Renewed Interest In Trucking

Contact Swift and tell them you want that account. sort of works better if you get HIRED by SWIFT before you start telling them what you want and the WALMART accounts usually have a waiting list as everyone thinks its the gravy train type job.

 

Absolutely not true. Attending a company sponsored school does NOT require you to drive for them. When I went to Swift Academy, I was asked repeatedly if I was going to sign on with Swift. A third of my graduating class went elsewhere. I planned to stay with Swift for six months, then jump to a "better" company. That was ten months ago. My truck still says Swift on the side. Six weeks after going solo, I landed a spot on a Target dedicated account that pays more than the company I was planning to go to. I've been treated well at Swift.

OP:

State schools are certainly an option. If you're low income, you might get the training for free. Sign up now, and you can be behind the wheel by Halloween! Seriously, though, consider the length of time it will take to get your license. Three weeks vs. six weeks... the money you could earn in those extra three weeks could pay for most of your schooling. (Not your first three weeks, though...)

Also, watch the costs, and the company's repayment schedule. Most company schools are in the $4000 range, and maybe a few hundred more for housing. One company school I checked was $7995 for just the tuition, with a two year repayment schedule.

The company forums here at TTR are an awesome resource. While each has its "trolls", you can quickly spot them, and get a feeling for how the drivers for that company really feel. Do your due diligence, and make the choice that's right for you.

Oh, and one more thing... Whatever you do, DO NOT LEASE. Don't even entertain the idea until you have been solo for at least a year.

 

Given how aggressively Swift has been going after the dedicated contracts, that waiting list is often shorter than you would expect.

 

KLLM is in jackson ms. They just opened a new school.

 

I love how the prospects consistently romanticize it. Did you watch a lot of 70s trucking movies, by chance?

So? A lot of people don't. A lot of people before you didn't, and a lot don't know, and, guess what? They cope. Prioritize getting what you want/need out of a company, rather than just whether they have this or that creature comfort or not. APUs are nice, but they're not some life-changing thing.

You'll see your share of EVERY company bashing here. Now, you're not in the industry yet, but sit at a truck stop counter sometime and listen to the stories some of these drivers tell. You'll hear tales of how they gave up six digit careers, how they were Navy SEALs and SOCOM operators, how they have supermodel wives who can see past the wiggle wobble of their gut, etc. Now, I'm not trying to say that truck drivers are often full of ####, but.... well, yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying.
Now how this is applicable here... you'll see plenty of complaints about "this company screwed me", "this company stole Christmas, and they told me I can't read good, as well", "this company's responsible for my divorce", "this company killed JFK", etc, etc. Now, some gripes might be legit... others... well, the devil's always in the details.
I did some time in the Army, and I remember the same style of griping about "my recruiter lied to me...". Well, my recruiter never told me anything which wasn't truthful... but he did leave out a few things.
And so you'll see it here. The guy who got fired from Swift, and is soaking up the, "oh, your poor lil' sweet thang" comments? Yeah, probably neglected to mention his multiple accidents, the times he failed to make pickup/delivery times because he was up all night playing XBox, playing PS1234whateverthehellnumber, or just watching porn and punching the clown, or whatever.
So take it all with a grain of salt.

Not his truck, nor will it be your truck - it's the company's truck, and if they don't want you taking it home, they have legit reasons for that. For one, these trucks are expensive to operate and maintain... you take that truck out of the way, it costs. Not to mention the company knows a truck parked in their yard is relatively secure, whereas one in your 'hood may or may not be... this is especially pertinent when it comes to loaded trucks. If you think that's exclusive to Stevens, I gotta quote The Almighty here (by which I mean Rob Halford) and say "YOU GOT ANOTHER THING COMING!"

 

there you go.the above ^ is THE way to go.if you are sponsored by company x,you'll drive for company x until your obligations are paid off or driven off or you work out a payment plan. swift may have some form of cdl mill that allows you to go to their school but if you do not drive for them,you will have paid for the cdl mill,that is what they are,with loan money or your money. not swift or anyone else is going to train you for free and then tell you that you are free to drive for whomever.

 

Stick around on this forum for a while, pay particular attention to this sub-forum, and you'll understand exactly where I'm coming from.

I'm just giving it to you straight. You say you have realistic expectations - don't come here looking to be coddled. Sure, I could give you the, "it'll all be fantastic, starshine" song and dance, but that would be doing you a disservice, and, from my POV, would be much more disrespectful than anything you perceived from my previous post. Make sense?

Oh, hell, if it's not evangelicals, then...

Got a cupboard full of tea. No need for candles.

And maybe your "insight" is better reserved for people you actually know something about. You are way out of your lane here.

It's actually a little ambiguous. I put "ex-" with the consideration that it's no longer my primary occupation or part of it (well, sort of is, but we can get into that later). I'm posting this from a cab of a T2000 here in Kremmling while I wait for Confluence to open up for the day. A junkie needs their fix, and it's more the same with me and driving, so I have this little gig in the side... third year making this run for this guy. Nice scenic little trip through the Rockies, plus I certainly don't mind the extra cash. So I drive a truck on my day off from my regular job. Must really lead you to believe I hate it,

On the road, in the construction industry (where most of my driving time was spent, and also where I had some of the absolute best times), driving in South Africa.... got some very fond memories of all of it.

You do understand why I'm dismissive of this sentence, right? I'm expecting that you will, which is why I'm not going to patronize you and act like I need to spell it out.

The whole gist of it was to take what you read with a grain of salt. Like I said before, you'll see plenty of griping about various companies on here, but very rarely will you see anyone admitting any of it was the result of them ####### up. These companies are largely for you what you make of them. I got my start in Swift's flatbed division. While it was by no means a perfect experience, and while I do have my criticisms of that company, I don't have horror stories to share. That came to an end in 2003 not on account of anything the company did to me or because of some failure on my part, but because Uncle Sam figured, "why settle for one tour when you could have another?" and sent me off for a bit of "fun" in the sun.
Yet, reading the posts on here, one would think it should be impossible for me not to have regrets about my time with Swift. So either I achieved the impossible (in which case, just go ahead and now down before me), or maybe these posts don't tell the full story, employ a bit of 'artistic license' (on that matter, refer to what I posted about stories at truck stop counters), etc.
i'm quite mortal and ordinary, so, as much as I'd love to have the ability to accomplish impossible things, I have to accept the reality of the matter, to include my own limitations. Which is why my money would be on the latter explanation. Dig what I'm saying here?
I'm saying go to Swift or don't... I'm just saying take what you read with a grain of salt. That's what it all boils down to.
if you're going to appreciate anything, appreciate that I typed this out on an iPhone, because it's a real pain in the ### to do.