Swift Training

It's all true, a friend of mine currently works there. The starting pay depends on division. DRY, Reefer , FB, Don't think you can do intermodal right away.

If you get a trainer that dosent waste your time about a month and a half.

Hometime is a day for every week out, if you take more than three days they may take your truck and give it to another driver. Far as I know they won't fire you for it though.

Make sure during orientation you get it straight what division you want. Otherwise they will probably put you in whatever the flavor of the day is. That's the last oppritunity to switch till you do 90solo days.

Any more questions, just ask.

 

I have never worked for Swift and never will. Just by reading the postings on this site you can pretty much draw a conclusion that Swift is a bottom feeder. I have heard from many that Swift will put a driver that only has 6 months experience in as a driver trainer. However, they call them mentors or something like that. I have also read many postings where this great company has fired a driver for something really small and never give a second chance. In my opinion this company is the lowest type of truck driving and they sit at the bottom with the high turn over rate.

What they will do is train you their way in their school then have you sign a contract to work so long to pay the schooling back. If you make one mistake you're out the door and the next driver that just finish school is in. They make great profits from a system like this. What they don't know is that the accident rate and court time far exceeds training and they would be smart to train their drivers more. Somewhere there's a person in accounting that has figured the cost of the new drivers against the freight costs. The only thing that keeps Swift in business is the fact they have just about cornered the freight business and they can afford to trash the trucks and drivers.

You will be doing yourself a huge misjudgment if you blindly jump into a contract with these people without checking the others. This site is a great place to find drivers that have been there and done that. You've got to do a lot more research on what's available to you and what path will benefit you the best. Do a lot of comparing and look at the numbers of drivers that have quit against the number of drivers that have retired. I'd bet you'll have a hard time even finding a driver that retired from them. A company like this is for drivers that get tickets and have bad records. If you're coming out clean then you can use that to your advantage and it would be a great waste if you didn't. Good luck and remember recruiters do not work for you.

 

In theory, you can finish the mentor time in a month. But I don't think any responsible mentor would have you running straight 11 hour line 3s your first week. Plus customers have an excellent way of messing things up, repairs, etc.....

The training / mentor phase at any company can be sketchy, if you get a bad trainer who is hostile or unsafe tell Swift, they hate the word lawsuits and the moment you sign with them , just to hire you costs 5k, school is another 3k. And they want a return on thier investment. They will work with you.

 

To echo what the GasHauler said:

Swift has 100% turnover: That means 100% of the drivers that take the job leave it before the end of the year. Sure there are drivers that have been there for several years, but for every driver that has been there for 2 years. 4 have left before a year. The average experience of a Swift driver is 8 months! Most hired have left by 8 months!

Swift will repay the $3900 they charge you for schooling if you drive for them for 26months. The first 13 months they will deduct a amount from the pittance they give you as a paycheck. The next 13 months, months 14-26 they will repay you back the amount they just billed you for. But the kick is of course, almost no one makes it past 12 months. Like I said, most quit before 8 months, about the time they realize that the recruiter lied to them, and they will never make the kind of money that was promised.

 

I went through Swift's school. It isn't all that bad but you have to put the work in since there are usually 60-100 students and maybe three "trainers". It isn't that difficult to get through the school and get your CDL, of those I trained with from FL 100% of us passed Swift's test and the state test on the first go round. Yes you will sign a paper saying you will pay them back for the school once you go solo, no it isn't a contract binding you to work for them for that entire time. You can leave and continue to pay back the no interest loan at something like $150 a month or a one time payment at a 25% discount of the total amount owed. It wasn't all bad if you don't let them push you around, they say you can't refuse loads or whatever but I did it all the time and claimed "safety reasons" (tired, too tight a delivery time, whatever) and never once got in trouble for it.

I stayed for 12 months from starting with my trainer and paid the balance of the loan off with the discount about 2 months after I left, which is how long it took them to contact me saying I owed them money. By then I had taken my year of driving elsewhere and made enough to pay it off comfortably. Your training, as I recall, is paid hourly. Minimum wage when you aren't driving but are on duty and a dollar above minimum when you are driving.

All in all it wasn't a horrible experience and hey you gotta start somewhere right? Just think of every day you drive as another day of putting in your dues. If you want to leave soon I had an offer from JB Hunt after 3 months but then it's just another mega carrier. Get your first year in safe with no accidents or tickets and after 10 or 11 months start calling around to smaller companies and see what's out there. And ask any driver who's willing to talk to you what their company is like, never know when an opportunity might jump out at you.

 

Look into a community college or tech school to get your CDL, scholarships are available. You will have more options without being tied to a contract paying back training. Don't walk away from Swift - Frickin' RUN!

 

I'm not sure I believe that part about "signing a contract". I started with FFE, got paid training. I never signed a contract. Eight weeks and two trainers later, I was driving solo and then I really started learning. There's no getting around starting at the bottom unless you've got a relative willing to train you. I put my time in and 3 years later, I own my own truck (old but reliable). I've never stopped learning and my rule everyday is to do my best to be a professional in every way. It's working for me. Now, I'm taking winters off because I can. I love this gig!