Swift Equipment

LOL what a joke

 

I just signed on with Swift flatbed at 38 cpm after I get done with my mentor. In orientation now, I've been talking to a few flatbed guys I've found at the terminal and they're averaging over 3,000 miles a week. Flatbeds get the miles at Swift apparently. They can haul refer, dry, or flat depending on what's available.

I went to Swift expecting it to be a lot worse than I've found it to be because of all the negative stuff you see about them. Of course I'm still in orientation but there's a lot of happy drivers here. Met more drivers that have been with the company for 3+ years than I have new guys. That surprised me the most.

 

How is orientation going?, what did you do on day ! & day 2....

 

I can tell you that Flatbed is not new at Swift. Been around for some time. They run a triangle between chassis and coils and rebar from sometimes Greer up to Chicago and maybe down to Laredo and load out of there back either north or SE. Sometimes there is not flat bed freight and they might haul dry van for 1 month.

 

It's a crap shoot at trucks...

They have everything from brand new T700 autos, to 4year old turds 8-9-10 speeds... Just about everything in between.

I feel lucky with my 2015 prostar 10 speed.

One friend from academy got a new Volvo 9speed.

Another got a 3 yr old freightliner turd. He is currently at a terminal shop, and waiting a truck reassignment.

They are going to complain about idle.... But they are not going to make you stop when it would be miserable.

 

I think the freight ratio thing is definitely true. Flatbeds are known for getting the miles at Swift. The cool thing is in the winter when flatbed freight slows down you can haul dry van and refer and still get miles unlike other companies that lock you into a single division. Flatbed is the only division at Swift that hauls can haul everything, obviously you'll still get flatbed loads mostly. One of the drivers I talked to said you'll get a van load maybe once a month, he also said he's had some weeks over 4,000 miles.

Orientation is going smooth so far. Day 1 is a bore. Confirming your information, take a wizz quiz, let them scan your documents and wait around. Nothing really substantial on day one.
Just finished day two today, had a training seminar for logging. Remedial stuff for the most part but they show you the Swift way of doing things. Then we went over safety. Lots of corny phrases and the usual acronyms. Good stuff. The second day wasn't so boring, even got to watch some funny videos of what not to do on the road. Safety is big at Swift just like any other company, which might make some people laugh because of how infamous Swift is for accidents. The company has over 25,000 trucks though, a company that large will obviously have double the incidents of companies half the size.

The driver I talked to said running the triangle (Gary, IN - Greer, SC - Laredo, TX) is 2600 or 2800 miles and they're always running it. Said he hated running chassis, I guess they're a ##### to secure haha
I haven't heard that about running dry van that much, even if you are hauling dry you'll still be paid as a flatbed driver so no worries there, less work same pay.

 

I might be attending their orientation next week up in Troutdale. Nice terminal? What are Swift terminals like compared to Schneider?

 

I was worried about not having an APU and asked about idle time, one driver said he was at 73% idle time one season. I guess his qualcomm was blowing up about it but it didn't bother him, kept on idling and nothing really came of it other than some nagging lol