Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

Vick,
I went to the Swift school at the beginning of '06. It was the last class before tuition went from $3000 to $3500. At that time it took 20 months to get your money back. The first 10 months you paid Swift $300/mo while they reimbursed you $150/mo for a difference of $150/mo. The second 10 months you paid them nothing while they continued to pay you $150/mo. for a total of a 20 month committment. The option I used was to pay the full $3000 up front and they pay me nothing for 6 months and then pay me the full $3000 in one lump sum. That way I only had a 6 month committment. During my time at the school I was told by some of the staff that the government does indeed pay 50% of your tuition as part of a retraining program. That means that for every student who paid $3000, at that time, the government also paid Swift $3000. This answered a question I had before attending as why Swift was charging $3000 when I had seen some schools charging between $5000-$8000. The next class after mine Swift's tuition went to $3500.

 

Sounds like you have some questions to ask your bosses, Vick. It sounds like you're being kept in the dark......it's that or you are telling us lies here.

I already knew Swift was getting a kickback on every student they hire. This is really why these companies treat their more experienced drivers like grease rags. Those drivers'll quit 'em when abused and thus open up slots for more grads, each of which brings them yet another jack. Better yet, when an experienced driver quits outright, his unemployment claims don't have to be covered by his now former company.

When I began at Swift, JerryCo made a deal with me, too. They would reimburse me for the training I dropped at my very-overpriced trucking school (of which Swift probably had a big stake in) at the rate of 125 bucks a month (?). They were wise ol' coots there, boy. They knew I'd not last long enough to get fully reimbursed at that rate. They know most of their other drivers won't last that long, either.

This raises yet another question as to why Swift plays the turnover game. It seems like it'd be cheaper in the longer run to treat drivers well, reimburse them over a year or two, and keep them on. They'd be done with paying massive reimbursements each month. But then they'd not get a jack they get each and every time a fresh grad joins their "family". A jack that is obviously more than the reimbursement total those companies will pay that grad before he quits under the present regime.

 

why post swift in the good trucking company part of the forum. this is for the bad trucking company part.

 

nobody in thier right mind though lol

 

i didnt like driving for swift thats why i left

 

I know of a guy that was a trainer there. He was with them for 8 years I think. He was a top shelf trucker and taught newbies the way they should be trained. He got burned out and quit. Said he did not mind the company, just got tired of drivers always bashing him and his company.

 

I will double check again to find out if that is true and let you know. The difference is we train to get into Swift, while a regular trucking school trains anyone for any trucking company, and would be eligible for a subsidy and some cases a federal student loan. I see we are now charging 3900, with a 2 yr, 2 month forgiveness plan.

Tip, still the same thing, we make more money with a driver in the truck then not. We have better margins with experienced drivers and OO also. There is no financial incentive to intentially run drivers off. Most of the turnover we see is with students that figure out trucking is not for them, or the 89% turnover in experienced drivers (last years figures) that quit due to many varied reasons like wanting local/dedicated right away, family problems, changing careers, trying out another company (and we actually get quit a few back). Also out of the 89% figure will be terminations involving safety (accidents, positive drug screens, continous log violations etc..) and also company terminations for threats, to many service failures, or just inability to perfom duties. Changing the view on Swift will be a slow process for everyone, it will be hard. Its like trying to change the view on truck drivers with the media, and how trucks are always the bad guys. Yes the forum has some good and bad points, most of the time there is an agenda from those that were not happy. Not always and I know there are definately those that have valid points. But just because there are negative comments does not truly represent Swift now. If that was the case, then does that make all the media comments correct because they report so many negative stories on trucking? I dont think so.

Wes

 

Vick, I won't be budging from my view that companies like Swift benefit from their turnover. Why else would they make the piss-poor hiring decisions they make? You say 80-90% of the drivers hired today will be gone next year at this time, and I believe it. However, Swift knows ahead of time this will be the case and hires those guys anyway. In other words, the companies bring this all on themselves.

If you want to reduce your turnover, you first offer a decent package good drivers want over the long haul (pardon the pun), and then make sure you hire only the good drivers. Treat them right, and they'll stay. Treat them badly or pay them chicken feed compensation and you'll see the good guys won't stick around too long.

 

Tip that is good advice for the whole industry, I agree. Looking through the forums I see lots of advice to keep changing jobs until you can find someone you like, or they have to change jobs because the really great companies fold by paying to much in wages and benefits but the thin margins dont hold up if there is any hiccup with the economy, fuel, accidents, or just a bad lawsuit. This is why the whole industry has such high turnover. This does not apply to those companies that have transportation but are not in it to create revenue, but to save money. Examples would be Target drivers, Walmart drivers etc... Those are definately top notch positions. Bottom line, we are below the average on turnover and working everyday to reduce that even more.

Tip also just saw your comments on hiring drivers. What is your hiring criteria that you would use?

On to the schools. I called to get more information on the grant theory. There is no grants to Swift at all. City and states have whats called a work force agency, essentially a part of the unemployment agency. This agency can pay either the entrance fee all the way up to the full 3900 tuition cost. They do not pay more then the tuition. The cost to train is roughly half that.

Wes