Diary of a current Swifty

I'm having a lot of bad luck.

This winter, I've never got home when I put in for it. I always put in my h/t request in the first day I go out.

Like now, put mine in Jan. 1rst for the 14th to be home in NE Wisconsin. It's Friday night and I've been sitting here in Iowa since yesterday afternoon.

Even last week, I got to Laredo Friday around 12:30, got my trlr inspection at the terminal, then hopped on over a few miles to make my drop.

Went to the Pilot after that and I sat there until TUESDAY. After I picked up my load from the terminal went to the Pilot to scale. Got my scale ticket, ready to roll on down the road, and my service brake line broke off right at the glad hand.

After waiting all day at the terminal to get that fixed, only made it 90 miles down the road before I had to shut down.

Ran two full days after that to get to Iowa (where I'm at now) and was only a couple hours late on the load.

I'll probably be sitting here until Monday with my luck. Probably head over to the I-80 truckstop in the morning since I'm getting sick of Subway (aren't we all?)

Between last week and this week I'll have 350 dollars of layover pay.

 

Unloaded in Seattle, then went to drop and hook about 6 blocks away heading to Boise, ID. Got to Boise and did another drop and hook. Dead-headed to Lewiston, ID to drop and hook again. Left Lewiston heading for Las Vegas. Got to Las Vegas and did another drop and hook. Dead-headed to Lake Havasu City, AZ to drop and hook yet again going to Ottawa, KS. Did another drop and hook and dead-headed to Crete, NE. Did another drop and hook and now we are going to Atlanta for a delivery Thursday morning. My mentor is taking a couplke of days off under this load. I should be getting close to my 240 hours of seat time by the end of next week. I can smell the diesel fuel in my own truck. I would have to say I have been pleased with my experience with Swift thus far. I would recommend them to anyone wanting to start out in trucking. If you can follow simple instructions and have a will to succeed, they would suit you just fine. I will update again when I have time.

 

They had over 1100 drivers sitting in Fontana and Phoenix over this past weekend. My mentor says this is the slow period for freight. He said it will pick up by the end of February. Hang in there man.

 

1100 Drivers sitting at only two terminals?!! How many are sitting at the other 29+?!

 

I'm still kinda new to this whole thing but that can't be doing you any favors.

 

There is a big time freight crunch happening now. I am lucky enough to have a coolant leak so at least I will be getting breakdown pay. At Sparks the place seems to be full up with bobtails with no loads to get out of town. They qualify for layover pay if they sit for 24 hours without a preplan though some relief.

 

I have heard a number of drivers state they put in their next home request when they start out on a 2-3 weeks run.

 

It seems as though you are having a never ending cycle of mechanical problems with your truck!

 

I put my hometime request in early December. Still out on the road January 17....

 

That's just what I heard. Not actually at the terminals but in the greater L.A. area and Phoenix areas. it does make you wonder how many were sitting. All I know is that we only sat for about 5 hours before we headed from Las Vegas to Lake Havasu City, AZ.