Diary of a current Swift flatbed driver

ok im going to start a thread on this. It has sparked some intrestin here.

It all started with an add in the Las Vegas classifieds. It was an add with AIT of Las Vegas. I called went through their training and got a pre hire with swift.
I started with Swift in December, was on the mentors truck for 7 weeks, they said they had a hard time getting a load back to phoenix thats why...
I got my first truck in febuary. It was a 2009 volvo. It broke down every two weeks like clockwork for the first 2 months. All four batteries, fan clutch and hub went out, starter went out engine was recalled truck had no #### nuts and it was a midroof. I ran it for 3 months then finnally decided to take some home time. I put a lil over 30000 miles on it in the 3 months.
When i was on hometime i got a call saying i was getting a new truck.
They gave me a 2010 Freightliner Swifts new flatbed model.
Ok first ill go over the bad things on the truck.
-It has not much room on the inside....they cut 18 inches off of the sleeper ni slot for a fridge/cooler
-The windshield leaks allready
-Cheap interior, how about some doors instead of cheap mesh nets for everything?
the interior is backwards the shelf is where your feet should go opposite side of the controls for the reading lite and heat control.

Now the pluses
-The truck has more power than the volvo. It pulls well the detriot 60 wasnt nuetured by swifts mechanics its 490 hp
-259 inch wheelbase...never over on the steers i have 6 slots left to slide the 5th wheel and every cat scale ticket the most my steers were was 12,100ish with a 48000 pound load!!
-The truck is light with a wabash trailer, full tanks and me in it it is 30,200 pounds( i dont keep much crap in it) a 300lb olimpic weight set is going on here soon though
-It has a rack for tarps, however they took the tarp rack off of the headache rack too so the steels go on the catwalk with my coil racks.
-The truck goes 63 on cruise verified by my rand mcnally gps.
-The jake works awsome,compared to the volvo
-The new frieghtliner headlights work great at night.

Now the flatbed management
-My DM rocks. He takes care of me was a flatbed driver for 13 years before becoming a DM, so if i have a stupid question i can ask him if i can reach him( he is overworked)
-The weekend guy hooks it up, you dont sit on the weekends, i only sat one weekend on a 400 mile trip but i needed to pull a reset anyhow so i wasnt #####in to much.
- IMHO flatbed is the way to roll wtih Swift, i hear horror stories about the van side

Mileage and trips
-I rarely get a trip less than a 1000 miles, longest trip i have been on was 3393 miles did it in 6 days with 6 stops!! plus it was 40 bucks a stop.
chandler to missouri,to michigan to jersey then 3 stops in conneticut, when that trip was done i had 45mins left on my logbook
I started driving this truck on May 6th today is JUNE 6TH while im writing this my odometer has 12,056 miles on it. 3000 miles a week! I got the truck with 8 miles on it BTW.

-Now some of the bad parts......LAREDO the armpit of the country. You will be their alot im heading their now, will be their tommorrow.
-The hassle with Laredo is the trailer inspection then Trans Mex comes and re tarps,chains or straps the load, then you take it to the broker, the way around that is a preplan you get one drop the trailer run in get the paperwork and leave.
-The other way they didn't like to much...I dropped the load off at the broker, took my stuff off of it and left, i didn't know better, i just went off of the load assignment , i got away with that 2xs, but in retrospect i only did what the #### computer told me to do.
-To me it seems the bulk of the frieght is hauling raw steel(coils in such) to laredo then hauling finished products made in mexico to manufactures,CAT ,Freightliner,ect...
-You get odd loads,Hay, copper annodes,chassis's(those are fun you drive em right on your trailer) lumber,pipe, PVC pipe
-Spools........I pulled one load of them so far. 20 #### chains!! that took a while to secure then tarp.
-Painted steel isn't fun it gets wet it slides. I picked up a load of horse fences in utah. Couple stops, ended in vegas. I picked the load up in the middle of the night it was sitting on the street! It was all banded together half assed couldnt fit belly straps anywere on it. i put all of my straps i had on it. Then i looked at the load, it looked tall so i broke out my tape measure and it was 14'3'' glad it was a west coast run!
-Coils are easy and fast, usually 6 chains and a tarp takes about 30mins to secure it once you get it.

-Odd perspectives from my point of view

-I like flatbed because everyone treats you decient.
-I never wait long for anything shipper/reciever
-The miles are their
-Usually allways have a preplan before i empty out
-Never got any grief for refusing a load, i only refuse them if i do not have the hours or for hometime. Sometimes the little ones up north get you in for a big run down south.
-I learned in the military the smaller the unit the better it is. It seems to apply with the big companys too.
-i wish i was on accelerated pay allready!! They don't count t-calls i guess towards your accelerated pay status. I need to talk to my DM about that.
-You get a little more exersize than van driving
-You can take a little more pride in your work, and it shows,tarping and securing ect...


If people show an intrest in this ill start taking pictures of the loads

 

ok i emptied out in laredo yesterday, got my load plan yesterday 2 stops in north carolina, tarp load, i didnt take pictures because i tarped it at midnite!! load only weighs 5000lbs. 1544 miles im shut down for the day by the louisana border.

 

also didnt have to drop at the freight forewarder, left the old load at the terminal, another flatbed guy started grilling we had steaks, french onion soup,corn on the cob, baked potatos, jamican jerk pork...all homemade on the laredo grill. Thats how flat bedders roll. Also we all help each other out. i had a guy voluntier to help me tarp my load because it was 13'4'' had to through the lumber tarps up their.

 

ok sorry for the late update i was hanging out with an old Marine Corps buddy of mine in south carolina. Ok i finished the load up in North carolina they deadheaded me to south carolina i picked up 3 frieghtliner bus chasis and taking them to indiana. total of 871 miles ,a short trip for me though. anyhow i did 3641 miles last week. it was nice to see my first 1000 dollar paycheck!! I took pictures of the chasis ill post them tonight when im done driving gotta get on down the road.