Start Training at Swift on the 21st ....what should i expect?

They do the schools by where you live. We would have had to be schooled in San Antonio but we moved to AZ to be with our grandkids. So we went to Phoenix. You'd have to change your residency.

Well, I liked Swift because they were willing to train us. Despite the garbage you hear on the forum and elsewhere........the training is pretty much what you find in other schools. I got a chance to view several other school's and their classes on several occassions and I'll be blunt it was exactly the same in how they were training the students to pass the exam.

I don't think any school unless it's really LONG can teach what you're going to learn on the road. You learn the basics and then you go out with a mentor which can be good or bad depending on the mentor. I think I've learned the most when I've had to do it.

However, back to Swift's school: I loved the school for a lot of reasons. It came at a time in my life when my self esteem was in the toilet. My instructors and the other students shoved esteem into me. My instructors had far more belief in me than I had in myself. I still like to go by and visit with them.

I have decided from reading this forum for almost two years now that almost everyone has a gripe about the company they work for. Even the independents gripe about their situation with brokers and customers. So no place is perfect.

Swift is a company that hires newbies, one that hires untrained and schools them. Swift is a company that because of that fact can pay less than the companies that require two years experience. If you realize that then you don't expect them to pay you the same as someone in another company.

Swift also has a dispatch order that puts a solo driver at the bottom so that means loads are given to them last. The order is Team, O/O, Mentor trucks, solo drivers.

Work is based on freight, if there is no freight there is no work. period. Drivers can complain all they want but THAT is the bottom line. no freight.....no miles.

But after saying all that I still haven't really answered your question. I'm sorry. I'm a happy person, I choose to be so I'd manage to be happy at any company or else I'd leave it. I did my research on companies that train, I did my research on Swift. I had a fairly good idea of what we were getting. But even then I had a period of being upset about hometime. Maybe we've just been blessed but we had a good driver manager when OTR and frankly we adore the team we work with over in Casa Grande on the dedicated fleet. They're awesome and we're so lucky to be on the team.

Sorry I can't be more help!

 

According to the news.... that is exactly what happened. Living on the Tennessee state line, the only TV I get is out of Tennessee.... Every channel had news crews lined up along the interstates.... Their headline was slamming on all driver's... Showing all trucks.... And reporting on the incident in Memphis saying that all truck drivers are unqualified to drive.

 

That wasn't the only CDL scandal Swift had at the Memphis location, IIRC. I believe there was a similar episode at the same location several years before the event most recently in the news.

BTW, what's the point of asking for advice after you are signed up and scheduled? This is like the people I know who recently walked wide-eyed into a rip=off new car deals because they were just certain they always had a 3 day cooling off period, which they don't.

This "it'll be OK because they will be extra careful in the future" idea is how all the smart people talked themself into giving bad loans to bad credit risk people and were shocked to find it all blew up. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.

 

TK101, I'm thinking of going the same route with company sponsered training. If you don't mind me asking, what are the terms of your employment contract? What I mean is how long are you obligated to work for Swift, and how much would you have to pay back if things don't work out? Also, how long are you expecting to wait for a trainer after you finish with class?

 

This is my 2 cents worth. you get only what you want to get out of it. some will look down on company paid training, etc. because they have a couple hundred grand sitting in the bank, and can afford to go buy their own used truck, train themselves, etc. Thats all good, but others have different situations. One thing everyone has in common, and all the vet drivers dont want to dwell on this......is this.

WE ALL STARTED SOMEWHERE, AND WHEN WE DID, WE WERE ALL NEWBIES. Want to get an old timer ticked off at ya....rub that in their face. its funny how they want to come thru the radio at ya. =)

 

Ahh the Swift rumor mill.. Nice to see it's still running hot and heavy. Your training and your experience with Swift will be what you make of it. If you go in with a good attitude and are ready to learn, you will be fine. Once you're out of school and have 6mo to 1 yr experience, you can switch companies if you desire (I say up to one year because most companies won't hire with less experience than that)

Swift School is there to teach you the very basics on how to log legally, operate the truck, shift gears and back up. They only teach what is necessary to get a CDL. Your real education in trucking will come with your Mentor. The road is much different than the range at school and your Mentor (if they're good) will show you 100x more than you could ever learn in school. Once you're out on your own, you'll learn even more than you learned with your mentor. There are guys out here who have driven for 20+ years and they're still learning.

People always bash Swift, and unfortunately we have plenty of idiot steering wheel holders who consistently screw up and earn us the bad reputation. We're not all bad though. My best advice is:

-Go into school with an open mind and no pre-conceptions of Swift. It'll go a lot smoother.

-Learn all you can from the school, your Mentor, and veteran drivers. It'll be worth it.

-(most important) Once you've got your CDL and are out on the road, do NOT step in ANY liquid on the ground unless you can easily identify it. Some people think that when you're a trucker, the world is your bathroom. It isn't. "Don't pee on today what you may have to pre-trip tomorrow"

Good luck!
Russ
Truck 306560
Costco Dedicated