Thank you Swift drivers

Welcome. As a pretty recent addition myself to Swift let me just say that every bad day or even week does not equate to a crappy company and every great day or week does not mean heaven. Don't take anything personally. Unless they specifically call you an SOB, it ain't personal!

For example, you will always get idle messages. Does not mean you are at fault. You could be the best in company. But DM's are graded on things like idle time of their drivers. If they can get every driver to cut 1 minute a day that is 350 minutes or 6 hours (50 drivers x 7 days) which equates to roughly 6 gallons of diesel a week. Not much, I know. But multiple that times 400 which is 20,000 drivers and now you have a savings worth writing in a ledger. The pennies add up even for a multi billion dollar company. THAT is why DM's send messages about stuff like that. Not because they are picking on you personally. If someone is nasty to you, just remember, maybe they just found out their wife was cheating on 'em. Or maybe they really are a jerk. But don't let it effect you. They are what they are.

Every one that hinders you is not necessarily your enemy and everyone who "helps" you is not necessarily your friend. Injun is a great example on this forum of a professional who stays mostly positive. There are others here andthey all helped me a lot right from Orientation. They still do answer my dumb questions!

Long winded way of saying keep things in perspective and stay the he77 away from all the whiners in the terminals! And there are a lot of them.

Just nod, say "uh huh" and sidle away. If you get sucked into the piss-n-moan sessions it'll be a mental cancer. There are some really good people here. But, like anywhere, there are some real DOOOOOOSH BAGGGGZZ with the courtesy of a supermax inmate, the hygiene of a a billy goat and the vocabulary of a crack 'ho.

I am living proof, if you be professional and do your stuff, this company WILL work well for you. Good luck.

 

Amen, Giorgio. When I drove for Swift I absolutely HATED the driver lounges at the terminals. So many people talking trash about Swift, and their lack of miles. Then they'd get a load message and come back in from their truck and say, "It was a run of 300 miles. I turned it down and called my driver manager and told him..." No wonder you are broke. I had my issues with Swift but NONE of it was how they treated me. If I spoke with respect I always got it in return. As with any company, it is what you make it.

 

That I will not understand, turn down a load cause its only 300 miles. So far I have taken every load that I have been given as long as I can do it legally and on time and have had no shortage of miles. As soon as my break is up I'm always on a load. In a way getting a couple 275 mile runs in a week can help get a bigger check, you get more money for those miles and you have only used us what 5 hours off your 70? If you do a 275 mile run you make the same as a 350 mile run but have saved 1- 1 1/2 hours of time that you can now use on another run. Some of my best checks so far have been weeks where I got a couple runs like that. Let my hours build back up and then they give me a 1000 miler.

Last week is a good example, I was low on hours so they kept giving me little short runs. I took them anyways and when I started getting to days where I had 10-11 hours falling off I got 1100 due in 2 days, then pp before I even got there for a 610 mile deliver next day run, then from there another 550 mile run for the next day. From what I can tell its all about time management, better you are at that, more money you make. Hell I'm grossing almost $900 this week and that's on the 3 month pay scale. But I do everything I possibly can to save my hours, things like trying to run at night as much as I can so no traffic, why leave at 6:05 when you can leave at 6:08 and log it as 6:15 and so on and it adds up.

 

Great points, Neal. You will eventually notice some of the same guys sitting around terminals ALL THE TIME. They drive just enough to not get fired but they don't want to work. These are the same guys who don't tag trailers in need of repair, or sweep trailers out, etc. I saw one guy in three terminals within the same month and every time his truck was in the shop for something minor. You have a strong work ethic and that will carry you far in this industry. Keep up the good work and be safe.

 

It's not just that. I've spoken with current DMs and former DMs and while favoritism isn't "officially" encouraged, every one has said that when a 1800+ mile load comes up, they'll give it to the driver who takes the <300 mile loads without complaints over the ones who turn them down for no reason.

A lot of drivers have also told me this. Sometimes you gotta take the 300 mile load, and then afterwards you get a preplan for 2k miles sent over by your DM.