So, What does Swift Really Pay New Drivers?

What am I looking at? All I'm seeing is a flatbed turning a corner, but with the bugs and glare it's hard to make anything specific out...

 

I'm pretty sure that is what I was making when I started there. Training pay with the mentor is something dumb like $10 an hour all on duty time.

you won't make that for a while. After you get off the mentor truck you go on new driver board where you basically get the worst possible loads and planning until you show an ability to 1: not wind up on the forums or Facebook or news as another dumb swift driver and 2, run your clock out making the company money while delivering on time and getting a bunch of miles. At .10 more cpm than you'll make taking home $1000 is about 3000 miles a week for me. Easy to run, hard to get planned it, even after you prove yourself.

Edited for clarity and to reduce fatigue induced errors.

 

A lot of companies would tell ya that your first year would be the toughest and if you manage to go thru it you would know if this is a career you want to do or not, Also a lot of the new drivers get disappointed when the checks are not consistent so as one the member's said get your experience take you time and then move to greener pastures. Please also learn to do proper planning don't be like those drivers who runs the clock out and park on ramps, driving a truck doesn't mean you need run out your clock til 10hrs and 45 min's and then look for somewhere to park safe.

Good luck

 

Pretty sure the starting rate is .36 CPM these days but talk to a recruiter to confirm. You sound like a good candidate for trucking. Being a loner is a good thing in this line of work and you're obviously motivated. After 6 months to a year you should start getting your quarterly rank bonus. Even if you had one preventable you would still be making an extra 4 CPM so that would be .40 com total.

If you were totally dedicated to starting your career I'd guess you would come in between 30-40k your first year but see no reason why you couldn't get to 40+ the next especially if you could get ranked as platinum.

It takes a while to get noticed by the planners and dispatch at any company but if you hang in there you can do it. Good luck with your future endeavors.

 

Swift - New Pay Scale complete details

 

From a 2014 post

 

Cool man. There's plenty of companies looking for GOOD drivers. I think you'll be just fine.

Also, lease purchase is almost never a good idea. That doesn't mean you can't be an owner operator. "Lease purchase" is a specific type of contract. Too much to get into here but I would agree you should start as a company driver for at least a couple years before thinking of buying a truck.

Again, good luck. Keep us posted.

 

Here's the thing being an o/o is running a business. You either already know how to do that or you don't. If you don't, you can drive a truck for 20 years and you still won't know.