Thoughts on Swift Transportation?

The bigger the company the more micromanaged you will be. I suppose if you do not want to overwork your brain it would be one option. I would advise checking out all avenues. Also, get your cdl on your own, from a school, do not go to a company paid school.

 

Why do you say that i should get my CDL on my own vs with a company school? Is it that bad to go with a company school?

 

You will be required to sign a one year contract in exchange for them paying for your schooling. And for that year you will be at their beck and call while earning a low wage. If you quit they can take legal action to collect.

 

You will be required to sign a one year contract in exchange for them paying for your schooling. And for that year you will be at their beck and call while earning a low wage. If you quit they can take legal action to collect.

 

ya i understand that but I would think that would be the best way to start out because I hear that the truck driving school cost like $4,000 or so. I am not sure about you but not sure many people around here have $4000 or so to just throw at truck driving school. Would also think that having a guaranteed job right after trucking school sounds good to me.

 

When I went to meet my teacher that the community college ill be attending,

he informed of a government program that would pay the full $4,000 called W.I.A. that you sign up for at the unemployment office and then take a few short classes. This small sacrifice will be much better than a year slave contract.

don't worry about getting a job once you have CDL, there are so many open positions, unless you have a bad history you should be able to start with most companies that start entry level.

 

You don't sign a contract you sign a loan agreement just like taking out a student loan to go to a private CDL school. You are free to quit Swift at any time they just expect you to pay for your CDL schooling. And they even work out interest free repayment schedules if you decide not to stay with them. There's plenty of things wrong with Swift but I feel that their CDL school program is very fair.

 

Swift is a horrible company to work for if you have an attitude that is looking for bad things. Swift can be a good company to work for if you focus on maximizing your output. My own experience with Swift was positive. I worked for them for two years, then recently moved on to a company that moves me along in my plan. Even as a solo driver, with their pay increases these last two years, you should be able to make more than $50K you first year IF you know how to keep the wheels turning.

Regarding the Swift Academy and payment schedules, they will deduct payments the first year until the loan is paid off. If you stay an additional year they pay you back for the school, so then your school will have been free.

Yes, they are a large company with large customers and have a lot of freight to move. There will be times and places where freight is slow, but if you develop good relationships with your driver managers and planners and achieve Platinum status you can start picking loads from Mac-30 to areas that have freight. Pay attention to the bubble maps whenever you are at a terminal to see where freight is hot, it will vary from season to season. Platinum status can be achieved within a few months of going solo, it isn't hard. Several of my students became Platinum quickly.

 

Many companies these days can listen to your conversations in the truck, hard braking event, get a message if you follow too close or have a near miss on the highway, over RPM's, speeding such as if the truck is governed at 68 and you let it speed over that going down a hill. That's why you see some drivers riding their brakes on downgrades. Many new drivers have been brainwashed as they grew up and think nothing of big brother staring at them 24/7, but some of us prefer companies that don't use that technology. One driver was complaining because he took his truck home, as he was allowed to, but the truck sent a picture of his wife shaking the truck when she climbed on the step to get inside. She shook it several times as a joke to her husband, not knowing a camera automatically recorded it and sent it to the company.
As I told you before, lots of changes since you last drove.

 

My recruiter told me to get my DOT physical no drug screen??. Why I don't have to get my drug screen? Before go to swift academy