Swift dedicated which one are you on and how is it?

Sweet,ill only be about an hour south of Wilkes Barre so ill look into that.Thanks

 

I'm on a Walmart dedicated now. Linehaul rate 97.5cpm, yes, 81cpm deadhead. But. There is never any deadhead. All miles, out and back, are paid as if loaded.

FSC drops about 15cpm. It appears to be a net loss of 9.5cpm, but when you factor in the cost of fuel going way down, it evens out. FSC is figured from the on-site fueling station price. It's been $3.88 at the DC I'm hauling out of. This is 41cpg less than I've been paying on the open market. I'm getting roughly 7mpg, so my net loss of revenue ends up being 3.5cpm.

However. There is no deadhead here. If empty miles were paid deadhead rate, like Swift generally pays, my deadhead miles would be 25 to 40%. Knowing this makes it quite a bit more palatable. You will see more practical mile pay here, paid the same as loaded, with FSC.

The miles are steady, you know what to expect, it gets me out of the truck. I get home at least once each week, it's a small terminal and nobody is just a number.

One of the questions that was asked in another thread was whether taking time off could bump you off a dedicated gig. Yes, I suppose it could. If you were taking two weeks off every other month. Reasonable time off is not only accepted, it is encouraged. I just took almost a week off. This once a quarter or twice a year, whatever, won't hurt at all. As long as you plan ahead for it.

Teams and mentors, L/O, O/O, company solos, day cabs and slipseat trucks are all on this account.



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So how soon should I request for a dedicated account if I go with Swift?

If I do head to Swift I have to go out with a trainer for few weeks maybe the hole 240 hrs.Should I put in for it before I head out with the trainer or do I have to wait after training?

 

Don't go with Sears, though, that's the worst.

You always have to make the pickup early so you have ample time to make it to the store, which involves driving through all of the ungodly hours of the night.

Then you get to their little place and they take six hours to unload your trailer box-by-box.

For example, I had a load that picked up in Romeoville at 23:00, then had a live-load in Wauwatosa at 3am, then had full unload in Appleton at some little Warehouse that was hell to back into for 5am. After I tried backing into that dock 5 times, one of the delivery drivers moved his box truck and made it a lot easier for me to back in.

That was after the Owner/OP that was on the road had to pretty much pull his truck up into the ditch to back in.

That's all part of the job in trucking, I guess. Some of these Swift drivers I talked to, (including the one at that Sears) have been on the road for over 4 months before seeing home.

I run for J.B. Hunt right now. I'm home more often than I was with Swift, and I make more money. What good is the money though if you can't enjoy it? I'm not quitting just yet since I only started with JB a couple months ago. I'll give it a year before I start looking for a company that can offer more hometime. Since I live in NE Wisconsin, I might give Schnieder a try within the next year or so.

LOL, though my first load with JB Hunt, I picked up a load in Iowa, then I had to hook to this trailer, the handle snapped off. I called Road Service and a guy was there within less than an hour, and a Schnieder driver was there waiting for someone to fix his trailer, and he was like 'well, maybe I should get a job with J.B. Hunt if they'll send someone out this fast!'

 

4 Months on the road without home time,heck no!I'm sure ill get home with I request it,might be 1-4 days later but ill make dam sure ill never be on the road that long.I more likely sign up the Target account,but ill see what works best.

 

You will most likely have to wait until you are off your mentor's truck. However, there is a guy at this DC who slid right into a dedicated position right off his mentor's truck. He was in the right place at the right time. His mentor is dedicated here and there happened to be an opening when he finished training.

Dedicated is not the easiest thing to get into. In most cases, there are more drivers wanting in than there are positions.

 

Very true,I don't want to do 48 I want a dedicated but if I can't get it after training,then ill ask to see if I can stay regional.

 

Just got a message on the QC about a new dedicated Walmart run in Florida.

No thanks. Too many ####roaches for my taste, even though the gulf coast beaches are the best in the country.

Don't want dedicated anyway. I'd hate going back and forth, back and forth, back and...

 

That's what I thought, too. Til I saw my first paycheck.

I just came back from five days off, spread over two pay weeks, but mostly on this one. Tuesday night through Monday morning. Thinking like I am still OTR, I pulled my fixed payments from my maintenance account. I ran roughly 1,850 miles and am collecting a little bit ($150) of back pay on this check. I didn't need to pull from my maintenance account at all. After it's all said and done, it looks like a $1,988 check for the week.

The biggest plus is the improved fuel economy because of basically running half my miles empty, but getting paid for loaded miles anyway. That's the only reason I can come up with for this. The trips are all there and none overpaid.

I might be going out and back...to different regional locations each day...but regardless of seeing the same terrain, I don't think I'll be getting bored with the dough.

 

I get messages quite often about them looking for drivers on the Chambersburg Target account. If they need drivers badly enough, they will accept a noob on a dedicated. They always need drivers on NE regional, too, so if you want to stay close while waiting for a dedicated, that shouldn't be an issue.

Don't be afraid of Sears. They're not the best, but they're not that bad, either. I've done many loads for Sears out of Wilkes Barre, and I'm sure I'll be doing many more in the future. The main issue there is unloading time. They are usually 2 stop loads, with the second stop being a drop.