Swift training school any one out here been there.

Sorry to say this to you Bo, but you have put the time in, and if it is true you have a couple service failures (late to delivery I assume) that does hold one back by Swift policy from getting on a dedicated. You might want to check and see if either of the failures was due to being dispatched on the load late, which would make it the planners failure not yours.

 

Great, there goes my social life.......and I'm serious. I don't get out much, unless you call going grocery shopping getting out.

 

Of course I made a newbie mistake when I wrote that posting and I should have said 2 hours on line 3 with 74 miles. Thanks OH.

 

Ford, just funnin with ya..now IS the time for a lot of newbie mistakes, thaT is the whole point of schooling, and learning from our mistakes. We all make mistakes of some kind everyday. If it is saying something off color in the wrong company, forgetting to crank UP the landing gear on the trailer before pulling out, not bringing the splitter from high range to low range at the stop light, even drawing a line on your log...using the wrong line...it is a learning process.

Being able to laugh at yourself and not at somebody else is also a learning process, but being able to laugh at yourself WITH everyone else is a sign of maturity. Keep on having fun with the academy and your fellow students, sharing with us here on the forum is a great way of reliving your experience. Keep up the good work and enjoy yourself.......... WE ARE ENJOYING IT RIGHT ALONG WITH YOU!

OH

 

I got a request for the Swift School and training program...that is...to teach the proper way to park in a truck stop, within the designated painted parking lanes, not at the fuel pumps, in front of the scale, at the entrances or exits, in front of the row of trucks parked properly that now can't get out because of your truck in the way. I know that it is taught that backing is dangerous, but it is a necessary evil...and practice makes perfect...well at least better...so try it sometime...thank you for listening.

 

That is something the Mentor/trainer is supposed to do..and I am sure you are referring to a thread a while back that showed a Swift stopped across three or four parking spots in a truck stop. I compltely agree this was wrong...but the academies don't get near any truck stops generally, not a good environment for student drivers...so this is one of the biggest lessons to be accomplished by a trainer.

I, like many other Mentors and trainers spent many, many hours in customer lots, as a practice tool for truck stop "strategies". Not only the "proper way to park in the parking areas...i.e. drivers side tires against the line ofthe parking space (and straight) not center of the space but stay on the (facing the space) right side so the drivers side tires are against the line...if everyone parks the same everyone has a cleaner spot to park in. Also the DOT bumper should be AT the line separating the two halves of the spot...not 2 or 3 feet over, or 1 or 2 feet short of, but AT the line.
And if there are three or more spaces between two trucks, spot yourself ina spot NEXT to one of the trucks, don't take the middle spot, making it hard on other drivers attempting to park.

Fuel island courtesy: if you pull onto the fuel island, and you havea real need to "choke the chicken", bless the ground", or to be blunt, take a leak..go to the mens room then come back and fuel the truck. Just because the cows in the bull wagon piss on everything doesn't give a driver the right to do it there...have some courtesy! Pull your truck forward after fueling so the next driver can get started with his fueling, after pulling forward, then go in and get your coffee and receipt...but if you are going to get some food from Taco Bell or McD's..park the rig in a parking spot and take a little walk inside and get your food....you can't be in that much of a hurry, HAVE A LITTLE COURTESY FOR THE OTHER GUY!
And don't block or impinge essential operating areas of the truckstop..scale entrance/exit, tire bays, or traffic flow lanes for the establishment...HAVE A LITTLE COURTESY FOR THE OTHER GUY!

That should cover a basic understanding of truckstop courtesy....T/S 101!

 

I love all the swift haters who jump on threads like this and act like Swift is the ONLY company out there with a FEW drivers that make the rest of the company look like they're fresh out of school themselves. I was in New York state at a pilot off 84/87, and some nut parks along the curb toward the back, and even tells everyone on the radio that he was going in to take a quick shower and was leaving (since there was no parking spots left). At the time, there wasnt alot of fuel traffic, but within 10-15 min. there was. And you should have heard the complaining on the radio. Granted he said "a quick shower" which ended up being closer to 60-90 minutes.

oh...one more thing....see the picture? according to your complaint, this must be a swift driver, huh?

one thing i did when i first started out was to put myself in the shoes of a driver i was parking near or in front of. Did i give him/her enough room to get out without having to pound on my sleeper?? As far as the fuel island thing goes, it all depends. Just how busy is the truck stop? are there 12 pumps, and only 2 drivers fueling? Then by all means, i'm going to pull ahead to the pay line, run inside, and do my thing (granted if i know it wont take longer than 15 minutes) becuase there are 10 other pumps to use, and if you are dumb enough to pull in behind me, and dont want to wait 5 minutes after you're done fueling, then you should have pulled into a perfectly clear island. Now i'm not going to pull to the payline and take a shower, call my 3 girlfriends, my wife and mail out christmas cards. But if there is time to park at the payline and there are 3-4 open pumps, and i know i wont take more than 10 minutes inside...i'm not parking the truck when i know i'm heading out to drive another 2-3 hours right after that.

 

thats to funny i am sitting at the pilot on i-75 exit 36.(my wife is on her way to pick me up) 3 trucks are parked in the drive way ,every fuel lane is blocked,5 trucks parked going out to the exit,2 trucks parked by the scale and not one of them is a swift truck .funny thing is that i see more o/o doing that or parked on a get on ramp .were im parked at 2 flat beders (tmc)are taking up 4 spots.im not saying that i dont pull in a fuel island if im only getting a cup of coffee in the middle of the night .but if they are busy like in the morning i park in a spot or move on down the road until i find a place to stop.last night a landstar truck went thur the fuel island at the loves t/s on i-71 exit 204 (in ohio)so fast he hit a trl and the pole by the pumps and did not even stop . so dont tell me that swift is the only comp. that needs to do better with new drivers .maybe the big time drivers with real trucks need get in check .

 

otherhalftw when i was at millington .all traning was logged on line 4 ,driving ,classroom and yard. i dont know if it is still that way or not

 

I've heard this before, academies using line 4 for everything...well this has been discussed on other threads..and experienced drivers know and understand the rule; ANY time AT the wheel is driving (line 3), all other time ON DUTY NOT DRIVING (line 4) such as classroom, driving range observing, pre-trip inspection, but if you are just wandering around, at lunch, well anything not involved in actual instruction or practice, wouldn't that be OFF DUTY (line 1). Actually the only line on the log you would not use in the academy (or any school for that matter) would be SLEEPER (line 2)..since you don't use the sleeper compartment as a sleeping unit..correct?

I think I understand now, why my students were (at times) so confused at the log process. They have you use a different set of rules at the school level, then at orientation they throw the actual set of rules at you and expect the Mentor/Trainer to clean up the confusion. It makes sense why so many hours are lost to log and safety classes after the new driver goes solo and has so many log infractions.

Get my drift on this issue?