Yet another Swift recruit

You are quite welcome. The vise grips will be needed to hold out the handle on many of the trailers when trying to slide the tandems.

 

IMHO, dress shirts might be a bit of overkill during training since you will be getting dirty. After training and you go to the company store or just look at the company store on the website, you might see some nice shirts that have the Swift logo on them. I have seen that many of out customers seem to notice this at first when walking in. It seem so show some that you are showing pride in who you are working for. One time I walked into a important customer of ours (did not know that it was) and the owner took a pic and actually sent it to Swift and said thank you. Now when I with a student, stuck wearing a Mentor shirt (when they get some more in)

 

I've tried more than once to use ear plugs but I just can't get used to having something in my ear. They make my ears itch. I'm scared that I'll scratch the inside of my ear while half-asleep and push them down to where I can't pull them back out. I can usually handle one reefer on either side of me (I prefer the passenger side because I lay my head on he driver's side) but one on each side is a bit much. Part of what added to it last night was that bad karma I keep talking about that defines West Memphis

You are correct about the soapy water in a spray bottle. A good use for that is to use it as an alternative to a "spit bath" on the side of the road. Something else with that in mind is to have some waterless hand cleaner like "GoJo". Ive always got a bottle of that. You are especially correct about having WD-40 or some other type of spray lubricant handy for about 1000 different uses. If I could only bring 5 items with me to make repairs in a pinch, I would bring............
1. Vice Grips- a big pair.
2. Good size roofing or framing hammer. I keep a 4lb blacksmith hammer with me also. It has a flat and pointed end. At some point in your career, I promise that you are going to have to heat and re-shape something made of iron or steel. Mark my words. LOL.
3. An "all in one" type of screwdriver. One where you can pull the bits off the tip and change them, and pull the shaft out and it turns into a nut driver.
4. A roll of gorilla brand duct tape.
5. A big pack of 14 inch plastic zip-ties. (Literally 1000's of uses)

I haven't come across anything yet that I haven't been able to fix (or at least "rig" until I can get it fixed right) with one of those 5 things. As a bonus, when you present an image of being resourceful, chicks usually dig it.

 

Just remembered something. Ask you mentor about taking the Road Ready course on the Kiosk. When you take this, you are given a nice certificate. You take this to the Parts department at the shop, and you are given a 50' long air hose, very handy, a medium size tool box that has some nice tools in it, and another box that are full off electrical connections and trailer lights and a bunch of other stuff. As a O/O, I was charged $80 for all of this. The air hose is worth almost half of that. As far as the tool box, open end wrenches, screwdrivers, pliers, hammer, zip ties, exacto knife and some other items that I can nto remember. The tool box is not for major repairs on your engine, but for small minor repairs that you can do on the road and save you some time. Also when you need to use the lights to repair the lower lights on the trailer, go to the terminal and just show the little bag that it came out of, and they replace it.

 

A pair of 9 inch Linesmans pliers with the sidecutter. You can cut through trailer door seals including the 1/4 inch cable seals that they like to put on nowadays.

Flashlight is listed already, but I recommend rechargeable batteries, and recharger that you can plug into your little inverter.

 

Just remember, the flashlight is also in the tool box that I was given. One of these days I have to go through and look at all of the goodies that are in there again.

 

You can never go wrong when you do your best to look presentable. Keep that in mind when you get out on the road. I can honestly say I've never heard a clean and presentable person complain about being a truck driver. That tells me something.

 

And again, you never know when you will have to impress the ladies. Chicks dig dudes that look like they take care of themselves.

 

I thought the same thing about dressing with polos for training. I packed almost all polos and a few button down shirts. I was the only one wearing them for some reason. Not sure why. I thought it was weird that this attire was suggested yet no one else dressed this way. I slowly changed over to wearing t-shirt sometimes at the end of training at times but don't regret bringing the polos.

I found during orientation, despite the fact that there was supposed to be some kind of interview, it never materialized. It was just filling out paperwork, some videos and training and that was it. Hired. But, I wouldn't suggest not wearing something nicer like polos or button downs. Stand out from the crowd if necessary, if anything it will help you look more professional. I agree with everyone was saying above. I'll give you an example, my mentor wears shorts and flipflops everywhere (that info. stays here with us). What impression does that give to your clients, the customer? Would you want to pay X amount of money to ship your goods with someone that doesn't take any pride in their appearance? No. How do you think they would handle your freight if they can't even dress half way decent? Dress to impress. You can never go wrong.

I'm going to pick up a Swift polo from the company store in Phoenix when I drop there this Saturday. I saw a pretty cool looking black and blue one this guy had on tonight here at this terminal. That's the one I want. They have the shirts online as well. There's a big selection and the t-shirts start at about $7.00 and go up.

I think you got the right mindset for this Shamrock, don't let anyone in your class try to convince you to do otherwise.



That locking pliers trick works for the tandems also. I have seen it in practice when the tandem release bar doesn't want to stay. Great to have.

Something about that Gojo hand cleaner...they sell a generic one at Family Dollar (for a buck of course) and it works to take out stains on clothing as well. Tried it tonight on my laundry and it seemed to help. Apply. Let it sit for 20 minutes and then machine wash. Ba Bam.

I know they give you the option to put your own tools together if you don't want to buy the $90 tools/toolbox from the parts department. I was going to price the tools myself at Harbor Freight and see if it worked out cheaper since I have a few of the tools already. Not sure if it is cheaper. Might just be easier to buy the Swift kit they offer. They will give you a list of what you need to include so it's cool they give you the option.