Swift Conditional Letter: on the hook yet?

Could call swift and ask. I'm guessing your not really on the hook for any money till you start training or actually get your CDL. Basically they don't want people to get CDL then quit if they are paying for the training. Like others already said if you quit after getting CDL they would just send you bill for the training.

It can be difficult getting a driving job with less then 1 years experience. So if you quit and paid loan off it could be hard finding a job. The insurance companies for trucking companies have to basically ok the new drivers and without at least 1 years experience the will say no. The mega trucking company have a little trick. They are Self Insured for like the first 1 million dollars. That's one wat they can hire new drivers because they are taking all the risk on an claim or accident under $1,000,000.

I worked for a mega trucking company in Salt lake City Utah. They would average 1 truck rollover a week, back then they said the average cost was $52,000. The trucking company would write the check themselves.

Even if you get CDL on your own you could end up a training trucking company because most won't hire someone without 1 year experience. Look and see who will hire you if you have new CDL without experience before you really back out of swift

 

I went through the Swift Academy. The 'tuition' didn't just pay for the schooling, but also accommodations while in school. Granted those accommodations weren't in a 4 star hotel. But, it wasn't a terrible flea infested place either.
IDK, as a started company, Swift is actually probably one of the better ones. Despite the bad rep Swifties often get, working for Swift, especially as a newbie, isn't a bad way to go.
Folks seem to put all the emphasis on getting the CDL, but there's so much more to it that just having the license. You also need training on how to do the job, not just how to drive the truck legally. Swift is kinda geared toward dealing with newbies and contending with the stuff newbies have to go through until they have enough experience to know what they are doing.
While I have heard horror stories from others about their experiences driving for Swift, you'll find those for pretty much any carrier. Swift worked well for me. My original intention was to hang around Swift for training and get that first year. But, I'm still (over 2 & 1/2 years so far) with Swift because are being good to work for. Yes, I could probably make more elsewhere. But, what I make isn't bad. I'm getting 54.5 CPM. That's not a bad wage and I'm run mostly where and how I want to run. I have a great crew of folks that I get along with who plan, run and oversee me. They basically have done me right and earned my loyalty. Now, it isn't perfect, but no job is. But, for me, the good far outweighs the bad and nothing in the bad column is intolerable.
YMMV. But, don't be short sighted. There's a reason why insurance companies want at least a year's experience. If you want to be a professional driver, that first year is where you learn how. So much more to it than having the CDL itself.
Regardless, best of luck to you.

 

Contemporary Slavery..nothing more

“Indentured servitude refers to a contract between two individuals, in which one person worked not for money but to repay an indenture, or loan, within a set time period.”

 

Everybody hates swift,
I hate swift,
I never worked for swift,

All my friends who started with swift,
Had no problem with them.
9 out of 10 swift drivers I talk to at a loading dock
Are happy with swift.

Don't ask me what all that means.

 

It means that people that never worked for Swift hate the company because their trucks are slow and they are always crashing. But I've heard for YEARS by many people who have worked for them that it's not a bad company to work for. It's just that they hire anyone who can fog a mirror during orientation so they have a bad reputation. But they also have 16000 trucks on the road, so an accident a day isn't bad.

I don't HATE any company I've never worked for. I DO, however, hate one company that I did work for.

 

All Trucking Driver Training Companies Have Their Foibles.
Not A One Is Foible Free.
Any Candidate Can Easily Find Such Disturbance In The Force.
The Anomalies Are Hiding In Plain Sight OR Are Observed In Activities Before Or After Driver Training.
When An Applicant Searches With Diligence, Such Attributes Whether Negative Or Positive Are Revealed, In Due Course.

I Did Not Discover Problems With Companies Till After Having Been Hired And A Wee Bit Of Working.
Some Of My "Discovered Problems" Were Exterior.
Some Stemmed From Within Self.

Some Applicants Bring A Negative Attitude From The Start.
Some Applicants Do Diligent Research.
Some Do Research On Youtube.
Some Just Take Away From Social Media.
Some Believe Everything About Every Company, Without Research, As Gospel.

One Needs To Believe In Ones' Self, To Recognize Perceivable Perception.
- - - - - -
I Started My Journey Into Truck Driving By Filling In An Application Through The S. S. A. For An S.S.4.
The Application Was Easy Which Provided Either A Employer Identification Number OR An Alternate S. S. N.
The Alternate S.S.N. Was Used For The Financial Part Of The Driver Training School WHICH Was Well Placed Since The School Claimed "I Did Not Complete Training" Yet I Had A TN. Valid Class A License When I Departed The School Training.
That E. I. N. "account" Will Never Overlap Ones' Original S. S. N. And Is A Non Retrievable Account.
The School Cost Was Then FREE.
I Used The Alternate S.S.N. A Second Time At A Trucking Company For The Physical.

I Do Not Suggest Such Seeming Underhanded Way Of Gaining Truck Driver Training & Experience, Yet Such LEGAL Tactic Worked For This Driver.
- - - - - -
As To A Driver/Driving School Loan, It Wasn't An Option in 1998, Of That I Was Aware.
- - - - - -
Keep Looking Forward!!

 

No you are free and clear thats just an offer

 

Since you don't know what he actually signed, you don't know that. And maybe it is, may not. That's why he needs to read what he signed.

 

$8000 is a bit steep, and SWIFT seems to have the indentured servitude thing down to a science. Stay 6 months? Oh, you "only" owe us the remaining $5920. 1 year? Oh, you "only" owe us $3840. And on and on.

Our local Community College offers CDL training for $6216.64, plus $200 for books and an additional $537 (covers licensing fees, fingerprinting, TWIC, passport, drug screen, DOT physical and certified copy of driving record)... $6953.94 to be fully set-up, have a CDL, TWIC and all endorsements. At SWIFT, that's just a basic CDL (probably with an automatic-only restriction as well). Go to the local CareerForce Office, and they can find a way to qualify you for a FOIA grant, and Uncle Sam covers the cost of the program, too!.

Now you're free to work for whomever will give you a shot, and they won't have the leverage of that CDL training hanging over your head as an excuse to mistreat you along the way. Unfortunately you will still be at a mega, as only the self-insured can afford to have newbies on the road. Once you hit 6 to 9 months there, doors begin to open and $80k+ is not only attainable, but probable.

 

It also depends on where you live, and what's available there....

When I started out, I was unemployed at the time.

Because of that, I qualified (at a nearby tech school) for both a "HOPE" program-based, and also local a private scholarship.

Later, when the smoke cleared....to get the CDL-A (with no automatic restriction), all the endorsements....a TWIC....and a US passport....I had about $1000 in out-of-pocket costs.

My point here? It can pay off BIG TIME to shop around--and see what's available in local/nearby government (and also, private) scholarships and/or retraining program financial assistance options.

@DRTDEVL is right (post 19, above)--you will still probably have to start off for the first year or so, in most situations, with a so-called "mega".

But I found that the so-called "megas" do in fact bring some BIG advantages to the table for beginning drivers, over the smaller carriers.

So....for the more open-minded anyway, driving for a mega (if chosen carefully) doesn't have to be bad after all.

--Lual