Diary of a current Swift flatbed driver

Indeed. Welcome back.

 

Been good, still hanging out in Texas mostly. You still doing that safety gig I think it was?

 

I'm sitting in a rest area 15 miles south of San Francisco with a load of clay pipe that I'm delivering Monday morning @ 7:00 am IN San Francisco. Residential neighborhood no less.

 

Does Swift require that drivers purchase their own straps, chains, and such?

 

No, they do not. Everything is company provided.

 

I'm with Swift flatbed out of Phoenix and you have to push them real hard to get decent tarps from my experience, they like to hand out the used ones first. Also, Swift flatbed is not a brotherhood, I am still friends with my mentor, but I do not talk to any Swift flatbedders, I don't like them and they don't like me.....after all, we are all sharks swimming in the same fish tank looking for that piece of meat the planners throw at us. I'm running good now, but when winter comes and it slows down, watch out.

 

I work for Swift Flatbed out of Phoenix, regarding load securement, some loads you have to babysit and others you can set and forget. I've hauled buckets out of Laredo and Lift gates out of San diego and I never trust the Mexicans. It also depends on the road condition as well. Certain roads will be bumpier and whenever I roll in to a new state, the road either get's worse or better. You have to have a feel for the load, it's not textbook, go with your gut. These hard and fast rules quoted above are good if you're new, but I know my loads and I know which ones are going to be high maintenance and which ones I can forget about.

 

50mi from the shipper, and 150mi or 3hrs (whichever comes first ) is not just a rookie guideline it's the law. Dont get complacent...it kills people when we do.

 

Hmmm, something tells me you have a big CB too. The fleet may not be losing much by you not wanting to associate with them. For the record, I'm not currently on the fleet, I work in the safety department for another carrier. For a driver with just one year of experience, you're awful quick to call someone else an idiot. Good luck to you out there, at the moment I imagine you may need it.

 

I apologize, there was nothing in your post about safety dept, the law is the law, but I stand by what I said.

For the record, I love flatbed and I get help from other flatbedders, just not Swift flatbedders. The ones I give kudos to are the black flatbedders, whenever I needed help with my tarps, job leads etc. they were really cool with me, the white redneck ones on the other hand, forget it, especially the owner ops.....they would just as well see me crash and die....there is no honor with these people.

Go to any truck stop, they treat minorities bad in this business, the n-word flows from their mouths like water from a fountain, especially on the CB, I know this first hand.....there is no other way to put it, that's just the way it is.

But no, I don't talk to them, this business changes you.