Some FB info from new hire in greer, sc

i wanted to post this while eveything as soon as i could. this is my first post and i may post some background somewhere else.
i just got out of orintation and phase 1 fb training in greer,sc.

as a new hire, if you did not ask to goto fb training before you get to orintation in greer, you will not get into fb. unlike what i have heard about gary and phoenix, the staff will not come in and ask if anyone wishes to goto fb.

as far as your fb home terminal, will not be in greer. i was told on the first day of orintation that all of greers equipment has been moved to gary. i was told before i went that greer was only 1 of 3 places that swift has for fb home terminals, not the case anymore. greer still at the moment teaches phase 1 fb secruement and i was told that they are still working to have phase 2 within a few weeks, but from what i have read here, they have been saying that for a while now. now that said, greer still has some equipment for those that are in fb.

from what i have read here many people believe that when you get out of phase 1 you have to ride with a van mentor for a part of your 240 hrs and finish with a fb mentor, this is not true. i asked my dl from gary if i was able to do so...no.

break down of mentor fb. if you come to greer and not on the list for fb training, or you are coming in as a new hire going into fb but want to go out with van mentor to get on rode faster(i asked for this reason) or you are company driver wishing to do fb please keep reading...first you must complete the whole 240 hrs with a van driver(no exp), go solo for 6 months with good standing( no service failers, wrecks..), then you must do phase 1(unless you did do this and decided to ride with van mentor), then you have to ride with a fb mentor for 120hrs. after all of that, complete phase 2 in phx or gary and then you may count yourself as a member of the L33T fleet.

new hires with fb exp...you will go through oreination and phase 1 training. at the end of the week youll get a hold of your dl they will work on getting you to gary for phase 2.

now as a side note, there was 4 of us in phase 1, 2 new drivers and 2 exp. all i can say is, i feel sorry for the exp fb drivers. all phase 1 training is teaching is the regs and how swift does securement. swift does not care how you did things before, this is not mavrick nor some logging company. whatever you did before, forget it. this is swift and just becouse the regs say use 3 chains, swift says to use 4 chains...the regs are not set in stone, you may add to but cant take away, period! sorry, but i have to vent for just a moment. also, if your a new to fbing...you dont have to get all the info in phase 1, this is why they have fb mentors.

imho...greer was a great place to get started, the staff was very helpful. they do tend to get busy but they are trying to enter about 25 people into the system to get them their driver codes. for anyone who is in orintation and wants to know more about swift fbing, just look for people wearing a refector vest. while i was there all the fbers was willing to let me pick their brains about loads equipment and even leasing. this may not be the case with everyone, but again this is from my veiw point. more then likely the frist person you will see wearing a vest is going to be mike.. he is the phase 1 trainer in greer, as well as the one who handles fb equipment in greer. that being said, greer in not a huge terminal and when your going through orintation, there will be alot of people around the orintation room. please watch what you say and do. we had a lady come into the class to pass out paperwork and someone had said a cuss word... she jumped their butts, of course when she walked out more comments was said just as she was coming through another door... later we found out that she is the first dl that you get... the person that said the comments was a exp driver, also the last person to get on the rode, this person was still at the terminal(2 days after being coded) waiting for bus ticket to ocalla to get their truck.

as for me... im a new driver. i was in army for 6 years, served in oif 1 with the 3id. my trucking exp comes from driving a hemit in korea and doing runs from kuwait to iraq. i was a shipper and receiver for a while, but my main trades is a welder and a mechanic. im starting out as a otr trucker b/c i think it is a good fit for who i am. im now a coded driver trainee with swift. i just finished phase 1 fb training yesterday, but due to the limited amount of mentors im sure ill be sitting and waiting for a mentor to open up. i would have gone into van just to be out right now, but i think it is better to get my 240 with a fb mentor done now rather then having to wait at least 7 months and spend 360hrs out training with mentors. im not afraid of getting dirty and working hard(work hard, play hard), i do hate the cold though, but i just need to get warmer clothes, LoL. i was very shocked at how many people told me that im crazy for going to fb, but do to this, it makes me feel better about me being a part of the fb fleet. so in about 2-3 months ill hope to see some fellow fbers in larado, ill be sure to grab some steaks.


im sorry about my spelling errors, i sucked in english class, but grammer aside. if you would like to ask anything, i will try to let you know to the best of my ability. for now, ill be at home checking in everyday with my dl waiting for a fb mentor(that smokes). untill im done learning from mentor and doing phase 2 training, ill keep this post updated as much as i can.


for someone that is a with swift fb, what is the best way to insure that i get a long frame truck when i start out solo? i thought that you dont get much of a choice with it comes to what truck you get, but was told a few times that if i can try to get a long frame. of course reasons why, you would already know(i dont want to give out trade secrets).

drivers be safe and keep rubber side down.
cycolee

 

not going to lie, i looked into many companies that do flatbed and tankers, but i felt swift was the best fit for me. the pay isnt the greatest, miles are ok(from what ive heard at terminal and here), but swift does runs in the lower 48 and canada. not too many starter comanies can say this with their fbers. i checked into mavrick, they told me that they was looking for 6 months of exp for the area that im in before then would hire me. the main thing that killed my chances with many companies, is the fact that i just had a wreckless driving fall off my 3 year mvr. g&p said that they could get me in even with the wreckless , but never could get something in stone. so while i was in school, i had joked at every recruiter that came in about them not taking me due to my mvr. when the swift recruiter came in and i did my little joke and was about to walk out to smoke, he said that due to the fact that i did not have a cdl at the time and other then the wreckless, my mvr is clean for 7 years, they could get me in. granted i know how recruiters can be, i say again CAN BE, so i didnt believe what he was saying untill i had a date to goto orintation in gary(long story that wont be covered here on why i ended up in greer). the short of it is, their job is to get people in the door. they will not know everything, matter of fact, i had to update him with the same information that i posted here just b/c its hard for them to keep updated with everything that has to do with driver policies. again they are there to get you into the door. they know the regs that would keep swift from hiring someone and what they can do to maybe bypass those regs(very rare).

now that i am a coded driver, i do what i can to update my recuiter on some of the changes that affect drivers so that he may better help his recruits. i liked that fact that he did not suger coat or lie in anyway to me. if he did not know the information, he told me so. what he said he could or would do, he did %100.

that being said. recruiters at swift get paid for their recruits, but from what ive talked to mine about. they do not get credit for their recruits untill they get into their own trucks.

im not sure how much info im allowed to post for my recruit and sadly i cant pm at this moment. after reading ttr forums for 9 months, i have read alot of post about recruiters tring to talk ppl into doing company lease programs or doing mentorship... what my recruiter told me was a something that gave him more credit from me. he told me to stay away from the lease program untill i have a year in with the company but he asked if i would try to be a mentor. after all, there is not many fb mentors and it would be good to help ppl that are sitting home waiting as i am right now. me being a mentor, maybe, but we will just have to see as time goes on.

ride safe, keep rubber side down
cycolee

 

well, still waiting on a mentor. dl in gary says to expect to wait 2 weeks for a mentor but to stay next to phone just in case one opens up later in the week.

my friend that i met while going through phase 1 is waiting as well. we almost have a bet going to see who gets out first. mainly has to do with the fact that he is a non-smoker and i am a smoker. i think my chances are good considering how many people kept going outside for a smoke the week i was at the greer terminal. my friend and i are both in good locations for a pick up, he's in gainsville,ga and im near columbia,sc. so we are both in the good swift travel lanes from larado to gaffney. guess ill find out in about a week.

and before anyone starts, i am working on cutting back and quiting smoking so...

ride safe and keep rubber side down.
cycolee

 

Well... I'm starting to guess some people don't like pulling flats. Oh well, more loads for me.

Anyway, I said that I'd update this thread at least until I was done with mentor.
So... I got a phone call lastnight from my classmate but was unable to answer do to me visiting some close friends. I did call him in the morning and got his VM. I then get a call from my DL stating that they have not forgot about me and was still looking for a mentor. While I was on the phone I had asked if my classmate had a mentor, yes. Well, so much for that bet. Classmate called a little bit later that he was on his way to meet up with his mentor and wished me luck on me getting mine soon.

About 1700est I get a call from DL letting me know that I have a mentor. DL gave me the mentors number. I called shortly after(DL wanted to talk to mentor first, LoL). I got the VM, left my name and number. After what seemed like forever I get a call from a private number(i don't pick up phone for unlisted numbers) but gut feeling told me to answer phone. It was my mentor notifying me that he will be in Greer soon but has to have a service done on his rig. Set up meet time and so now it looks like ill be out tomorrow.

I will say, I was very shocked about how long it took to get a mentor(7 days) after hearing at terminal how bad swift needs flatbed mentors. It still felt like forever but that just goes to show that in certain ways, I'm not the very good at waiting.

Well... As far as trucking goes, it looks like a cyco is going to be on the road. No I don't mean psycho, I mean the cyco that played chicken with terminators in Korea to dodging bullets in Baghdad...

Anyway guys and gals, I hope you all have a safe night and keep rubber side down.
Cycolee

 

Update... Not too much to say. I've been running good and I'm just over 90 hours into my training. Last week I ran about 3300 miles. I've only pulled 3 types of loads, Cat parts from larado, TX to eastern NC. Chassis from gaffney,sc heading up north. Then grab a coil heading to larado or spartanburg,sc. I'll tell you what, all I head about "saluda grade" from my teachers seems like a story to scare newbies. FYI saluda grade is I-26 in north Carolina, forgot mile marker. I have been over it 4 times in under 2 weeks. But I have talked to other drivers that state that they will not take I;-26 or I-40 in the Carolinas, they rather goto atl then head up I-75. As far as weight goes, we have been pulling 38-44k loads...

Heading to larado right now with a gross of about 77000 pounds...already have a t-call out of Mexico heading to NC with cat parts. If your flatbed with swift, you should already know, cat parts are the best. Everything is tied down already, just have to check the securement and weight and head out.

Oh yeah, Greer does not have steeltoe boots, but you can pick some up from Gary for 2 payments of $17 and change. They are not bad...

Safe travels and keep shiny side up.
Cycolee

 

From what my mentor told, swift still has those accounts. From the looks of Greer, they still do a bunch of flatbed operations except the DMs and planners. Not sure about trucks, but your load securement items are issued there. Plus, like I said before, they still teach phase 1 and have phase 2 in the works.

As for the boots, they are the black "shoes for crews". They are not bad, pretty lightweight compared to my other worn out boots. If they do fall apart pretty fast, I guess you get what you paid for, they only need to last for a few paychecks...

Speaking of pay... First full check... Gross: about $500 net: about $380.

FYI: I'm over 100 hours today, so midterm should be coming this monday.

Ride safe. Avoid I10 east bound out of Houston,TX. 3-4 hours of waiting. Plus seen a aftermath of a bad wreck, looked like car cut off a car haul tryin to get off interstate. Plus I10 east at I49, I was told a fed-ex truck tipped over. Had to go up I49 to exit 19

Peace, cycolee