Starting soon.

Frustration and a few WTF ? moments..... maybe even days Good luck. You gotta start somewhere and Swift is as good as any...... How a company/job fits a person depends on personality and attitude, one person will be happy and another will be miserable and at another company it might be another way around

 

Not a bad company at all, regardless of what you have read from some.

Your mentor may teach you this, or might not.
Plus-1 is your enemy.
It is a computer program that sends you pre-plans, and it is very exact in it's timing of the load.
It will send you loads that you can only do by the grace of God, and by pushing yourself to (or past) the very limits of physical and legal possibilities.

Before you accept any load, PLAN it to what you can reasonably expect.
Add in the time for heavy traffic, doing laundry and getting showers, getting enough sleep after doing needed things, shopping (because you can not live out of truck stops very well - you need the time to hit a Walmart from time to time), simple meal and potty breaks.

And get a GPS (and learn the route options) so you can punch in your destination to get a better idea of the miles and time it will take to get there, before you commit to the load.
Swift uses a certain method, but the miles are usually longer. By a few, to very many. As much as 25% (sometimes more with the mt miles).
Seldom are they really close.

You have to cover your own butt, they won't do it for you.

Mac9 is your friend.
With it you tell them when you can pick up and deliver the load, according to your own calculations.
Use it to your advantage.
Most times, especially if the delivery is a drop, you will have the time you need and the plan will be kicked backed to you with your delivery time.

 

with team/solo driving its all what you prefer. If you want to team you can make more money but you must be with someone you get along with well and will work as hard as you. On the GPS I use my phone JUST to get an idea of the mileage, dont use your phone to actually drive the route though since you might get screwed. The qualcomm on the truck has a GPS which gives the Swift route after dispatch, dont rely on just the GPS, take time and use an Atlas, what I like to do is load up the route from dispatch if you already have the load, look at the preview navigation and go through each step while looking at your atlas to see where your going, there were a couple routes I changed where I went around a major city and it only added 10-20 miles but also saved me a lot of traffic and grief Also write down the directions and keep them simple enough to know the turns, you never know when the qualcomm might go down, it went down on me for over 30minutes one day for an update and if your in a city and need it right then and there then you better have an alternative or sit and wait. You can purchase a trucker GPS, I recommend the rand mcnally and plan to get me the cheaper one soon for $199.
The biggest thing is make sure you learn how to do trip planning when you get out with a mentor, my mentor was anal about me doing it and would get onto me if I relied too much on the GPS. If we accepted a new load he told me to get out the maps and tell him what route I would take just so I would get into the mode of reading the maps and seeing what went where.

I attended the Academy in Phoenix myself, all I can say is grab yourself some sunscreen since its getting hot, wear a hat, make sure to drink plenty of water out there which they provide all you can drink to your hearts desire. Soak in everything they are teaching you, don't forget any document they require. I wrote about my personal experience and made a quick website I havent gotten back to updating yet, you can go read what I have to say, it also list the needed documents etc. Also on my page I have links to the sites I used to practice for my permit test, I was one of 2 people out of 30 who passed the first day.....study study and study until you know the answers.
I hope my site helps you and anyone else looking for some information, just please don't criticize me for my writing, im a trucker not an English major

http://swift.wolfyinc.com/

 

for the first couple nights I kept mine locked up in my suit case, my other roommates all had their own laptop and we got along well and I learned to trust them so I started leaving my stuff out. Always make sure the last person out the door locks it behind them. I would worry more about the other people who live there, its a section 8 apartment complex so there are a few sketchy people around and they KNOW the hours of Academy students. I am not saying someone will go in and rob you but its always better to be safe.

These forums are a good place to get answers and ask questions, im still new but have learnt a lot in a short time between my mentor and also using these forums. Dont take peoples reviews too seriously as I wrote in my story, people with a bad experience are quicker to post than those with a good experience. I have met some drivers that flat out hate the company and I have met many who love it. Met someone yesterday who has been with Swift for over 20 years and sticks around not for the pay but because she believes in the company and she said when she started driving Swift only had 900 trucks so she has watched it grow and evolve. I have met some who worked for Swift and left for another company because the "grass is greener on the other side" to find out it actually isn't better and went back to Swift. There are pros and cons to every single company as some will say, do your research before deciding paths, get your experience in without any violations or accidents and your golden on your path to success later. Swift isnt the greatest paying company but its a good company to begin with, some companies look to Swift to learn. Some companies hire people out of Swift Academies because they know the training is better than most private schools. If your smart and a good driver then you will make money. Some drivers make decent money and some get by and do the minimum to survive and some just suck at what they do and should be doing something else.
Just keep your head up and be ready to learn, the world is definitely different looking out from the inside and you will either love it or hate it. Be patient as most will say since the beginning is grueling and you need to soak it all up.

 

Do urself a favor and don't go. They will rob u blind wen u actually start as a solo. I was getting 500$ checks but wen they were done with em it was about 60$

call prime

 

how did your check go from $500 to $60? They dont have that many deductions.... there is the student loan which half is taken each week, you have to buy your locks which is deducted over several pay periods...if you get medical insurance thats even less than $100 a week for a family and only $31 or so for yourself so I dont see where Swift took $440 from your check.