[newbietrucker91]

i was hoping to get some information from some new people working for swift. i am currently in school working to get my cdl i have two weeks to go and i got a pre-hire with swift, i was wondering what orientation is all about, how was your trainer and how many weeks did you have to train. they told me 200-300hrs but how long does that take? any other information is more than appreciated.
Thank you

[golfhobo]

Swift will give anyone a "pre-hire." Why aren't you considering OTHER companies? Do some research. Can you drive? Are you worth MORE than the average bear? If so... look elsewhere.

[Iron_Weasel]

It's been several years....around 7 or 8 since I was employed with Swift, so the details might not be exact but from what I remember it went something like this:

Orientation is usually a full day (7 - 8) hours of indoctrination in which they show you around the terminal, give you a little welcome box that has stuff like keychain, notepad, and some other random junk. You'll fill out your personal information on what seems like a million forms (medical, dental, vision, 401k, etc.). You'll watch several videos once of which wants you to believe that the little kid in his pretend classroom has the best daddy because you are a truck driver and you make the world go round! At some point, they may drug test you on-site or take you to a clinic to do your whiz quiz. Back at the terminal they'll introduce you to your DM (driver manager) and tell you how awesome everyone who works for them is. It's basically the same BS you heard from your recruiter but twice as deep.

If you're coming in as a totally new driver, then you'll probably spend 6 weeks out with a trainer. The trainers at Swift are in their own little division so they get a little slack on deadlines and other stuff when they have a student. I live near and was based out of the terminal in Albuquerque, NM while my trainer lived in Roswell, NM - about 3 hours away. On the day I was due to head out with my trainer, he called about 2 hours ahead to let me know it was time to get my stuff together, say goodbye to my family and all that other good stuff. We arranged to meet at a local Wal-Mart where he showed up in a almost brand new 2006 Freightliner Cascadia. I'm a big boy...but saying goodbye to my wife and 2 small kids (they were 4 & 6 at the time) before I got in that truck made me bawl like a baby.

I had asked Swift to place me on the "SW Region Comfort Zone" (which you'll probably hear about during orientation) but I ended up in every state between California and Georgia and up into Ohio. A far cry from the "comfort zone" of AZ, NM, TX, CO, & UT that I had been promised. They also informed me that I would be home for Christmas since that was one of the major stipulations I had placed when I decided to go work for them. They told me several times over the Qualcomm that I would be home for a couple days around Christmas.....I spent Christmas Eve in the parking lot of the Harrah's Casino in Shreveport, LA. I asked about maybe getting home a week later for New Years, they assured me I would. Spent New Years Eve in the parking lot of the Eureka Casino in Mesquite, NV. My trainer loved casino buffets...so we stopped at a lot of casinos during my tenure with him.Overall, my trainer was a nice person and he showed me a lot about life on the road, driving in adverse conditions, and where the best places to stop were. He also had me listen to an almost endless supply of "Training on CD" that was provided by the company and was specifically tailored to the trainer / trainee program. Each section had a quiz at the end and the trainer asked the questions and marked your answers down on a paper that was dropped in the mail and sent back to your home terminal.

During the time you're with a trainer, you are paid something ridiculous like 23 cents per mile. That seems like a lot, but even if you round it up to 25 cents per mile, if you average 2000 miles in a week, that's only $500 / week gross pay, not net. You have to pay for your own meals, drinks, shower supplies, etc. Swift will reimburse things like scale receipts, toll receipts, and anything directly related to the truck, but it can take weeks to get that money back. During my time with the trainer, I ended up with a net pay of around $300 each week after taxes and other deductions. Sounds like it's easy to live off that....but I sent $200 back home each week to the family which they barely lived off of and I had to scrape by with $100. Factor in paying for showers, paying for laundry facilities, paying for food in truck stops and so on and you see how quick you can burn up $100. That's the main reason my trainer liked casino buffets so much - you can take "All you can eat" to an extreme. We would stuff ourselves for dinner and then hit up the buffet again with big take-home boxes that we stuff full of food that acted as our breakfast and lunch the following day.

I spent about 2 months with Swift outside of the training program and it was easily the worst experience of my life. I got lucky and landed a job with Pepsi that was local (delivering Pepsi products to stores and what not) where I stayed for almost a year to get some driving experience under my proverbial belt. After that, I went with another local company doing heavy haul for their construction equipment - when the economy took a dive, construction related jobs took a hit as well. I was one of about 25 people laid off from that company. Found a new job after that working for a rental company (think United or Ahern, but not as big) and I've been there over 3 years. The physical work is harder than my time with Swift, but the pay is much better, I get paid holidays and generous paid time off, plus I'm home every night.

[Useless]

Sure
Wish
I'd
Finished
Training!!

[Useless]

Originally Posted by golfhobo

Swift will give anyone a "pre-hire." Why aren't you considering OTHER companies? Do some research. Can you drive? Are you worth MORE than the average bear? If so... look elsewhere.

Hi, newbietrucker91;

Welcome to CAD. GolfHobo makes valid points, and IronWeasel's posting is an excellent read.

Swift drivers take a lot of razzing, but the truth is that everybody has to start somewhere, and that first year is going to be difficult no matter where you go. Having said that, Golf is spot on in recommending that you explore other options.

You could do worse than SWIFT, but with some research, you could quite likely do better. In the trucking industry, (with almost any carrier) a "pre-hire" is simply an offer from a carrier to bring you to their terminal and to take a closer look at you. It comes with no guarantees of extended employment.

I've been out of the industry for some time, now, but based upon everything I've read and heard, SWIFT'S reputation in the industry has never been very good, nor has it gotten any better. One problem that plagued them a decade ago, and still plagues them now, is that many of their (so-called) "trainers" are themselves relatively inexperienced drivers. In the world of trucking, there's a vast difference between being an accomplished driver and a capable trainer, as opposed to being a a steering wheel holder. Because of SWIFT's record as a bottom feeder of the McMega carriers, few accomplished drivers remain at SWIFT for any appreciable amount of time.

Are there exceptions?? Yes. I've met a few SWIFT drivers who had been with them for several years. Given the fact that a SWIFT driver with five years' tenure was making less than I was after my first year of driving, I don't know why they stayed with them, but that's their business. Still, you should explore other options before committing to them.

As an aside, steer clear of CR England and PRIME. Both companies are beggars' crossroads; they lead to trouble in every direction. Also, avoid any company that tries to push a Lease Operator/Lease Purchase program on you. (C.R. England and Prime are both notorious for shoving those programs down their driver's throats.) Those programs favor the carriers; not the drivers.

BOL2U!!

[repete]

I've never worked for Swift but from Iron weasle's description it sounds a lot like most companies, small differences. The student should NEVER have to PAY for a shower, other than that it comes down to pay bennys and stuff like that. With all that said unless your below 'par' (like that Hobo?) you can do better, keep looking!

[Useless]

Originally Posted by repete

The student should NEVER have to PAY for a shower.......

Repete:

As I indicated earlier, I've been out of the business for some time now, and I realize that much has changed. Now, I must ask you:
Since WHEN did drivers start showering on a regular basis??

[Iron_Weasel]

Swift is an average starter company.

"Starter" companies are those that will take new drivers straight out of school. Werner, Knight, Us Xpress, Schneider, CR England, Covenant (if you aren't a devout Christian, stay away from Covenant), & USA Truck are some of the other starter companies. You'll find some common threads with all starter companies. Low pay, older more beat up equipment, less amenities in the truck (no APU's, fridges, etc.), other drivers look down on you, etc. Hang around a truck stop and you'll hear derogatory things about all those companies. The acronyms are funny the first couple times, but after a while they wear off. Things like this: What's Swift stand for? Sure Wish I'd Finished Training, Slow Wagon In Fast Traffic, Stop Whining I'm Fuc*ing Trying, See What I Flattened Today. My favorite about Werner was always We Employ Rednecks; No Experience Required.

As the saying goes, though, you gotta pay your dues and get some experience under your belt. I talked with some guys, like my trainer, that had been with Swift for years and loved it, while other guys despised every last second of the day with them.

Personally, I found out real quick that I wasn't cut out to be an OTR driver. I'm not too proud to admit that, because not everyone is cut from the same cloth. However, I did get enough experience with Swift that it allowed me to move on to Pepsi and after that, I had about a year and a half of driving experience but I also had my T & X endorsements. T is for Double / Triple Trailers and X is the Combination of Hazmat (H) and Tank (N), so I hired on with the local construction company at $16 / hr plus benefits. All I had to do for that job was show up at 7:30am, refuel and grease their equipment on the job sites and then go home. No nights, no weekends, no holidays, no sitting in truck stops for 3 days waiting on dispatch to get me a load. After I got laid off, I spent some time with the family and what not and hired on with the rental company at a comfortable wage. I do have to rotate an on-call schedule with the other drivers, but we get an extra $100 for that, even if we don't get a phone call. If we do get a call, we get a minimum of another $60 on top of the $100. Now, I'm in a position where I've got 6 years under me, some with dry vans & reefers, some with hazmat and tankers, and a lot with flatbeds and heavy haul that requires strapping and chaining every load.

I was looking at maybe going with a different employer since my current job requires a fair amount of physical labor and I spent the entire month of July out on disability leave due to a back injury and I talked with some local companies that were running new or less than year old tractors and less than 5 year old trailers. Couple of them paid close to $20 / hr and the ones that paid by the mile ran just in the state of NM, but still paid in the 50 to 55 cents per mile range. Almost double what every starter company pays you and every company I talked to didn't do any nights or weekends which is one of my big things.

Anyway, the point to my novel is that you're a new and inexperienced driver, so your options are somewhat limited. You'll typically get better pay and benefits as you gain experience, so you have to start somewhere. The major experience milestones that allow you to move up to better companies usually occur at 6 months, 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and 5 years, so I would recommend that if you do decide to go with Swift, you stay with them for at least 6 months. I got extremely lucky when I was hired at Pepsi since I had only been with Swift for a couple months.

[repete]

Originally Posted by Useless

Repete:

As I indicated earlier, I've been out of the business for some time now, and I realize that much has changed. Now, I must ask you:
Since WHEN did drivers start showering on a regular basis??

That's a very good question, but considering I have a dedicated route and am home dayly I'm not considered a 'real trucker' so am not qualified to answer!

How's that for a dodge?

[Useless]

Originally Posted by repete

That's a very good question, but considering I have a dedicated route and am home dayly I'm not considered a 'real trucker' so am not qualified to answer!

How's that for a dodge?

SCORE!!