My Time With Swift

Wyldfyur, my home terminal is Columbus. So I talked with the fleet manager on monday, as I mentioned before. He said if I hadn't heard from him by wednesday to call him back, so I did. He told me he has a note there to remind him, but hasn't had time to work on it. So I called him back again on friday. He "still hasn't had time to work on it", but he has an idea where he wants to put me. He just wants to talk with the particular dm first and wants me to call him back again on monday. I will definately be doing that.

About your comment on how to be positive in asking for a new dm, I would say, basically, don't resort to bad mouthing and name calling. When talking to your fleet manager about the problems, keep to the facts. I let mine know about the constant short miles. I also said that maybe I'm misunderstanding how things work, but she doesn't seem to have any authorization to do anything and offered a couple examples. I also directed him to a discussion I had with her on the qc the previous week. States evidence number one!

I feel like sometimes I'm getting the run-around, and maybe I am, but I'm sure persistence will pay off. I will continue to call until I get some results. A respecful pain-in-the-a!!

I have seen one positive result in asking for a new dm. My miles have certainly gotten better. I've been pretty happy with everything, up until thursday. My hometime was set for saturday. The preplans I had been getting were all delivering on saturday or monday. The miles were great, but I still wanted to get home, too. My dm said, "We guarranty to get you home one the day requested, but not at any particular time, unless you specifically request a certain time." I tried hard not to laugh in her face, though we were on the phone. There has been more than once occasion when I didn't get home on time. And once I even let her know I needed to be home at a certain time on a certain day and I still got home a day late. It doesn't happen often, but yes it does happen. As she said, though, you still get the same amount of time off, regardless of when you actually get home. So it really doesn't matter too much. It's just a matter of principle. Maybe I'm just making too much out of nothing.

I will keep you posted about what happens next week. Got my fingers crossed for something good!

Be safe out there. Winter weather is here already. Seen a picture from Minnisota with lots of snow!

 

Hi Mark, yes I am still with Swift as of 11/15/10 and I am doing just fine since my surgery, thanks for asking. Not really much more information I can offer beyond what I have already posted in this thread.

Ironrider, my worse paycheck, take home, was about $90 (there were several factors involved with that), the best one I think was about $1100, but that included the trip from before my surgery. I can certainly understand you being scared about letting go of something you are familiar with for something so uncertain. There are certainly no garrantees in this business. The best I can offer is do what you think is best for you and just do the best you can. Stuff will come up that will make you wonder why you are doing this. When it does, you either quit, or just keep on truckin. As I've said before, this is an industry where you deal with people and that is where much of the problems come from. Some people don't know their backside from a hole in the ground, yet feel qualified to tell you how to do your job. Some are just plain #$$holes. Some are pretty decent. You just deal with each situation as it arises and let the stuff roll off your back.

I wish you both the best of luck!