If you want to know miles per week, go through my posts and figure it out for yourself. I don't keep track.

 

Ok, I got the load to Sunnyvale yesterday afternoon. They told me to go ahead and drop it even though it was scheduled as a live unload. From there, I ran a load from the Swift terminal in Lancaster, TX down to Laredo (pd miles- 440). I'm not sure how going to Laredo gets me any closer to Phoenix, but since the first Preplan they sent me was going to Valdosta, GA, I figured this was the lesser of two evils. After all, I'm not any farther from Phoenix here than I was in Dallas.

No preplan yet, but I'm not surprised. It generally takes a day or two to get out of Laredo.

 

I've been given a bit of leeway on this policy, too, but it is a policy and new drivers should be aware of it. I have heard of drivers getting their trucks cleaned out for them while they are on hometime or vacation. I generally plan on 3 days off, then I don't have to worry about it.