Because swift has really high rate of backing accidents. And that costs a lot of money that can be easily prevented. That's why
It is because Swift wants you to be able to pass your individual state CDL test. Most of them require the parallel park to get your CDL. The thing to remember is that ANY (including Swift) truck driving school doesn't teach you to be a truck driver. They teach you to pass your CDL test. You begin to learn to be a truck driver once you get with your trainer. Hopefully you are smart enough to never stop learning.
Thank you for all these post very informative. I start the academy on the 5th of Nov. I'm glad you posted real things instead of a bunch of hate mail and bad experiences calms my nerves before going. The income post was real helpful I worked for a lot less doing labor work my whole life. Thank all of you for the positive and real posts.
Congratulations on the 1 year successful tour. As far as parallel parking, we studied that in trucking school pretty intensely but I never understood how it would be used in practical daily driving. It turns out to be one of those things that is an exercise that gets you thinking about what is around your unit in almost any situation. Much like Danielsan from Karate Kid painting the fence and waxing on/off, it didn't make sense to him; but it was invaluable to his training and success in the tournament....
The most important thing about parallel parking is controlling the trailer, that is what the examiner is really looking for. It does come in handy at some of the older rest areas that do not have pull through parking. LOL, the first time you do it on the left curb instead of the right be sure to take your time and think about it.
719mma - That's the reason that I am doing it. There were many people that helped me along the way. I was very nervous about the change and many good people helped calm my nerves. Since then it has been a blast. I appreciate your kind words and wish you much success.
Don't forget about the KW trucks at Swift. We have a lot of KW T2000, T700's, and T660's in the fleet.
Right but those are not "typically" company driver trucks. The way they have been explained to me when I ask is that they are the one's that never got picked up on a lease by a L/O or for some reason cannot be put into a new lease. White trucks - Born to be a Swift company truck. Any other color - Originally obtained for the lease program The other way you can tell is that the trucks that have a color do not follow the same numbering pattern as the white trucks. I hope against hope that when I come back from surgery in December to get a 660. I absolutely love those trucks.
And becasue of those numbers is the reason that the planners do not know when looking at a screen the difference between a L/O and company truck. With the numbers on the white trucks, if a planner sees that number and lets say my number, and we are at the same place, then he knows the difference. The new system and the computer is supposed to know the difference, like I believe that.
