What's it like to drive for swift transportation?

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@Chinatown

 

mid roof are for the flatbed division. @FerrissWheel is in that division.
kenworth, freightliner, internationals, and Volvo are what we drive. you will get what's available at the time.
as a solo... coast to coast is a treat but you will get some accasionnaly.
not sure what's available on the east coast but you can ask recruiter

 

oh..... mostly automatics.
camera we have doesn't face driver.
ignore the haters on swift lol.
swift is not a bad company. if you can't stay a year at one job then you shouldn't be working lol.

 

depends on how far you are from a terminal.
last I heard was if you were 50 miles or more they will let you.

 

Yes if you don't live close to a terminal you can park at home.


Yeah, Midroofs are flatbed division. We run flatbed freight and stepdeck freight.

 

@Six9GS

 

My experience with Swift has been good. I started at the Swift Academy in Phoenix in August of 2019. On November 1, I'll have been solo for 1 year. These are the answers I can provide:
Swift has mostly Freightliners. But also has Internationals, Kenworths and Volvos. I haven't seen any Swift Peterbuilts.
Swift does Dry Van, Reefer and Flat Bed. As a driver, you are dedicated to one of those fleets. Although I trained with a mentor in a dry van, I have been reefer since I went solo. I did pull one dry van load since then, but it was to get me home for hometime and, as such, was an exception to normal operations.
I can't speak to much to the dry van freight itself, except for during my time with a mentor. We hauled different stuff. Some bulk paper, did a load of apple juice, evaporator parts, floor tiles etc. My strangest load was 35k lbs. of beer bottle labels!! As a reefer driver, it is mostly food products. I've hauled McDonald's French Fries numerous times, Onions, Plants for Lowes, Pinapples, Apples, Pears, Peaches, LOTS of frozen food. Beer, Wine and during the winter several loads of assorted non-food goods that we simply had to keep from freezing.
I am unsure about 'Coast to Coast' runs. I've had a few runs in excess of 2k miles and have been to both coasts. However, for personal reasons a few. Months back, I became a west region only driver. So, haven't gone East of Iowa since. I mostly run, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. I live in Arizona and my 'home terminal' is in SoCal. I've been to the Southeast several times, but didn't run around there much. Mostly a load to there and another back West. I have personal issues with the Southeast and prefer not to go there.
I'm regular OTR so unsure about regional work, other than the fact, I run only the West. Unsure what other regions one could limit themselves to.
Swift also has Dedicated freight drivers who only haul for a specific company. I know we have several Walmart Dedicated accounts at different places and some Target stuff. I've seen a few Swift trucks hauling Amazon Prime stuff of late, but unsure if those folks are dedicated to Amazon or not.
Our flat bed division trucks are usually the mid-roof variety. Unsure if you can get one of those to pull a van type trailer or not. But, we do have a flat bed division, so if that is something you might wish to contend with, you could probably end up with a mid-roof truck.
Also, ALL trucks are automatics these days. I was taught in one, tested in one and drive one. Pretty sure all the manual trucks are now gone from the Swift fleet, so there are no other options but automatic.
Hope that answers some of your questions, don't hesitate to ask me more. But, my experience is limited as I have only driven OTR reefer. I may not be able to answer some questions.
As I began with, Swift has been good to me and I have had a good experience with them so far. They have made several promises along the way and kept their promises. I think I got lucky and fell into a terminal and crew that fits me well. But, different people have different expectations and desires and most of the folks I went to the Academy no longer work for Swift.
Regardless of what you end up doing, best of luck to you!!!

 

Has anyone (recently) admonished you on your handle and implored you to find another line of work?