A bit disappointed at the lack of variety and sitting time at Swift

flatbed in midwest also

 

loads are low here in so cal.
talked to a few drivers here in jurupa that sat for 2 to 3 days.
is your driver leader able to plan you loads? some do and some dont.
but if dl can get with him about available loads before you empty out.
i dont do reefer so not sure on loads on that division

 

Man your just 3 months in. It takes time to build rapport with a company, especially one as large as Swift. Initially you'll stay in a region, but as more people quit, more freight is moved, and you get more experience under your belt, they will stretch you out more.....be patient. It gets better.

 

The question is are you willing to take a hit to your paycheck yo start moving east? IE would you rather get reloaded the same day back to Stockton or sit at the truckstop for 24 hours waiting for the load taking you east? And then have to sit in Kansas City for 38 hours waiting on the next load?

There are reasons you keep running the same lanes - it's because that's where Swift has freight. Loads from the west coast heading to the Midwest and east coast are going to go on tream trucks first, and guys from out east trying to get back home. You're trying to break the pattern and that will come with some costs.

 

If you're OTR, try scheduling your next hometime at one of their terminals on the other side of the country. Assuming they allow you to take hometime anywhere the account runs, that'll force them to get you out of your current market. They may even leave you there for a while.

Werner did the same thing to me when I was OTR last year, only they did it on the East Coast. I never got out West like I wanted, but I got off the East Coast by having the permits department send my truck's registration to their terminal in Omaha so I'd have to go there to pick it up. Once there, I stayed mostly in Central Time. In hindsight, I should have had it sent to Denver but I was new and I felt like I was pulling a fast one on them sending it to Nebraska. Stupid me.

 

Yes Intermodal has always (as far as I know) been a local and regional thing. To the OP, hang tough and give it some time, see how things shake out.

 

Fight them on it. That's what I had to do, and I was trying to pick up the truck's registration. They ended up having to do something in their system to block any loads east of where I was being assigned to me because I kept getting sent back to the Carolinas. And I don't even live there, I'm from Mississippi.

When you're about a week out from your hometime, call them up if you get any loads West of your position. Remind them that you've got a SUPER DUPER IMPORTANT family thing going on in Ohio right down the road from their terminal. Like @gentleroger said, the system is steering you with the flow of freight in your area. You're fighting against the flow to go east.

 

Unless you get lucky they might keep you where you are at until that time.

But a few days (well, maybe 4-5-6 days since freight is so low right now) before your home time date you can use mac 9 to refuse any loads that don't get you closer to OH.
Mac 9 is your friend, and a home time request is a valid reason for turning down loads.
You would be surprised to learn just how many loads they have that will get you to your destination, once you to start refusing loads.

 

@XenonOxide --

As suggested in the above posts...you could play the system to get more of the types of loads that you want.

But I would respectfully submit....looking for work elsewhere (beyond Swift) right now is/would be a BAD IDEA.

With freight volumes down....and who knows how much worse things will get....before they improve....I would highly encourage you to "stay the course" with Swift.

Based on what I witnessed first-hand with Schneider--running with a so-called "mega-carrier" is actually a great place to be during a freight slump.

This should especially be true if you are already running reefer loads.

-- Lual