Few questions for swift

My other half drove for swift for 5 months...she ended up with CO poisoning from improperly maintained company truck. They wouldn't send to KW to have fixed right, their machanics were shadetree. She ended up in hospital with 16% co, told someone at a terminal afterwards they didnt know what they were doing, now has alleged DOT violation on her DAC, and Swift wont say what.....stay the F away from them.
Thank you for your service........from a Marine vet....OOH RAH

 

never seen a truck with CO issues....and did the other half ever stop at a terminal to get it checked out? their own fault if they knew there was an issue and kept driving it instead of waiting and getting it fixed, my only issue with my truck is that my AC is messed up and I choose not to wait a couple days for it to get fixed but made a deal to get a different truck this week...they wont force you to drive a truck with health issues...

 

how about she had it in 5 times complaining, and 5 times they claimed to fix it. once she was towed 70 miles back to columbus. spoke with a mechanic friend of mine, seems with these regens the exhaust and heater boxes are right next to each other, and if you have seal leaks....i have read many posts, or stories of drivers having to put up with safety issues, one driver in iowa was fired for refusing to drive his rig and sued, got reinstated and 90 large

 

1: Does swift hire recent CDL graduates from roadmaster trucking school at west memphis, AR?

Probably. as someone said check with a recruiter first. You may get a better deal if you go to their school. The school isn't that bad if you know what you're getting into. I had two students that went to roadmaster and said they wished they had known of swifts school.

2: Does swift hire out of Dyersburg TN (75 miles north of memphis)?

I would say yes.

3: Will I be able to bring my truck home for hometime?

Probably. If not they have a terminal in Memphis where you can park your car while you're away. There is security there.

4: How the reimbursement for tuition work?

Ask your recruiter, as that has changed since me or my father have been there.

5: What is the starting CPM?

It's still probably .25cpm but you'll be up to .35 by end of the year.

6: How many weeks on average will I be out on the road?

You'll need to stay out at least two weeks then you can be home for 2-3 days. the longer you stay out the more hometime you can accrue. You can be home more often if you're able to get on a dedicated run or get a local spot.

7: How long do I have to be with the company for the rider policy to kick in?

After your training is done, you can have a rider. No dogs allowed tho.

8: Does swift use paper log books or electronic log books?

Swift uses an elog system. It's not bad.

9: Does swift have a anti idle policy?

They do like to have idle under a certain percentage. Someone else was saying they have a cut off on the truck to keep it from idling, they do not. You can idle till the cows come home or your dm starts calling to complain. Unless you are performing poorly in other areas, they aren't going to fire you for idling.

10: What percentage of NE loads?

You can choose a "comfort zone" to run in, I ran West Coast Only. My comfort zone was west of the mississippi. Quite a few drivers, even those living in the east do that because freight it short haul and frustrating in the east. there may be a ton of it but it still doesn't cut it. Any time they send you a load to the north east or to NYC you can pull out that trump card and decline the load because you are west coast only driver.

11: DO you guys force dispatch to NYC?


12: Do you guys pay layover? detention pay 8$hr after 3rd hour

Unless it has changed, layover if 50 miles away from home is 50 a day after the first 24 hours, same for breakdown pay. Detention pay was 12 an hr after the first 2 hours. That may have changed though, ask a recruiter.

13: What is the Trainee pay?

Trainee pay is 450 for first 2 weeks and 600 for all weeks about that.

14: How long do i have untill I have to get my hazmat?

You dont have to get your hazmat.

15: What percentage is drop and hook?

I would guess about 70 percent.

16: What percentage is no touch freight?

No touch freight is probably 95%. Tire loads are driver assist and the JC Penney dedicated account is driver unload. Dollar tree or dollar general is also driver unload. But those are dedicated accounts. You wont do those unless you volunteer.


A bit of Advice
You'll hear good and bad about most every company, except for the companies you hear nothing but bad about. Swift has its bad, but thats just like every other company out there. Swift is actually IMO a great place to start out, get your license and get your experience. If things get bad, change them, you can change terminals, you can change Driver Managers. There are alot of ways you can get away from bad management and bad office folks. They offer pretty good training if you get a good mentor. And once you are solo, quite a few terminals offer voluntary training if you need it or want it.

 

The training pay is minimum wage for all on duty time and minimum wage plus $1 for all drive time.

After training the pay is $0.25 a mile with a raise every 3 months for the first year

Swift does hire from road master but call about requirements (length since graduation)

They say no forced NYC.

So far with my mentor the closest I have come to touching freight is opening or closing the trailer.

Of the 30 or so loads I have ran thus far three were live unload the rest were drop and hook. With quite a few 1k plus mile runs.

 

Get an education with that G.I. bill.. Eventually, you will meet somebody and will want to settledown and have a family. Trucking can be hard on a young family.I was going into trucking when I first got out of the Army in 91, then I stumbled into a Federal Law Enforcement gig, 20 years later, I retired (Nov 11). Now, I'm in CDL school and getting into as a second career at 51... Don't just focus on Swift, really do your research, there are a lot of companies out there with great Veterans programs. Military + College will open a lot more doors down the road than just one or the other. Good luck in what ever you decide to do.

 

unless you do it right most of the time you do not take the truck home

detention pay is $15 a hour for company and $30 for o/o now.

Idle policy I believe said no more than 20% of idle for the whole year. I have idled maybe 12 hours in the entire past month but having an A/c that didnt work while parked helped some...turned that stupid truck in yesterday.