Swift Is Good

I can only tell you my experience. I was out with my mentor one day shy of 6 full weeks. That could've been shaved by a couple of days in ideal circumstances, i.e., no breakdowns, no sick mentor, no 10+hour delays at shippers, etc. Looking at it realistically and doing the math...getting 240 hours will, in my opinion, take not less that 4.5-5 weeks. Plan for 6!

My guess is that ideal circumstances rarely happen in trucking. I'm not close to having a clue about how it could even resemble ideal. There are 100s of thousands of trucks on the road, 100s of thousands of drivers, multitudes of shippers/recievers (all with their own procedures), many thousands of carriers, and on and on it goes. Tying all of that up into a neat little package is logistically impossible. (Not sure where that came from. I hope it had something to do with your question.)

 

murphy and trucking share the same bed

 

Yep, and Murphy reigns supreme from what I've gathered in my minimal experience. We need to slap that sucker silly!

 

its actually not figured on how many hours you're with a mentor, its figured on 42 days under a load. just figure on 6 weeks....the company gives you both figures during orientation. mine ended up being 7 weeks, cause my first mentor was a loser.

 

hes a slippery sneaky sheyat if i ever catch him ill kick him in the nutz

 

Until you have 50 hours behind the wheel, the mentor has to be on duty, in the jump seat. That first 50 can take anywhere from 7-14 days, depending on how comfortable you and your trainer are with your driving. After that first 50 you have an additional 190 hrs of "behind the wheel" training left. This is done driving as a team. Theoretically that could be accomplished in as little as 20 days, barring delays, (hometime, breakdown, waiting days to get loaded, etc. Training me was a 5-1/2 week ordeal for my mentor. During your training, your pay breaks down to 1-28 days=64.29/day. 29 days or greater=71.43/day. Thats 450 -500 per week BEFORE taxes

 

There's no med coverage during training. My coverage doesn't go into effect until September 1. Fortunately, I was able to pre-pay for continued insurance with my former employer at the ridiculously low group rate through the end of this month. If you have a way to continue coverage, do it!

 

again, dont think there is a 'number' for hours behind the wheel that the mentor has to be riding right seat or not. i'm pretty sure there isnt...but the student will be asked by the training department, after a week, a few questions, as i'm sure one of them will be "where is the mentor when you're driving". As far as the pay goes....yeah, they say "you'll make $250/wk for first couple, then $300 for the next couple then $400 for the last couple", but basicly figure on $150 for your first couple, and $200-250 for your next couple...and that is before taxes.

dracon, did you train with a mentor at swift? cause there is no way you did it in less than 6 weeks. 42 days minimum....

 

"you'll make $250/wk for first couple, then $300 for the next couple then $400 for the last couple", but basicly figure on $150 for your first couple, and $200-250 for your next couple...and that is before taxes.

dracon, did you train with a mentor at swift? cause there is no way you did it in less than 6 weeks. 42 days minimum...."

Days on Truck 1 to 28 days-Daily Pay Rate $64.29/day 29 days or greater-Daily Pay Rate $71.43/day << Taken DIRECTLY from the Swift driver manual.
Gross Pay 450.03
Net Pay 354.49 << taken directly from my first paycheck.

Yes, I DO drive for Swift, My mentor was an O/O and a really good guy, I still stay in touch.
I dont post on here very often, when I do I make sure my facts are straight, and taken from personal experience.

 

WHAT?????