Swifties - what is acceptable for out of route?

Be a rebel and just do it...... Honestly if your dm likes u and your not much trouble....they won't care really.....it's 22 miles....that's like what? .0000001 of your yearly miles....and if your load to pick up goes that way you will look like a genius,lol

 

Oh....wow old post....do it next time....

 

Good to see you again! Where have you been hiding?

 

Company drivers don't have line 5. Lease/owner ops do, since they're the ones paying for the fuel.

That said, I've never been questioned on driving to a "safe haven" when empty. I've gone 150 miles to take a 34 at a friend's house; granted, the nearest truck stop was nearly 100 miles from the drop. If it's more than 20 miles or so, I send a freeform message (macro 0) stating what I'm doing. If they have a problem with it, they get back to me rather quickly.

As for rerouting, I request the reroute via macro 0 at the start of the run. (Taking I-70 instead of I-68/I-79 is the usual request.) If it's a reasonable request, it's usually granted. Only once was I told to take 68, and that was because I was heading south on 79 in WV instead of north.

All that goes out the window during bad weather. Last Saturday, when the snow storm hit, I was on I-70 in OH heading to York, PA. There was no way in H-E-double hockey sticks I was going to haul 41K through Garrett County, MD on I-68 if they were having that much trouble keeping I-70 clear. And, if anyone questions it, I will tell them exactly what I said here.

As far as I can tell, there are no hard and fast rules saying what is OK and what isn't. As long are you are reasonable, you aren't going to be questioned. And be ready to justify yourself, just in case you are.

 

Still, it's always best to contact 'them', either by QC or phone, as to your intended route.
If they say no, you can always shut down for unsafe conditions if such is the case.

 

There are also 2 types of loads that we pull that you have to go outta route, and when you get one, you have to get your DM to re-route you away from the Swift routing. They will usually add lots of miles. They are tater chips and a certain type of medical supplies that we haul from NE to CA. Get a tater chip load out of ID going to TX and you will get routed over and down CA. Medical supplies from NE to CA, get routed to ALBQ and then south to I-10.

 

When you get one of those types, it will be right in the load instructions. The medical supplies are emergency room supplies that are in plastic bags. Tater chips we pick up all over. When going East to west or the opposite on I-40, we have to avoid Flagstaff

 

I got a chip load out of Oregon that had specific directions you had to follow, was chips for Walmart going to Texas and I was routed down through California and tcalled in Mira Loma. Picking up Frito lay out of Modesto has specific directions on the BOL as well.

As for out of route I have not had issues, my DM only told me to watch it awhile back when I got to 13% but I was driving all over...

right now I will go out of route to the truck stop from the DC a couple times a week to shut down which is about 12 miles each way, even if I do it all 5 days thats 120 miles and if I drove just 2k miles thats still only 6% out of route, so worrying about 20 miles here and there is the least of your worries. You shut down where comfortable within reason, I have gone over 50 miles to get to a truck stop and never had issues and did the same after sitting at a rest area for a couple days without a load up in OR so I finally said screw it and drove somewhere I could get a meal.