Swift (disagreement with company)

I get home for thanksgiving, under load that delivers on the 2nd. I go the doctor on the 1st, get a prescription that is unsafe to drive with. I try calling my terminal at 1:15 in the morning on the 2nd, and get no answer after trying twice and letting the phone ring 10+ times.

I got written up for failing to deliver the load on time on the 2nd because I did not call every terminal until I got a hold of someone. Plus, there is no way to prove that I did in fact try calling.

This is a company that preaches safety. You would think they would be grateful that I didn't get behind the wheel of the truck on Tuesday, feeling like crap on a medication that made me sleepy. Instead I get a service failure because the night person at my terminal decided to not answer my call leaving it my responsibility to call other terminals.

I got ahold of my DM (Driver Manager) on the 2nd. He told me I failed the load and they are putting this failure all on me. I thought the DM was supposed to be an advocate for the driver. I guess not! He then sent a qualcomm message to all his drivers saying two of his drivers failed to deliver their load on time for one reason or another, and if we do not get a hold of someone at our terminal, we need to start calling others. Then my fleet manager sent me a qualcomm message stating how could I fail this load after everything they went through to get me home. Isn't it their job to get me home when my RDO (Remaining Days Out) has been set for over three weeks?

I called the main office in Phoenix. I was told it is not their priority to get me home. That is the nature of being over the road. I said there are other companies that will swap loads between two drivers if they are crossing paths and need to get to another location so both of them get where they need to go. He said that may be how they run things but Swift does not run things that way. OMG! He just proved that Swift is about numbers and does not care about drivers. Does that mean they can be hit with false advertising? They advertise 6 days out 1 day home, treat drivers with respect. My DM told me its 7 days out 1 day home. That should have been a red flag there, but what was I to do? I just had gotten my cdl and had no experience at the time. My wife is ready for me to be home every night working locally making less money just so we have a steady paycheck instead of getting sent somewhere with little freight then sitting for two days.

Sorry this is so long, but if you are looking at swift, there are others that train that are better. My dad trained with another company and has done very well there and now is an O/O for them. He keeps moving so I know when they tell me freight is slow, that there is still freight if they wanted to give me a load. The company he works for is Schneider. Every six months they do a remedial safety training. Swift puts you in a truck and unless you get into an accident they do not review anything again.

 

I think I will get out while I can. Unfortunately there is only really one local company in the area. There are some other smaller companies in surrounding areas I can check out. I live in Cherokee, IA which is a small town to say the least. I am looking at getting on with Hy-Vee driving their day cabs. For those that are not familiar with Hy-Vee, they are a grocery store chain in the mid-west that also has gas and pharmacies.

 

The reason I did not call right away was my phone was dead so I had to charge it in order to get the number. I was not feeling the best so my thought process was not all there.

In hindsight I should have went to the truck and used the Qualcomm. I felt horrible and the only thing on my mind at that point was getting back home and into bed. Also looking back at it I could have looked the number up on the net and called earlier in the day when more people were there.

So yes, I should have used the qualcomm and did the 22 (which is still a 22). Then I should have sent a free form message. However, there is a night person at our terminal that should have been available to answer the phone. So I understand what I could have done. I still feel there should have been someone there to answer the phone or they need to be able to have the calls forwarded like other terminals, or have a message system.

To clarify, yes, I was told to I should have called other terminals. After that call my DM sent a message to everyone under him that if they can not deliver the load on time, to get ahold of someone even if that means calling another terminal. I still have that message on my qualcomm now.