Swift or Roehl, for a new driver who is more interested in solo driving?

Another Swiftie here (11 years and counting), and Six is right.
With Swift you have options and they don't force you into anything. Well, that has been my experience anyway.
But if you want to be solo, solo you will be.

No contracts, and the way their school works is after 2 years employment you are fully paid back for the training.

Gary is one of the smaller terminals, and those are the best to work out of. Nice people there.

 

Did Roehl for over a year, reefer. It wasn’t true OTR to me. The majority of my time was spent WI, IL and IN. They don’t have a lot of long haul freight. They’re really good at getting you home, and on time. That’s what they are best for. The it’s a lot of 14 hour days to get 500 miles in. Driver facing cameras. They got me my start and I’m very grateful for that but their are a lot of cons, especially for someone who wants to stay out a while.

 

I don't think it would be a bad move to start with flatbed then move over to reefer and dry van. If you get the hang of backing a spread axle, then backing tandems becomes a cake walk. Also, me beginning with flatbed made me more conscientious about load securement once I began bumping docks. It also taught me to "drive the load" as opposed to driving the truck. I drive differently depending on the commodity. Since you're thinking dry van, an example would be beer. If you're hauling beer, you have to get your speed all the way down more so than any load you'll haul. It's very easy to shift, and it's stacked high enough in which taking a curve too fast will tip you over. Hauling certain types of coils in flatbed prepared me for beer and other beverage loads. I would always turn so much gentler with a suicide coil.

 

That's complicated as hell. Glad I had my schooling paid upfront. Forget that numerical headache.

 

Pay rate is only half of the equation. How many miles will you drive? The miles you drive will be partyl determined by the amount of freight the trucking company has available, how long it takes the company to decide which load to give you next, how long it takes customers to load/unload you, how many miles you can drive, what area/weather of the country you drive in, etc.

 

Whatever is closer to your home

 

Its really not that complex if you really think about it. They are basically having you pay $50/wk for your school, then they pay off the balance after 1 year. The next year they incentivize retention by paying you back that $50/wk they took the first year for your school.