Just finished Swifts training academy

Sweeze,
Actually, I already have my permit from Missouri. I just skim read the book the night before the test. General score 94, Combination 100, Air Brake 96, Passenger 95, Doubles/Tripples 95, and Tanker 95. My recruiter Jesse said I can just exchange it when I get to TN. I don't even want to do the class room part of the training, just the backing is all I really need.

I already have about 1,000 miles driving skateboard otr with my neighbor. He wouldn't let me use his truck to take the road test here for fear of his employer finding out causing him to get fired. Which I understand Otherwise it'd just be straight off to oreintation and 6 weeks with the trainer.

I'm really hoping I can go down to the school, and just be like look all I really need is some backing training and more hands on pretrip and they would oblige. That way hopefully I can get on the road sooner making $$ and less of an obligation in tuition repayment to Swift.

One can hope right? I mean once they see those scores...you know??

 

I don't want Hazmat. I'm just not interested in driving a bomb. Not to mention all the govt. crap you have to go through in order to get it!

There's other stuff you can haul in tanker besides poisons and chemicals...like MILK! water or molasses or hot tar or fly ash or wet cement....I dunno....I just got it to have it..never know when it may come in handy. Besides, I'd rather get it all at once for one price then keep having to pay extra to add here and there

Like I said hopefully I can bypass all the class room stuff and go straight into learning how to back the beast up in one piece. We'll see. I plan to just try and take my time and be patient and just watch what the trailer is doing.

Is it true that Swift has autoshifts?? That would make backing that much easier

 

Well then you would of been sleeping also because the trainee had been on the truck for almost 3 weeks. And your going to dictate how the company runs their training program and let your team runs deliver late instead? Yea right.

What would be stupid is assuming that all companies train their drivers the same.

When I was a trainer the fact that a trainee had a CDL and passed a road test was all they needed to take the wheel of a truck. That is how many companies operated then. Was it stupid? Of course, but thats the way they ran. Trainers and trainees ran 1 or 2 solo runs and then it was 56 hours a turn running coast to coast runs.

Usx did not run training trucks on solo status with the trainer in the passenger seat when I was a trainer back in 01. They do now but many companies did not do it back then. And it was the same when I was a trainee back in 92 for KLLM.

My first load as a trainee at KLLM was a team run from Watsonville Ca to Atlanta Ga and we ran like a team from day one. I got in the truck and the trainer said here is the keys and wake me up if you have a question. Many drivers have trained this way. Would I prefer to run solo? Sure but that is not how they did it and I know many driver started out the same way.

 

Thats how I was trained with Werner. Besides not being able to drive after midnight due to curfew...I got in the truck drove for about 1 hour with trainer in the seat next to me for the next 3 months we ran team...yes 3 months, lol 275drive hours is hard to do when your unloading trucks all day using up line 4

 

The swift recruiter told me they start solo for 4 weeks I believe and go team the last 2 weeks. I bet that's not true and they go team status a lot faster....

Which company were you working for at the time of the accident and when were these "old days"?

 

Yea, I don't know what state you live in, but in Illinois you need 160 hours over at least 25 days to get a CDL. The first 40 is classroom time, where you learn general knowledge about driving, air brakes, and combination vehicles. Then you get your permit and do yard exercises like straight backing, 45 degree backing, and front in stopping. Also you have to learn how to couple and uncouple but you don't actually do it, and you have to learn how to do a pre-trip inspection to make sure the vehicle is legal and safe to drive.

You can see none of these have to do with actual DRIVING.

You drive about 16-20 hours total on the road, learning how to use a tractor clutch and gearshift, which is different than in a car. You learn how to turn, shift gears, start and stop. You'll know how to drive the truck, but you won't know it well, and you won't know a lot of important things.

The tester who actually tests you and decides whether or not you can have your CDL license said that his job isn't to see if you can drive the truck well, but safely. He expects you to make some mistakes, you just can't make big ones, and when you make little ones don't freak out.

 

Wow, seriously? Their recruiter said it was almost all drop/hook? So were you just a cheap labor source?

I was thinking about Werner what else can you tell me about them? When did you work for them? How much were you paid per mile?

I know they're not great but they allow my boyfriend and dog to come so I was considering them.

 

I tried to PM you instead of gettin off the swift topic here but it wouldnt let me......
Well about 50% is drop and hook....about 90% of your loads are split.If you get a long one 300miles down the road your gonna swap loads with someone. I worked for them about 3 years ago. My truck was the biggest piece of crap and had 420,000miles your recruiter will also tell you the trucks are traded in by 400,000.....95% of the time you don not goto a terminal you goto a drop yard(dirt lot). most of the time your sitting at a drop yard waiting for a empty trailer to come in. Qualcomm directions are correct about 70% of the time. Dispatchers try to rape you every way they can. Once you get your own truck you will be Northeast for the first year almost.If you need service at a termianl be prepared to sit a few days because the lines are looong. Sometimes dispatch will have you drop a trailer outside the gate of a terminal if they know your truck will get red tagged for repair(cant pass safety lane inspection). When you are in training no matter if you want 48 states or not they will stick you on the Dollar General account...yes cheap labor..although as I was leaving they were switching it over to roll carts instead of loose stacked freight. I believe I was paid .23cpm I cant remember. I averaged 2200-2700miles per week. The only good thing I liked about them was cheap insurance, and I like the paperless logs----although not 100% accurate if you are stuck in traffic it will throw you on line 4 automatically...you can put in for a log correction if you are in training so they dont screw you over your hours but be prepared to be b*564d at for doing that by your trainer.Oh yea trainers one was good, other one was the nastiest driver I have ever met in my 4 years of driving.Hope this helps..............oh yea dont EVER listen to a recruiter ask other drivers instead

 

It was for USX back in 2001

As far as the old day's goes there are still companies that run training trucks team from day one. Some of the trainers at May run team as soon as the trainee gets on the truck. Especially the O/O's.

I know drivers who where told they will run solo status in training for x company that rimes with lift, but a couple of team loads came up that no one else was available for. So guess what? They ran it.

Don't think that when you have a CDL and pass a road test that you have to have the trainer holding your hand from the pass seat while you drive That is up to the company.

I can tell in one day how comfortable a trainee is with a truck and how much one on one they may need. Thats why if I trained again it would be for a company with flexible training like May Trucking, not like SWIFT with some 4 wks solo and 2 weeks team . If you are going to be a solo driver, why would you need to run team anyway? For training or because you are a source of cheap labor and team trucks are money makers for the company.

Not all trainees are inexperienced drivers. They may have not ran OTR for awhile so the company does not count their intrastate time and wants to start them out at the bottom again. So they don't have to pay them as a experienced driver.

My friend who I talked out of signing for swifts overpriced training and slavery, works for May trucking and had 9 days on a truck and 4 days driving before he upgraded, and he never drove a Class 8 truck before. He is already making .34 a mile and has been running solo for 7 months without any problems. And NO contract to sign either. Not everyone needs 6 weeks to learn how to do the job.

Do you know how long you will have to drive for Swift to make .34 a mile? And what they will do if you quit before you finish paying for their overpriced school? Good luck!

Want excellent affordable training to drive a truck? skip company sponsored overpriced schools and go to Central Voc Tech in drumwright OK (they have a website) I went their back in the 90's because they where one of the first schools to be accredited as a PDTI school and quite cheap. They don't charge you $4k and then have you sitting in a room 4 most of the training like most of these private schools.