My Swift Adventure

I am sitting in Arabi La, just outside the 9th ward of New Orleans. We did a JIT load to penny's in Baton Roughe, and Hammond. We were scheduled to pick up a load at Domino Sugar at 13:30. Called dispatchand said we might get worked in early as it is Friday and they might have a hole and want to go home early.

WRONG! Evidently the broker changed the appointment to 08:30 and didn't tell anyone. We didn't finish unloading at our last stop until 7;30. The guard at the gate told me to call my dispatcher. We did. They qualcomed us about the broker screw up. We were told to load at 15:30, then that was changed to 17:30. I need to get out of this neighborhood before dark.

Bill glad to hear you made it!

I did talk to my student coordinater. She was upset because I filled out a questionare and it asked me to rate my coordinater. I thouhgt it was a question about my driver manager. I checked "not applicable." She wanted to know why. I think she thought I was unhappy with her. Not at all! I told her I misunderstood the question.

I did ask about testing out in a diferent terminal as my mentor needs to get his hometime. He is overdue by 5 days so far. She told me if I get those classes three different things can happen.

1. Get a truck and load out towards home.

2. Get a ride with another driver back to Memphis.

3. Ride a bus.

I can tell you I won't ride a frikken bus! Beside I may have too much crap to ride a bus. I'll either rent a car, or fly home If it comes dow to that.

My mentor said I would have to get a Memphis truck from another terminal. AKA an abandoned truck they recovered. I know Phoenix has lots of trucks. Not necessarily Memphis trucks!

We'll see. When I get of my mentors truck I will be computer-less for a while 'til I get home.

 

Good job Dodgeram! I think being with a trainer is probably one of the necessities of training that I look forward to the least. I hope, as does every trainee, to get with someone who knows how to teach, is willing to teach, and, most importantly, has something to teach. Good luck and good miles. Keep in touch!

 

Nicely put...

 

If I have one piece of advice for any of you newbies, when you start your training...ASK QUESTIONS! Don't be afraid to ask any question, there are no stupid questions. If your Mentor is any kind of trainer at all, he/she will encourage you to ask questions and will constantly ask you if you have any.

The only issue I had as far as training goes is the team atmosphere. All the training seems geared toward team situations. Such as when doing the loaded calls, they ask for a PTA (Projected Time of Availability). When you're team driving, there is always someone available to drive (usually) so the PTA usually gets set for about 15 to 30 minutes after your ETA. When you are solo, you may not have that availability so you need to figure the hours you'll have available. My trainers didn't cover that very well, but I will learn as I go.

 

Did I mention I got a speeding violation? On my log book! 66.1mph in a 65mph truck! Several hours I was cruising under 60 in Commiefornia.


Dodgeman did you run with 1 trainer at Swift or did you switch? The one lady who called me was surprized to hear I was with the same trainer

 

I actually had two trainers. Did my first four weeks with one trainer then came home for a couple days and left again with the second one. I didn't have any problems with the first trainer and actually did really well with him. The problem was that he had gotten a speeding ticket back in November and Swift is just now deciding to suspend him from training for that. If it wasn't for that, I would have finished with him.

When I got back to Columbus to test out, there was a lady there who was having problems with her mentor and just got off his truck. I guess it's hit or miss on whether you get a good one or not.

 

Congrats. Good luck. Let us know what kind of truck he/she has and how you're getting along...

 

Hey RD, did you get on with a mentor?