There's nothing wrong with Swift to start out. Many have had good experiences with them. It's tough for a rookie to break into this industry sometimes. Based on my location I had only 3 options. Make the best of it and create your own destiny. Don't listen to all the negative crap and you'll be fine.

I ran into three friends of mine this morning at the terminal. 2 of them are with the same mentor they started with and doing great like I am. The third has changed mentors twice. Does that mean Swift is a bad company just because my one friend had two bad mentors? No. Just that my one friend happened to get two bad mentors. BTW>.. not sure how it was 10 years ago but now whenever one student complains about a mentor a little check is made by their name on the mentor list, get three checks and you're no longer a mentor (and thats been told to me by 5 different mentors and driver services so its not just my idea or opinion). They are weeding out the bad ones and praising the good ones.

I've heard stories around the terminals about the horrible mentors of before and believe me they are changing that because it's just a bad enviroment for everyone (company, student, other drivers on the road).

If you decide to go to Swift and you don't get along with your mentor for whatever reason you can ALWAYS call driver services and they will get you a new mentor. If you don't like that one for some reason (and you can't sweat the small stuff like he/she has brown hair... its gotta be legit reasons like you argue, he/she stinks like a pig, he/she doesn't teach you or instruct you just sleeps while you drive) you can ask for another one. Remember its your money (if you go thru their driving school) and its not only your life but its the life of everyone in any kinda vehicle on the roads you'll be on lifes at stake... so make sure you get what you paid for and deserve.

Please keep the info coming. It's nice to hear from someone that is actually running for Swift, instead of from the "I know everything about every company" types.

If you can get on with a good flatbed or LTL company that hires rookies you can earn in excess of $1000 week.

The 1st time I drove solo for Con-Way I was earning 41.5cpm. My best weekly paycheck I grossed $1140 for 68.5 hrs in 5 days.

IIRC Flatbed Fred made more than $50k his first year with TMC.

Exactly. I don't know jack about Swift, so I don't say anything about them. What you said is true, though. Most of the whiners are the ones who don't want to work or don't know how to work and manage their time. They're the ones that don't belong in this industry to begin with. As far as others on this board bad-mouthing Swift, I'd reckon many of them are just spreading the same tales they've heard from others without any actual first-hand experience. As for myself, I hate huge companies and would never consider driving for Swift. But only because they're so enormous. If the benefits were too damned good to pass up, maybe, but I'd have a hard time coming to grips with being a number instead of a person.

Ok for 1 thing, I work for Swift. And I have been here for 10 months, so I beat your saying of the opinion after 6 months. Swift is not a bad company. They are what you make of it, I get plenty of miles and im making .34 a mile which isn't great but, it isn't horrible either.

Also you really can't compare Crete to Swift. Yeah Crete is a good company but as far as I know they don't take anyone without a CDL to train them and to get them started. And you said before you can only work for crete with a PDTI school. Well alot of schools are not, the one I attended at swift however was. So my options are open, But I have never had a problem with my DM out of columbus and I love my terminal. I want to go home im there and whatever.

Also I ran for swift 48 states for about 9 months, I just switched to a regional run that covers most of the states but does not run the upper NE which I hate to run. And I don't see alot of these other companies that offer that. Because like just about every company out here. They see you run the upper NE without complaining. Guess what you are gonna run the heck out of the upper NE. And the 100 congestion fee does not pay me enough to put up with no where to park and stuff.

I don't get alot of the people saying to stay away. Have many years exp and can go wherever you want to work.. I could not get financed to pay for schooling because of my ex. So I decided to go with swift. And I am not unhappy in doing so. I get home and I make money. Just my .02

And there's no problem with wanting to work for a smaller company or go independent.. I'm NOT tryin to say "everyone come to swift they're the best company in the world". I'm just saying that they're a good company, and they'll hire and train almost anyone so its a good place to start. Will I stay with swift for 5-10-20 years? I don't know depends on where I am in my life at that point.


I'm glad there's another Swifty on here that can vouch for what I'm saying.

BigBird01 wrote:

Congrats on lasting 10 months, I lasted for 13 months before moving on. So I am not someone who professes to everything about every company, but I do know everything about Swift from a drivers point of view. As soon as you finish with your 12th month, let me know and I will show you how to get a $10,000+ pay raise for doing exactly what you are doing now.

I don't recall who said it, but I believe they accused me of piling on the poor swift driver. That's not the intention, I am just trying to point out to him that Swift had serious pitfalls and is not a place to stay any longer than necessary.


That's for damn sure! That's like comparing a nice big RED juicy apple to a steaming pile of ?

Drive safe!

From personal Experience, I loved working for Swift as an OTR driver. I had an awsome DM, and they where good about getting my truck fixed. Now, when I went over to dedicated then it went the opposite direction.

I would go back to them if they would be able to put me back into a truck with an APU as it is for medical necessity. However, because of the conflicts that I had with a ignorant DM and problems getting my truck fixed I doubt I would go back and do dedicated.

Now that is not to say that all dedicated is bad, it depends on the terminal and who you have for a DM.

How long ago was your 13 months? I've been with them for almost 2 months and I've already seen things change since I started.

I took no offense to the comment earlier so don't sweat it. Just sayin there are alotta drivers with Swift that I've met that were company for years then went o/o with Swift. Just because you and alot of others chose to leave for whatever the reason doesn't mean Swift's a bad company.. otherwise they wouldn't have drivers that've been with them for years.