Stay or SWIFTly move on?

[jburd]

I just graduated from Swift's driving academy last week.
No problems and they weren't the as bad as I have heard.
I did pretty good on all the test including the raod/driving test at DPS.

Now that I have my class A CDL and DOT card should I do my time or seek employment with another company like Werner,FFE and others that take rookies with schooling?

With the downturn in the economy all the weirdos are coming out of the woodwork.
At least 50% of the applicants showing up at the school were kicked for wahtever reason.

If you have a suggestion please say so.

[bentstrider]

Get your two years in and then move on, make sure no accidents or anything like that happens.

Some of us have learned the hard way and have to deal with the consequences, skip all that and you'll be just fine.

[Skywalker]

Get your two years in and then move on, make sure no accidents or anything like that happens.

Some of us have learned the hard way and have to deal with the consequences, skip all that and you'll be just fine.

Good advice.

Swift is no worse probably than most, and probably better than many.

I'll admit it....years ago I drove for them, and did well. The experience with them paved the way for better jobs later. Stay safe, do it right...establish a good service record, and especially establish a good safety record....

You could do worse.....

[Matcron33]

stick with swift for a while! and yes a bad economy is bringing all the fruit cakes out of the wood work. and most of them were most likely kicked out for drinking or drug related problems. or they were unable to hold a job outside of the trucking industry. so that means they won't be able to keep a job inside the trucking industry. so why should swift or anybody else for that matter take them siriously about a job. and yes there is alot worse companies out there then swift you could work for. ower oporators are worse in alot of ways. they come in and out of the industry. and most companies now. don't consider them to be a real work experience job.. because of how hard it is to get a verification from them. you can take that advice from me. that is what i am going through now. it has ruined my career. first owner oporator I work for 5 years striat. and then resigned with notice to find a better job that had something more to offer. and now 3 years later. after the company i worked for laid me and about every driver off. went under. so I went to work for my idiot brother needing a paying job. he leased to a company that after we signed the lease. the owner told us he was getting a divorce. so now 6 months later he is out of business. I am out of work. and no one will hire me. because fly by night owner oporater 1 in worked for died. and the second owner oporater i worked for. won't give me a refference. because he tells every one he is just temporarily closed and is reopening soon after his divorce is over. oh, and s.r.t screwed me completely over. They said i was hired and all the paper work was complete. all I needed to do is show up to orentation and sign off on every thing and get the truck. I paid my own way. that was last spring when gas was $4. a gallon. it cost me about $500 dollars in travel expenses to go to s.r.t.'s orentation just to find out they had none of the paper work what so ever done. and the 2 day into the orentation they said they couldn't hire me. so I lost $500 dollars of my own money round trip. plus They stamped on my dac that I quit during orentation. and about a week later I get a bill from them 4 there $85. dollars in expenses. the worst part is. they part me in a hotel room with a 6'7'' gay black guy. I slept in the car in the hotel parking lot with the doors locked. so my advice. make them hire you and have all the paper work done prior to any traveling any where. no matter who pays the way there and back... if they won't fax you any paper work to fill out at home. then don't go... don't make my mistakes...

if you do ever!and this goes out to anyone at all who reads this! go to work for an owner oporater. copy all the permits in the permit book take photograph of you and the truck with the d.o.t. and icc/mc numbers. and the vin numbers on the side of the truck. plus keep all log sheets that has that owner oporaters name and company adress on it.. it will be what helps you in the end. on getting a better job. and if at all possible. get a copy of every drug test results when they come back in. this will save you from ending up like me. 8 years of experience and no proof for 3/4's of it.. it's no fun putting your life into a career. just to find out that your hard work for small nothing people or companies is what ended it. it's no fun working for minimum wage in a job you hate and did go to school for.

[Syncrosonix]

you had better stick with them until that student loan is all paid off. if you leave, you'll be stuck with an even bigger problem, and added interest on top of it.

i drove for swift for 2 year and 3 weeks. i quit voluntarily due to the lack of freight, rising otr costs, and wanted/planned on returning to school in the fall. it's not going to happen. i tried for 2 months to find LOCAL employment. had several interviews around the area since i'm also forklift certified. the final question during them was, "are you fluent in spanish?" it's obvious that i do not. so, as a last resort, i've gone back to over-the-road, and i now drive for knight.

[bentstrider]

stick with swift for a while! and yes a bad economy is bringing all the fruit cakes out of the wood work. and most of them were most likely kicked out for drinking or drug related problems. or they were unable to hold a job outside of the trucking industry. so that means they won't be able to keep a job inside the trucking industry. so why should swift or anybody else for that matter take them siriously about a job. and yes there is alot worse companies out there then swift you could work for. ower oporators are worse in alot of ways. they come in and out of the industry. and most companies now. don't consider them to be a real work experience job.. because of how hard it is to get a verification from them. you can take that advice from me. that is what i am going through now. it has ruined my career. first owner oporator I work for 5 years striat. and then resigned with notice to find a better job that had something more to offer. and now 3 years later. after the company i worked for laid me and about every driver off. went under. so I went to work for my idiot brother needing a paying job. he leased to a company that after we signed the lease. the owner told us he was getting a divorce. so now 6 months later he is out of business. I am out of work. and no one will hire me. because fly by night owner oporater 1 in worked for died. and the second owner oporater i worked for. won't give me a refference. because he tells every one he is just temporarily closed and is reopening soon after his divorce is over. oh, and s.r.t screwed me completely over. They said i was hired and all the paper work was complete. all I needed to do is show up to orentation and sign off on every thing and get the truck. I paid my own way. that was last spring when gas was $4. a gallon. it cost me about $500 dollars in travel expenses to go to s.r.t.'s orentation just to find out they had none of the paper work what so ever done. and the 2 day into the orentation they said they couldn't hire me. so I lost $500 dollars of my own money round trip. plus They stamped on my dac that I quit during orentation. and about a week later I get a bill from them 4 there $85. dollars in expenses. the worst part is. they part me in a hotel room with a 6'7'' gay black guy. I slept in the car in the hotel parking lot with the doors locked. so my advice. make them hire you and have all the paper work done prior to any traveling any where. no matter who pays the way there and back... if they won't fax you any paper work to fill out at home. then don't go... don't make my mistakes...

if you do ever!and this goes out to anyone at all who reads this! go to work for an owner oporater. copy all the permits in the permit book take photograph of you and the truck with the d.o.t. and icc/mc numbers. and the vin numbers on the side of the truck. plus keep all log sheets that has that owner oporaters name and company adress on it.. it will be what helps you in the end. on getting a better job. and if at all possible. get a copy of every drug test results when they come back in. this will save you from ending up like me. 8 years of experience and no proof for 3/4's of it.. it's no fun putting your life into a career. just to find out that your hard work for small nothing people or companies is what ended it. it's no fun working for minimum wage in a job you hate and did go to school for.

Sounds like the job I was using to gain post-accident experience with for about 7 months last year.
I've still got contacts and whatnot, but after that lousy experience, a "coolie-carrier" is much more preferable over some smaller outfit.

[jburd]

Thanks for all the positive replies!

[jonp]

I'm curious as to why you would want to quit a company before you have even driven a few months with them?

[Blacksheep]

I'm curious as to why you would want to quit a company before you have even driven a few months with them?

I'd say off the top of me noggin, it's all the bad press/pub that swifty gets.

[Voyager]

you had better stick with them until that student loan is all paid off. if you leave, you'll be stuck with an even bigger problem, and added interest on top of it.

i drove for swift for 2 year and 3 weeks. i quit voluntarily due to the lack of freight, rising otr costs, and wanted/planned on returning to school in the fall. it's not going to happen. i tried for 2 months to find LOCAL employment. had several interviews around the area since i'm also forklift certified. the final question during them was, "are you fluent in spanish?" it's obvious that i do not. so, as a last resort, i've gone back to over-the-road, and i now drive for knight.

It's sad that in the USA, where English is the "supposed" official language, one could be turned down for not being able to speak Spanish, but I lived in Phoenix for 5 years so I know it happens. Have you tried getting on with Heritage Trucking? I see that they run a fairly regular ad on Career Builder. I drive a tri-axle dump here in Pennsylvania, but if I were to move back out there, they would be the first place I applied.

[bentstrider]

It's sad that in the USA, where English is the "supposed" official language, one could be turned down for not being able to speak Spanish, but I lived in Phoenix for 5 years so I know it happens.

As far as learning Spanish, I'm afraid it would probably only serve to get me behind bars.
If a group of them are speaking it behind my back, I'd much rather remain ignorant to what they're really saying.
This was quite common when I drove the ports and railyards in the LA area.

[jburd]

[QUOTE=jonp;452277][COLOR="Blue"]I'm curious as to why you would want to quit a company before you have even driven a few months with them?[/[/COLORQUOTE]

It's the 2 week wait beyond what I was told by my recruiter orignally and unemploymernt not paying me because I was in school and refused to quit to take a minimum wage job if I was offered one.
The double "bend over and smile" treatment had me PO'd when I posted the question.
But I'll stay with Swift,pay off my loan and pay my dues,then if I want to venture out I'll be free to do so without any major repercussions.

[Matcron33]

Ispoke to a swift recruiter tuesday. and he told me that swift is slowly starting to hire again. but they are starting to make people run teams. that is what he was telling me. so I replied to him by saying I would rather start with a student that doesn't know anything. over another experienced driver that doesn't care about safety.. for me a student we be easier to work with and teach. then hoping I get put with a good experienced driver.

[bigtruckman]

I just graduated from Swift's driving academy last week.

swift hiring again.... did they ever get their school in tenn. back up and running? or are they still selling license under the table

[Syncrosonix]

It's sad that in the USA, where English is the "supposed" official language, one could be turned down for not being able to speak Spanish, but I lived in Phoenix for 5 years so I know it happens. Have you tried getting on with Heritage Trucking? I see that they run a fairly regular ad on Career Builder. I drive a tri-axle dump here in Pennsylvania, but if I were to move back out there, they would be the first place I applied.

the spanish thing is pretty damn stupid. it's the mexicans who NEED to assimilate. they're no more special than anybody else. too bad politicians seem to think so. i keep hoping that they'll deport themselves due to a lack of work. it's not really working all that fast.

i didn't try heritage.

[FunkRider]

Like others have said, stick with them and just do your thing. No one will be impressed with the fact you did the swift training program and then left.

the spanish thing is pretty damn stupid. it's the mexicans who NEED to assimilate. they're no more special than anybody else. too bad politicians seem to think so. i keep hoping that they'll deport themselves due to a lack of work. it's not really working all that fast.

i didn't try heritage.

Last I herd Americans were jumping the border to find work...lol I lost my last job driving non CDL 5ton straight truck because they brought in a couple of Mexican guys. They came up from Florida and were working for $9/h (which is min wage here). They just stopped calling me and others in for work. They called me about after about 3 weeks of not working for a 4 hour shift. I asked them why I should bother.

[jburd]

swift hiring again.... did they ever get their school in tenn. back up and running? or are they still selling license under the table

I don't know...why don't YOU call them.They have a toll free line ya know?

[Ford390pwr]

I don't know...why don't YOU call them.They have a toll free line ya know?

Talked to a Swift recruiter today and he said that they are hiring inexperienced students, but they are not starting school till the middle of July.

[zenith22]

I drove for Swift for about 7 months...did my training through their school, and had a terrible Mentor at first..problem was he was single, and I am married, so whenever it came time for us to take a 34 at home (both from same city) he didn't want to..needless to say it didn't last, and I got a new mentor..he was married too, and lived about 50 miles away..and he was an awesome mentor...after I became a solo driver, I had some good runs, mainly southwest, and got through the house every 14 or 15 days out for roughly 1 1/2 days or 2 days...Swift was good to me, but had to give it up for family reasons. My DM begged me to stay, offering me daily runs, dedicated account, but I turned them down...I have to admit, I miss it at times, especially when I see a Swift truck, or any truck that's rolling on the interstate, and I think to myself that used to be me. Now I am in a 8 to 5 desk job, listening to people gossip, and pushing paperwork. Swift was good to me, and if you talk to alot of drivers, most of them (not all lol) would agree.

[jburd]

Z,

Last year while working at Dr. Pepper on a building addition next to one of the docks,I talked to every Swift driver that came in.All had good things to say.In San Antonio I taked to others who have been with them for years so I guess they're not as bad as others would have some believe.
If things go right and they reinstate the 401k maybe I could stick it and retire with them.I only have 10 years or so to go.