Swift Trainer

sorry lepton mistaken identity

 

sorry lepton mistaken identity

 

Orientation is three days. Day one will be drug testing, a physical, and a drive test with some course work thrown in. The drive test is fairly basic, with one angle back between two trailers in the yard.

There will be a Hazmat test to take (whether or not you have a Hazmat endorsement all drivers are required to take the test from their workbook material). Day two and three will be additional presentations and course work.

After completing orientation you will be assigned a Driver Development Manager, who will be responsible for assigning a mentor and will be your key contact with Swift during your training. Once you are assigned a mentor you will likely receive a phone call from him/her and arrange for a time and place to be picked up.

Travel as light as possible. Bring a sleeping bag and pillow and enough clothes to go about a week between doing laundry. There is an entire thread stickied at the top of this forum called Packing List for Students. Bring your stuff in duffles or easily stowed luggage, there won't be a lot of room for your stuff.

Your first 50 hours behind the wheel (BTW) will be "solo", meaning the trainer will be in the passenger seat the entire time. The trainer will need to log On Duty any time you are driving or On Duty. After 50 hours the trainer has the option to approve you for team driving for the final 150 hours BTW. When I trained the first week or so was a "weaning period", often I would be in the sleeper berth fully clothed with the curtain open, ready at a moment's notice to be in the passenger seat as needed.

Once you finish 200 hours BTW you will be dropped off at the nearest terminal to test out. There will be a written test and a drive test. If you fail either/both you will go out for another 50 hours BTW and retest after that.

Once you have successfully tested out you will be assigned a truck and given a Driver Manager at your home terminal. Plan on testing out at a terminal that is not your home terminal, so what you bring with you for training is going to be all you have when you start running solo. You can request home time right away once you are assigned a truck to go back and get tools or other stuff you may have at home.

Training pay sucks. No other way to put it. Minimum wage for On Duty and Minimum Wage plus $1 for driving time. If you are in a position to really reduce your personal expenses for this period by all means do so. Once running solo you can easily do 2500 miles a week or more if you use your 70 hour clock efficiently and keep the wheels turning. Peak freight is from August through mid-December, so now is an excellent time to get going.

Regarding being nervous about getting in the saddle with all that time off, don't sweat it. You'll probably be miles ahead of other trainees your trainer has had in the truck. Expect either a 10 speed or an 8 speed (9 including "granny low"). Some trainers may be O/O's or Lease O/O's with a 13 speed, but that is pretty rare.

Beyond the driving, be sure to really pay attention to how the Qualcomm messaging works. That's the key to staying in touch with your driver manager(s), planners, customer service, etc.

Good luck.

 

No problem at all. Now if I could only convince the hot brunette I'm not her ex that would be a relief.

 

Excellent post, excellent information, this puts it all in a nutshell.

God bless you and your family! God bless the U.S.A.!

 

That one was funny!

 

Good post, Double07. One thing I might add is that while you are in training you do have the option of contacting your driver development manager and requesting a different trainer if at any time you aren't getting along. I say this in addition to the expectation that you should be able to complete 200 hours BTW within a month. Most of my trainees averaged about 26 days from getting in my truck to finishing 200 and getting tested out. I did have one trainee that took over 40 days, but let's just say he was "work challenged".