Swift for Me

Ziggy, here is what I'd do if I were you:

1. Go to Salt Lake on a Sunday night and rent a hotel room.

2. Get the Salt Lake Tribune for that Sunday from the desk if they have complimentary copies. If not, grab one from a local 7-11 or paper machine.

3. Look through the help wanteds in that paper. This will give you a good baseline of the companies you DON'T want to work for.

4. Look in the phone book and cross out the names of companies that advertise in the paper. The hotel room should have a copy of the yellow pages.

5. Cross out the likes of England, Swift, and Clark. These guys used to advertise daily, but don't anymore, at least not in the SLC area. They got smart and quit doing that. Don't be fooled. Nothing has changed at these oufits. Just read the posts here and you'll see I'm dead-on right. All those guys who've posted truthful testimonies can't be wrong. Maybe if there only five to ten, sure. But we're talking tens and even hundreds here.

6. Call the companies in the yellow pages that haven't been crossed out. That list you have is a good start, but the yellow pages in SLC that list trucking companies is at least two pages. There are others.

7. Ask these companies about your training. None will train you, I would bet, but you never know.

8. If any of these companies will hire a newbie (most won't), get on a waiting list NOW.

9. Go get trained and then go get a job at one of these good outfits if any will hire you. My guess at least one or two will.

10. Enjoy said job for 20-30 years while your colleagues job hop four or five jobs a year.

Don't even THINK about going to work at any company that advertises in the papers. Those companies are bad news, which is why they have to advertise in the first place. You gotta think in the past tense sometimes, as well as the future. Don't be stuck only in the present. History is #### important when it comes to choosing a trucking company.

Good luck.

 

Tip,
Thanks for the advice, will definately keep it in mind when I head out there.

I think I miswrote about moving, lol. I said I was moving to Western UT, when instead Im moving to Western WY and will be traveling to Sage in Salt Lake city...not planning on living in SLC because my wife will be working in Western WY.

Those companies I listed are all in that area we are moving to; big oil boom, so there is a pretty good demand for drivers. Wasn't too sure if you had heard of anything good or bad about those companies listed. Not sure of any big name companies that I could work for that I could also live in that area as well. However, my stuff is in the works for Crete, the guy just needs tax stuff from 2002 (?) as well as a call back from my previous employer. I figured I would jump the gun and get my stuff in the works with them to start off with.

 

Houdini,sounds like you pretty well got your mind made up.I am retired now,but back a couple of years I went to work for Swift. It was a very bad experience. I have never seen a large company with so many goofoffs running it. Their dispatchers,oh excuse me driver managers as they prefer to be called treat the drivers like they own the company and the drivers.Here is an example of what they will pull on you. I live in Ohio and was dispatched out of the Columbus terminal.My disp. offered me a run going to Sparks,NV. A good run lots of miles so I took it. However after I got that load delivered I was left on the west coast for a month.From NV to WA. to NV. to CA., to WA. to OR. etc. for a month. He kept telling me there was no freight going east..Now the west coast is a nice place ,but it aint home to me. I finally got a load to Kansas City,then a load to the Detroit area. When I delivered in Detroit I spent 8 hrs. going from place to place looking for an MT trl.I never did find an MT.After all day of that I was sent to NW. OH. to pick up a preloaded trl.I also worked for Roehl for a while, and believe me there is no comparison betweem Roehl and Swift. Roehl Transport aint perfect,but they at least treat you like a human being.I did have a couple of issues with them but each time a phone call to my DSR or Fleet mgr. took care of the problem. If you have your mind made up and you go with Swift.best of luck to you,but believe me they are the bottom of the barrel.

 

I guess I worded it wrong. I realize you are researching still. It may look good on paper or their site,but looks are deceiving. As Road Dog described the treatment of their drivers is the same my husband encountered. I haven't heard anything bad about Roehl either.
Can't comment on the others. I don't believe JB hunt owns Swift.
I think your better judgment is telling you to run from Swift. Good Luck in what ever you Choose.

 

Call up Roehl and see what they tell you. They may take you on as a newbie. Just have a good driving record and a stable work history.

Crete is also good. Give those guys a call as well. They used to train newbies in Lincoln at a community college. I don't know if that route is still open. Call 'em and see.

Good luck.

 

I worked for schnider in the past they were not family oriented swift is more family oriented you can get home but you have to be out at least 3 weeks they are up front with most everything paid for all miles driven plus short haul pay and i can take wife and dog right from the start. when i worked for schnider they did some nasty things to me like lie about home time never get home sent you nasty qualcom messages if you idled to long and there qualcom beeped at you if you get to close to going over your hours swift dosent hold your hand like schnider does and when i worked for schnider at the time it was forced dispatch swift dosent force dispatch and you do not have to do canada. i am sure swift isnt the best company out there but not a bad one to start with. swift has some decent trucks also.

 

Nothing personal with this reply. I just call Swift to the mat when I can. Boy do I get many chances at this site to do that. I worked for those jokers for about four months, and that was about 3 months and 29 days too long.

They make you stay out three weeks before heading home? That doesn't sound pro-family to me. 21 days is too long to be gone from one's wife and kids in my book. These companies more or less steal your lives and you get nothing, not even job security, for the sacrifice.

I remember when I worked for Swift back in 1995, a driver I knew at my home terminal got two days off to attend his mother's funeral.

No, I don't think Swift cares much about drivers' families.

 

Since when is Swift not a forced dispatch company?? I disagree,you might get away once saying your not going to take a load. But I guarantee the next time you tell them that. Your options are take it or quit.
If you are legal to go to Canada. You will be making a trip there!
Heck when my husband was a newbie, they sent him to Canada without his birth certificate. Knowing he didn't have it with him. He asked about it,and was told "don't worry about it,you don't need it". Boy did they ever rake him over the coals crossing back!
A friend of his still works for them. He tells us of his DM having another driver come knocking on his door. Waking him up because he wouldn't answer his qual. DUh.... hes on his 10hr break. Trying to sleep!! This is only one of the ridiculous stories we've heard.