Swift

There have been a few (Few, but existing) sucessful L/O here too.

I belive Injun leases? (I could be wrong) but I know some others talk of their sucess with fleece, but surely owning your own not lease would be best./

 

I used to drive for Swift for a short time but left because my home terminal (Ocala) could neve seem to fix the icon system on the truck when I went on home time. I would go home for 4 days and call in and was told it was fixed. I would drive to the terminal which was 4 hrs. away and get there and it was not fixed.So I went back home. I was told that It would go back in the shop for another 3-4 days call in same thing.This happened a total of 4 times. All I wanted to do is get it fixed on my home time so when I got back to the terminal I could just go and drive once I was planned for a load. I would like to go back to them but I didn't know you could be based out of terminal that is not in your zone which I liked the Columbus terminal and the one in Kansas. I have been not driving for the last 3 years so would I be able to go out with a trainer if I was hired on by a different terminal?

 

you can change home terminal mine is in ocala and i have had no problems like you but i also run dedicated.

 

Nobody is a true owner/operator until they have that title in hand and are running independent. Until then, everyone with a truck note is a lessor, in a manner of speaking. The only difference is the terms of the contract. As for operstor, well, I suppose the person at the controls operates the vehicle, but in this case, we are talking about business operations. The business operations are overseen by Swift and I haul loads their operating department has set up, therefore, my vehicle is technically "operated" by Swift. That's why I prefer the term Independent Contractor. Because as of right now, I neither own the truck nor operate the business that supports it.

 

Pittbuell would I be able to go out with a trainer if I got rehired? Hopefully they would not make me go thru the school as I just see that as a money maker for them. I can see going out with a trainer but not going back to cdl school because I have my cdl already.

 

You are a very close proximity thereof

 

Just a quick word on my experience:

I've been with Swift for going on 4 years. Year 1 sucked. I'll be honest, I HATED driving. I didn't go home on Holidays when I was in college (Went to School at UT-Knoxville, Lived in Clarksville, TN) I hated driving so much.

Why'd I get into trucking then? Because I was a #######, and at 21 years of age I was almost 30 grand in debt. I refused to spend the next 20 years of my life living in debt, so I went to Truck school, and 2 weeks after I turned 21 I was at Swifts Orientation.

My Mentor was HORRIBLE! Day 3 in the truck he tried to hire a hooker down in laredo, WHILE I WAS IN THE TRUCK SLEEPING!!. I say tried, because she stole his cell phone, money, and ran away. I got 2 back's in 6 weeks, I was taught by the freaking OREGON DOT HOW TO MOVE MY TANDEMS a week after I got off his truck!!!!!

Then he dumped my ### in Denver, took off towards Columbus to dump his tore up piece of crap truck on some young, impressionable idiot he was getting to take over payments on his Lease. He took all my paperwork, and after I called him and asked to get it faxed and he said sure, never freakin' answered my calls again. Memphis TRIED to make me take greyhound back to TN and go out for 4 MORE weeks of training with a daycabbie to get my ppwork caught up. Luckily, Diane in driver services in Denver is a life saver, and I went solo the next day after passing my driving test.

Solo... got lost my first trip. (Surprise surprise, I didn't know how to trip plan or read a map that well!)

Got stuck in Canada for 4 days in my 2nd month cuz I wasn't shown how to do Pars.

Screwed up a reefer load of avacado's because I didn't know/wasn't trained on reefer controls/fueling.

Oh yeah brothers (and sisters), I wanted to quit some kind of serious! But... I started eating at the Forks in the Road, Country Kitchen's, and asking some folks how to do this job I was supposedly trained and ready to do. Got a $400 training lesson from Oregon DOT in tandems, (lol), and mostly just made mistake after mistake until I learned wtf I was doing.

Skip ahead almost 4 years and my DM is bugging me to start mentoring (cuz apparently she thinks I know the first thing about trucking, HAH!). But I said Okay, cuz wtf, I CAN'T be worse than Mark Blankenbeckler was. (Yeah, that was my Mentor).

I had no work ethic, I was pretty depressed, and I hated my job when I began this adventure. Today? I am hooked on the road as bad as any junkie you've seen. I'll put my backing skills against any one out there, and at the least hold my own.

I thought about quitting my job quite a few times in the first 18 months... But I stuck it out. Why? Well, I REALLY wanted to get out of debt (I have), and i was afraid that if I went to another company, they would discover I had no right even using the word 'Trucker' in a sentence.

Today... This truck is nothing more than an extension of myself. The road is my home, and I have a RIGHTEOUS fury and fervor towards my mentoring duties.

Swift, for some reason or other, hasn't fired me over the years- though at times i've deserved it. So, since they gave me a job when no one else would, and since they stuck by me when I had 3 service failures, a ticket, and a minor accident all hit me in my first 3 months or so, I'm going to stick with 'em now that I know what I am doing.

 

you need to call terminal i dont think they would

 

didn't i try explaining this in another thread, but you told me how wrong i was, and the only reason i was saying it was because you think i was racist and sexist. HAHAHAHA that is kinda funny. but i guess i soon can call myself an independant contractor too. only difference will be, my head will be the same size then as it is now.

 

Going through my computer. Found a pic I snapped on my old phone back in the summer. Caught me off guard as well! Who, when, what is this? Looks like an interesting job...whatever the driver is hauling!

If I just described the truck with no pic provided, I can imagine the ridicule I would have faced!