You mean people that are new to trucking and have yet to get enough experience to be as perfect as you seem to be?[/QUOTE] Never said *I* was perfect just saying Swift needs to train their new drivers right not half @ssed
Yes. Being near Fontana helps if you need to drop that mt. I'm lucky as well. Most of my home times are either in Denver or near the Inver Grove terminal.
You just have to find a place nearby to leave your trailer. We called a "truck stop" about 30 miles away and asked permission to drop the trailer during his home time, had they said no we would have called the realtor for an empty business and asked permission. The truck stop didn't mind though.
Never said *I* was perfect just saying Swift needs to train their new drivers right not half @ssed[/QUOTE] I'm not sure why your quotes don't come out right. Maybe more experience with hitting the reply button is in order. I can't say I disagree with you, though. It was just a few weeks ago that I came upon a new Swift driver that had me scratching my head in wonderment. Why he was given his own truck seems baffling. The biggest problem with a mill is simple... There are not enough GOOD trainers - who do the job to teach properly, and are not in it only for the extra money. And that backtracks to the mill as well, which requires team driving to make that extra money. None of us want more regulation in this industry. But until there are stricter regulations set for training new drivers the problems will persist. Swift has done some things recently with driver pay. They increased it, by no small amount. And it carried over throughout the industry like a ripple in a pond. Everyone else rushed to catch up. Swift could do the same thing in the area of driver training. If they were smart they would pay the mentors a flat rate, over and above the mileage pay, to train new drivers. Teaming would only come in during the last couple weeks, just to show the new driver what teaming involved - and NOT as a pay incentive. If Swift were really smart, they would do the change before it was a law. Because Swift, in many ways, leads this industry simply because it is the largest trucking company in this country. If they make positive changes before it is required, then those laws may never have to be passed.
I'll be starting with Western Express in Fontana. Rather go with them simply because Swift sucks and not interested in having a driver cam on me all the time. I live in the NW. WE don't have any terminals up here but I am not too bothered about not making it home all the time since I am single no kids.
