Is it time to say goodbye Swift and move on?

Every month I am sent a QC message about my high idle time ,and my DM usually mentions it as well.

I tell my DM I'll try to get it down some, but even if I try real hard it is still too high.
27% in summer time heat of 90-110 degrees? Let's see... If I drive 10 hours they want me to idle less than 2.7 hours - which includes waiting at lights, sitting in traffic, etc.
Just ain't gonna happen, unless the climate is real friendly.

So I end up just ignoring and deleting, ignoring and deleting...

I'm just outside of Salt Lake City tonight, and the climate is real friendly. I doubt that I'll need to run the engine until I start driving in the AM. But this is the first time in a few weeks that it has been so mild.

 

I'm not a Swift driver...and never have been...and what I'm about to say is nothing personal against Swift.

I'm a company driver too...and if they told me the things they said to the OP in this thread...They'd have to come and get their truck because it would be sitting wherever it was at when they said that...and I'd be working for somebody else by the time they figured it out.

NOBODY is gonna treat me like a #### stray dog...and I advise all of you to see that nobody treats you that way either.

Wasteful idling when its not needed is one thing...but idling to sleep comfortably in 90+ degree temps just has to be done...and I'm quick to tell them.

There are TONS of companies hiring drivers...you can have another job lined up before you quit, then wen you quit...be sure to tell them to shove that DAC report where the sun don't shine.

 

Blue you do know that some of the trucks do turn off/on by themselves right? Maybe that other driver wasn't getting up every ten minutes. I set my TAS (turns off on on its own) truck to about 80 degrees and have a turbo fan inside and it works well, but fan is noisy. I was in a terminal and listening to other drivers talking about how they all got a msg saying "You had one of the highest 62% idle times etc." I even got this exact message and my truck was in the shop right after I came off time off so it didn't idle no 62% sitting on a yard. That crap is no exact science, it has been one of the hottest summers ever this year.

 

screw em there to cheap to install APU'S they told me that an APU does not pay for itself in the time they own the truck!! first thing that came to my mind was bs your just to cheap to install em and could care less about the driver.screw em idle and tell em to run you harder then you won't be idling so much . best bet is to look for a local company that has tri packs on there trucks verses some sausage mill meaning mega carrier. and one that don't use DAC reports as well.

 

So are you going to loan him you knee pads?

 

Classy. Just tryin to add some perspective. I worked in dispatch and if I didn't agree with a policy I still enforced it. I'd then go and state my case to the powers that be to try to be an agent of change. Some battles you win, most you lose. The point is trying in a different way might prove to be more effective.

 

If you are averaging less than $400 a week,

you should have quit when you were parked in front of your trainers house !!!!!

 

Bluebonn, as I understand it you can make just about any terminal your home terminal. I ran a load from Alabama to Maryland with a driver one time whose home terminal was Lewiston, ID and he made his home in Baltimore.

When is started out Memphis was my home terminal even though Decatur was 300 miles closer. I didn't switch over to Decatur for months and it never messed with my hometime. I may be wrong on this and any current Swift driver comments are welcome.

 

i wouldnt make to big a fuss about your idle precentage. The Dm's are asked by higher to keep the idle time down.They think by sending a message it will magically alter the weather and your tolerance to heat. I hear this everyday.
Your DM probably understands just is told to send out fleet wide messages and target the drivers w the highest DCI.

 

I got a DCI message while my DM was out on vacation. This was last year, when I was running a lot of South/SouthWest. I didn't respond to it. But it was followed about a half hour later with an apology and a "nevermind." Haven't heard a word about DCI since.