Info on Swift flatbed division?

I was off the bigroad for a few years. Tried to make a comeback and the only people that offered me a flatbed job without having to go to school was Swift. So I took it. They only have less than a hundred, and you make this triangle from Greer,SC pick up motor home chassis to Indiana, then pick up a steel coil to Laredo, then Freightliner truck frames back to South Carolina. It's not a bad gig...well, not as bad as I thought it would be.

My main thing was I wasn't about to pay some goofy school to teach me what I had already done...so if that meant working at Swift, I'd swallow my pride.

 

You'll find out when you drive one!

 

I've heard the automatics have more than usual transmission problems

 

Robert.smith, I start orientation with Swift for the flatbed division Monday in Greer, SC. I could not find much info about the flatbed division, mostly just a bunch of hate for mega starter companies, and am in a similar situation as you. I am documenting what I see/do/experience in a thread in the Swift forum area here. Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

I see the Swift flat beds hauling 2 school bus frames and front ends up and down I85 just north of Charlotte all the time. The equipment is still the same high-roof white volvos pulling what looks to be old flatbeds. The ones I have been seeing weren't even aluminum. Looked like 1980's steel flatbeds with rotting wood floors like we have laying around our yard taking up space. If I were looking at a flatbed company, Swift would be last on my list. Auto trucks aren't that bad. I drove one for a few weeks while my truck was in the shop and it wasn't that bad although I would rather have the 10 speed. I would first look at TMC, Maverick, Melton, Decker, or UPS freight. A good friend of mine worked at Maverick and he loved it even with the auto trucks and he hates the auto.

 

Coils are extremely easy to tarp and you don't tarp the bus chassis. So as far as flatbedding goes, it is a gravy gig. I had one of those 2 stack columbias with a 10 speed. It actually pulled well. I was based out of Greer also. But since there were so few flatbedders, you could actually make some friends and hang out and grill food in Laredo on the weekends. I liked the guys I worked with...but absolutely hated going into those terminals (you feel like you're in a Greyhound bus station), and those office people that hide behind glass. Miles were there, money was okay, but all it was for me was a way to get back into a flatbed.

I liked the Swift flatbed division enough to recommend it to anyone trying to stay out of a truck driving school. It's a beginning, not the end.

 

Boyd bros is a good place to start