The start of my first year with Swift.

If you do some research on here, and other forums, you'll see that Swift doesn't have a very good reputation. Before I went with Swift I read so many negative comments that I was afraid to go with anyone really. Now think about this. How many people in this industry, or any other for that matter, will take the time to post something positive about where they work? Not very many.

Take what you read on any forum with a grain of salt, both positive and negative. Don't believe anything your recruiter says, talk to guys who are currently driving for Swift. If they are unhappy, ask them why they don't leave. There are a lot of jobs for truck drivers right now.

Good luck no matter which company you choose.

 

Hmmmm...Well, my dispatcher told me it was a deadhead run, gave me a trip number, and when I asked about being paid he said I would be paid as if I were loaded. I'll ask him about it again. There's a more than fair chance that I have no idea what I'm talking about.

 

For crying out loud this was a bad day!! I woke up two hours early (0130), so I made myself a good breakfast. When my 10 was up I went out to do my pretrip. It was -9 according to the web. I had a flat on the trailer. Now, I had planned to leave at 0245 so I could make my delivery and have time to move to a good location for the night. I had almost an almost 4 hour pad.

Trying to find onroad at that time of the day is not easy. They finally got someone dispatched. It took Phoenix longer to find someone to fix the tire then it actually took to fix the tire. I had a screw in it. They plugged it and I was good to go. The bad thing is that this fiasco ate up three hours of my pad.

I head out and am making as good a time as a Swift company truck can make. Moving kind of like the wind, but not really. I get a call from my wife. The washing machine drain is frozen. I'm sure it was my fault. Later I found out the skid steer wouldn't run, her pickup wouldn't start, and the tractor was down. She also fell off the tractor. Winter does some bad things.

Back to the story. So I'm making good time, and I have it figured that I'll still make the delivery, get unloaded, and still have an hour left to find a place for the night. When I arrive, I stand at the counter while the gate guard played with the joy stick. There was something wrong with it. He finally gave me all the PPE I needed and showed me where to go. I asked him if by chance I ran out of time, could I park on the property....a resounding NO was his answer.

I get back over to the dock and get in position. Now the pins on the tandems are stuck and for the life of me I cannot get them to move. I beat, kicked, spit, and cussed. Finally it poured some oil on my hand and rubbed it on the pins where I could. Still nothing. I rocked the truck and beat some more. I finally asked a guy if he had some wd-40. He gave me a can. (HINT HINT) I soaked everything. After some more beating and cussing I was finally able to get them open. I had 20 minutes left on my 14.

The guy was nice and unloaded me as fast as he could. I was still 8 minutes over my 14. He said I couldn't stay at the dock. I called my DL and he told me I had to move. It would be a violation but sometimes that happens. Great, my 4th day on the job and I'm about to break a federal law. 20 years I put people in prison and now I'm a criminal.

I drive back to the gate, the entire time the qualcomm telling me that I'm out of hours. Security tells me again that I can't park on the property,however, right across the road there is a big lot I can park in. Off I go, by now the lady on the QC is screaming my name and telling me how I've violated the HOS. I get parked for the night and I'm trying to figure out how to explain this to Safety tomorrow.

I'm a Newbie...yep, that's me. Sometimes learning new stuff hurts.

 

It did seem that way and the longer I'm out here, the more I realize how little I know. I think after about 2 months of being solo, I would like to go back out for a few weeks with another mentor. I would have more of an idea what to ask, and what to look for.