Swift Owner Operators

I, like many others had a trainer who was a L/O or O/O whatever you want to label it. Not once were we forced dispatched. If he didn't like a load he turned it down. Never a peep or gripe from his DM. But I don't take what he said about everything as being the way things really are. Nor do I take my personal experience and think that's how it's going to be for someone else.

That's what gigs me about a lot of the things you read on these forums. A lot of different things being said by different people. It becomes a case of 'My experience has been thus so it must be this way throughout the fleet". Anyway...

For me, the incentives of being a "L/O" are having a little more independence of motion. Don't like the route you're given? Don't have to go back and forth with your DM or whomever to try to get assigned a better route. You just go. Fuel where you want. You're the one paying for it. Just don't do some crazy "way out of route" that is going to cost you more in fuel than it's worth...

Freezing cold out and you want to idle your truck to keep warm due to not having a Wabasco heater? No big deal. Idle that bad boy. Won't get get told by your DM that "You idled away 35 gallons of fuel last month.. That's asking to get fired". (Spoken to me by my DM.. Sorry.. not gonna freeze to death a-hole....)

Most importantly to me... When it's time to go home.. It's time to go home. When I was out with my trainer we were stuck in Salt Lake City. Not a whole lot of freight going to our neck of the woods, and we planned to be home for Christmas. Turned down a couple loads because they went no where near Oregon. Finally he said "If we don't get something soon... We're gonna bobtail home...." Wish I had that luxury. I live in SW Oregon and they make it out to be some huge deal to get me home. As it is I always have to park my truck at a Truck Stop 60 miles away. I'd love to be able to just head home when it was time... Rather than fight with planners because they're mad I keep turning down loads that send me 500 miles in the wrong direction.

Also ones success as an O/O or L/O also has to do with the individual. You have to have some business sense and you have to be willing to stay on top of things. One thing my trainer said to me is "I don't get the L/O's who refuse to do multi-stop loads. They only want to do straight runs because of 'more miles'. What they don't realize is the pay for additional stops can add up real quick". It's little things like that which can make the difference between making money, or being behind on payments. Some people just don't put enough thought behind doing something. They just see the "higher pay per mile" and go HELL YEAH I WANNA DO DAT!! No proper planning, no realization that they just walked into paying for a $100,000 piece of machinery.

The Color?

Heck, I heard it was Blue or White. Must be true.. Then, just the other day I was talking to a L/O who'd only been with the company for a year and was on his first lease. He was driving a Silver T2000.

 

Been with swift for over 7 years as local. If I had to go OTR with Swift, it would be lease. Too much BS as a company driver.

 

IIRC, google Getman/Sweeney. This class action has to do with the contracts for l/o's. This is the latest filing that I know of:

http://www.swiftjustice.org/cases/get-attachment.html/2nd+amended+stamped.pdf?id=205

It's a very long read. Guaranteed your eyes will get tired. But this will give you a good idea of how one-sided the lease contract really is. Read it, and learn.

 

On the way home to GA this last weekend I saw a purple/pink swifty. Didn't catch the make or model; was too busy staring.

 

Ok color, color,color.... Strange but I will see if I can clarify the color situation after talking to multiple o/o's.

When you lease a tractor from Swift directly (atleast in Decatur and Greer terminals) it will be a blue tractor. You have no option on that due to the lease trucks pricing already being negotiated with the dealer and Swift. I have NO doubts (in my opinion) Swift is gettting a rock bottom deal on pricing and NOT passing that on to the l/o. However if you buy/lease a truck from outside Swift (ie you go directly to Joe's used truck sales) and then lease your company onto Swift they don't care what color the truck is. As long as the tractor fits the criteria in the work-lease agreement.

Any direct Swift lease tractor that is defaulted on CAN then be turned into a company truck if they choose. Thats why on occasion you will see what looks like an o/o tractor with full Swift signage on it.

Conversely you can on occasion lease purchase your company truck. Thats why you see some company Volvo's flying by you at 70 mph. Yes some company drivers also have their company trucks turned up that fast and you can only tell which is which by looking for the very small "leased to" above the door sign. Having "leased to Swift" is a requirement of the lease agreement, and when a company truck is converted to a lease it's the owners call and expense to have the Swift sign's removed or just leased to put at the top.

 

Won't those company drivers get into trouble for having the truck tuned that high?

 

Yeah, that's what Swift's policy is. But there are ways around that. You can find the right people that can turn the truck up in a way that the computer still thinks you are doing 62 even though you are flying. Just takes a little research and cash. Was never worth the risk to me tho. I would be the one in a million that actually got caught and made an example of.

 

Yepp, very long and very boring lol.

After reading that I still don't think it stands much of a chance in a total victory. After all, bottom line, folks signed a contract (a VERY crappy contract) but nobody forced them into it.

Seeing the one plantiff was from California I would have tried to push to have jurisdiction there instead of New York. Both states seem to have tough labor laws, but those California courts are strange on verdicts. Would stand a better chance there imo.

 

Saw a red tractor up for lease at the Lathrop Terminal.

The lease lot in Phoenix has more than just blue tractors. Saw red, black, green, white. Then they had the Freightliner's with the "custom graphics" on 'em. (Heard they were out of warranty trucks that had been cleaned up to have appeal.. dunno if it's true or not...)

See, "I'd been told...." that Swift wasn't allowing any "outside tractors", so if you wanted to go O/O you had to go through IEL.

Suppose next time I see a guy in a red KW I should ask him if he brought it in from outside or leased through IEL.

It's all so confuzzling!