Swift - New Pay Scale complete details

That's not bad pay for Swift, plus the nicer equipment they are driving is a perk too.

 

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That's what she said!

 

Given the fact that JB Hunt made a huge deal about raising their pay scale to $.37 to $.41 per mile 15 YEARS AGO, if this is any indication of how mega truckload carriers value the hired help, it is a sad state of affairs.
Most of the decals are gone on the back of Hunts trailers because they have been scrapped, it was so long ago.

 

That is still pretty sad, but it's a decent start. Still can't believe that their FIFTEEN year team rate is less than any decent student team rate at other companies, lol.

 

Jb Hunt isn't giving any miles though.

 

Well, I try to stay up on new driver pay scales, and this increase puts them in my "not too bad" category.

Though anybody with a knowledge of what 0-400 mile van rates pay would probably agree they're ripping the drivers, while making their 'pay scale increase' look good - that's not the point.

Case in point. Just flipping through "The Trucker" I saw Watkins and Shepard had a little write up on their pay scale increase ( coincidentally on the same page as their recruitment advertisement). Now you want to talk abysmal !

My verdict - Pretty good for a starter company. At least they've made a step toward driver retention by fairer compensation than just sat there spinning their wheels. If I were a new driver, I'd consider their training program and sticking it out 1-3 years as a good start in the industry as a company driver at those rates.

Thanks for the post OP - that's good factual facty fact fact data stuff.

 

I don't even consider their sliding pay scale, the base is all that really matters. If you're not doing runs over 500 miles most of the time at an OTR company, that's just as big a problem as the payscale.

Their pay raise makes them decent 6 months ago tho. They are beating some carriers, I'm sure, but most OTR companies have had their raises recently too. You can do much worse at the moment tho. Last year, starting at 33 CPM was pretty good for OTR, so... Yeah, Swift isn't that big a mistake anymore.

IDK about that 1 to 3 years suggestion. I think that if you're stuck at Swift you should get out ASAP, 1 year MAX. 1 thing I'll say is that I'm somewhat thankful to Swift. Their payscale raise might not make them into a high paying carrier, but it has all but forced everyone else to raise their rates. I'm sure everyone has noticed that almost all carriers have raised rates this year. Swift wasn't the first, but they're the biggest, and I'm sure they influenced other companies when they put this new plan out, so: Thanks for being a little less crappy Swift!

 

Yeah, I actually toned that down from 2-4 years, to 1-3. It's just nice to see that it's not a 'race to the bottom', and offers a slightly brighter future for new drivers. Remember, we ll got to start somewhere.

Now, if they could just go ahead and throw in some paid public holidays, vacation time, top notch insurabce, and a matched 401k plan, and market that as part of their "package", they might slow the driver retention problem - which IMO costs them far more than just offering a decent overall employment package.