Hello Drivers,
I first started working for swift way back in 1996, first has a driver for a few years then has a driver manager for about 5 then back on the road again for another 4 years.
And in case your wondering i was doing fine in the office but after awhile i honestly missed being on the road. not to mention with my experience i can make more money driving then in the office. (most junior level office staff don't make as much as you might think). in 06 i decided to try someone else for a while and moved on thru a couple of companies over the next few years and learned a whole lot of the trucking industry in the process. and then after working for a small company with questionable business practices i decided to go back to what i thought was home, swift. well this has turned out to be heartbreaking.
Before i continue i want to make clear i am not posting this to slam swift has a whole, just make this a learning experience for other drivers and maybe even some trucking companies if they care enough to read what drivers have to say about them. So on my return i have found that with a change in leadership at swift the company has changed a lot over the last 5 years and for experienced driver and not for the better. OK swift has always been a training company, that's no secret but that didn't mean that an experienced driver couldn't get by before , but now...
so here is the experience i have found both pros and cons and why i have given my notice and am leaving swift for the last time.
pros: Great equipment, terminals everywhere, medical and dental are very good,the staff for my experience is always friendly toward the driver,a very large client pool to get freight,they have always been really good at getting me home when i was ready, the pay level is not the best but decent.
Cons: OK with all those pros they don't mean anything if the average miles for a driver is under 2000 miles and too often close to 1500. you would think with such a pool of high profile clients that swift would be overflowing with loads, sadly its just not the case.
Swift has always had parameters for there drivers but now there restrictions are choking the drivers to death, it really is over kill. the trucks are set at 62, if you go over 70 the computer will record a excess over speed, 3 of those in a year will get you suspended. swift is electronic logs now, that in itself is not a bad thing at all in my opinion but that in combination with slow trucks makes it almost impossible to make great miles with swift even it the freight WAS there.
swift used to be aggressive with new technology and ways to be better both for there customers and there drivers, i don't see that anymore, its been over five years since the federal govt started passing idling laws and as a major trucking company should have been sensitive to this,and rising fuel prices has had years to prepare yet did nothing.
now instead of driver friendly trucks that keep them comfortable they instead just monitor and(there is no other way to say it) ##### and moan to the drivers to QUIT IDLING THE TRUCKS SO MUCH! yep, that's the only answer that a multi billion dollar company can come up with.
so to recap a bit swift seems to monitor everything from speed to idling to if your sending enough G.O.A.L messages every day. yes it is a requirement that every-time you back up you need to get out of your truck and then send in a goal message on your qualcomm has proof.sadly they keep close watch on everything it seems but drivers pay checks, yes if you go over 70 there going to notice it and let you know really fast and yet if a driver has really low miles and he has pay checks say under 400,00 for weeks no one at swift will ever notice. you think they could monitor low pay and miles along with everything else but they don't.
in conclusion, Swift used to at least treat drivers with some respect and expected them to act in a professional manner and took action if they didn't. now they just seem to treat all drivers the same, like amateurs who need there hand held in every little thing they do.
and i must say the irony is that in the end swift will get what there asking for because they will drive all the experienced drivers who are professionals and just end up with a company full of drivers who actually DO need there hands held through every little thing they do.
OK i hope that my experience is helpful for someone, and with all i have said it is still and OK company to start with, just not for long term anymore.
Take care everyone.
Why i finally had to give up on swift transportation.
Discussion in 'Report A BAD Trucking Company Here' started by redraven321, Sep 1, 2012.
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