Starting cdl school swift as first job

Dry van, reefer, and flatbed are offered in all regions as far as I know. A recruiter SHOULD be able to go through that with you. If by general consensus you mean general opinion, most people have negative views of Swift. It is a mega company so you are really just another driver. Our trucks are slow and we can't back worth a ####. I've had a pretty decent experience with them so far. My dispatcher doesn't bother me, I get decent miles, they don't question me about shutting down when I feel unsafe, they do an airtight job getting me home on time, and they have a good driver support system.

 

@Drpparker95 in an earlier post you mentioned a two year contract. You need to realize that the contract is on the loan to go through their school. It does NOT tie you to Swift for two years. If you go to their school they will use payroll deductions to pay back the loan, and at the same time pay you back. Simply, and these are general numbers not exact, after a year of working for Swift your loan is paid off, you owe nothing. After another year they have paid you back whatever the loan amount was. You can quit anytime you want, but the loan becomes due in full when you terminate. They will work with you on repayment options.

 

Main thing is to keep the rubber on the road! Not the rubber to the sky!

 

It's interesting that this business is so divided in a way because some want to do this for the money and say all the megas are bad.. where as on the other hand others say this is a lifestyle and to avoid trucking since they would not work for the bad pay these days. It's very confusing.

 

I worked for Schneider & Swift. Go Schneider Bulk & don't look back! Get that year in & here comes the $$$

 

Gonna have to ask your driver manager on what's available from your terminal. Sometimes they will post an ad on the dispatch window when a position opens.. jurupa valley terminal did this

 

Memphis is a good terminal to be based with Swift. I had one trainee that lived 100 miles south of there and he did very well in dry van.

I had a good experience with Swift. My only regret was not going flatbed while I was there. I put in two years at Swift, the last year as a trainer/mentor and then used that experience to get a job running flatbed to the oilfield. Now I am an owner operator.

Swift will give you a bus ticket to school or orientation. As others have noted, if you get through training (200 hours behind the wheel) and go solo, then they deduct the cost of school every week so after a year school is paid. If you stay two years they pay you back, week by week, for the cost of school.

If flatbed is something you are considering, ask your recruiter if Memphis is a good fit. The flatbed division has different "lanes" and not all terminals are good for flatbed. I do know that Phoenix and Gary, IN are flatbed terminals.

Regarding the 12v refrigerator, a 12v cooler (without the freezer) works fine in any 12v socket. Getting an inverter installed for a real refrigerator with freezer is something that would require a note from your doctor to have a CPAP for sleep apnea. I had a trainee that had a CPAP, it worked fine on 12v, and no inverter was required to be installed in my assigned company truck.

Plug in inverters are fine up to about 500 watt. I used those for my computer.

Running dry van I averaged about 2600 miles per week. Flatbed runs more miles than that, and get additional pay for tarping.