Swift drivers, sound off

Oh believe me, I know about how life (or jobs) aren't always fair. I'm just illustrating why HHG miles stink. That's why I only look at practical miles companies when I look at mileage jobs. I'm in a good paying but unstable hourly job now, so I always keep my eyes open. Swift is a decent company and they gave me a good start. If they got off the HHG bandwagon, they'd be a lot higher on my list if I have to back on the road.

Each company has some BS built into their jobs. It's up to you as to which one has the BS you can tolerate. The point of the thread was to state what you don't like; what you would like to change. I'm just saying that losing 45 miles of pay (in city) on a roughly 600 mile run was something I found to be unacceptable.

 

I ran a shuttle run last night. 522mi paid. 586 actual. Interesting is 52 weeks at 5 days a week?

$46144.80 HHM

$51802 practical

Big difference?

Or maybe that is what you need to do to get home every weekend?

 

I am on one now. Paid miles 796. Their routing, 867. Mapquest routing, still all interstate, 813 miles. Now if they are using HHM, it is only for pay, not what they want you to drive. Oh, and yes, I am following the routing from Mapquest and not theirs. Along with the extra miles, it is also extra time on the log.

 

I'm not going to argue the point with you...since I only had over 10 years of time in with Swift, and managed to get through and meet people from every terminal....and you have been there(?)...and have seen and met people from how many other terminals(?)....

Face facts...with evidence....TM's have degrees in accounting, Human Relations, and are there, in that position to be pencil pushers, number crunchers...very few (I can think of three) will take the time to "get in the trenches" with drivers and keep their ear to the ground on what could be done to assist the (second lowest on the totem pole...excuse the term Injun) drivers and stand up to upper management when some things are done that are;
1. Abrasive to company "policy"
2. Sitting on the "shady side" of legal
3. Just outright dumb and the cause would be easy to identify and change
Most TM's look at drivers "down their nose" and have the attitude (along with voicing this attitude to a driver)..."You are just a driver!"

The bottom line is that some of the dumbest people I know have college degrees, yet most of the smartest people I know don't! And the few college educated people that actually use their common sense along with their "book learning" are few and far between!

How can the Director of Training/Mentor Program have that position? He was never a driver, never a teacher, never a trainer/Mentor...he was a butt kissing CSR/DM/ECT and kissed his way out of lower management on the information he gleaned from experienced trainers/Mentors and being a snitch to his fellow office staff. He has introduced programs in the Mentor Program that have proven not efficient and ineffective...yet through his charts and graphs he "produces"...his numbers are very different from what actually happen.

In other words...Shrek you better watch your back even in the office...there will be somebody looking to "improve" their own position with the information you have obtained on your effort...none of theirs!

 

Gee, I feel bad that you're salary and put in ten extra hours a week and don't get paid for it. Do you have sick days? At the end of the day, do you go home to your comfy couch and comfy bed? Do you get consecutive days off every week? Do you get a regular/consistent day off every week?

These OTR drivers who have to depend on someone else to keep them moving, because we all know if the truck's not moving the driver's not making money, and they're at the mercy of those in the office who get their paychecks on time every week. It's no skin off the office personnel if that driver is stuck in the middle of nowhere because he/she has to wait for on road to fix a truck that should have been fixed when it was in the shop in the first place, but those mechanics get their paychecks on time too.

Who is it that has made it possible for you to have your job in the first place? The drivers. You're whole condescending attitude about drivers having chips on their shoulder and that's the reason why they can't seem to fit through the door is unprofessional at best, but good corporate material. Have you ever bothered to ask yourself why the driver could possibly have a chip on his/her shoulder? Maybe it's because they're treated like scum, like something disgusting on the bottom of your shoe? Maybe it's because when you go home every night, they get to sit in a truck stop far, far away from their home?

You get to leave your work troubles at the office, they live in theirs. You want us to feel for you because you had to work 10 extra hours a week? Technically, after the driver has driven their 10 or 11, they are still on the job, in other words they reside at their job while they're on the road. They drive approximately 60 to 70 hours a week and this doesn't include the other 100 hours a week they are in the truck NOT getting paid for or any overtime. The average driver drives 10-11 hours a day and at the end of that day, they still aren't home, they get to spend the next 10 hours in a little cubicle and try and sleep with the heat/cold outside and a basically no idle policy, and walk half a mile to the nearest place to eat or pee. Many drivers spend over 300 days a year away from home to try and provide for their families. It would behoove Swift to treat the drivers with the respect they've earned.

I'm sorry if this offends you, but that crack about drivers having a chip on their shoulders was beyond the pale, and it struck a nerve. Having been a driver yourself you should have known better.

How many pages of this exchange does it take to figure out exactly what the problems are that plague drivers? It's only my opinion, but this wouldn't be the first time that Swift put a mole in place as a means to eliminate drivers. I could be wrong, but my gut tells me differently. Swift's been in business since 1966 and they still haven't figured anything out about the drivers gripes. Why? Because they don't care to know, else they would've done something long before now. These gripes you've read have been problematic with most trucking companies, including Swift for as long as my husband's been driving and he started out with Swift in 1996. Did they miss the memos in the kiosks? Oh, I forgot, they're broken. Yeah, Swift cares about their drivers, but not enough to listen to them and compromise to make life out on the road a little more pleasant. You say they will listen, I say BS.

 

I met a driver this week. MS Carriers and Swift. 22 years total.

I asked what he got on his 20th anniversary? Nothing. Not even a friggin pencil, hat, pat on the back, or a kick in the butt. Know what he makes? $.39 a mile. They took away pay and haven't give it back.

No paid holidays or bonus's etc.

A quote from our tail gates, "AWARD WINNING DRIVERS ARE COURTEOUS AND SAFE"

Who got an award for being safe?

 

$0.39 x 125000 = Not a very good reason to be LOYAL!!!!

 

I got two, one for each of the last two years!

 

Got that right...award winning...meaning internal company award. It has no meaning if any National Safety Council or recognized group gave an award.

Or it could be a "typo"....A ward of Jerry Moyes winning drivers!

 

Boy. This one's sure turning negative.