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Originally Posted by satch
swift did ok by me .
if you chose to stay in a comfort zone ( a certain region ) you will always have problems . if you go where the customer wants their freight to be sent you wil have plenty of miles.
a lot of drivers think they can go where they want. and then get a attitude if they have to run the north east.
most of the u.s. population lives in the north east or the west coast so that is were the freight is going to go.
as far as being treated like a number, thats fine by me i don"t want to get personel with my company and it keeps them off my back if i want to drive my own route instead of their route .
on fueling if you go to a unauthorized fuel stop just get the fuel code and send a message. they will always approve 75 - 100 gallons. depending on who is on the recieving end of the message it might take 30 min. to an hour or 15 min.
as far as the lying my d.m. lies from time to time. but the people in corprate do not. and the pay roll dept. is honest any problems with pay can be taken care of .
the equipment is not the best you always need to carry a hammer and a can of wd40 for the trailer tandems . i would rather have a freightliner then a volvo. more room in the berth and a little longer wheelbase gives a better ride. but those volvos are nice and quiet.
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ya well let's go over that...
I was a flatbed driver for swift, there is no comfort zones for flats. I was constantly running to Larado and getting stuck fixing their crap for days tires etc. then waiting for loads and dealing with all the liars down there. They put on your front screen where you live and tell all the CSR's not to send you anywhere near that area!
As far as being treated like a number, I and a lot of other people newer to the trucking industry would like to call up their dispatcher and say hi this is so and so and they actually know who you are! they know where you live they know what you like to to when your sitting. My DM calls me up when I am sitting and says Hey I got a load for you pack up the fishing pole or keep fishing for a little while you have time! it just nicer!
I found my DM lieing all the time cuz he has no idea who i am and neither does he care!
My DM now takes me out to lunch when I am at the terminal and wants to hear how things are and see my latest catches!
swift equipment is crap. I got a 2007 KW T-600 with 30K miles on it and a Studio sleeper. Now it has 300K and Ya it's had some problems but all trucks do. I go to the Petro or TA and get it fixed! it's under warranty. My fuel card is always on so i can get fuel where ever I need!
Bottom line is some companies treat you like an adult. Swift does not, they can't tell you the truth. They really make you feel like they could give two S%&TS weather you work there or not, because they have a hundred more kids to fill the seats the week after you leave!
They lie about the school and make you pay 4K for a school that they get reimbursed from the govt for. Or they write it off, so they get 8K for training you to drive a truck, they pay next to nothing while your on the training truck and they get a super cheap TEAM operation for 6 weeks. Then the screw you around trying to keep you on the training truck for an extra week or two.
They do every attempt to get you to training far away from home so you have to buy all your meals and spend all that time in some crap hotel at 4 ppl to a room! Then when you finish after 4 weeks your broke and taking money out on your comdata card putting yourself in the hole! I lived in PHX so I didn't have to deal with it, but I bought a cool guy I was in school with lunch a couple times because he was so broke!
and the pay .27 per mile and $23 for a tarp! haha I went to my company and started at .35 per mile and $40 for a tarp, not even 2 years later I'm making .41 per mile! and still averaging 2400 miles per week!
Swift is a BS company and I had an interesting conversation with the, NEW at the time, person in Charge of flats in PHX. when I left. I have never looked back. This company is the biggest joke ever!
