The minute you go on breakdown or send in your empty call, you should be on the clock. And no, not at $3, $4, $5 bucks per hour or whatever but AT LEAST $15.00/hr with overtime after 8/40. Then I can GUARANTEE you that you wouldn't be sitting around for very long. :D

i know how u feel rick about how do they get freight where it needs to be. i don't know how schneider does it with some of the airheads sitting up in green bay. i have high regards for the people that work in my terminal but when they go home i have to deal with green bay and they just don't know whats going on up there. much easier for the people in the terminals who only deal with 50-60 drivers than the ones in green bay that deal with them all. i went to pick up an empty once and the place was locked up so i called them and they said we will find u a new one, they sent a diff trlr number but at the same location. so i sent a message no trailers and bobtailed in to my pickup. lol

Amen to that! The one time I've broken down I watched the sun rise at Nyack of 80 in CA on the clock!

Thats the root of the problem. As long as a it costs carries little to nothing to have a driver down like this they have no incentive to stock parts or emphasize a fast turn around out of their shops.

For a widget that fails on a regular basis it should be in stock at every garage. Barring that unless you are in BFE you can get most anything for a Truck 24/7/365...it may cost a bit more but it can be had.

It smacks of beyond Dilbert levels of bad management to have a driver sitting with a faulty power unit for days on end when you have others available in the same location.

Just about everything I've heard/seen/read regarding Swift makes me belive that they have bad management that can only compete on price.

At my barn one of our line drives when through a bankruptcy while working for Swift.

breakdown
 

well as of fri the 6 i left swift with the trk sitting at greer term been sitting there since tue they did sch maintance wed late in the day while it was in the shop they found water pump leak and manafold leak so they said it would be at least till tue the 10th so they put me back in service with those problems well this was thur afternoon by now about 330 pm they sent me a ld to run 34 miles when i got there the trk temp waas about 220 they said no problem get back to term ok. fri am my dm said shop said ok to run so they wanted me to run 900 mile with 39,000 threw s and n carolina but u see had to be in court mon for xwife issure and my son so i felt could not take chance of brking dn ok the dm said hey look at it this way if u brk dn on the way to rockford ill at least your be on your way to indiana so i told them trk was in the yard find some other fool to work for u now. yes im pissed at swift. but i tried to work for them and all they did was s..t on me instead of getting me to indiana they keep trying to send me every where else. now i dont know alot about motor problems but i felt like a water pump was or could be a huge problem looks like i am going to try marten out of wi. maybe the reefer will keep me busy and for anybody going to swift they promise 25to 3000 miles i never turned dn a ld avg 1700 a week and two of my friends ran about the same u will starve on 400 a week..

you weren't with swift very long were you? Or do i just have my people confused?

your right
 

nope not with them long i tried but just no miles and made u feel like you were nobody.. alot of people that were in my class have left them or never started they already went with other co

rickstevens... So sorry to hear what you've been thru...sounds like you had a bad DM. Well, outside of Swift just being "bad" in general. You posted your phone # for me to call on another string, and I thank you. I just got off a 2 month ride-along with a new Swift driver. Granted, his DM was very good, the mileage really sucked. If it weren't for me having a little money already in the bank, we too would've starved. Understanding, too, that new drivers aren't going to get the mileage that experienced drivers are going to get first pick of. Unfortunately, for me in my state, Swift is my only option for getting my schooling paid for up front, if I want to go to school here and have my home terminal here. My question is, and seeing so many new Swift drivers are leaving, do other companies recognize this when you apply to them - will they say, well - it WAS Swift, we're willing to give you a try? It appears so many companies are willing to train new drivers with CDL's in hand. Would it be beneficial to just get the CDL thru Swift, then move on as quickly as possible getting better actual on-the-road training thru another company? Be safe everybody...

There is no prejudice shown against a former Swift driver.... Swift is considered a "training academy" as a whole.....and any driver that can tolerate their general bs and nonsense for 6 months to a year....will be a happy camper elsewhere. Plus if they were able to keep their record clean there....all the better.

Not as many companies train new drivers as it would appear.... As to getting the CDL through Swift....it would be no worse than any other company. Just understand this: If you fail to meet your contract obligation.... you will join the legions of people who got hosed down financially and credit wise.

Thats what its all about!!!, Thanks, and you too!!

agree
 

i agree with skywalker on the 6 months to a yr and i knew this going in but if no miles u have to do something heres what iv been told about miles at swift first they go to o/o then to teams then mentors and whats left are the 4 to 500 mile trips or less. i had two 900 mile trips one 1200 mile alot of 450 to 550 and quite a few 150 milers. i understand the new guy thing but they need to tell u that not u will get 2500 to 3000 i would have stayed if it was even close to 2400 but my best week was 2300 at .27c and still had a problem with trk repair issure. from a week ago last fri 3/31 in shop 26 hrs 4/4 5 and 6th in shop or sitting to get in and they still did not fix the problem well i have support to pay and the judge does not care if you brk dn. so im trying marten out of wi i just think swift x 18000 drivers plus new people not enough fri to go around just my 2 c worth

That was my thought too with Swift, just way too many employee's to keep everyone with food in their mouth. The Phoenix training ctr alone has 30 or so people going thru their training every single week. Most do not make it for one reason or another, but just the same, it's like hearding cattle thru... and employee's are treated like cattle. I also hear that Swift has a 93%+/- turnover rate. That's just hearsay, tho. Right now, I just want my CDL and some training. I have confidence that I will be a good driver, and will cross the bridge to whether leaving right away is an option, or staying. Something tells me that maybe other companies would understand why a driver would leave Swift sooner than they should have. We'll see. Good luck, rickstephens... and please keep us up to date as how Marten goes, or how your search for a new company, as a new driver, goes....