To go or not to go

If anyone on here has followed my threads I sort of went through the mill trying to hire on with Swift. First it was needing a new sleep study because my neck is bigger than 17. Got that handled, then it was getting booted from orientation for a medication that I clearly listed on page one of my long form DOT. Finally got that handled and finished orientation and got coded. Now I'm just waiting for a mentor.

On Friday my wife came home and said the one and only trucking company in our town had a large banner on their fence saying "hiring drivers, no experience needed". So I went to their office and talked to the manager, nice guy, who said they were desperate for local drivers and needed 3. He was overly happy when I told him I have my class A with doubles endorsement and had experience hauling pneumatics pumping cement, which is what the job is for. I filled out their online application, gave them an H6 from DMV and other hiring documents and left.

He just called and said my DAC and CSA were perfect and offered me the job based on % of load. The current contract pays $100 load and they turn 2 loads per 10 hour shift 6 days a week. The only condition of getting the job is that I complete the 240 hour mentor program with Swift then I would start the beginning of January 2013 when the new contract starts. I told him that the rumor is Swift will not release school records if you quit under a year and he said all he needs is a valid class A, he doesn't care where or when or how well I did in school.

I know I would make more money locally, I would be home everyday which is the best for my marriage and kids, but I feel like I made a commitment to Swift and I don't back out of commitments. On the other hand I know Swift would dump me in a fast second for just about any infraction or mistake, just like most of the mega's would, because I'm just a number on a DM screen. Ahh what to do!

I guess I'll go with my mentor and play it by ear with the new company. The least I'll get is experience which you can't put a price tag on. I never thought I would ever be able to drive local this soon as this same company said 2 years OTR right on their website but he said since our area is so small and 100 miles from the nearest town he had to forgo that requirement to get drivers.

What do you think? Am I just a number to a mega like Swift? Do I owe Swift anything besides the $3,900 for the school and $500 for the hotel during school? I figure paying that back at 1 days wages ($200) a week should keep them happy.

 

Well there is no job until January when the new contracts start. He said to do the Swift program to make some money and to get experience since he wouldn't be able to put me on payroll until January. The more experience I have the lower his insurance premium will be I'm guessing.

 

My mentor called today. He is on his way to Washington State then will try to get a load to Fontana to pick me up. He said be ready to roll this weekend. I hope he knows he has to get an inverter installed for my CPAP machine. Orientation was supposed to get me a mentor that already had on or a driver willing to have Swift install one. Our phone connection was horrible so I didn't get to ask him. We'll see how it goes, I am dreading the mentor phase of training because of all the horror stories about bad mentors.

 

Well I hope Felix is one of the good guys. But if not I guess I'll be in the norm