Swift: my final check

Thanks for the info as i will be in search for a good company to start with after i get out of school in 3 weeks you just helped me out This is one off of my list

 

well I guess after 7 years there they thought they had a lifer. When you went a got a different job, they let you have it. I bet you got charged for truck damage, cleaning fees and BS like that. Was this your first trucking company?

 

Hey dlstorminc: Sorry to hear about the company's loss. You as an experienced driver should know that a truck driver has no "friends" in the operations office. No matter how safe you are, no matter how much effort that you've put in to reduce fuel costs such as little to no engine idling and maintaining a (slow) safe speed; no matter what your good performance with the company was like, no matter how much care that you've taken to take care of company equipment while it was in your possession, at the end of the day, it will not matter.

You could stay dedicated to one company for 100 years if humans were to live forever, and still be treated like a piece of crap, a number.

For the newbies: the modern day norm is that many companies require a potential CMV driver (commercial motor vehicle) to attend some sort of truck driving school to obtain a CDL, and then go through (more like suffer) a company's training program, usually consisting of going out with a trainer (grumpy old fart) for a few weeks to a few months. This is usually done with the company that you've obtained a pre-hire with.

Many companies have increased their hiring requirements upwards to 1 year to 5 years, which is why company's such as Swift, Werner, etc. are so common. They have a training program and accepts pre-hires. The problems with this that everyone chooses to ignore is that there is usually no real training value gained from a company's training program (no lesson plan, no training agenda, etc. Just drive and do as the trainer says). You are more like a "second seat" driver who's goal is to help keep the truck moving, and to help increase revenue within a company while at the same time saving on employee costs by paying you very cheaply for the long hours that you have to put in. (Kinda why you see why many new solo drivers can't back, or safely manuever around obstacles).

While we can say "don't work for Company X based out of so-and-so USA", new drivers usually have no choice. The best thing is to stick it out, fly under the radar once you become fully hired for a year at most, and then high-tail it out of there once you find something better. Or stay.

 

Sorry to hear about how you are being treated on your way out.

Too many stories like this floating around from too many people working for too many companies. Actually, it seems that many of these stories are even worse than the one you have.

So, I guess I owe you a thanks for sorta being the straw that broke the camel's back for me.

I've been a local driver who's been off the road for three years, because I turned my hobby into a job and went the self employeed route. Looking to get back driving, and can't get hired for anything local due to what I assume is a "lack of recent experience" and never being OTR. Researching OTR companies and am amazed at just how bad they all seem to be. In fact, I have so far only found one who didn't require me to have 1 year OTR and was worthy of applying to.

I'm not happy with what they all want from me vs. what they are willing to give in return. Comes down to me wanting to do the work, but not willing to do it for them.

Been putting some serious thought into buying a truck and working for myself. Risk vs. rewards was close enough to keep me wanting to do it, but with enough of a gap that I still tried to keep some hope as to finding someone I'd be willing to work for.

Your post just struck a chord with me, for some reason, and pushed me over the edge. I am not going to work for any of these companies who don't deserve what I have to offer. I am going to find some way to get a truck and do what I want to do, on my own terms.

Thank you for helping me with my decision.

 

There are a lot of medium sized outfits now that seem to be following the Swift/Werner/JB Hunt way of doing things. Their used to be oodles of smaller and medium sized outfits in my neck of the woods that I would recommend. Today most of them are as bad as Swift, and a lot of the good smaller outfits have simply had enough of the trucking industry and shut their doors.