Swift Drivers if you do not work for Swift do not respond

That's right...forgot about the Pilot....but still out by the racetrack right?

It's been a long long time since I was there!

 

Swift is a good choice from my experience. They have their problems like all companies but they are good about hometime and have plenty of miles. As long as you treat the job like a JOB and run the load and make ontime p/u and del. they will keep you moving. As for dedicated, not all are better than OTR. Sometimes you give up some pay in exchange for more hometime and some accounts allow you to have both the pay and the time with family. As for $35,000 the first year it is possible so long as you keep your nose clean with the logging and make your appointments when possible. As previously stated, the miles will increase as they get to know how you run and you prove that you are reliable.

It sounds like you have the right attitude and expectations for this job and I wish you the best of luck.

 

I think 30,000 is a more reasonable expectation for a first year. Not that 35,000 isn't possible, but if you're better off to plan for lower. Less likely to get into trouble. Then if you make more than what you planned for-great! You got some extra. But if you make less than what you plan for.............

 

I just graduated from the academy in phx. If swift is half as good as the people training their drivers it should be a great company to work for. All the instructors and personnell are awesome. Like Mike said in class "real drivers don't have time to complain on forums because they are driving and making money, not sitting at home on a computer complaining because they got fired". Makes sense to me. Good luck and I wish you well.

 

One of the biggest things - with Swift, and with any other company - if you're getting a bad deal out of something, you need to be able to speak up about it, and not just sit there and take it quietly. If you have a crappy dispatcher, then ask to be put on another board. If you end up with a trainer who doesn't actually train you, and basically expects you to be a steering wheel holder so they can collect on your miles, you need to be willing to tell someone and get put on with a different trainer (for that matter, I'd also recommend that you request a company driver for a trainer, rather than a lease operator).

 

Well another one who broke the "gotta be Swift" rule......easy to tell by the terminology......"trainer", "dispatcher".....Swift has other terminology!

Oh the Shame of it all.....THE SHAME!

 

Oh, yeah... "Driver Manager" and "Mentor". But I didn't call them that even when I did work for them. The "Mentors" were usually referred to as "driver trainers" (they even had those silly looking 'driver trainer' stickers on their trucks), and the "Driver Managers".... usually were referred to as something derogatory.

 

Be careful when you hear remarks like that about who has time to be on these forums.....even "good drivers" have plenty of time to be involved in the social medias. It's a matter of having the sense to know when you need to be sleeping not BS'ing in the truck stop or on the internet.

Actually, this forum (and others I guess) have a positive side along with a negative....you can't expect a Mentor/trainer to pass along every bit of information a new driver will need to know....this tool (we are using right now) has the benefit of allowing "complainers" to vent frustrations in a way they couldn't in the past....better to rant on here and get some feedback than to rant on your DM and get on his/her bad side. Also, when a new driver (or experienced driver) comes to a stumbling block about an issue or has a question about another company, an engine problem....anything....they can come on here and ask......you know what....in a short amount of time odds are good that question will get several answers.