Swift: Free School for Veterans, Big Discount for Reserves/National Guard

I understand that and I agree. But unfortantly is the nature of the industry these days it seems. People are out for themselves- it's all about me and what I want. And when they don't get it they blame someone else and come up with all sorts of justifications to cover their own issues. I am sure other industries and lines of work have the same issues but it does seem so much the norm here doesn't it. And it's getting worse, not better. Which is regrettable.

Mark

 

I think in every industry you have your guys that do nothing but complain. Probably has to do with the "entitlement" monsters that we are raising every day expecting everything given to them. It will come full circle, and when it does, God help us all.

 

@ RickG...that explanation about turnover rate is misleading. Turnover rates are calculated per truck; therefore, one truck (out of 16,000) could see about 20, if not more, entry-level drivers in one year, greatly inflating the turnover rate for the carrier in whole. The explanation you quoted is very simplistic and does not give the motor carrier the fair shake.

Sorry to bust your chops, but the reason you have so many complaints on these boards is because the drivers who usually comment are those who have something bad to say, yet THOUSANDS of drivers are happy with Swift but you don't here from them.

 

The more students a company takes in, the more bad press it gets from the higher numbers of rejects and etc? I don't like Swift but I do agree with you on this.

Mark

 

You just don't get it , do you ? No matter how many newbies fail per truck it still comes to 16,000 that leave , 75% newbies . 100% turnover means they have an equal amount unhappy as happy .

 

Quick Note: I'm not disagreeing that some of these big companies are bad or "not good."

@RickG - From a simplistic point of view, yes. Mathematically, no, its not the same. You will have inflated turnover % due to the per truck tracking. Not to mention, turnover isn't people who quit JUST because they are unhappy...don't forget to add:

- Retired
- Fired
- Died
- Incarcerated
- Quit (this category has hundreds of explanations as to why a driver would quit aside from being unhappy)
- Transitioned into another position within the company (e.g. Dispatch, Recruiter, etc)

Swift, Schneider National, Werner, CRST, etc. are huge operations and turnover will be higher with the nature of the industry and the competition involved with experienced drivers. I don't disagree with anyone who can point out issues within these companies but I have to disagree with those who say 100% turnover means they are a bad company and 50% of drivers are unhappy.

 

The example given gives 4,000 people that leave for the reasons you mentioned . That leaves 4,000 seats to be filled and they go through 12,000 newbies trying to fill those seats . So 75% of newbies fail . If 12,000 drivers have been there longer than a year and are happy it's irrelevant . The odds of a newbie making it is where the issue is . I bet the turnover doesn't include those that are rejected or fail training because they aren't considered employees .

 

I agree 100%. I think the whiners in the trucking industry are the ones that got into it thinking it' easy and found out if isn't. Now they are stuck.

Thank you for your service and sacrifices for our country. These whiners that say "add up .25cpm and divide by hours worked and you don't earn squat" should add up a soldiers salary vs hours worked sometime. Those same whiners will also say ".25cpm and your responsible for the truck freight, etc". I have to laugh when I read that and think about soldiers being responsible for the defense of this great nation at their salaries.

It is what YOU make it.....true for ANY job. Would love to see these whiners try my current job sometime lol

 

If you are a vet, just use your GI Bill towards an accredited driving school or college. I got my CDL that way, no commitments to any company, and got signed on with an LTL carrier at 39 cents mile. Seriously, don't get suckered into these mega carriers if you can use your VA benefits at a college or private truck driving school.

 

I would agree that the odds of a new guy coming into this industry making it with a bigger company are going to be harder, just because of the detached relationship between a driver and DM and all the other variables a large corporation brings. Your just a truck number to them, a smaller company would be more ideal for the new guys because they can somewhat develop more of a working relationship with their superiors. But as soon as you get a handle on how tings operate, things should start looking up for you no matter if you work for a small ma and pop shop or a huge corporation, some guys like working for the big guys and some guys like working for the smaller outfits. My grandpa worked for a smaller outfit and that suited him, my father and uncle both work for probably the largest car hauling company in the country and love it.

I just think it is a dangerous game rating a company and talking down about them based off of newbies turn over rate, the vetting to be a trucker is not extensive at all for some of these companies, so a huge turn over rate should be expected and 99.99% of the complaints from dirtbag newbies should be ignored.

Not saying there aren't legitimate things wrong with these big companies, but I would guarantee you there are legitimate things wrong with every company out there trying to make a buck, that is just how it goes. As we say in the Army, s###t rolls downhill, no different for every company out there, there is just a lot more of it rolling in the bigger companies.

I would like to here some of the legitimate complaints against Swift from some of its steady drivers, not drivers who just got layed off or fired or quit, but guys that are working there now to chime in and state how it really is.