Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

Does anyone have any insight to what the hell is going on with Swift these days? Looks like their loosing accounts. Other companies are moving, but Swift is just going no where.

 

Hmmm....apparently, you haven't been paying attention. Yes, it is contract negotiation time again. But we still have Walmart, JC Penney, Costco, Target, Lowe's, Home Depot and RiteAid. We recently acquired Ashley. Contracts move around periodically because another company comes in and underbids Swift. Once the customer realizes they aren't getting the same service, they return. When they return, usually the rate goes up.

You want to help? Pick up and deliver on time and present yourself professionally, both appearance and attitude, at the customer. When some scruffball from one of those other guys shows up stinking and scowling, and then you show up looking decent and acting like a real person....who do you think that customer will call next time?

I seriously doubt we have anything to worry about.

 

Do you really think it's the looks of the drivers that are reducing the freight at Swift. Try this one on for size. How about if Swift STOPS recruiting and buys some trucks for the drivers they have now, fire the losers that that aren't pulling their weight, and put this company back up on top like it should be.

Since I have been there, I have seen more waste then I have seen in a long time. More double and triple work being done everywhere. You can start with making people responsible for their work. NOW there's a concept. I'm not saying Swift needs to bend all the way over, but you have to start somewhere.

I also don't understand the threats of stealing from the company that are put into the employee's manual, and when you go through orientation. MAKE IT AN ACTION NOT A THREAT. You steal...you get fired. Simple as that. This just makes me feel like they don't trust anyone at any time. When I had my business, if I couldn't trust them, they didn't work for me. Once again, no trust, leads to bad service. It reflects on both the drivers and on the company. You need to trust your employees. They will do what needs to be done to get the job done if they feel they're being backed up by their employer.

I have not had any problems, but the next line on business is getting the trucks out faster from the shop. I know some drivers who will not take their trucks into the shop unless they have to. Work that is scheduled to be done is not and it takes days to get it back. Why? Oil jobs that are done are not complete with the right amount of oil? These are just some of the stories I have heard. I have been told that it might be because Swift hires students from the local schools to do the work. My thought STUDENTS = CHEAP LABOR!

So here's my take on it all:

Swift trains new drivers to move freight at .25cpm. They also get money from the government for putting people back to work. The newbee gets to sign a $4k contract. Now Swift gets freight moved for team time at solo pay. Mentor gets scewed if newbee screws up mentor's truck, but mentors get miles guarenteed because of newbee on truck making daily rate. 240 driving hours pass, Swift pushes team "teams make more money", true if you have freight. Newbee safer to go solo to get experience to go to better place of employment.

That pretty much sums it up.

 

Gecko you were a recent student?

Swift is too big and can't control the slackers. The ones playing face book on company time. Surfing the net, etc.

From what I was told they treat the mechanics like the drivers. The Memphis shop had 3 techs on vacation at once. Who made the decision? Not the shop foreman! Someone in Phoenix did.

Not all mentors are L/O's. And the ones that mentor don't always make lots of miles. sometimes they are getting solo miles.

 

My point, Gecko, is you can't control what other people do. You can only control what you do. So act and look professional, to our customers and to your coworkers....in other words, office personnel and mechanics.

Funny thing is, I don't seem to have trouble waiting for three days for truck repairs at Swift shops, getting loads, being talked to like I'm a person... I wonder if it has anything to do with how I present myself?

Yes, it's a free country and you are allowed to b**** about other people (like the Borg I saw in Phoenix....well, he had to be a Borg. Only explanation I can find for all the metal sticking in his face.) all you like. But you still need to behave professionally. You are in charge of your own reputation.

 

I can't help with the rest of these issues, but as to the stealing, my guess is that Swift has had a problem with employees stealing, and that is why they harp on it. If you don't intend to steal from the company, you can ignore it, because it doesn't apply to you. It's like, when I get a message about my carrier about buying fuel with a Commdata card, which I do not use, I just ignore it. That solves that problem.

We just take ours to the dealer if it needs any serious work done on it. The carrier that I work for does a good job of getting the grease jobs done on time, which is about all we trust them to do anymore.

Stories you have heard, you can probably ignore. Truck drivers like to tell stories, which is good for entertainment, not so good when choosing a carrier to work for.

As for whatever might be true, however, all of this is a matter of economics, from a person's point of view. If a truck did not belong to me, and I can't be rolling while it's in the shop, of course I would not want to take it there, unless it is not roadworthy and would cause a problem.

From the point of view of a student looking for a job, it is certainly a good thing that Swift gives students a chance. For the experienced drivers, if Swift isn't paying enough, it might behoove them to look for work elsewhere, or to become an owner-op. As with everywhere else in life, hard work and responsibility is rewarded with higher pay and more freedom.

A contract for what? You mean the cost of driving school? $4k is peasant piss. An owner-op team can make that much in a week.

Hmm...my understanding was that they paid students while training, about $500 a week or so. Is that wrong? And doesn't the owner, or mentor, of the truck get paid for the miles that the student drives?

Guaranteed? What are the terms of the guarantee? This is something I have not heard of.

I can't speak for company drivers because I've never been one, but a owner-ops or lease-ops, teams definitely make more money, because the fixed costs are not redundant for the other driver.

 

I worked for two years in a Wal-Mart grocery receiving area (DSD) and heard rumors that Wal-Mart was eyeing the possibility of taking over the refrigerated loads from Swift (in an effort to reduce costs of course). However, I heard that the reason Swift still has the contract is the Wal-Mart drivers banded together and told Bentonville they had no intention of "babysitting" loads (waiting for an hour for a manager to show up and unlock the door when the DSD associates aren't there, etc or waiting for one slow guy to unload 26 pallets of produce by hand). They much preferred the drop and hook method of the GM side of the store and the dry grocery loads.

Most Swift drivers I dealt with were courteous and polite, though there were a few that called the DC when they felt we weren't being fast enough. Most were understanding, especially when we had only one dock open during the holidays due to dropped trailers in the dock. Once I had a driver insist I called a manager to open the side emergency exit when the back receiving door was blocked due to construction and he felt it was "too far to walk" around the front. I told him that he'd be to his truck faster walking around by the time a manager came for such a request.

 

Yep. We have some doozies working under the name. I see them in the terminals whining about the company all the time.

We even have a Borg working for Swift. I saw him. In Phoenix. I'm serious!