Why should a rookie go or not go w/Swift?

I guess you didn't read my entire post and completely misunderstood my rainbows (good stuff) garbage cans (bad). If you read the response again you will see that I do have 6 years experience with Swift and hope to continue my experience.

 

I will be starting school at the Swift Academy in Lewiston on March 19th. After doing much research regarding CDL schools I am confident that I have made a good choice. I am located in Spokane so I had several other schools in the area that I checked into. As the other posts state, newbies start at the bottom. Frankly, what job has anyone had that they did not have some type of training and work their way up. Good Luck!

 

Grusco, Swift is a great starting point. The school is simply going to train you to get your CDL. It won't get you ready for life in a truck. Your mentor (if you get a good one and I hope you do) will help you get ready for life as a driver, learning the in's and out's of how Swift does things.

After a few months many more options become available to you. After a year hundreds more. After two years...hello. Unbelievable opportunities. You may love the company and spend many many years there.

My best advise is don't hang around Swift terminals. You will find lots of drivers there who turn down loads, or constantly have their truck in the shop so they don't have to drive and they will whine and complain about how they are not getting any miles. That can be cancerous to your attitude about the company.

Best of luck in whatever you decide. Driving a truck can be a very fun way of life if you create a good environment to operate in. You will for sure get out of it what you put into it.

 

One (of what I considered to be) advatage of Swift is the variety of jobs. I did 2 years with them before finding local with another company. In those 2 years I did 4 axle truck and trailer, 3 axle reefers, Intermodal, and local daycab. I had the opportunity to drive doubles but chose not to.

That variety helped me to land a local job where I'm home nightly and get very good pay for a 40 hr week.

Like the others have said, it's up to what you need or want from the company.

 

I'd go to Swift Academy again to get a CDL, but would not work for Swift. The company has many lies in the recruiting propaganda. Since I had already went bankrupt and not worried about my credit, I want to thank Swift for the free CDL.

I am now talking to local companies that pay more and get me home a lot more.

 

Not sure if I am reading your message correctly but I would look into the fine print before just saying F it and not paying the loan. I think I remember it stating they can suspend your CDL for nonrepayment. Then you will have all the other fees tacked on as well.

 

They have no control of Texas DMV CDL. Heck you don't even have to go to school for a CDL. All they can do is harrass me for repayment. That's it.....

 

You are a perfect example whats wrong with this country. Dead beats, if you don't pay your debt it just increases costs for other people. Bet you voted for Obama and want the government to take care of you.

 

HA HA... No I just don't believe in paying people that lie to me and operate a business based on lies. You can pay people that don't give you what you paid for if you like. Everything I am doing is perfectly legal.

BTW. I am conservative, viet nam vet. So you are not very good a reading people.