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How is my friend making a consistent $750-$1000 after taxes driving for swift being new?

Discussion in 'Questions From New Drivers' started by smith41, Apr 11, 2017.

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  1. Apr 11, 2017 #1
    smith41

    smith41 Bobtail Member

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    We both graduated the same time 3 months ago and I was assigned to OTR, while he ended up being assigned to a swift/walmart local dedicated division.

    My paycheck is always inconsistent. Some weeks it's $600 and some weeks it's under $300 because there might not be a load for me for a couple of days so I'm sitting at a truck stop, but my friend is bringing in $750 to $1000 every week. I've seen his paychecks. He said he gets two loads a day which he delivers to 5 or 6 walmarts with the mileage being around 100-300 or a really long load which is over 500 miles.

    How do you get into the swift/walmart division???? I do not want to drive OTR anymore. too many bad weather conditions, too many unknowns, sick and tired of sleeping at truck stops. too many crappy places to back into. The list goes on and on while he gets to go home every single night.
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2017
    smith41, Apr 11, 2017
    smith41, Apr 11, 2017
    #1
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  3. Apr 11, 2017 #2
    FireLotus

    FireLotus Light Load Member

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    Most the big carriers have many different accounts.. I am not familiar with Swift, but I am guessing they have a website for drivers which would probably have an area with current openings on accounts, with all the information..
    I am sure someone from Swift will be here soon and be better able to help you...
     
    FireLotus, Apr 11, 2017
    FireLotus, Apr 11, 2017
    #2
  4. Apr 11, 2017 #3
    bigguns

    bigguns Road Train Member

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    Ask him.
     
    bigguns, Apr 11, 2017
    bigguns, Apr 11, 2017
    #3
    Thull, thekidsixer, 207nomad and 2 others Thank this.
  5. Apr 11, 2017 #4
    STexan

    STexan Road Train Member

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    Solo OTR at a huge mega is probably the most wildly inconsistent driving gigs there is. But you have to prove yourself to get a Walmart grocery hauling gig. They don't tolerate late loads or feet dragging. You'll run nights and bad weather is not an excuse to sit. If you work out west, you WILL chain regularly in winter months.
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2017
    STexan, Apr 11, 2017
    STexan, Apr 11, 2017
    #4
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  7. Apr 11, 2017 #5
    Toomanybikes

    Toomanybikes Road Train Member

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    "Prove yourself" is the most loaded bunch of BS; I hate hearing.

    Most people that get the easy payday gigs at a mega, get those gigs right off the bat. They meet some eeoc requirement, they know somebody, or they are a class A brown-noser.

    OTR at Swift, and any other mega, it just a surge supply of drivers for the dedicated accounts. That way they can meet the terms of the dedicated contract without hiring extra dedicated drivers. As such OTR always gets the freight left overs. Planners are forced to work to dig up enough freight to keep the layover pay away when their is no surge in dedicated contracts; and planners don't like to work.

    Really if, and I mean if, your buddy is actually pulling home that kind of pay at Swift, or any other mega, it still is really not that great of a gig. A dedicated account at a mega is really a job within a job. That is you have too many chiefs for your job as indian. You have to keep the Swift happy, and do you best to brown-nose the office that manages the dedicated. Your better off getting some experience in and hopping to a better gig, where the chiefs do not out number the indians.
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2017
    Toomanybikes, Apr 11, 2017
    Toomanybikes, Apr 11, 2017
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  8. Apr 11, 2017 #6
    rambler

    rambler Road Train Member

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    This.
     
    rambler, Apr 11, 2017
    rambler, Apr 11, 2017
    #6
  9. Apr 11, 2017 #7
    STexan

    STexan Road Train Member

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    I don't see Walmart grocery as "easy payday" work. But, okay.
     
    STexan, Apr 11, 2017
    STexan, Apr 11, 2017
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    SingingWolf Thanks this.
  10. Apr 11, 2017 #8
    Toomanybikes

    Toomanybikes Road Train Member

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    ^^ Walmart grocery is one of the better gigs at Swift.
     
    Toomanybikes, Apr 11, 2017
    Toomanybikes, Apr 11, 2017
    #8
  11. Apr 11, 2017 #9
    STexan

    STexan Road Train Member

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    So any slacker can do it? ... (for more than a few weeks)
     
    STexan, Apr 11, 2017
    STexan, Apr 11, 2017
    #9
  12. Apr 11, 2017 #10
    smith41

    smith41 Bobtail Member

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    He showed me one of his routes where he got paid $240.
    All he did was pick up a loaded trailer on the yard, hop on the interstate with no traffic and drive in a straight line for 150 miles or so before getting off an exit that had 2 walmarts. Backed into their easy docks with all of the pull up space you need and just waited for the employee to unload their pallets while he fiddled around on his iphone before closing the trailer door, hopping back on the interstate driving in a straight line for another 150 miles back to the walmart headquarters and going home for the rest of the day.

    if that is not easy pay, I don't know what is, because OTR certainly isn't
     
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2017
    smith41, Apr 11, 2017
    smith41, Apr 11, 2017
    #10
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