Is it possible to make close to 70k gross in 1st yr solo with swift?

I don't see that kind of mileage being possible. Vans just sit around way too much. AND, pushing those kind of miles needs some flexibility with elogs. We all know that just ain't possible.

And if your one of those drivers who gets stuck in the rocky mountain area a lot. Slower speeds. And winter time also takes away.

Realistically. I"m just not seeing it. Unless he's a rental operator.

 

Yep I remember I was going to quit because of an instructor not doing his job not frustrated at trucking itself. If I'm locked into a contract and owe thousands I need to be trained properly. I'm well aware of the bs out there in this field of work. That's why I signed up here and prepared myself well in advance while I was working my day job so I didn't get into this blind. Trust me more then a few handful of students i met came to the school very naive and doubt will last even a month out there based on things they were saying. Even simple things like expecting a shower every night "I'll always take my shower at the end of the work day". They weren't hearing that some days you might.miss a shower "no not me I'm taking a shower every day I don't care what anyone says ". That shows they either don't know what it's going to be like or refuse to adapt either way it doesn't sound like a recipe for success out there. Bunch of other things were said they drank the Kool aid and alot of it.

As for this topic 70k does sound like a stretch but like I said it seems possible also considering every 3 months the cpm goes up 5 raises in a year to close to .48 a mile I think I read. But if I was.new coming in i wouldn't think 70k more like 45k gross.

 

Did you ever ask yourself why would a guy display his paycheck up on Youtube? Huh. What in the heck does that do for someone? Most likely, most of all Youtube, somebody looking to stoke his ego. To do that most affectively, to add cred. to your Supertrucker status, you put up the highest paycheck you ever had to impress your viewer.

Is that every weeks paycheck? No, must likely not. Does that paycheck reflect an average or yearly income at Swift? You better believe it doesn't. If you think it does you know nothing about truckload trucking at a Mega. The megas all run a seasonal business.

A good portion of us were or are Swift drivers.

A lot of us know how the truckload freight system works. Many know exactly how a mega works. And I for one will tell you, no solo driver at Swift makes $70K. Complete conjecture and BS. To say any different only tells me that that person does not know a thing about megas or truckload freight.

 

I def hear you and obviously you been in this game so I gotta agree with you. Just saying it sounds like it could possibly be done. But I think if you are entering this career and expecting that kind of pay don't even get into this. I got in this expecting about 38k gross my first year. I figure first year is like a paid internship just learning the ropes and enough to buy Ramen noodles and.maybe treat myself one night with a can of spam to add to my noodles. Lol

 

No.

It's not possible to run 184K miles solo with Swift as a company driver, or as ANY driver for that matter.

Fleet managers at Swift terminals usually have white boards or flat screen computer monitors on the wall tracking fleet performance. Average miles per week per driver is an important thing that is tracked. I never saw a fleet average over 2000 miles a week. The lowest I saw was about 1700 miles per week.

I averaged close to 2600 miles per week when I ran solo with Swift. I stayed on the road 4-8 weeks at a time and never took more than three days off at home. I was willing to take any load, anywhere, at any time. Chaining up as necessary.

I never took vacation time. Swift paid a week's wages for unused vacation when I quit two and a years ago.

Figure that a good company driver in a 62 mph governed truck will get about 120,000 to 130,000 miles a year. Assume he makes the Platinum bonus of $0.06 per mile, paid quarterly. At best he's going to gross about $57K.

 

OP,

Does this driver have a run from say, oh I don’t know, Laredo to the east coast where a few of the pallets are bundles wrapped in garbage bags? That might explain it.

 

yea, id just nod my head slowly..and back away from the punch bowl.

 

If he escorts on the side

 

3000 miles every week at 40 cpm..doubt it unless you never go home.

 

In the first year Swifties get like 3 raises. I suppose it is possible the driver got on one of those relay runs where they turn and burn 500 miles every night, meeting a driver half way and swapping trailers and returning to their terminal. That would be the best case scenario, you never waste time at customers being detained, only run consistent solid miles every day making max dollars.