Starting Swift training on Monday..any pointers

Lepton1 can help you with the training faze of swift. He was a trainer before he left swift. Good luck in school. Just pay attention and go slow.

 

The hotel they put you in sucks. The view from the academy is beautiful. The bus to the academy leaves at like 4am. Do not be late. And whatever you do, go flatbed. Make sure you make it known that's what you want to do. While I was there for flatbed securement, more than one academy instructor(themselves flatbed guys, a couple of them) pulled me aside and gave me some advice just for the hell of it. Go flatbed. Tellin ya. I got sent out with a van mentor and I absolutely hate it. I spend so much time being bored and sitting. Flatbed will keep you busy, in shape and moving, most importantly, always under a load and making more money.

 

Alright @DeepBlue, here's my advice. This is based on my own experience with Swift, the last year of which I spent as a mentor:

Academy - pay attention at all times, in class and in the truck even if you aren't behind the wheel. Expect to graduate with a grand total of about 10 hours BTW (Behind The Wheel). Bear in mind that half of your class won't succeed. You may have difficulty with backing, expect it and ask for more training as needed.

Orientation - from Swift Academy you are guaranteed a seat in Orientation. The first day is drug testing, drive test, and physical. If you get through the first day then the second and third day are paid.

Payroll - due to accounting cutoffs your first check will be two weeks into your training. Expect it to be TINY. Mine was about $70, which was orientation pay. Have enough funds to live and eat for 2-3 weeks after orientation.

Training - you will need to have 200 hours BTW to graduate from training. The first 50 hours your trainer MUST be in the passenger seat. If he/she is not, then call your driver development manager and ask for a new trainer. Don't be shy about asking for a new trainer, BUT also bear in mind that training isn't permanent. Don't stall training over mere personality clashes.

Don't bring more than perhaps a large and a small duffle bag. Plan on sleeping with all your stuff in the top bunk, be grateful if the trainer gives you cupboard space.

Testing Out - after you finish 200 hours BTW you must pass a written test and drive test. Pass those and you are then assigned a truck. ASK YOUR TRAINER TO TRY AND FINISH YOUR 200 HOURS IN PHOENIX, MEMPHIS, OR GREER. They will have the best selection of trucks to assign to you. AFTER you are assigned a truck, THEN make a home time request so you can get home and properly stock and provision the truck for your comfort.

Making Money - if you aren't afraid or even thrive on physical labor, ask to get into the flatbed division. This requires an additional week of load securement training, mentors for flatbed are difficult to come by, BUT every driver I ever met running flatbed were averaging close to 3000 miles a week, plus getting extras like tarp or stop pay. There are only 900 flatbed drivers in a 23,000 truck fleet and all that is managed out of Phoenix IIRC. In the future flatbed will pay more as a career decision.

Platinum - as soon as possible after testing out of training and going solo, get to Platinum status. You get a $0.04 per mile bonus IIRC. It's not hard to achieve, just average 2100 miles per week, don't have preventable accidents, and don't have service failures. You should easily get 10,000 miles a month, even in dry van, if you take care of business and are willing to take any load, anywhere, at any time.

 

Perfect. That's company headquarters. If you have free time and have ANY interest in flatbed, wander over to where the flatbed trailers are parked. You will see flatbed trainees doing load securement training. In the headquarters building, bottom floor, north side IIRC is the flatbed division driver managers and load planners. Do a meet and greet over there if possible.

 

The Force is strong with this one...

... I went into Swift with my eyes wide open, with a Plan.

Have a Plan. Work the Plan.

I knew I wouldn't make the big bucks at Swift, but I did have a positive experience and left on great terms. Unfortunately I failed to stipulate flatbed at orientation, then got stuck in dry van for two years. Still did all right financially.

My Plan was to get into flatbed and become an owner operator. I left Swift May last year to run flatbed to the oil patch out of OKC. Became a truck owner last month. Loving my job and waking up consistently well before my alarm clock. Can't wait to see what kind of puzzle I have to put on the deck or what kind of dirt roads I need to run today. The paychecks and settlement checks are also quite good...

 

So in conclusion... Flatbed. Flatbed. Flatbed. And also flatbed.

 

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Wow learn something new every day! 90% of the time I am on my phone but even on my PC now you gotta tell me what is that avatar?

OP you may stay for a few years or longer but for a plan B remember not to get frustrated and stay at least a year to get a jump on other jobs.