Going with Swift....Good or Bad opinions please

Oh, and I got a chuckle out of your handle. I got the bipolar-bear from the git go.

 

Yeah, there is a discussion board that I chat on with other people that are bipolar, and they call us Bipolarbears lol. I was trying to think of a handle:

Big Daddy - Prolly taken
Papabear - Prolly taken
Quanito - Name I use on games (would be mispronounced)
Lintz - Name I use on other forums (Same mispronounced)
Then it hit me... BI POLAR BEAR RAWRRRRR lol.

So then I am sitting with wife and parent(I am 31) having last dinner before I go for a couple months, and was joking and told them I even came up with my handle. OMG, they all started laughing and saying the other truckers gonna say what your a polarbear that goes both ways... lol... Then they said I'll be in a truck stop on off duty and some, (thinking of politically correct way of wording it....) gay-friendly trucker, will say breaker 1-9 breaker 1-9 Bi-polar bear you in for some manly company... They were busting my chops pretty hard. Almost made me wanna change it. But I am sticking with it. No pun intended... lol

 

lol. I'll come back asking if your the dark night that runs around in tights and a cape lol

 

all I can say is ive never sat long at swift, one time I did, sent a freeform msg in saying I was bored of sitting where I was sitting after 15 hours, and got a load within 2 hours

 

well i fell sorry for all you young guys trying to be a trucker, I have been trucking over 36 years your lucky you got technology because when i started we drove ###### cab overs had to lay down just to change your clothes, You got air ride we had spring ride you got the hell beat out of you so quit whining about your company a driver will go thru 20 jobs in 2 years, The big companies no one stays with any off them swift, jb hunt, Werner,Schneider, there all the same treat drivers like crap your just a phone number to them,m You need to go to the mom and pop companies, I own 2 kenworths w-900l show trucks, Hell my insurance company wont put a driver on less than 12 years experience good luck

 

Good luck Darkknight.

I've been with Swift for a bit more than a year.
So far, so good.

I do sit, sometimes for days, without a load.
I have had some lemon trucks, my current being the worst.
I don't always get paid for scale tickets and other things. (Never scan scale tickets at terminals, by the way. They always come out black, and you won't get paid for them.)

A further bit of advice, and one that may not be explained to you during orientation or training.

Plus-1.
It is the new system designed to get you 'one more load each week'.

I was recently in Laredo, TX.
I was waiting to have new drive tires installed when I met another driver also in for repairs.

He was, frankly, glad to be in the shop.
He had been solo for 2 weeks, and he was being run ragged.
His last load, he said, didn't even give him time for a pee break without being late.

Comes in... Plus-1.



The Plus-1 system doesn't show you the customer's time windows on a load.
It sends you the times of pick-up and delivery the computer thinks you can manage. But it does not allow for things like scaling a load, pee or meal breaks, slow downs for construction or rush hours, or enough sleep time.

As such, if you accept most pre-plans without first calculating your actual needs, you will always be late.



During training you should learn how to plan your loads.
'Should', being the operative word. Some trainers are not so good, so be on your toes and observant with how much time it takes to get from point A to point B.

When you go solo, never take a pre-plan that you think is too tight on time.
You have the option to turn it down, while giving a new pick-up/delivery time that you can actually do (safely).
Use that option.

If your times are within the customers window it will be kicked right back to you with those times, asking that you commit to the load.
If they are not the load will be taken off you, and you will get a different load assignment sent to you shortly.


The thing is - never feel pressured to take loads that you don't think you can deliver safely in the times given in the pre-plan.
You are in control, and you should always remember that.
And, it is your own butt on the line - not the planner's, or the DM's, or the computer's.

If something, anything, should go wrong in the on-time delivery of any load - know this...

The answer on their end will always be -

"Then, why did you accept the load in the first place?"