Just started, staying at Swift for only 1 year?

Alright so I just started out and got my CDL, doing flatbed. I am planning on staying for 1 year only which is how long my contract is for. My dilemma now is that I'm getting married and want to get out of OTR right after my year with Swift so I can go local instead. I've had people tell me I should stay with Swift for 2 years instead of 1, which is simply non negotiable for me. I've heard worst case do 6 months but I'm here to do a year instead which should be good enough and now I'm hearing TWO years of on the road?? One year I can do but 2? Come on. What do you guys think? I have a feeling that there has to be a local company out there without a stick up their ### telling me 1 year is not enough.

 

Live up to your contract and then bail. Best of luck.

 

Plenty of local companies will hire you with 1yr experience, I wouldn't worry if I were you. #### if you look now you'll find companies that will have you home every weekend. Youd have to pay for your CDL but youd be home to see the wife more than every few weeks. Hometime is a ##### with family, I get home one night a week and the full weekend and I still miss my wife and son so much it hurts sometimes. Good luck to you.

 

I know that's the plan, but what are my options looking like after living up to my contract of 1 year only? Its 1 year only, it's not the 2 years people are telling me to stay for.

 

Ahhhhhh ok then well that's good. Because people been telling me if I dont do 2 years, I wont find ####.

 

Best way to remedy that issue talk to the local companies you want to work & let them answer those questions for you. That will put an end to bad information taking you for a long ride. Also may God bless you & your wife with a lifetime of love & may it never grow cold. All the best to you

 

1 year at the starter company is plenty, but do the 1 year. Don't listen to the lucky SOB that bailed after 3 months, started hauling garbage, and is happy making even less that at SWIFT. 1 year of clean driving at 1 employer will make you elegible for a LOT of better jobs. But while you are waiting for your 1 year to end do a tons of research so your second company is a place you could work for 5 years or your whole career. There is a lot of work improvement that happens just because you are learning the ropes, the boss can rely on you, and you have some seniority. MANY drivers never stick around enough to see the improvements that come from moving up at a company, make random choices about which company to work for, and then announce all trucking companies are terrible. No. They. Are. Not. Many are terrible, and I would never volunteer to work for them The job-hoppers have many choices, but mostly bad choices. NEVER CHANGE COMPANIES UNTIL YOU TALK WITH DRIVERS AT THE NEW COMPANY.

You cannot rely on web pages, want ads, and recruiters. Talk to drivers doing the job at the new company you are trying to get. Get their description about the work, pay, equipment, schedule. No driver is going to change a trucking company. You decide what kind of job you have when you pick where to work. Pick carefully.

 

With 2 years of safe stable employment you will have more options. But probably 50% of trucking companies can hire drivers with only 1 year experience. If you have 2 years experience either as 1 year at company A and 1 year at company B or 2 years at Company A you are probably eligible for 80-90% of trucking companies, assuming no terminations, accidents, tickets, etc.

I would never have picked Swift, but I would not stay at Swift for 2 years just to access the extra companies that want 2 years experience. Keeping your record clean in every way and not getting fired or quitting is probably more important than even the 1 year. But 1 year and clean is plenty to get a much better job. You MUST specifically decide what you need to be happy. If you just want more money and more home time you might as well flip a coin and prepare to be disappointed. How much home time, how often, how much money is acceptable, what kind of schedule, etc., etc. I'm not asking you to tell me. I'm asking you to decide for you.

 

Ahhhhhh I see, thank you all for the input. I know that going local is a tradeoff when it comes to making money, that's why I'm fine making the same amount I am making at Swift going local because even when I go local, I wont plan to stay very long as my ultimate goal is to get a dually pick up and go hotshot with a gooseneck hauling cars or something or getting my own cargo van. Local trucking is just to keep making money like I am at Swift while still not being able to get my pick up or van and being home too.

 

Dude, if you’d gone with the company I told you to...you’d be home daily, fresh out of school, and making MORE than you would make at Swift...


Just sayin’.