The start of my first year with Swift.

No, they seem to get worse. I'm finally out of the mud and at the dock. There has to be at least 10 trucks waiting and five at the dock. I just talked to another Swift driver who was behind me five hours ago before I got stuck. He's still waiting! I guess I really didn't lose anytime. Just some pride. He said he's had to spend the night here in the past because it takes so long to load. I'm supposed to be running in the West. I'm never taking a load east again!! Alabama has got to be a rain forest. The only time I've seen it rain like this was in Seattle.

Palace, your words of encouragement have made this and easier day...LOL

 

You know I'm always here for you bud. I'm sure in a few weeks or so when I get my own truck your going to have a ball reading my posts. I'm sure it will be very entertaining for you when the day comes. Something for you to look forward to. Find a save place to park for the night and get a warm hot meal for yourself you deserve it.


Palace, your words of encouragement have made this and easier day...LOL
Have a good night!!!

 

I imagine it's gotta be rather stressful with all of this happening to you. But I imagine in time It's going to get better. You have a lot more patience than I do. Or rather it appears. Who really knows how It looks in person. You seem to be rather refined from what I can see on the forums, though.

On a side note, I apologize in advance for such a newbie question, but I've been having trouble finding an answer. I can't seem to find the exact words to put together and find what I'm looking for. I'll be leaving for training shortly, and have been trying to figure out as much as I can before being overwhelmed with tons of information.

But during my 34-hour restart, I'm considered off-duty, correct? If I am in fact off duty would that mean that I could use my truck to drive from my home terminal to my actual home? Don't want to make HOS mistakes. And it would be with Swift. Thank you in advance.

 

I only run west of the big munny river and I'd like to keep it that way! Down south doesn't bother me, but the farther north on the east coast you go, the better the chance of never seeing home again.

 

The Qualcomm will not let you be "off duty" while driving. You'd be in sleeper, or off accordingly and can't move the truck.

however, owner ops do have an option for off duty driving as they are in their personal vehicles.

 

That's what I had a feeling of. Makes sense. Thank you for the help!

 

I have been curious about this as well. I live about 15-20 miles from the terminal, does that mean that I will have to keep my car parked at the terminal for the time I am out? I have a friend that drives for Schneider and he takes his company truck home. Must be a swift policy?

 

I do think Swift has a policy on it. I'm not sure. My terminal is at least five hours from my home. There's a drop yard in Boise so I can drive my truck home.

 

This has been the longest day so far and I only had five and a half hours of driving. After I was given my paperwork and the seals, I was told they were one roll short and that I had to go to another warehouse to get it. It wasn't that far but it meant going through the whole paperwork deal again. I finally bumped the dock and waited. It took them an hour to load one roll. Then they forgot to release me from the gate. I finally went in and told the guy that I was running out of time. He got off the phone, finished the paperwork and let me go.

While waiting I called ahead to my first stop to see if I could get unloaded tonight. The guy who answered the phone said no, not until tomorrow morning at 0730. This is what I told my dispatch. A bit later I got a msg that said they would unload me tonight as they have 24 hour receiving. When I arrive I got to where the Qualcomm told me to go. I contacted the guy I talked to on the phone. He said I was at the wrong spot and I needed to be across the street...."you mean the building with no lights on?" Yep. So I go across the street and happen to find three guys in the break room. They looked shocked to see me. It was an hour and a half before they were going to go home. They told me they weren't going to unload me and I needed to take it across the street and see Fred....Same guy I talked to before. Then there was some radio traffic and arguing, I was told to go back across the street and to dock 6. I did and some young guy came and unloaded me. No big deal. I'm now in the back parking lot because I'm out of time. What a day and to think, I get to start it all over again tomorrow bright and early. I'm supposed to be in Memphis by noon.

I think God really doesn't like Alabama and probably isn't too fond of GA. That's just too much rain to be good.

 

I was always told that silver ranked drivers and up could take truck home for up to 3 days. Bronze has to turn truck in and hope there's one available when hometime is over. That's how my DM makes be do it.