SWIFT or Stevens --- which is the lesser of the two evil's?

Swift.
Simply because if more drop and hook freight and more dedicated spots possible.

 

Oh I think you should not go with Swift. Really.

I mean.......why work for someone you think of as "the lesser of two evils"?

I work for Swift because they offered what we were looking for, we're happy with Swift and proud to be "Swifties" no matter what garbage others wish to hurl at us.

Work for the other guy.

 

I've been following a thread on Stevens for about 6 months now, and it seems the students over there are learning alot and have some good things to say.

 

I know a guy personally that went with Stephens. It ended up that his trainer didn't like him very much and left him standing on the side of the freeway with all his stuff out in the middle of nowhere.
The guy isn't very likable but I don't think he should have been dumped like a piece of trash.

 

They are both big box bottom feeders.
They pay is very low. They lowball freight, thus lowering it for all and have to lower driver pay even more to stay alive.
Drivers are starting out at the same pay rates now as they did in 1990. Why is that?
It is because these big company's in the ATA are causing freight rates to be low, and to still try and make it look like there is a driver shortage and a need for more.
We need at least 200 thousand less trucks on the road, and an equal number of drivers less than we have now. May need to lower the numbers by even more, before there will actually be a need for drivers.
These company's are training, training, training. Just so they will have a constant flow of cheap labor. Truck drivers are paid the same as farm labor. These are some of the only jobs in this country that there is no requirement to pay overtime. Or at a good rate for the time we invest.
Take 200-500 thousand drivers off the road, or just do not train any new ones for a year or so and we will be ok. Maybe driver pay will start to go up again. That would be nice.
I remember getting letters for years with job offers. All company's use to offer sign on bonuses of 500 dollars to several thousand dollars. Then came the age of the company school. Now no skill at all is needed to pass a school. I could train a monkey to pass the CDL test. Does this make the monkey a professional driver?
I have been driving trucks on and off for almost 20 years. I love driving. The pay has not changed in that time though.
In 1991 a mid level car new cost about 14 grand.
In 2009 that same car costs 27 grand.
But driver pay is the same. Why?? Too many new drivers every day.

So you want to talk about the lesser evil??
Swift, Covenant, Stevens, Werner, Central, Schneider, TMC, ETC....
I could go on and on. They are all causing the lowering of the standards in what a professional driver is. Some are better than others, but all are perpetuating the problems we have.

The FMCSA is working on a new set of rules for driver training. It will make it so all schools MUST be certified. I hope it happens soon.
There is no way the training company's will keep there schools open if the rules change. They would need to keep students in school for 2 month + and actually teach them to drive.
Then maybe drivers would be worth something again.
I could live well on 45k a year in 1991. I cannot live as well at that rate today.
I have been hoping every day lately that YRC will finally collapse. They were not even that bad of a company, and were union. But that would get 30 thousand trucks off the roads and may help rates some. If swift, Werner or JB would fail it would help allot also.
Just too many trucks on the road. JB is too solvent to go though. The other 2 it would not take allot. Too much debt.

I honestly never thought the day would come that I would want companys to fail. But that is the only way I can see this industry coming back. Over capacity is killing us.
Too many people are leaving there old jobs and getting into trucking. The only positive on that I can see is that only 1 in 20 will make it more than a year. But more bodys keep pileing up to do there year. We need a way to slow the growth of the driver base.

My post answering him was what I felt was the correct answer though. Swift has a stronger freight base than Stevens. And I think between the 2 he would have more of a chance to make it with them.
I am sorry I went off on a rant. Just your post inflamed me some. There are some ok large companys around. Not many, but some. Almost none of them take new drivers though.

 

It was not your answer that got me upset.
I am very sorry for posting it here. Not the correct time or place.
I apologize for doing it in your thread. But they are the facts.
If there were too many teachers in an area, they either have to look for other work or move to an area where they are needed.
Same with Mechanics and people from any other job.
With driving an OTR truck it does not work like that.
If there are too many in the country there are too many. We cannot move to find work OTR. Well....we can move to a different lane, so we can look for company's with better freight, but we cannot leave our area.
The local area for an OTR driver is the lower 48 in this country.
There are tens of thousands of excess trucks and drivers here. No way to move to get away from it to a better place to work.
Many company's downsized to keep there drivers working and getting some miles. Also to lower costs. But the training company's have not followed suit. They do not care one bit for the driver. They want that cheap labor. And in this economy people are flooding into the promise of trucking. The glory of the road.

I cannot fault these people. Many have family's the must take care of and bills to pay, and they see trucking as the one place anyone can find work. Heck all they have to do is drive, and anyone can do that. They can go and fill a seat for a year or so till they can find a real job again. Or at least that seems to be the plan of many.
But in doing this they are having a negative effect on all of us that are out here as a profession. We are here because we love to be here and this is what we do.
Our pay and miles suffer so that unskilled drivers with no love for the job can come in and take our freight.

See I am doing it again.
It is not you. I promise that. It is the situation. I will try and stay out of your thread now so I do not hijack it again lol.

 

I think.......and I may be incorrect and if so I do apologize that Chromedome was meaning myself and my post when he said

.

Chromedome.......you have some incredible points and I hope that you'll make a thread on that subject. Also.....it's okay with me if my post got you to speaking about a subject that you're obviously passionate about. I take no offense whatsoever. *s*

However.....I still say.......if a person believes Swift is a "bottom feeder" or "evil" or "scum" then they shouldn't go to work for Swift or ANY company they feel that way about.

 

swift just raised their minimum age to 23, i just barely got in.