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T * Storm · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:09 pm Post subject: One question I forgot to ask

As stated on one of my other posts, I am going to go on a cross country Motorcycle trip.

My question is, after I do my 12 months, how do you think Swift would react to my request for a 1 month leave of absence with no pay, with my intention of going back to them after my trip was over?

I don't think it would be wise for me to ask them at orientation as they may wonder why I am thinking of taking time off before I even get started. I've been planning on doing this for a while, and my OTR experience is sort of a "Safe and dry" run for me.

street_95 · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:22 pm Post subject:

So you think you will stay with swift after your 12 months?......seeing that most leave after that time for better opportunities you could quit swift and tell the new company you will be ready in a month :D
Now of course if you are happy and stay, i suspect that they wouldn't like you needing that much time off.....but who knows what swift thinks :lol:

T * Storm · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:40 pm Post subject:

street_95 wrote: Now of course if you are happy and stay, i suspect that they wouldn't like you needing that much time off.....but who knows what swift thinks :lol:

I would tell them DON"T PAY ME, it's an UNPAID leave of absence. Think that would make a difference?

street_95 · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:49 pm Post subject:

T * Storm wrote: street_95 wrote: Now of course if you are happy and stay, i suspect that they wouldn't like you needing that much time off.....but who knows what swift thinks :lol:

I would tell them DON"T PAY ME, it's an UNPAID leave of absence. Think that would make a difference?

i can't assume what there leave of absence policy is, you should speak with swift about that, you may have to come up with some b/s reason and not cause you want time off for a 2 wheeler trip across america

T * Storm · Posted: Tue Sep 12, 2006 8:56 pm Post subject:

street_95 wrote: T * Storm wrote: street_95 wrote: Now of course if you are happy and stay, i suspect that they wouldn't like you needing that much time off.....but who knows what swift thinks :lol:

I would tell them DON"T PAY ME, it's an UNPAID leave of absence. Think that would make a difference?

i can't assume what there leave of absence policy is, you should speak with swift about that, you may have to come up with some b/s reason and not cause you want time off for a 2 wheeler trip across america

Well, as you said, I can always look for another trucking company to work for if they don't like it. Give them a BS reason other than the truth? Nah, what for? I don't need to work (for them at least) that bad.

rubberducky · Joined: 09 Jun 2005 Posts: 212

I have worked for 3 different companies. 2 otr and 1 local. None of them ever had a problem with me taking extended time off. You will have to give your truck up though they don't like to let them sit. So if your in a real nice truck by the time you want to take your trip they expect to lose it and possibly end up in a million mile wonder.

golfhobo · Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 2:51 pm Post subject:

Like others said: You may not even BE with Swift a year from now, so why are you worried about it? Trucking is a very FLUID lifestyle. But, you should NEVER have a problem getting another job if you need it.

That said, I don't think they will object. But... you probably WILL lose your assigned truck, and MAY have to take an older one when you come back. Is it worth it? Probably so.

I wouldn't mention a word about it until the time comes. By then YOU will know what to expect, and more so than any of US!

One good thing to remember when getting into trucking is that.... they don't OWN you! YOU have the skill that THEY need. Be your OWN Man/Woman!

Sheepdancer · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 1353

Worse case scenario.....they dont let you, you quit....and then a month later they are begging you to come back. The only thing wrong with that situation is you would lose your vacation time.

Ok here is what you do.....drive for a year, take your week vacation...."accidently" dont come back from your vacation for another 3 weeks. And then let them hire you back. Should work...lol

golfhobo · Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 3:37 pm Post subject:

Sheepdancer wrote: Worse case scenario.....they dont let you, you quit....and then a month later they are begging you to come back. The only thing wrong with that situation is you would lose your vacation time.

Ok here is what you do.....drive for a year, take your week vacation...."accidently" dont come back from your vacation for another 3 weeks. And then let them hire you back. Should work...lol

LISTEN to this guy! He is a recruiter, I think. He KNOWS how these companies treat / hire / pay their drivers. His advice about TAKING your vacation week, with pay, or at least staying for one year to EARN that week's PAY before 'deciding' to make a strategic life enhancement move, is brilliant... and would earn MANY of us an extra $500 - 900!

Besides.... if we ALL would give our first FULL year to whatever fate we 'chose' out of school, the turnover rate would become more reasonable, MANY drivers would settle their issues without UNsettling their lives so often, and the companies would be able to "ease up" a little and PLAN on a certain level of "driver resources."

AND..... If we ALL earned a week's vacation this year.... and agreed to ALL take the SAME week.... well... there's your "trucker strike!" Shut the economy down for one week.... write our own ticket after THAT!

Yeah... I know! Sooner see PIGS fly!! :lol:

Sheepdancer · Joined: 31 Jan 2006 Posts: 1353

I just told him that because I wasnt sure how Swift works leave time. I do know with the driver shortage, getting rehired by most companies is pretty easy if you leave. I have many many drivers Ive hired more than one time for various reasons. Honestly i was just sort of playing with the guy. Kind of an inside recruiter joke....meaning if he leaves and comes back, recruiters get paid twice....lol
Not that what i said wouldnt work....it probably would. But quiting like that does have some risk....He could make his fleet manager angry and end up with something bad on his DAC, Dont know if what i have heard is true, but some of the drivers I have talked to have said Swift is bad about putting things on DAC. I think he should ask for leave first and then look at other options.

golfhobo · Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 4:44 pm Post subject:

Okay, Sheep! I get you. Maybe, I went a little over the top in praise of you, but it was all in fun! I didn't "blow your cover" did I??? :shock: 8)

Your insight is STILL something these people need to hear! I have a friend of my Dad's who is a terminal manager. He says, "We USED to be able to control our drivers. NOW we are so short, we have to put up with all kinds of B/S."

MY company has MANY drivers who left, on good terms, at some time to pursue better paying "offers." ALL returned with no bad feelings and have been with the company for YEARS since! I guess they are doing something right! (not sure yet what it is!)

MY point is... that IF you stay with your FIRST company for one year, you will have proved yourself to THEM, and you will KNOW what that is WORTH to them. By now... you will ALSO have "options."

If your record with them is clean, and you choose to leave AFTER 1 year, MOST companies will NOT put anything bad on your DAC.

But, if you get into this business, especially at someone ELSE'S expense, and want to "job hop" 3 times in your first year... you could be hurting your FUTURE more than you know.

Hobo

Longsnowsm · Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 561

Not that I am trying to plug Sheepdancer's company, but I ran into a JB Hunt driver a few years ago. I was on a cross country motorcycle tour on a Harley I owned at the time. The JB Hunt driver thought it was a a Deuce(a specific HD model that he wanted to see). So he came over and introduced himself and we talked about the bike. He told me he drove for JB Hunt and had been with them for 18 years(this was 3 years ago). He says he is an avid motorcyclist, and that he drives nonstop for 9 months and takes 3 months off out of his banked time off.

He was pretty happy with the company, and liked that they would let him work his schedule that way. So he spends that 3 months riding motorcycles with his son and his neighbor(I guess he wasn't married). So you might ask if Swift would let you do something like that and bank your time off and use it all at a shot. That JB Hunt driver said he would lose his truck when he took that much time off, but it was just the price he had to pay to have that kind of time off. Something for you to think about. BOL

Longsnowsm

T * Storm · Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2006 11:09 pm Post subject:

golfhobo wrote: Like others said: You may not even BE with Swift a year from now, so why are you worried about it? Trucking is a very FLUID lifestyle. But, you should NEVER have a problem getting another job if you need it.

That said, I don't think they will object. But... you probably WILL lose your assigned truck, and MAY have to take an older one when you come back. Is it worth it? Probably so.

I wouldn't mention a word about it until the time comes. By then YOU will know what to expect, and more so than any of US!

One good thing to remember when getting into trucking is that.... they don't OWN you! YOU have the skill that THEY need. Be your OWN Man/Woman!

I was reading the "whom do you work for?' thread and not once did I see the right answer. Bottom line is you work for yourself and by extension those you love. Any other answer than that is 100% incorrect. Matter of fact I just had that recent discussion at my present job with a retired gentleman that does PT for Enterprise Rent A Car. (He had chosen a career with the federal government that lasted 45 years.) ...anyway, last Friday, the regional manager comes in and my co - worker told me - there goes our boss. I told him BS, I don't work for anyone but me and my family. He insisted She was my boss. I asked him if the regional had a gun against my head. He said no. I asked him if the regional owned me, he said no. I asked him if I was free to leave any time I wanted to, he said yes. Then I asked him who I was working for me or the regional manager. He understood my point as I'm sure you do with your statement

One good thing to remember when getting into trucking is that.... they don't OWN you! YOU have the skill that THEY need. Be your OWN Man/Woman

We do have a choice and we do, bottom line, work for ourselves. If more people realized that they work for themselves, its just the person that pays you for your service may change, and that the work that you do, no matter who's paying for your services right now, and that the level of service you provide is a direct reflection on who you are, the quality of work would sky rocket.

I really like your mind set. That's why I wouldn't bother to make up a BS excuse, but sometimes timing and temperance, along with diplomacy makes all the difference in getting what one wants out of life. If you don't like something, change it. It's really that simple.

AMEN GOLFHOBO !!! PREACH IT LIKE IT IS.

golfhobo · Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:08 am Post subject:

My Timing is usually "way off!" Temperance comes to me about as easily as a shy dog! Diplomacy is my forte, but I have to WORK at it [as I suggest that BUSH should do!]

I DO "preach it like it is!" [keeping diplomacy in mind, but not subject to it!]

I like your "mindset" too. You explained that much better than I could!

Hobo

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