Swifts breakdown pay is a joke.

Seriously, Bluebonn?

 

Na just joking... Figured I would stir the pot up a little and make this post come alive. Nobody complaining just stating the facts,,,

 

OK...then just let your garage be....but please clean up the car-port....I mean really...do you still have a reason to be hanging onto that Junior Prom gown?

 

Recently I was stuck in Laredo for 5 days with a broken A/C.
Boring, to say the least. And rather dirty.

After the 3rd day my DM said she was going to see if another truck was available. I said, please don't, I like my truck. (It may be 4 years old, but it's a solid truck!)

Nothing more was said about getting me into a different truck, and as soon as my truck was fixed I was on my way home to San Diego for 3 days of home time.

I didn't ask for it, but my DM got me 5 days of breakdown pay.

I love my DM.


And now I am in Denver after 3 weeks OTR. I decided to get some home time here, to see my little girls.
Into the shop the truck goes, once again. But this time it is only for a required inspection (I had until 5/18, or I would be put out of service), and to add some rivets to the fender wells (each of which are held on by exactly one rivet)

Got a message on the QC by the planners. They noticed that I had requested home time and wanted to know how to plan me. I replied that, yes, when I got to Denver I was taking 2 days home time, and that I had planned to set my PTA for 5/18 at 0700. 20 minutes later I received a message that my PTA was set for 5/18 at 0700.

My HT request was for the 14th, and I got here on the 15th. Not bad.


I see a lot of gripes about Swift, but so far my experience has been 95% positive.

The 5% not so positive?
I keep getting negative points for high idle times.

But, until someone calls me in for a meeting, I'll just ignore it. I do my best to strike a balance between fuel usage and comfort...

And I figure my comfort is well worth the ~1 gallon of fuel I burn in idle time in a 24 hour period (some of which is sitting at traffic lights and warming up the engine in the morning). The onboard computer tells me I am burning around .3 gallons per hour at idle.

Heck, I've gone down from 63% (which cost me 3 points) to 24% (which cost me 10 points - go figure) - mainly due to the fact that the 63% was in sub-zero temps for most of that month.
And all the while, I get messages telling me to both keep idle times below 17% - and to make sure I am comfortable and well rested.


...I digress, as I so often do.



Got some time to spend with my lovely daughters.
So tomorrow we are going to the Royal Gorge Bridge and Park, to see some heights, ride some ponies, eat some food, do some railroading, buy some souvenirs... and just have a great time together.

 

You can't post here anymore! No complaints? LOL

Have fun with the kids....there are meds for such happiness you know!

 

To be frank to the OP, it does rather sound like an attitude problem. Am I saying swift is good? No. What I am saying is that until you get AT LEST a year under your belt at one company, you are always going to be treated like crap because you have very limited employment options. All the companies out there that will hire people with little experience have tons of problems and can treat drivers like crap. You are just starting out, and you have to earn your way up to make decent millage pay and get good miles. You can't come in green and expect to get paid and treated the same as someone with 20 years experience. It's like that in any industry.

Again, I am not saying what swift is doing is right. What I am saying is that the grass is never greener on the other side. You get out what you put in.

 

I personally feel that in the trucking business you will get treated the way you allow yourself to be treated no matter the amount of experience you have. I look like a young punk in a Swift truck and get treated like one, but as soon as I step out and open my mouth things change for the better imo.

 

Amen fairshake! I like your style...

 

I did.

My rental car fell through because I didn't have $400 in my bank account for the deposit, but their mother drove us all to Royal Gorge.
We all had a great time!
If you ever get the chance, spend some time there!

Tonight I am hoping to take them all to see Thor, IMax 3D - then back in the truck to earn some more $$$ until I can get my eldest daughter into my truck as a passenger for a few weeks during her summer break.


And, fairshake, I agree. I deal straight up, fair and square.
And that is how I have been treated, so far.

 

Well of course you are going to get an attitude after you get a nice truck and they try to give you a piece of crap that is a magnet for DOT. Then when you refuse they yank your breakdown pay.

Some of the new breed of drivers don't care what they drive or if it is falling apart. They just do what they are told. Us older drivers remember a time when the company actually cared about the drivers comfort out on the road and we drove nice equipment. WE where not forced to give up our truck until they decided it was time to get rid of it and get a new one.

I can see if there is a major repair needed on your truck and you take a loaner until your truck is done. No problem at all with this. But when you go into the quick lane for a minor repair and they try to yank you out of a truck you are comfortable in it makes no sense.

I don't like slip seating and never will. Once I am forced to do this then I move on somewhere where they do not do it. If you don't care what you drive down the road then have fun! For me what I drive down the road is what I have ti live in and if it is not comfortable I don't drive it.

Swift knows #### well I will not take a piece of crap with everything missing on it. No curtains,cabinet doors laying on bunk and a ton of other issues with the truck they tried to switch me out in.

I told them hell the truck would not even start! But they took my breakdown pay for three days because I refused to drive the piece of ####. You can say I have an attitude and I will tell you you're #### right I don't like getting screwed.......


You may like it and except it on a daily basis but not me...


The grass may be greener on the other side because I sure do not get back what I put in on a daily basis. Platinum driver and never been late. 3300 miles this week and still counting but when I go to get the extra pay for stuff like tolls,Unloads and so on it seems to be a game of getting it. The other day I spent an hour removing the boards that where nailed down in the trailer and another driver told me you get paid $10 to do this. I said oh really? So I tried to get paid and got a idiot repose that we don't pay Van drivers to remove the wood that is nailed down. Ok so what the heck am I doing in the trailer removing it then? Why should I work doing this if I don't get paid for doing it?

It seems to me that is taking hours away from my 70 and driving time so why am I doing this for free? Not a big deal but they could have not been a smart arse on the reply back..