1 year at Swift.

I have completed 1 year at Swift Transportation now. It has been quite the adventure.

If any people thinking about coming to the company have any questions, I will be glad to answer them. I will not ask you to refer me to a recruiter, I will not answer a question that I personally do not have experience with (in other words - I won't say "I've heard that").

I know that this is a tough decision for many and I just want to help. Many helped me while I was trying to decide, just trying to give back.

Swift History:

Went to school in Millington, TN in September of 2011
Started orientation/training in Columbus, OH in October 2011
Assigned truck and started solo driving in December of 2011

 

Absolutely! I have a surgery scheduled for the end of December and won't be coming back until 1/7/13 (#### - I will have to be home for the holidays) but yes I am here to stay for a while.

 

No...I am here to stay. Everyone has their "hot button". One needs to realize that it is IMPOSSIBLE to have the "Best" hometime and the "Best" pay at the same time. My issue is hometime. My driver manager is out of Columbus and they have not failed to have me home for a requested hometime in a year.

They have treated me well, and met every commitment that they have made. I am on my 3rd driver manager - while the 1st two were competent they were a little lacking in the personal relationship area. This 3rd DM is great.... I have had several offers of different employment with all of the standard promises, but Swift hasn't let me down yet.

IMHO - the key is patience and having the presence of mind to realize that as a new driver you don't know everything. Roll with the flow, learn the ropes and everything will fall into place.

 

Miles at the beginning are low. They want to make sure that you can meet the customers requirements After they see that you can do it, the miles increase. Average miles over the course of the year have been 2318. You need to realize that included my starting months in the "bad" months of Nov-Feb. Feb-current I am averaging just a little over 2600 per week (2639 and going home just about every other weekend which really cuts into your miles). My challenges are / were just about the same as every new driver I speak with. Getting used to the truck and truck stop (parking there is NOTHING like parking in a closed lot with no trucks around), waiting time at shippers/receivers (the key to detention pay is sending in your Macro's on the Qualcomm) The only thing that was a little easier for me was being away from home. Between the Navy and my previous jobs I was always traveling anyway.

Most of my runs are in the 450-550 range. If you get a string of shorter runs and bring it up to your DM they will try to get you some longer ones. I spoke with the boss of my DM's and she said that their goal is an average of 500 dispatched miles per day. As the fall is here and winter is approaching I expect some shorter runs and a little more downtime in between. That seems to be the nature of the beast. My philosophy is that I would have a little bit of something than all of nothing.

My wait for a Mentor was exactly 2 hours after the completion of orientation. He was great as a trainer and I now consider him a friend. We have stayed in regular communication since I got out of the truck. You need to remember I went into orientation during October and many student drivers that graduate from school want to hold off on starting their training until after the holidays, so most of the folks I went through school with that decided to begin training started almost immediately.

I appreciate your questions and I am enjoying talking about my experiences. Please don't hesitate to ask anything.