Reality of Swift: How to get screwed

Yeah, think about that a second. Name a "high quality" rookie driver. I had driven farm trucks since I was 8, army trucks for 6 years, and 9 months of training and still had 2 accidents my first year on the road. I havent had a chargeable since 1986 and no accidents of ANY kind since 1998, but I did have 2 as a rookie. Insurance for a rookie is higher. A LOT higher (my trucking school I was paying 500 a month per truck because of it being a training vehicle - and that was 10 years ago). Trucking margins are pretty tight. A company has 2 course of actions to make money. 1) charge higher amounts for the freight which is going to get under cut by someone else willing to haul cheap freight, or 2) not pay their people those first 2 years. Those are the only 2 options. And really, it comes down to 1 option because the first one will leave you with no need to have drivers.

So yeah, where are you going to find these "high quality" drivers? Or are you suggesting that a company takes a loss for the first 2 years of a drivers career out of the goodness of their heart with the hopes that that driver will stick around a few more years? Average OTR company has a 95% turnover per year in drivers. This means if a company has 200 drivers today, a year from now 190 of those drivers will be gone. Its hard for a company to get behind being "driver friendly" with that kind of turnover. There are very few exceptions to that. So, yeah, they treat drivers like cattle. Because most of them are just a face and a number that will be gone in less than a year.

 

Next time you are sitting at a RR crossing, you count the number of trailers going by. They ship that #### by rail because they dont have a body to stick in the truck.

Next time you are going down the hiway, you keep track of the number of trucks that have "drivers wanted" on the back and the number that dont.

You will rethink your statement.

 

They ship by rail because it is way cheaper, and more efficient. Only need a local driver to deliver from rail to final destination.

 

It is cheaper, that is true. Not WAY cheaper, but it is. It also takes WEEKS not days. Why? Because it will sit in the rail yard waiting for a DRIVER to pick it up. A DRIVER they dont have. Look in the paper. Look on line. See how many ads there are for intermodal drivers there are. Only thing I can think of that is worse then intermodal is food service. Look how many ads there are looking for food service drivers. They pay 80 grand a year and will take rookies. Why cant THEY get drivers? Because its grunt work is why. Its nasty, grunt work. Running a 2 wheeler up and down a ramp that is as wide as a 2 wheelers wheels. Up and down all day. Try it. I did. For about 3 weeks. Wasnt worth the money to me. You want a high paying driving job, there you are.

Youre welcome.

 

I do lots of mountain driving & pay the fuel bill I am amazed at how many trucks waste the benifits of auto-shifting & aerodynamics by going up hills pegged at the rev limiter. Then they complain to the company that their fuel bonus is out of reach.

 

They ship by rail because its cheaper... I don't care but when a company has a 100 plus percent turnover rate... The only thing shorted is drivers willing to put up with the company's nonsense.... All these Mega carriers have to advertise and put up bogus lies to get people in there..

 

Swift drivers call the union offices all the time.

Schneider was union at one time.

The political climate and the way these companies are run, will prevent any union from coming in.

There is no shortage of drivers. If there was any shortage of drivers these companies wouldn't exist! They burn through 100% of there drivers each and every year and have been doing it for 40 years!

And they only hire 1/10 to 1/100 of the drivers with CDLs that knock on their doors: No shortage at all!

If your in the business of selling trucking school; you are always short applicants.

Were talking Swift here right. Then you should know Swifts position is new drivers cost them less in accidents then senior drivers. I can explain why they say that and why I think they are wrong, but this discussion is already far astray.

These companies have always had a training routine.

Many rookie drivers never suffer a preventable.

That is very cheap.

The reality is the price of freight is undervalued. If these mega companies did not have the opportunity to screw over new drivers and the taxpayer, more drivers, and better companies would prosper.

None of the megas are operating at a loss. They turnover drivers because it is profitable to them. The reap tax brakes, training fees, and dedicated seasonal freight.

Correct which proves everything you have said thus far must be wrong.

 

I agree on the rail yard/ intermodal....back when I was a rookie Schneider they were selling that crap to the drivers in their “mandatory business meetings”, which was corporate cheerleading & brainwashing. They made all kinds of promises like it would eliminate OTR driving altogether, drivers could get home more, etc. it was always a mess. A lot of times I kept getting sent to the wrong yard, the trailers constantly beat up, freight damaged from high altitude or the trailer getting bounced around by the train and loaders, one time I got dispatched on a load 2 days after it was supposed to be delivered and threatened with a service failure because it was late. And don’t forget the railroad companies are drooling over the prospect of having robotic trucks!

 

Have you tried Roehl or Millis?

 

Yep;
That would be true, provided all the details of the contract were supplied, and explained very carefully and truthfully to the potential signer.
Unfortunately, this is not the case and it would therefore qualify as a dishonest and misleading contract;
And all by intent and design.
Again; all this hype and dogma that "we are all responsible for our own actions" is really just another self centered, and self righteous way of thinking that just allows the rest of us to be mislead by those who would (and do) take advantage of us.
Wake up.