Crunching The Numbers, Am I Missing Something?? (newb)

Geez I’ve seen some pretty big loads but I guess I’ve never considered the weight of those bad boys. 170,000 lbs ah no thank you. I’m guessing that’s where those 18 gears come in handy.

 

Can’t have too many gears. 15over+4over works really well. You can run a stupid gear like 4.33 or 4.56 in the back and still get up the road with it when you’re empty.

 

Does swift train drivers for nine or ten months ?

Does swift require a spotless criminal, credit and driving record ?

Does swift require the students attend a 300 hour accredited CDL school at their own expense ?

the military trains 19 yr olds to be helicopter pilots .

You have to select the right student , the right instructor , and have a training program that works.
99.8% of the normal military recruits won’t qualify for the helicopter pilot training, and quite a few of those will wash out of the program after they start.
but how else are you going to get new pilots ?

No different with trucking .

 

I use to own a flooring business and at the end had 20-30 crews
Training was around 5 years but I would start guys out on stretching in rooms almost at day one as that’s the part of the job that would help save on time and begin to make the newbie more valuable and profitable

Others didn’t understand why and said they needed more experience
I would tell them that they could watch me or another guy for 10 years but that first day was going to be no different. It was still their first day on a new tool no matter the visual time

 

Megas should have washed out 98% of the people that are steering their junk around today. If you think you can take a green truck steerer person and send them out for a ride along for a year and end up with a heavy haul driver you’re out of your ####ing mind. You can’t even build a truck driver in a year when you start with a good candidate. You don’t even get the basics of this. Graduating from a CDL mill doesn’t make you a truck driver. Not even close. There’s a lot of truck steerer persons running around out there that think they’re truck drivers because they have a CDL and they’re sitting in one of Swifts millennials motor homes steering to the best of their ability, but they’re not it and never will be. Think what you will, I don’t believe 80tons on the highway with a re-capped Walmart greeter steering it is a good idea. And after an entire lifetime of being around this #### you’re not going to change my mind.

 

I see you are also rocking the michigan gear in your photo. Fighting Irish helping a wolverine mmmmmmmm nah.
Seriously, many on here have given you good direction. It's a great place to be. When, and whatever you decide, don't be strangers.

 

How does a driver get started then?

 

Work your way into it. Nobody starts at a heavy haul operation on a bed. I’ve got a bit of an anomaly here, the FNG is my low bed operator. But he started his training at about 12 in the truck with his father. Worked on the bed as his dads swamper through his teens rigging loads and working with the equipment, and learned how to drive the truck at the same time. He was coming right along but got impatient when he got a licence. Went and drove for a freight outfit for a year and a half. That was the first thing made me question him a bit. You really need a 40yr olds patience for that work. When he came back he went out with the bed in the escort or with a tridem hauling counterweight and stuff supporting the big truck for a year or so, and spent some time on move planning and permitting and all that noise. Then I put him in the bed driving, with my senior driver with him for a while. When he came in and said “the kids going to be ok, he don’t need me anymore” was when his training ended. He’d been on the road for almost 5yrs and working around that truck for almost half his life at that point. He’s 32 now, and a very capable bed operator. There just isn’t an app for building one of those with in a year.