Thoughts on Swift Transportation?

Swift, as many companies, want you to get your drug test from a lab they recognize. I hired on with Swift after already getting my CDL without going to school and having three month's recent OTR experience. When I went to orientation I did the drug test and a physical on the first day.

 

When they did the drug test, they said about 4 times if there was any reason you may not pass, it's far better to just walk out and come back when you know you will pass. She said this over and over, and still there were 2 people that didn't pass! Now they have it on their permanent record.
Not too "swift"?

 

Your experience with Swift will depend entirely on your home terminal. Every terminal runs a little different. I've heard stories about guys who get counselled for floating gears. I float 99% of the time and nobody's said a thing to me about it.

If you have a good terminal and a good DL, your experience can be just fine. Make your pickups and deliveries on time and you'll hardly ever have to talk to anyone from the company.

 

Only reason I chose werner over swift was swift would not give me a dedicated account without running Otr first. Werner have me dedicated as a student driver. I will not drive OTR. I'll find something else to do instead

 

I have a question about this 1-year contract you have to sign if you go to a company school. Don't you need at least one year of experience before you apply at another company? so why is the 1-year contract such a bad thing? Low pay? In my case I bring home $750/bi-weekly after taxes, 401k, med, dental. If I can bring home $600/week trucking i'll be one happy camper.

 

@Chinatown can probably answer that, I got my Cdl through a vocational school so I can't answer that

 

You should be able to bring 600 home weekly in trucking relatively easily.

 

The one year contract is not a bad thing. The trucking company just wants a return on their investment in the driver. It's a good deal; do the year, then move on to a company that pays $60K - $70K when your one year contract is fulfilled.
That's good pay for someone that just attended a 3 or 4 week cdl school. Not many college grads can do that.