Swift

There are better companies out there, even considering some of the other Large Companies.
Maverick is one I would have considered better.

But there are also worse companies out there.
CRE comes to mind.

For the most part, while one may or may not have some bad experiences, It is what YOU make of it.

 

First of all there is no good company and there is no bad company. They are all either good or bad depending on you and your compatibility with your driver manager and with the company over all. In my years I have seen people say good and bad thing about almost every company out there. Some guys sing praises about a company while another guy calls them crooks. Some guys like the bigger companies like Swift, JB Hunt, Werner, Schneider and some like smaller companies. If you are a new driver you will most likely end up at one of the bigger companies, but don't let anyone tell you that those companies don't pay well. All companies will pay for experience. If you start with one of the companies mentioned above and you stay with them, you will be making good money. You have to do the time to earn a dime. No matter what you will have to get some experience under your belt before you will really start to earn. For me, I like the bigger companies. They have terminals all over the country, they have a lot of no touch freight (drop a trailer, hook to another and go. If the wheels aren't turning, you aren't earning), you usually have a pretty decent truck if your a company driver, and they can work things out better when you need to get home. For some, smaller companies just seem to work better for them. It really depends on the person. You will most likely end up at more than a few companies if you stay in the industry longer than 5 years and it is not uncommon for people to leave and go to a different company and then turn around and go back to the company they left. The question asked in this forum was Is Swift a good company to work for? I've worked for them more than once and I'm taking my truck back to them now. For me they are a good company to work for. They have a ton of freight, and they keep you rolling. I have my own truck as being a company driver wasn't a good fit for me. Swift's pay is comparable to anyone else's if you are not into specialized hauling and don't get caught up in the guys telling you they make way more a mile than any company like Swift or anyone else could pay. A buddy of mine has moved around and tried a lot of different companies claiming to pay more and we still ended up making about the same with me staying at Swift. Hell I went looking for better rates and in the end went back to Swift because that company just works good for me. You want a decent cents per mile rate, but higher cents per mile rate wont get you anywhere if they don't have the miles to back it up year round, year after year. If you go to any company and it doesn't seem to be working out, try to switch to a different dispatcher. Sometimes this can make a big difference. If that doesn't help, you may be able to switch and run out of a different terminal (something that a bigger company will have available over a smaller company) and sometimes this can help as a different terminal may expose to you to slightly different freight lanes. If that still doesn't help, then the company you are at is probably not a good match for you. If you experience this at more than one company, then being a company driver is probably not for you and you should think about being an Owner/Operator to have better control. If you try that and your still not happy, get out of the industry. It's probably not a good fit for you. With any company you choose to go to, understand that recruiters jobs are to get you to orientation. What the company offers is what is in writing, not what you are told or promised. It's up to you to read what is offered before you decide to work for them. If you don't do that, there is no one to blame but yourself. Hey, pretty much every truck driver out here has listened to a recruiter at one time or another and said, yeah that sounds like a good job only to find the grass is not always greener on the other side. What makes a good company, is not really the company, but how good of a match you are to them. If you like big companies, go with Swift, Schneider, or Werner and give it 6 months and then see if it feels like a good match for you. If it does, plant roots and quit looking for greener grass.