Quick Question About Swift

have you researched millis or roehl, in my opinon there the best two to choose from. did alot research on the two companies and had a hard time decideing which to go with but finally decided on millis. i start on november 12 in cartersville ga.

 

Try to go with a refrigerated carrier for the best money.
Van, annual pay will be substaintially less than reefer(refrigerated).

Central Refrigerated
FFE
Prime
Stevens
Knight (refrigerated division)

 

Can't say I've heard of that before. They ask you what your interest is (solo, team, L/O) after orientation and they put you down for what you request, but as far as being forced into it, that's news to me. Maybe he didn't know better that he had the final say and someone in admin BS'ed him into it? As far as it being a way to avoid paying more, team drivers make pretty good coin, more-so than solo.

You sure he wasn't still with a mentor or maybe failed somehow and had to repeat mentorship? During that, you Are teaming driving (after first 50hrs) but only making $60ish/day, flatrate for training.

I had good fortune and my experience with Swift, training to solo has went well. Just really depends on which terminal / people you end up working with. For instance, a good friend of mine who was my roommate during training in Millington (good guy, respectful, natural driver) ended up getting the run around with his solo experience and jacked around on his pay.

So I guess as the saying goes, "Your mileage will vary."

Roehl was my first choice, but I saw on their website that they required a decent amount of money down, which I simply didn't have available at the time. Nice part about Swift is there is no upfront cost and will be deducted from payroll after (and if) you're hired.

 

yea but god they want like $140 k for a new trk yu will be payin on that thing till yu old and gray man!! if yu dont have at least 5yrs dont lease a trk gotta learn trkin first!!!! then maybe buy one!

 

Actually, you can get a truck for around $85,000 with payments about $500.00 a week, with a balloon at the end. It's still a tough deal, though.

 

I started my career with Swift went to thier so called acadamy in Lewiston Id. Dec.2010 All they teach you is just enough to past state test. The real training is the rest of the time you drive. I went solo for 6 months then trained my wife we drove teams for 1 year and 4 months. Got to see the country from the interstate, found out how small a truck can be when your with someone 24/7 but we made it work. During that time I learned that Swift will lie to you about anything from yea we fixed that problem with your truck to DOT dosnt require your dash lites to work and no its not a saftey issue keep driving. Let me give you a small piece of advice if your married and you go trucking plan on your marriage probably coming to an end. If you have plans to own a truck of your own stay the hell away from Swift"s lease purchase program. Always remember your busting your ### sleeping in a closet and eating cheese sandwichs so some other rich ####### can live in his high priced mansion fly to bermuda on his own jet and not once ever give a rats ### about you except to push you for more mile. If you do go with Swift and ever see Big Jerry M. tell him for me he can kiss my ###. Your better of staying home and flipping burgers or cleaning toilets at least your sleeping in your bed at night.

 

Honestly, all schools do is train you to get your CDL. You will still know very little about actual truck driving, even from the best schools. You still have to learn about dealing with shippers and receivers, DOT, adjusting axle weights and on and on. There is no substitute for actual experience. This, and the fact you will still have to probably go with a training carrier anyway because of insurance requirements, leads me to think that most would be better off saving the cost of a truck driving school. Go with a carrier that has their own school, its usually cheaper and requires little or no upfront money, you pay back when your working.