Swift Trans

Subscribed to your thread. As mentioned above try not to let the little things bother you just stay focused on completing your training. You'll be on your own soon enough and this will be just a memory.

 

So it’s been another week. I have officially drove in every type of weather except a tornado. We got stuck in Columbus few days ago because of the snow. Not really sure what to post to be honest. I have been to Ohio, PA, NY, MO, KS, LA, on the way to TX now and then to NJ. I learned how to slide my tandems correctly jus by knowing the weight in my trailer. I still scale if I can before I leave the shipper and I have been on point every time. My backing skills have improved a lot with help from my mentor. I have actually learned a lot from this guy. I can honestly say everything that my swift recruiter told me has been truth so far.

Only thing I can say negative really is that teaming sucks lol. Mainly because I use to travel a lot before I decided to get into to trucking. With teaming I can’t explore as the truck is always moving for the most part. I mean I did explore a little of Columbus Ohio when we was stuck there because of the snow but it was Monday and there wasn’t anything going on. Really jus ready to get my 200 hours with the mentor over so I can have more freedom to explore.

Again for anyone following this or jus want some information on swift feel free to ask. I will give honest answers.

 

Have you gotten benefits yet? My husband is thinking of leaving UPS for Swift and I am searching for info on benefit cost per week for a family.

 

I denied all the benefits except the short term and long term disability as I am retired military and already have all the health care stuff. When I get time I will post the benefit pages on here

 

Haven’t posted in a while so jus a quick update before I go to sleep.

I am finished with mentor and I passed swift road and written test. I am now on my own truck which I have been for over a week now. No complaints yet. They keep me moving which is good as I make money when I move. My driver leader is pretty cool guy. Haven’t met him yet but I will when I get back to California here shortly. The let me choose between auto or manual. I chose auto simply cause there was no manual available near the terminal I was at and I was ready to drive and make money. Auto do have its perks I must admit. It’s no forced dispatched as I have refuse a few loads to get better ones. Any questions let me know

 

Leaving UPS for Swift, lmao I was going call bs on this post but, as I was typing I started to think we'll maybe he's a truck loader or something else at UPS.

 

It might not be forced dispatch (I didn’t know swift operated this way) but you want to be careful turning down loads. I worked for a company that wasn’t forced dispatch and I loved having options but I learned pretty quick that the first loads offered to me where the hottest loads and they needed to get them moving. So I started asking which load do they need help with and by doing that I built up a good relationship with my dispatcher. He learned where I like to run and he took care of me and he knew I would help him out when he was in a bind. Just something to think about. Congrats on finishing the program!

 

OTR regional - just starting out with them so its .40 cpm which is not good, at least for us. He is used to making a lot more as an O/O so it's hard to adjust. I heard if he sticks it out he will be doing much better in 2-3 years but 17 years in I think he is just tired of the road and looking for home daily - lots of other family factors - so we were looking at Swift for a local run. I was wondering about the cost of med benefits as opposed to UPS - theirs are great but we are struggling with the low pay. Said he would make 2500 miles a week but so far his highest has been 1900. Trying to get on with tankers - he has TWIC Card, hazmat and tankers but never worked with them so he has no experience. Just weighing all the options.

 

Thanks - best wishes to you.

 

In my opinion he should stick it out with UPS till he can get a regular line haul run.
Or local . UPS is kinda the holly grail of good paying jobs from what I've read and heard.