Swift Is Good

hey i have My Class A cdl from a private school in Boise and i have been thinking about doing the OTR training part with Swift. So how was the training? how are the trainers? what was home time like? and how was the training pay?

 

There are good trainers (mentors) and there are bad. I had two good trainers (the first decided to go local in Phoenix for family reasons). My second trainer was good but there was an underlying problem. He and I remained good friends; just couldn't stand being on a truck with him for some reason. The training is 42 days, period. That is 42 days of dispatch. You may get home during that time and you may not. Any days home will put your 42 on hold. If you need to be home for an apppointment, let your training manager know and they will get you home. I had this happen with me. Training pay is one amount for the first 14 days, then bumps up for the next 14 days and goes up again for the last 14 days. I am not sure of the current dollar amount. Once you are
done and pass your road test, you will be assigend your own truck. Over the first year you will get several pay increases. You can see that information on their website. Hope this helps.

 

Its been a few years since I went through, but I went out for 4 weeks with a trainer who was pretty cool. Plus we lived about 30 min apart so when he went home I got home. I think the training pay was like $350/wk. After the first 4 weeks, I got teamed up with another 'student' driver for another 4 weeks getting team pay, then we tested out and got our own trucks. But as far as the trainers go, you win some, you lose some. Its all a crap shoot. There are some really good trainers there, then there are some real jack@$$es.

 

I am a former "mentor" you do have good and bad trainers. If your trainer does not train you or does anything that you feel is either unsafe or illegal notify your training manager. They will try to get you another mentor, but be warned it may take some time. I have had a couple of "students" who requested new trainers. Training is 42 days or 6 weeks. You must be under dispatch for anypart of the day for it to count. If you go home or if your mentor takes home time and your stuck in a hotel (if he/she is does not live close to you) those days do not count for training but you will still get paid. You will need to complete a minimum of 28 backs try to get as much backing as possible. Ask your mentor questions how Swift works any secrets of the road, ect. If your mentor can't give you an answer you should be able to ask other mentors (Blie Shirts) most will be happy to answer your questions. Your pay is paid by the day that you are dispatched. I believe the pay is $350.00 weeks 1-2, $400.00 weeks 3-4, $500.00 weeks 5-6 (check with recruiter). Once you complete your first dispatch you get a$500.00 bonus (seperate from your pay). Good Luck and Keep It Safe.

 

First off just wait for when you got to upgrade to go to solo status..
Then sit around forever waiting for a truck that is not there..
When you finally get a truck then you got to go looking for a trailor...lol unless your in summner Wa you wont find one very easily...

then lets go to the matter of pay...and turnover and how unorganized the terminals are...

They do not pay you for break down they do not pay you for retention pay like they promise hell they dont even allow you to speak to the clown Jerry moyes...

But, I will give swift some props they do have a awsome mentor program...
but thats as far as I will go in saying anything respectable about swift....

And get use to not getting loads and the loads you get you dont get paid for they try to make you sit for as long as possible so they can be cheap and not pay you...

I can bash them because I work for them for the present moment and time but that will be changing here in the next few days as I will be going on to better pay and better home time.....

Swift has many internal issues that need to be resolved...Such as trying to force thier drivers to break the Fmscr's lol are you really serious?

And then they need to overhaul the driver managers dispatchers and fleet managers and Terminal Managers....

Then lets over haul the pay roll dept as well for they screw up on Everyones Pay checks just watch and see you wont get paid for you miles you drive you will be forced to go to silly log book classes for log book violations when in fact there is nothing wrong with your log book.....

Swift again has many issues they need to fix....They should fix them really really really fast so that way they can start paying what they should pay and they should treat the drivers better then they do.....


Sure there is a few drivers that stick it out with swift but there is only a few most leave because they are smart others cant because of back grounds or just because they are content in sucking up and getting screwed over in every which way possible....


Mark my words you will see you will see...

 

If most leave how do you explain the high number of million+ milers? I drove for them and any pay issues were resolved by the next week. They tried to give me an 11 and 14 hour violation and wanted me to go to a log class. It was interesting as it was for a date that I was sitting at the PHX terminal doing a restart. Upon further review it was found that they had scanned in the wrong log sheet. I was asked to provide a copy for that date and the log violation was removed and no class.

Yes, you often have to sit for freight if you are in certain areas of the country. I fought hard to keep out of CA because it was usually 3 to 1 inbound to outbound. As for not getting paid for loads, I never had that happen that it wasn't fixed by the next pay day. All I did was re-send copies of the documents I(yes, it is wise to make a copy of everything you send in) and then talked with the DM for him to follow-up. If all the procedures are followed for breakdown pay, you should have no problem getting it. Again, if it doesn't get paid talk to your DM to get it fixed.

Communication is the key. I don't know what terminal you run out of but I ran out of the ABQ terminal. Great staff and very helpful. I also had dealings with several other terminals and found most to be well-run. Some of the shops were problems. If you have a DM problem, try to work with the terminal manager in a mature, courteous way. They will try to work out the issue. However, if you go in with a "chip on your shoulder" attitude and act hostile towards the DM you can forget getting help. If you still have a concern, you can request to change home terminals.

Swift did not become the successful company they are and they do not receive all the awards from major clients by being a stupid company. But, like with any large organization, things can fall through the cracks. Work with them in a calm, non-hostile manner and things will normally be fixed.

As for Jerry Moyes and not being able to talk to him, how many Microsoft employees do you think get to talk to Bill Gates? I know that Jerry used to be seen at the safety lane in PHX from time to time. He was there to talk to drivers when they came through. He may not have the time to do that anymore.

It sounds to me like something got messed up on your pay this week and you are waiting for a load and decided to vent. Understand, you will face many (if not the exact same) issues at any other company you go to. I worked for Idle Aire for awhile after coming off the road and they made errors on my paycheck. A company the size of Swift is scanning in thousands of documents every day. It is easy to see how something could get lost or scanned to the wrong file. Again, take a deep breath, calm down, and call your DM and try to work through the issues. You will be better off than flying off the handle, going somewhere else and facing the same issues. Besides, since you appear to have less than one year's experience, you will most likely have to go out with a trainer again and training pay is almost always less than you can make driving on your own.

 

There are a lot of companies out there read the good and bad trucking companies section on the forum.

 

it is swifts policy that jerry himself stated in emails to us drivers that he wanted us to call....

And the terminal im out of is edwardsville ks...

and there is no terminal manager at edwardsville right now the one that was there is gone...So yeah cant exactly do that....

I understand your only attempting to make it brighter for all sides..however let me let you in on a little something known as the Fmscr its a nice little book with rules that we are suppost to follow correct or not???

Well swift not only does not follow by thoses rules they attempt to force drivers to violate thoses rules....

I am glad you were able to take care of your stuff with swift in a timely matter however Its been now 3 weeks I have still yet to get paid for a very very very big load that I ran and they recevied the paperwork because they show that they recieved it however they are not paying me for that along with other silly things such as break down pay because I hit a deer which we all know that is not preventable...

They also made me sit for 3 days on a load because I got it to my drop which was a live unload for 3 days swift is suppost to pay retention pay and they dont...
After my live unload they made me sit for another 4 days.... So a week with out pay....time waisted all because I worked my butt off and got to my drop early....

Swift to me is making me not want to be a truck driver anymore...

sure there is probally something you find wrong with every truck company but i have yet to see the same ammount of complants for other companies either....

Fact is swift does not follow thier own mission statement they lack the ability to do so....why because they took on to much too fast....

they dont pay the drivers like the are suppost to and when they do pay its junk pay....

I mean they dont show any repsect for drivers and they families of the drivers....


Again I am glad that your dm took the time to fix your issues mine wanted me to run illegal as much as possible...

Luckly i didnt go thru a swift training school...or i be in a really bad perdicament.....then i am already...

I just hope that people can understand that Swift is the wrong company to drive for I mean how many more posts do you have to see or stories you got to hear to be able to sit back and say omg?????

I mean if your one of the swifty drivers that makes it great more power to you....

However take it for what its worth Swift has made alot of ppl's life a living nightmare.......From pay to miles to lack of communication....to over all disrespect....

Why do you think Swift has the reputation they have with other drivers?????

It dont take a rocket scientists to figure that one out....
Hello im one of the swifty drivers for the time being....

and until they figure out how to prevent more accidents then trucks and until swift can figure out a way to better prepare drivers and a better way of giving the drivers the ability to make a living then swift will always be the most trashed talked most disrespected company out there....

 

I will give you the fact of having to wait for a truck, it took me a day to get a truck when I first came to Swift. The when I returned to Swift last year my DM had 3 for me to choose from the day I ended orientation (I was gone for longer then 30 days), and yes it can be a bit of a pain to look for a trailer a quick msg to dispatch usually sovled it for me

I have always been paid for break down when lasting more then 24 hours even put up into hotels when needed.

As for loads I have had to wait for loads, but unlike some I just don't sit there complaining of no loads, but I keep in contact with my DM or local dispatch and usually I will get something in short order. I have never had issues with my pay when not my fault (turn paperwork in time)

Whenever anyone try to get me to break FMSCR I just referance Safety and dispatchs attitude changes

I have had 3 different DM's and they have all done me good, but I have heard of some bad ones out there

As I said above never had issues being paid for the miles I was dispatched even received pay for more miles then expected. When I had log violations I would go to my DM and then to safety and have them show me the violations, must times violations have been removed. Don't remember ever going to log class for log violations.

I do not suck up to my DM or FM, have a good back ground, never been screwed by Swift, guess I just ain't smart

 

i think 3 weeks is more then enough time to give swift to take care of the major screw up i mean we are talking 1200 dollars they have shorted me just in one paycheck lets not count the other mistakes they have made....

Fortuantly I dont have to go with a new trainer...Because honestly I just couldnt do it again....

I mean if swift just understood that you just cant treat drivers the way they do then swift would fix 95% of the issues they have....the turnover rate wouldnt be as high and the respect would be given to swift for being a good training company.....

Even thier own mentors are stateing get out after 3 months because its not worth being a solo driver unless your a mentor on a wal mart dedicated...at top pay.....

the turn over rate for not only drivers for dm's and termminal managers is to high for swift... they just dont have the ability to conduct good business....

This is suppost to be a buisness is it or is it not????