The Swift Experience

I used to like Swift. Then Knight took over, turned everything on its head. Got rid of the 24 hour shops at all terminals despite the fact that we have to run 24/7. Shops are only opened limited hours and sometimes closed on weekends. Then they fired most of their shop staff nationwide so it takes days to do even minor work.

Then they added a punishment system for the drivers. The cameras are now part of a points system, every little thing you do (and were talking nitpicking micromanaging levels here) that gets caught on camera and that they dont like, earns you points. False positives gets you points, btw most of the points you get tend to be those. Most of the time the desk jockey youre arguing with couldn't care less about the circumstances and you keep those points.

Get enough points and you get #### canned. It's very very easy to get these points. They even go over your logs and ding you over minor things that are not required by the DOT but are just PoLiCy crap they made up, it doesnt help they tend to change things monthly now.

I'm tired of the ####show and I'm looking to jump ship. Its unnecessary stress on top of everything else. I get enough of that dealing with the #### four wheelers and other drivers who have no respect for me just because it says Swift on the door.

 

Somehow my opinion of Swift has been lowered. Didn’t think it was possible. How does this company stay in business?

 

You have seen the light. Now find a real company to work for.

 

I read about 60% of this but it’s too late for me to finish. Some thoughts...

You chose to ride as a team with a guy you didn’t really know. About half of what I read were issues you had with the other driver. Choosing a team partner is a huge decision and not one to be taken lightly.

Your claim that Swift drivers have to call in to get their next load is just wrong and makes no sense. Preplans are sent and approved on the Qualcomm 99% of the time.

You (ok your team) hauled a load you weren’t dispatched on and then you got upset that you weren’t paid for time on the phone when you had to fix it. LMAO

When you want home time you do your macro with the date you want to be home. If they send you to that area at that time and then another preplan comes in taking you somewhere else you just decline the load and say your taking home time in the comments.

I conclusion, I think your biggest issue was running as a team. I’m sure you’ll get on somewhere else. Good luck to you and your future driving endeavors.

 

I honestly dont know man. I just know they treat us like ####, and I'm an experienced team driver!

They almost never pay for a hotel when its required and even when they do it's always in the ghetto so I end up getting my own hotel anyway. No paid home time, no paid sick days, the health insurance literally covers nothing, not even prescriptions anymore. But they still had the balls to raise the rates this year! We cant idle so were almost always uncomfortable if we have to park. The pay is zip code to zip code so they always screw you out of around 100 miles per load.

The list goes on and on. I really want to leave but I just got my friend through training and he doesnt have enough experience to go elsewhere yet.

 

The only time I can think of that a hotel is required is if you are broke down and can’t idle the truck. This happed to me over the winter with a coolant leak and the Inver Grove Heights terminal put me in their hotel for three days. Good hotel and definitely not the ghetto.

You get and extra vacation check once a year. Whether you take the time off is up to you. However if you take a full week you might have to turn in your truck and get a different one when you come back.

Paid sick time depends on what States you run. Certain states require you get paid sick time for hours worked in their state. I’m always in Illinois so I have 48 hours of sick time now. Look on your pay stub and you should see it.

Health plan doesn’t cover prescriptions at all? Can’t be true.

We have bunk heaters for the winter and in summer you can idle your truck once it’s hits a certain temperature (think it’s 80 degrees).

Ok, I agree the zip code to zip code is comically outdated and all trucking companies should do point to point mileage.

 

80 degrees is ridiculous. We idle if the mercury goes over 70. Zip code to zip code should be illegal considering every load can be calculated down to the tenth of a mile using google. There are so many better companies out there. I really think the only people driving for Swift are newbies that don’t have enough experience to go anywhere else and masochists.

 

You should change the title of your blog to; The Dumb Teammate Experience, and Why I Stayed with Him as Long as I Did.

 

Because there is 20 new students in orientation every Monday morning ready to get assigned their own truck, of which they are cheap labor getting paid 30 cents a mile on a load that pays 3 a mile , they quit before they get a pay raise and swift repeats the process with more cheap fresh labor right out of cdl school.. Its genius way to make money if ur a business man