Swift Transportation Company, Inc. - Phoenix, Az.

3200 to 3500mi a week.
1200ish a week take home.
Home every saturday.
Typically I can stop by the house and sleep in my own bed two other nights a week.
Yea this is just horrible how can any company be this bad!

Now sarcasm aside admittedly I'm lucky in that the routing for the account I'm on runs within 7mi of my home in fact its the reason I'm working for them. In my time with Swift I have seen a lot of newbies come and go. For some that was their intent, others where good guys who just couldn't grasp the learning curve of the industry. And there has even been some that I wish I could have had their CDL taken from them. The funny thing is these three types of people exist in all companies to some degree. I can also say that for most people who things don't work out for its more their own fault then Swifts. For example here's a guy I bumped into twice...

The first time my truck was in the shop for a B service so I was in the drivers lounge watching Dexter dvd's on my laptop there was 2 other drivers in there watching TV. This guy comes in oh say age 23 to 27 I keyed into the conversation at hearing him say that he told his mentor that "Since hes only being paid 50$ a day he was only going to driver five hours a day because ten dollars an hour was has low has he would work for". A) From the looks of him and that statement he had never worked for more then minimum wage. B) Apparently he was unaware of the term "Salary"

The next thing he said is to me one of the all time greatest truck driving quotes of all time.. "Man my Dm snapped on me like she was my old lady. Told me I needed to be more professional. I'm a truck driver I'm paid to move fright not be professional" (Yea right hes got a lot to learn IMO.) A few other things where said and I toned him out has it was apparent that he was either an only child or the baby of the family has he talked like a spoiled brat even has a grown man.

Three weeks later I'm walking across the back of the lot and hear a BOOM! I Look up and there's a truck with the trailer tandems close to a cement foundation for a light pole. The front outer tire is half off the rim by half off I mean that the outer bead is completely off the rim. I look at the diver and its guess who!! Has hes getting out he states "Man I barely touched that thing" I said well it probably broke the bead and the air pressure popped the tire off of the rim. Has we get to the back the rim is "V'ed" to the center I looked at him and said "Barely touched it my (backside) you slammed it. But I guess that's what only training for five hours a day gets you enjoy the preventable".

My long wined point... One of the main reasons people fail in this industry is because they do not understand or are incapable of being a Professional Driver!

 

Lets see , in this industry $.04 is approx $100 per week, the company usually pays around $140 a month towards your school. So you are gonna take $.04 less(or approx $400 a month) so they can pay less than half of that toward your school? I guess that your definition of slaving and mine are different--
Like someone else said--If you think Im wrong, or in your case "know I'm wrong--then prove me so!
ALso, as far as where I work, I will tell you that they dont have a "bad company board" here and I have seen no driver here either defending them or otherwise--they of course stand on their merit and there 99.9% ontime delivery record. And the 1st company I drove for does not have a bad board here either, and neither does their successor, but I see 85 pages for Swift--But they are the best, that is why other drivers have problems with them, and why the average driver drives there less than 18 months--and BTW, that is Swift's estimate, not mine. Of course you can find the 25 year drivers anywhere, just because they are there does not mean it is the best. Just look at some of them. When I drove for JB Hunt, I knew guys that were there for 30 years--but they were very very few and far between. Most of the guys that I met had been there for 6-8 months.
Out of my Orientation class at Swift in Gary, Indiana --there were 77 of us--I know for a fact that 6 months later they had all quit. That is 1 terminal, if the other terminals have that good of track record, then my numbers are not that far off. When the safety guy(who BTW is still there) came into class the first day and started crying about 3 guys being late that road Swift's van from the hotel and jumping into them, and they told him that Swift made them late, he didnt care. Then he said something that I will never forget, he said "My job is not to hire you, it is to fire you"
I understood then that he had no clue what the safety dept was there for. Like I said, he still is there in safety--so obviously Swift condones his attitude.

 

How are you doing 3200 to 3500 miles a week in a 64 mph truck and doing it legal?? That is driving a straight 11 every day-and averaging a 54 mph, and averaging $.44 cpm I find that very hard to beleive especially on a dedicated account, which usually pays less than running the system. You may be doing this, but not at Swift, by your own statement of bringing home $1200, that means that you would have had to made around $78,000 last year--IMPOSSIBLE especially at Swift, dont play us for suckers over here.

 

...and you STILL cannot answer the simple question. yet you complain people dont read your posts. How do you expect anybody to read what you have to say, when all you do is dodge the question??

Who has been playing who for suckers with their 'little golden book' stories.

 

The more he dodges the more it makes me believe he doesn't even drive a truck. And if he does, why would he go from such a great company that hired him at $0.30/mile and then go to another one of the "bad" companies, JB Hunt? If he is as smart as he wants us to believe he is, he would have been smart enough to never go there in the first place.

 

ohnooo, be careful using the phrase "bumped into" as a Swift driver. timtruck will think that proves his point about how bad Swift drivers are. And, you are sooo right about the classifications of people and their existence in every company. Which also proves my point of the 5% figure. Smart people can understand the fact that there are good and bad drivers with every company. Then there are the others who just want to think bad drivers only exist in a few companies.

 

Actually JB Hunt has a better safety rating than the majority of the big carriers do including Swift, so Im not sure where you get "bad" from. Also when I was at JB HUnt (which was several years ago)I was making $.36cpm there on a dedicated run.JB's problems have nothing to do with newbies either, since they dont have a training program and havent had one in about 10 years. So like I said, think before you talk. Like I also said, why should I have to justify my work histroy to you?According to your own statements you are plenty happy at Swift, so why do you care where I drive? Are you thinking about switching? If Swift is so great, then you wouldnt be over here defending them every couple hours. Like I said, nobody here has bashed the company that I drive for and I have not defended them because I dont have to. If you read my posts, you would see that the original company that I went to work for filed bankruptcy, it would have ben pretty hard to keep working there when all ther etrucks were parked.
Remember there are now 86 pages under this thread for a company that according to you is a "great place to work", more than any other outfit BTW, that ought to tell you something.
Just because you dont beleive I drive, doesnt mean that I dont--the facts of the matter are that I do drive and Im not gonna justify my work history or my records to a newbie--not gonna happen.
If you wanna defend Swift, then fine-I dont really care. But obviously you are either on vacation this week or you have more time to keep responding than I do since you seem to come back about every 2 hours--Im not sure how you are doing all these killer miles and making all this killer money if you are banging on your computer. I am home everyday and every weekend--but if you really work for Swift, I doubt seriously if you are. When I was over the road, I had time to sleep and eat(and barely that), I never had time to bang on a laptop, because I was to busy doing 3000+ a week.

 

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Hay timtruck,
Boy that is strange. My son just went to Memphis Yesterday on the bus arriving this morning and starts school monday??????? If it is closed he must be going to school all by himself. Ha! Ha!

 

This forum has definately spiraled down hill. There is so much bathroom stall rumors and facts that I am amazed. I have read incorrect pay and training, which looks like the person stating those old pay schedules as modern facts has moved on to poor customer service, poor safety, higher then normal turnover, rate cutting etc..

Jerry did get in trouble with the SEC and had to pay a fine. His family trust purchased company stocks the same time every quarter. It was scheduled. What got him in trouble was that the earnings was released to close to one of the scheduled purchases. He told the SEC of this when he realized it. That is why he was not sent to prison like Martha Stewart.

The Swift school ordeal, I am still waiting to hear what the governement has to say on this. They have still not released much information. I do know that the only involvement for Swift was that it happened to be on our property that was leased out.

Swift has excellent service overall. Over 98% to be exact. Does this mean that we can fail small customers that have low volume shipping, absolutely. Overall numbers are solid and that is why we have received so many carrier of the year awards.

Rate cutting? Significant rate cutting has not happened for a long long time. Not since we increased our driver pay packages and Owner Op pay and fuel surcharges. You can not increase your expenses, and decrease your revenue. That is just basic business. The only people out there in the last year cutting rates have been the shippers. Many have pushed the rates down, and refused to work with companies on fuel. I have seen many that also wanted 1 year contracts signed for these lower rates. Now its going to hurt those shippers. Many of the smaller trucking companies are folding because of this. The freight levels have not dramatically increased, but the trucks available to haul existing freight has decreased enough that there is more of a balance, slighty in favor of the trucking companies to start pushing for better rates. Last month was one of Swifts most profitable months in a long time due to this. Once again, I will state the reasons for this: Decrease in available trucks. Swift and many carriers decreased how many trucks they have, in combination with the thousand trucking companies that went under first 3 months of the year (about 45,000 trucks), has lead to this. Jerry has never said he wants to add 1,000 drivers immediately. He would love to convert 1,000 company drivers to owner operators though.

Safety. Swift had a horrible safety record over 5 years ago. That is not the case now. If you look at the trend, it just keeps getting better and better. The way safestat works, its a slow process to either improve your score, and even worsen your score. Part of its problem. Safety is a big priority for Swift.

Turnover. Pay attention to the industry turnover. Which was 120% (I am waiting for the new turnover numbers to be released, I believe it should decrease to 110-115 because of the economy). Because not everyone understands how big the industry is, that is over 2 million drivers. Swift doesnt even represent .5% of that number. Swift's turnover is well below a 100%. I can even say that operational turnover (non trainee turnover) is under 80%. So turnover is not a major concern for Swift. We dont want it, but we are doing better then almost every trucking company. I know someone will say their ltl company or small regional company has better turnover then even that. I would say yes your correct. Those are the ones that are home daily or almost daily, and off most weekends. Those are the jobs that almost everyone wants. Those are the easiest job on a person. We dont make money on schools, it just costs us less then most companies traditional ways of hiring. (Industry standard to hire a driver is about 7k). It costs us less. Our recruiters are paid more for recruiting experienced drivers then new drivers. You do not do that if all you want is new drivers. New drivers are expensive, but once they have experience, they make up for that. Thus the pay tier to go from no expierence and greater costs to the company, to more expierienced and less costs to the company. Standard business practive also. You find that at every trucking company, insurance company etc..

A new driver with less then 3 months exp can expect to average about 2100 miles per week. Some will do better then that. The simple reason is not everyone can get into a truck and maximize their time, and understand the best ways to run. We have the freight, newer drivers just have to learn how to become better and more effiecient. Someone questioned if a driver can make 75k+ at Swift? I can answer that as a yes. I have many drivers on a dedicated tire account that do. They are home almost nightly, and weekends, making 60 to 70k a year. Its a hard job, not everyone can do it, and I only have so many spots (20), but they are there. Unlike JB, I dont allow my recruiter to use dedicated to get drivers hired in (unless we take over a huge dedicated account). I prefer to reward my existing drivers that have earned it.

Wes

 

if company A has a accident rate of one accident every day, and company b has the same number, yet company A has 2x as many trucks than company B...who has the worse rating? I am not a rocket scientist, but i am willing to bet it would be company B. It is sad how desperate people are to believe something, that they will rely on old information, or spin what they think they know into a form that they can use.

If you are happy where you are....GREAT....if you dont like where you've been, state your 2 cents worth...and shut it already.