The start of my first year with Swift.

well hate to see you go sheriff. the pay iMO was not bad 15,316*5 months is 3063.8 or the net pay is still 2134.80 per month hope it wasnt the pay that drove you away, as that isnt bad for starting out IMO will have to go read the memphis post though. and on the road expenses can be a bit much at first. keep your cdl and med card up to date just incase you decide to give it another go. Hope all goes well with you and your wife on the farm.
yea the piss bottles no one can ever get used to, never noticed a big issue with the cig butts before though. I am a smoker and never threw my waste on the ground as i always think about who has to clean it up and hate polluting.

i will be starting doing the swift training next week. I am not a first time CDL driver and know what to expect did the OTR thing in 06 and i am able to get back on the road again. I hope to stay with Swift for at least 2 years so i get the schooling free but in the least a year(er 13 months) so it dont cost me nothing.

I know many say swift isnt a good company but have also seen many who have made it with them luck of the draw i guess.

 

Thanks, Sherrif... and I'll definitely be dropping a PM from time to time. Got assigned my truck in Mira Loma (2012 Cascadia) and it's very peaceful now sitting in a truck with open windows and vents that isn't idling and isn't moving for the first time (my mentor was big on idling in all weather with a fear of fresh air).

One issue I have is that I obviously didn't bring my heavy tools for training, expecting to buy the Road Ready Kit when I got my truck. I was told they discontinued the RRK. If I get my dispatch tomorrow morning looks like I'll need to pick up a few things at the first Walmart and/or truck stop as soon as possible.

During my pretrip for assignment I noticed one glaring issue. Whoever drove this truck before me failed to drop the air bags or failed to get the landing gear down when pulling out from a trailer. The rear bracket on the frame is bent from the king pin pulling on it. I was told not to worry about it, about 20% of all Cascadia's on the fleet have the problem and they aren't wanting to replace the brackets... doh!? Hope I don't have to worry about a DOT inspection anytime soon. I think I'll be putting it in the shop for inspection before going on the road and see if they can at least bend it down if not replace it.

 

11 days now with my mentor and things are going well. I kind of see how hard it can be trying to work well with Swift, but so far they have provided me fantastic training. I need to read up on Sherriffs problems to contribute more opinion.

 

OOPS, maybe spoke to soon. My mentor and I got the call for a load ready to pick up. The International Prostar he drives wouldn't start. Just kept turning over. Called for roadside assistance and the person said he new what the problem was, the computer needed to be reprogrammed at a dealership. So now we are sitting in the Flying J waiting for a tow to the nearest dealer in So. Minn.

He is OO and his truck needs a new clutch from all the students. Plus he has depleted his maintainance budget. I feel bad for him. He is a real Swift advocate, doesn't like me relating the problems I read on this post. Let's just say he doesn't tolerate any negative talk. But, I can see he is feeling the pain now, as he sits in the 90 degree truck waiting for a tow truck.

My attitude is still sky high. Swift seems to be trying hard but a big company like this gets too compartmentalized and everybody has their agenda. I have experience working with big companies and as my mentor says if you learn how to manage the Qualcomm and work the right people (planners, DM's) you can make enough and stay relatively happy.

 

Sorry to hear you aren't out with Swift now. I head to school hear in Spokane in a couple weeks, then if all goes well out with System. Hope you are still out turnin!

 

My mentor was out of Spokane and still takes students. He's in a t660 studio now. I had a good time on his truck.

 

Very nice. The studios sound like they are good rigs. Are you back at Swift Mrh?

 

I am not, I've been contacted by Melton and am considering them. I can't seem to find anything bad on them! When I left SWIFT, I really wanted to run Phoenix local, but it seems as tho OTR is calling my name again. I've been home for nearly a month now and OTR crosses my mind more and more each day. I can't seem to motivate myself to find a local job, but Melton and Andrus both called me yesterday with OTR positions.

as for the 660's, probably my favorite truck. I drove one with SWIFT for 3-4 months or so. I loved it, however, it turned like a boat and it wasn't the larger studio sleeper model. I don't even wanna think about putting a studio in a small dark hole late at night.

 

Looks like I'm headed to Dallas today! Melton is the one. And their fleet is mostly KW t660's! 4-5 day orientation starts Monday morn, $500 orientation and $.42 cents per mile for me starting August, .40cpm until they roll out their new pay package.