New to Swift!! :)

Oh, you poor #######... they got another one.

Let's hold a moment of silence in mourning for Les79, taken from us too soon.


Yea though, as I walk through the valley of the shadow of Swift, I shall fear no lane change. For You are with me, checking mirrors and properly signaling.

There are cookies and punch in the congregation room, and a counselor will be available if any need a shoulder to lean on.



(swift sucks)

 

Welcome, Les79.

Don't mind Swaps, nothing makes Swaps happy.

Personally, I am enjoying being at Swift. Well, except for the long delays in the shops when I am so unlucky as to need to visit one.

5 days wasted in Laredo to get my A/C fixed, and now I am stuck in Denver because they found a couple things wrong when I went in for a required inspection.

Other than that, I haven't had a problem - and I doubt you will either, especially if you would rather work than complain.

 

I generally rate my experience with Swift as 'fair'. As with any company (especially entry level companies), there'll be downs which go with the ups. That's just how it is. Just remember to keep copies of everything you turn into the company, keep a cell phone, and, if something happens (breakdowns, etc.) get ready to get on that cell phone and nag at some people - if you rely solely on the Qualcomm in these situations, you needn't hold your breath waiting for things to happen. Squeaky wheel gets the grease.

 

###### moose.

 

My pleasure.

 

Im going thru the classes now and having a blast. I would suggest using every tractor they have in each of your segments (IE: backing, 45* backing, parallel and offset backing...etc) our instructors pick randon tractors for the final review/test. This way youll have a lil practice in ea. one so you atleast have a feel for whatever one you get into..

Meeting people in your class is cake. Trust me when your out on the range you'll be standing there talking to others, and giving each other advice and you usually find someone nice to befriend..

study and practice as much as you can and you should do fine. Most of the people I see being dropped on the range is due to lack of skill.. Practice all you can.. IF they dont tell you to rotate out of the tractor, keep on practicing. The old timer in our group thats doing a refresher after a few years off says the course is helping a lot.. so.

Also, keep reading your pretrip inspection sheets (the way they want you to do them).. I talked to a guy today that went thru the course and missed a few things, told the instructor he was done with his pretrip n faild.. bye bye, hello greyhound.. If you forget something, and have a oh'crap moment, just tell the instructor and how you would check it and your gold.... then tell um yer done..

Have fun out there. !!

 

Oh, by the way, I should've mentioned this with my last post.. if you have a laptop already, one way of keeping copies of everything you turn in to the company without going through mountains of copier paper and toner cartridges is to get an all-in-one scanner/printer deal. I bought mine at Best Buy for something like $100, and it's come in handy quite a few times. Since where I'm working at now uses TransFlo (which is only at Pilot/Flying J and Loves), it enables me to scan and turn in my paperwork from the truck (I know TripPack can be scanned now, and I'm assuming there's software allowing you to do that from your truck, but I'll leave it to a current Swift driver to let you know whether or not that system is in use).
Also, there may be times when a customer gives you only one copy of the Bill of Lading. It's happened to me a couple times, and I've had to run off a copy in my truck at the receiver before, so that I could turn in my copy to the company.
And you can scan your paperwork you turn in and save it on your computer either as .pdf or .jpg files (depending on which scanner you get - some give you both options). This comes in handy, because paperwork sometimes does get lost. It's a good CYA.

 

really? you must not have looked very far on this website.