Swift Rookie

I'm in orientation in Neenah Wisconsin day 1 right now. First thing we did was head to clinic and get a new dot physical, then we went back to the terminal. Plugged any questions and holes in the applications. Experienced drivers went on driving tests then we are on lunch now. I will update more on the rest of the day

 

Orientation really is not that big of a deal. As long as you pass the physical, drug test, and background check you are in!
As for your questions about regional work, run as hard as you can do so safely once you test out and go solo. Prove to them that you are a worker. You can then switch to Great Lakes Regional (GLR) and be home every weekend. Some people get switched to it almost immediately upon going solo, others have to wait for a few months to "prove" themselves.
Swift also moves a lot of freight between the US and Canada, so I encourage you to ask about that option as well. I know that they have some dedicated Canada accounts set up.
Best of luck to you!

 

Just to finish day 1. After lunch was a wonderful powerpoint about Swift and its origins. Then they ushered us into another room for another drug test. After that about an hour on safety. All in all pretty painless. Day 2 should be alittle more intense they say with some inner workings of paperwork.

 

threekings I was told after my 240 hours that I was going to the great lakes regional but if there is anything i have learned from this forum is anything can change and happen

 

all in all does it sound like a good company to drive for? I will be finishing school in June and I got a prehire for Swift and I am really thinking about coming there.

 

Your Swift experience will be a direct reflection of what you bring to it. In other words, keep a positive attitude, work the problems not the personalities and you will do well.

Orientation would bore a history professor. Even so, pay attention. Some of that stuff will help you on the road. You WILL be checked for drugs; show up clean for your piddle test. Most folks who don't make it through orientation are dirty on drugs, or lied about accidents, tickets or background. They will find out.

Are they a good company to drive for? Not bad. Your 1st few months as a new driver you will be hungry due to low pay per mile. This gets better quickly. I can't quote the pay chart from the top of my head, but after 12 mo I was at .31/mile. My division was 99.99% no touch. Live load/unload or drop and hook. Some fleets this will vary, but they do pay for driver unload.

When assigned your truck, go over it with a fine toothed comb. The last thing you need is repair time in the shop cutting down your miles.

 

The reason Swift catches so much flack is because we are the biggest. We are very visible out there. And because we are a large company, we are able to offer lower rates to our customers, thus taking business away from other companies.

I dont drive anymore, working as a CSR now and havent driven since 2000, but I started driving in 1993 for Schneider, and at the time they were the largest. We caught a lot of flack but of all the companies I drove for, they were the most organized and made things easy for a driver to do the drivers job.

 

To answer this one.... About 98% of the people talking trash do it over the gossip mill. It's called being a sheep.