My fiance just got his CDL recently and finished up truckin school. He also went and go this Hazmat in hopes of expanding his options. My quesiton is, does anyone currently work for Swift? Or start out with them? He wants a decent company that he can get his experience with, then move on to better things. I have heard some good things about Swift, and a couple bad things. We are not looking to make a WHOLE lot with them, just for experience sake really. 4-500 a week after training is more than enough of what we need for him to first start out.

Anyone have any suggestions, or any advice on this company? You can reply to me here, or please feel free to email me ([email protected])

Thank you to anyone that can help!

 

my brother is fairly happy with them but then hes pretty much laid back and not a whole lot gets to him. he went thru their school and is under contract for 13 months but looking at staying with them for 26 months.

depending on where you are out of depends on your treatment i guess... he has a pretty great DM (driver manager) and the terminal at Pheonix is good too he says

he says it just depends on your attitude going in. if you are expecting the world right off you're gonna get dirt but if you go in with realistic expectations and keep positive you will be treated well.

BOL and keep us posted

 

I don't know a whole lot about Swift, but I know he can do a whole lot better than $4-500 a week after training with at least a handful of companies out here.

I only mention it because I see that you're from Detroit, but CFI has a terminal at I-75 and Eureka. That comes in pretty handy when it comes to home time and such. The pay here was >$600 weekly during training and went up from there.

There are good and bad about virtually every company in the world, so identifying those things and 'picking your poison' will have a huge impact on his and your level of satisfaction with a job. Whatever reasons he may have for choosing a given company, don't let anyone convince you that $500 a week is ever acceptable at any level of experience.

 

I have never worked for Swift, but I have done a lot of research on them.

Here is what I found out and/or surmised.

Swift is a very large trucking firm. The largest in the US by about 10,000 trucks.
They currently have about 18,000 trucks on the road.
They receive a lot of flack because of their size, ei., more trucks, more screwups.

The training /mentor program is the only thing I have heard consistent complaints about. And really not that many complaints if you consider that they have several hundred drivers riding with mentors at any one time.

By being so large they have tremendous resources available to drivers. On the other hand, it may be difficult to get personal attention when you need it.

There are many companies that will hire new drivers, Swift is just the largest.

CJ

 

Vito are you pretty much happy with your trucking career?
I'm kinda in your shoes feel like running away from political madness at my current job.

 

I made a very good income before, and I make a decent income now. That was the biggest transition for me. The job itself has been exactly what I expected it to be, and exactly what my life needed for these past couple years. I live alone, don't particularly like people much, and have a pretty short attention span. That seems to be a good fit.

I refrain from telling people how to live their lives, but when I see the word "fiance" in a thread like this one I sincerely hope the parties involved know what they're getting into.

 

Look at the smaller regional outfits (about 200 or 300 trucks). I have had great results over the years with these types of outfits. The treatment is usually better than the larger carriers and the pay and miles are usually better. Regional carriers like to keep their trucks moving and generally average better miles per week/month than the larger carriers while getting you home more often.

I averaged around 3000 miles a week with my last carrier for over 8 years while being home virtually every weekend, and quite often, during the week as well for at least a break. The carrier I recently started with is doing about the same for miles and the hometime is a little better since I live right on the primary freight lane.

After 2 decades of driving, I would have to be real hard up to consider one of the national carriers. There are quite a few regional carriers that will take on a new CDL driver. You just have to shop a little harder to find these guys and get your app in. The big carriers have a lot of resources and turnover so they advertise a lot and make things sound great. Some are not that bad, but a person that is willing to "beat the bushes" and track down the regional carriers will do as well and usually better.

Even with a slight downturn in the economy, there are a lot of opportunities for new drivers to make a good living and have a life as well.

 

The only thing is with him... he doesnt have a lot of choices. Most of the good small companies want experience. With him just getting out of school and he has MAYBE 100 miles at the job he is at now. They promised to get him into the Semi locally but they have yet (in 3 months) to do much about it. Its all false promises..

 

The thing about Detroit is that there are a million local or regional trucking jobs available at any given time... and two million CDL holders rotating among them.

With very little experience, you can beat the bushes and eventually find someone to hire you regionally, but for what? The same money that non-CDL delivery drivers make, more often than not. That $4,000 CDL is supposed to be worth something. In fact, many of the companies that were requiring a year of experience not long ago are now requiring two years. In the supply vs. demand world, there is an excessive supply of drivers and weak demand for their services.

If you are seriously okay with $500 a week, the foodservice and produce places are always looking. Here's one example from Careerbuilder. When I had my restaurant, the produce place in Lincoln Park had a new driver every few months. Those jobs really do suck, but they're steady work and the guys are home every night (until they go to work the next day at 3am).

 

If there is something better out there we for sure want to be able to take a look into it. He really wanted to work for NTB, but they apparently dont take people who are honest with them (long story)..

If we could find him a decent job that pays decently, then we would. I wish I could drive with him, but the bills need to be paid.