I wish you luck in this new endeavor, i too will also be an O/O,but that wont be until next year. My plan is to try and get a small business loan, buy a used truck, 3yrs old around 300000 miles on it,pay it off in the first year, after the first year,its money in the bank. The first year will be with Swift,gaging them on how they treat there O/O,if its not up too my goals,then i'll go somewhere else that can offer me,what i need. Right now im saving as much as i can,so i can put a hefty downpayment,i also have my dad,that was a car salesman,now he is a morgage broker,to help with talking them down on the price.

Last week sucked nuts on miles,got stuck on a shitty run over the weekend,door came off the trailer after i delivered on monday,had to wait all day for them to fix it....so monday was wasted,still idid make 400 take home pay,right now im stuck in OK,waiting on a PP,prob wont get one until tomorrow,so looks like another short week on miles.

Hope you aren't talking about all the swift drivers in this post. Just be careful when you group us all together. Many ppl have stepped out of swift and wish they could come back. Not your newbies or unskilled drivers, but ppl that let the preasure other drivers out side of swift put them under. All companies have thier bad points, the big one with swift is that they give the new person a chance to learn. I'm not trying to start a swift war just realize we have plenty of 20+ year veterans that were sucessful at thier other driving jobs but the new person is going to make thier mistakes.

Yeah, that was what I was thinking too. But being sick and unable to work for a few months this fall killed that one. I'm looking down the road to buying the unit that I will lease. By then, the credit will be well under control and covering the buy-out should be pretty easy.

A sub-300k mile tractor now will then be a 550k mile unit at the end of the lease. Sure, I'll throw some money at the truck by then, but that is to be expected. Hopefully, I'll get warantee work done ahead of the cut-off.

Cool!

Keep practicing making your bed. Then tarping won't seem so bad. Get into the flatbed division, and you will never see this scenario again.... :lol:

Hey GeeShock.

Didn't you know that Swift sucks??? Just read all the clamour written by the idiots that failed their pee tests and didn't get hired. Surely, they must be right! Surely, they are in the know. Gosh. I sure wish I finished training. Golly.

And I bet Cold Frosty has the skinny on just about everything "inside". The post was pretty funny, I'll give him that.

And poor Swift. What a loser of a company. Only 20,000 trucks, give or take a few. Sheesh. They must not know what they are doing.

Yeah. My LEASE. They'll rent it to me just long enough to make me go broke so they can reposess it and sue me for the remaining balance. THAT'S how they make their money!!!!! Boy, am I a fool. I bet everyone who ever leased a truck NEVER did anything wrong, NEVER pissed away all their dough on chrome, and NEVER sat around and slacked in the video rooms at the F/J. Nope. It's just criminal what these large companies do to poor unsuspecting drivers. Let's all get together and start a class-action suit. Shall we?

Now Clint, I know you guys get a little ticked off when people talk bad about Swift. But there also a lot of drivers like myself who are hard workers, and did everything they could to try and make their time at Swift work. But what happened to me and many others that I've spoke with, it was the company not us drivers.

But what you said in your post is absolutely true as well, there are plenty of people that have never worked there that have tons of things to say. All I am saying is don't forget about those of us who did work there and did get bent over by the company.

And btw I wish you the best of luck as an O/O with swift, a good friend of mine does really well in his W9 with swift.

I have to agree, yet I never drove for Swift. The only dealings with Swift is on a Thanksgiving Night in 97 or 98 I had to calm a Swift Driver down after he hit me in the West Memphis Flying J's Parking lot. Accidents happens.

When I read all these Oh do not go with Swift, or any other companies. it based on what a few Drivers opinion of them. But every company out there would not stay in business if they did not have Drivers that did stay with them. So they must be doing something right.

Clint, Good Luck with the O/O side. I have enjoyed reading your eventures. You seem to be a smart Guy and able to make it work for yourself.

Actually, I don't get pissed off. I was just fun-in' a little. And I am sure you did your best. It can't be helped completely when things go south. It happened with me at Arrow, and there are plenty of happy drivers who still run with them. I know where you are coming from.

Thank you for the BOL! I keep looking at the mileage I'm getting and I keep feeling good about my decision. It Will work. And very nicely at that. As I said before, all I really need to do is keep working the way I am now. And BOOM! I get a 25-ish percent increase in income and drop from 37% down to about 15% in income taxes. It's a beautiful thing...

I spoke with my CPA today. She submitted my application for a business name, so I will set up a DBA account with my bank as soon as I hit Neosho on Thursday.

Everything appears to be lining up perfectly for the early part of May. The tractor I think I want is still available (checked up on it today). The body shop at the Greer terminal has several used headache racks to choose from, along with a couple of tarp shelves. They are priced really well too.

I have to take the Success 101 class before I can sign any papers. I am really looking forward to it, as I am sure that there is a lot to learn. Knowledge is Good according to the statue at Farber University in Animal House...

It was a slog from LA to Gary. 2000 miles from Sunday to this evening. Brain-dead, I rolled into the terminal. I will get loaded out of here for either Laredo or San Antonio in the morning, so I can run through Neosho and finish up with my CDL and set things up at the bank. (Psyched!!!!)

I'm just dyin' to see this '06 Viper Red W900L. I mean DYIN'

Looks like i wont be part of Swift,when they get me back to my terminal,gonna be cleaning it out and returning them there keys. I've asked for 2 days now,if i could t-call this load,kept on blowing me off,with the same old,we have msged everyone,waiting on reply bullcrap.Load P/U on monday,does not delv till friday night,i'll have it there thurs morning,so you see why i want to T-call it.
Iv'e been out 7+ weeks,im ready for some hometime, i'm not gonna play around,iv'e been making this company money every week,then they turn around and low ball alot of drivers,by cutting down our mileage.This week i'll be lucky to have $100 paycheck,and im not the only driver, this has been going on for the last 2 weeks,looks like you have it made on the flatbed side,because they dik us over on the van.

Kinda reminds me of an old saying "dont count your chickens,until they hatch" ,i guess i counted mine too early. Going to take a week off,and see who will hire me. I'll either drive for CFI or Central Refridgerated,i would go with crete,but they want you to get haz-mat after 2mo. i dont think i'll be able to get a Haz-mat endorsement,not a U.S citizen.

I wish you luck with being a O/O,and with Swift.

Hey Zexersix,

Sorry to hear of the dilemma. I know what it feels like, believe me. I've been there.

Check out CFI. I was about two seconds away from hiring on with them. From what I could see, it is a first-class operation. Everything about the place speaks of longevity. Everything about the place is focused on driver retention.

The driver lounge in Joplin is like a castle. Everything you could ever want, and then some, is available to you when you stop through. The shop is as clean as an operating room, and Lance the service manager is a very pleasant and informed fellow.

I wish you some quality home-time and the opportunity to find your niche. It isn't easy. I'm on my third go-around in a year, but as you can see, it's working. You too will find your place, just don't give up trying and don't be afraid to move again until you find balance in your work.

It just seems like there is so much competition in dry van. For freight and for seats. Drivers can and often do get treated like commodities, because of the numbers. If you won't sit and wait, maybe Joe will. And if Joe won't, then Dan will, and so on.

If I might suggest: Should you happen to raise your sights a little bit higher and find yourself in a trucking job a tad more specialized, you as an individual might find yourself as being a bit more valuable to whom ever you hire on with next. I mean, if there are 19,499 others doing the same thing you are, your personal needs become less of a factor to the company. Should you find yourself a position which requires more skill and higher credentials (such as hazmat) then perhaps you will be treated more like a person with a life than a replacable "token".

I've always made myself into something better than "average". But, that's me. I think the frustration comes from lack of concern for the individual, when the "whole" can take care of itself. But that's dry-box for you. A jillion others who can do the same job, in a time when the national spend-a-thon suffers a jolt to the system.

From what I've read in your posts, I see a thinker who wishes for better. Make it work for yourself. Better is out there, you just have to rise to the Task. Keep us posted with what you find! There's always room for a "good news" hijack on this thread. :D

Meanwhile, yours truly deadheaded out of Gary yesterday and went down to Quincy, IL. I picked up 43,000 lb of industrial shelving and I'm headed back to good ol' LA. Seems like I am in a west coast cycle in my Swift adventure. Can't complain.... I left LA on Saturday, made Gary on Tuesday evening, loaded this morning and I'll drop @ 10:00 in Ontario on Monday. 4000 miles, round trip. Dang.... Ka-Ching.

New photos:
http://web.mac.com/samael9/iWeb/SwiftBetty/43007.html

More news at 10:00...... :lol: