Is swift a good company?

Normally I stay out 4-6 weeks at a time and run continuously without a reset. Sometimes I'll finish a day with less than an hour left on my 70, and just work with whatever hours I have coming back after midnight home time. The balance on my 70 will vary from minutes to 10 or more hours, depending on the runs I'm getting. Now that freight is slowing down it seems I'm getting on loads with more than ample time to make appointments, so I'm just putting in 7-9 hours per day on average.

I've taken home time to visit family in other parts of the country, and sometimes I've had to take 34's on the road in various locations when hours have run out or loads aren't available.

 

34's used to be easier and more productive.
With the new rule of two 0100-0500 periods, it makes it more difficult.
If you have to go off duty at 1200, then you will end up taking 41 hours for the 34 reset.
And if your home terminal is Pacific time (like mine), and you are in the Eastern time zone, you can add another 3 hours to that if you started the break in Eastern time.
Add in the time for a pre-trip and you are nearly 45 hours without a load, when all the basic law really requires is 34 hours.

My home times are split from my actual home and those other family members that I need to see, so 'home time' is never in the same place twice in a row.
It is not a problem though. As others have pointed out, a home time request is based on the zip code of where you want to do it.

It is up to the planners to get you where you need to be. And it can be difficult to get you where you want to be, vs. the loads in your area that are available to get you there.
Still, they will try to give you loads going in the exact opposite direction.
And still, you have to fight them to get you home as close to your ht request as possible.
It's a juggling act for both sides, pure and simple.

I feel just as sorry for the planners as I do for myself. We are both just trying to get our job done, and do what needs to be done.

But, on the other hand, I am the one spending weeks out on the road (while they spend their off time with their family every day) - and I expect to be able to get home when I request it.
They know at least 10 days in advance, so they should be able to route me correctly to get there in time - even if it means bouncing me within 100 miles for a couple days.
But it seems that they do not care enough to start moving me in the right direction until I start refusing every load that won't get me there.

Last year it was different. I was home within 1 day of my request, plus or minus a day.
This year it is totally different. I have to fight for it every inch of the way.
What has changed between then and now?

 

My last home time they routed my away from home with about 5 days to go, but that was in order to catch a series of hauls that got me home on time. In that case I called my DM and he said the planner had the series and I should take the outbound load to chain up the series.

I second that remark that planners and DM's have a difficult job. Yes, they get to be home every night, but many of them have driving experience and do know what we are going through. I would go nuts trying to do their job, getting my interruptions interrupted by interruptions all day long. My DM noted that he's been logging over 100 phone calls per day and it's really hard to get everything done on the QC system when he's constantly having to take phone calls from drivers that are calling with routine matters. That would drive me insane.

 

hmmz wrong thread

 

Well, sometimes turning down a load works.
My next offer was a load going to Littleton, CO, delivering on the 9th.
My home time request was for the 8th in Denver, so I consider that right on time.

Now I'll just have to wait and see if I can get the load there on time, what with these ice storms all along my path.
I should have clear weather tomorrow morning before the next storm hits that night/ next day, so I'll head out in the morning and see how far I can get before I run into it.
After that one passes it should be clear to Denver.

 

^^^ No snow, bare and dry on I-70 just west of St. Louis. By the time you get here it should be smooth sailing.

 

Do you have any respect for yourself? If you want everyone else on the road to think you are, by default, incompetent, by all means Swift is a great company. But they have the worst reputation of any company out there. This is not just hyperbole, it's the truth. They're the punching bag of the industry. Experienced drivers know that you can instantly form bonds of camaraderie with fellow truckers on the road with a good, "Swift" joke.

That alone should be enough reason to steer clear of them. But hey, if you want to signal to the outside world, "I have a tendency to do stupid things and will probably collide with any objects in my general vicinity without warning", go for it.

So, yeah. Swift is a great company. For drivers with exactly 0 seconds of experience.

 

The problem is that there's no way to differentiate between the raw meat and the experienced drivers. When we see that, "oh wait, another Swift just went down the restricted route and is probably going to need a wrecker, call Charlie", that sheen of incompetency rubs off on the whole company. I mean this earnestly. It's gotten so bad lately around my dedicated run that the first thing anyone asks as soon as we hear about an accident over the radio is, "what did Swift do this time"? It's ridiculous.

 

IV, while there certainly is an element of truth to some of what you say... the part where other truckers assume because you are driving a Swift truck they automatically assume you have no experience... the truth is I've met quite a number of drivers at Swift with 10+ years experience at Swift. So what does that tell you? Seems to me that the structure of pay and training methods at Swift highly favor those with longevity. So yes, there is very high turnover at Swift for those just entering the business. Then it follows that if Swift has 100% turnover and there are all these drivers with multiyear experience, then the deck is stacked in favor of those that stick with the company.

Those that have years with Swift tend to be trainers or running dedicated, where the money is. Just getting back in the industry this last year I have run OTR with Swift for the last 7 months after finishing "training" (I put that in quotes because let's face it, training at Swift is highly dependent on who you get as a trainer). After this next load I pick up tonight I'll be transitioning to dedicated team driving.

Going back to 1977 I have over 300,000 miles without an accident, ticket, or contrary report on my DAC. How about you Ivy?

 

Heck ... I have 450,000 accident free miles just with Swift, in the last 3 and half years.

As for no respect for Swift drivers ... yeah, that manifests itself all the time ... generally by drivers that go blowing past me to beat me to the weigh station, then brake check me to pull ahead of me, as I get the bypass.