Question:
Hello Truckers!
I am considering going through a company to receive my CDL. I am curious what Swift's reputation is like in the industry.
Any thoughts?

Answer:
I drove for them 11 years ago.....so I can't help you much except to say that they haul too much food to food warehouses......and thats a "BAD THING".....for too many reasons.
Other than that...they pay you based on HHG Household Movers Guide miles, and you will normally drive 10% to 15% more miles than you are being paid for. They were being sued over that issue....don't know if its settled yet.
You can do a search here on this site....and you will get tons of information.
You can also go to http://www.ido.dac which is a site where drivers can post their likes and dislikes about a company.... They are all listed alphabeticaly so they are easy to pull up.
Hope that helps.....So I like what I do, you don't, too bad, get over it. Get on with your life, I am.

Answer:
The best choice, at this point in your decision process, is to be aware of the current industry driver turnover rate. The rate is through the roof because thier are many issues that you do not yet know about, which makes the job.....well, let's just say "unpleasant."
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There is a book out called "Sweat Shop on Wheels", and the title alone should give you a hint of what trucking has become.nowadays.
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To answer your question about Swift..........None of the big carriers is better than any other big carrier. The thing that stands out most about Swift is you will be the "brunt" of many a joke out there, and that is putting it mildly.
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PM me if you think you are getting a run around.

Answer:
bad link in previous post, try this one.
www.idodac.com

Answer:
found this helpful link at the idodac sight
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SORRY bad link edited and removed
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The intended link was for a sight called "Werner Screws" or something like that...a search for the "truth" in trucking should include a search for the obove mentioned anti- Werner sight.

Answer:
Do internet search and search on this site for companies.
Had a close friend @ SWIFT, and if what I was told is correct, they are pretty much right on the money of what they say they will do....but get the recruiter to send you their companies current publication and go by its numbers.....
Paid miles are more like 8,000-9500 a month but your paid household movers which is 10 - 15% below what you'll run...
Believe they have good benefit package, with lots of options.
Some advantages with any large company is more terminals for mantainence and repair ( and for answering mechanical questions), more support staff,well developed training program, a variety of driving jobs, regional, dedicated, and specialties, from which to chose, although your options may be limited by your experience and the terminal your from. Last I heard, SWIFT was doing paper logs.
As a newbie, one usually has somewhat limited options of companies which will hire. It may actually work for your benefit that others in this industry may find it more easily to identfy these training companies and your truck as they may be more inclined to anticipate the 'unexpected' may be you and not a four wheeler. Unfortunately, turnover rate is high in many of these companies, and personal attention is low, if existant at all. All the sob stories I hear about all the big companies, is mostly as regards to dispatch.....forget driver care and attention once your DM goes home for day /weekend/ or vacation. Help or sympathy, problem solving and support are just not available. AND look out! It's when your DM is out that your desperately needed by desperate people to run a desperate load, and this may be when they are already aware that YOU are close to be desperate to get back hours.
Personally I figure if you can get $50 or so per day while in training, and bonuses and vacation pay to round out the year, plus decent milege wages considering newbie status---you wont find it much better as a beginner.
Good luck.Rejoice in the LORD
John Adams, 1799 "the general principles, on which the fathers achieved independence, were the general principals of Christianity."

Answer:
Isn't every one on this board likely to be 13yo and above??????????????????????
WELL, look up mourn , cry, WEEP, SOB, before (edited) post. I'm disappointed as somebody else stuck their mind where mine didn't even think to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rejoice in the LORD
John Adams, 1799 "the general principles, on which the fathers achieved independence, were the general principals of Christianity."

Answer:

wrong company

Answer:

ChasVic....Thanks for the correction!! So I like what I do, you don't, too bad, get over it. Get on with your life, I am.

Answer:
Check out the rest of the training companies. There are more that will do you the same and may be a better job.
If you do not know who they are, just say so. Many hear will poct the many that are around.
Also, some of these companies are begging for new meat to drive. They may even offer you a much better deal.202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

Answer:
I appreciate your thoughts on Swift, they have proved helpful. Sounds like trucking is not at all what the recruiters say it is. What a shame.

Answer:
Talk to a trucking, military, or tele sales rucruiter. All talk a big game.
My self fell for two. Both were good and did me right.
Just trucking recruiters feed on the folks that have no idea about anything.
If you have the facts about some things they will brush you aside and keep looking for trash.202 N Main Street
Summerfield Il 62289
TRUCK PARKING AVAILABLE!

Answer:
I always have to question why people are saying things and what they are saying. The Idodac site may be a good source of information to a point. When you see things like below That were two of 3 comments on a company I looked at you need to question the writer as much as the company.

When you read the comments you do about Swift and Werener I wouldn't touch them for anything. The best suggestion is to read the reports with an open mind.

Answer:
If your DMV record is clean and your criminal record is clean as well then you have nothing to worry about going with Swift other then the stuff you will deal with starting in trucking as many have said on here. If you have something of question on your record send that information to the recruiter before you leave your home to go to training. I sent an application in and they contacted me telling me I was good to go. So I sent them a copy of my DMV record and THEN suddenly I wasn't approved even though I listed everything on the application that I had on my DMV record.
Answer:

So true, so true...... in fact when I drove for Swift I was domiciled out of the Greer terminal in SC.
So far, Swift has been the "only" company with dispatchers that tried to get me to do something contrary to dot rules or company policies/instructions.
One night I dropped a trailer, sent my empty message and figured since I only had about 30 minutes left for the day....I was headed to bed. Nope....I got another dispatch for a "hot load" Yeah right....this is when their trucks would run a whopping 57 mph... They dispatched me to pick up the load that was a preloaded trailer 120 miles away.... I msg'd back that I had only 30 mins left...disp responded: Call in. I did, and it got nasty and funny at the same time.
Me:I have 30 min left.... He : The loads got to go. Me: I have 30 min left. He: The loads gotta go, its a hot load. Me: Ok, go get it yourself. He: Are you refusing a dispatch? Me: You are telling me to run illegal. He: But the loads gotta go, the customer is going to be mad. Me: So go jump in a tractor and go get it. He.....long pause. Me: Never mind, I'll call safety in Phoenix....your termianls footprint is on the dispatch, g'bye. He: Wait, wait....WHEN can you go get it? Me: tomorrow. He: Ok...... Me: G'bye, click. I went and picked it up in the AM..... yeah it was a "hot load"....a freakin' load of lipstick and makeup for K-Mart in Ocala, Fl.... I got there 2 hours ahead of the appt time...they said I would have to wait a day....cuz' the appt wasn't til the next day. Wanna guess at how the next phone call went? Yep, downhill real fast... But I won.
Another night...three of us picked up at Jax Fl ....46k lb canned cat food for BiLo in Mauldin, SC.....the loads were "Shipper Load & Count", "Reciever unload & count". Got to BiLo.....the fun started....downhill fast! The special instructions on the ld said "DO NOT UNLOAD OR TOUCH!! YOU WILL NOT GET PAID IF YOU DO!!!" said that in several places. Me, I follow instructions. I won't touch it, BiLo weenies get really upset and start yelling....I was a Drill Sgt, I showed them how to yell, they cussed me, I showed them how to do it right. They called the night dispatcher...probably the same dipwad as above. He "tries" to order me to unload the truck....I say no, he says yes, I say no, he says yes, I hang up on him.... I tell the BiLo weenies to wake me up when they are finished. Our other two drivers unload...uh-uh, not me...I'm not humping 46K lb of cat food for free. And BiLo had a sign up that says "We will not sign driver unloads"....another way to screw you...no signature no pay. Well, they send a suit out to tell me I am being sent away because of my conduct. I ask the suit if he is sending his receiving manager home without pay for his conduct? His face contorts up to look like a "cats rectum".... I take my bills and leave. Took the load to the yard at Greer...a few miles away. I drop the trailer, take the bills into the dipwad....throw them through the window and tell him "I'm going to bed, don't bother me".
I went in about 10 AM....he's still there, I end up talking to the VP who controlled the whole eastern half of the US for Swift. To make a long story shorter, I win, dispatcher loses. I got a load to Winnipeg, Canada....dipatcher got his butt reamed and sent home for a few days without pay. VP says I did the right thing.
Turned out because of me....and the fact that BiLo essentially tried to rip us off on unloading pay...Fed Tariff Rules....they had to get lumpers to unload our trucks...all we had to do was sign a reciept saying they unloaded it. Thats what happened when I went back there 6 months later....and the weenie manager even called me "Sir"......
Stuffs is right.....idodac is just another source of information, and it has to be taken with a grain of salt....all of it.So I like what I do, you don't, too bad, get over it. Get on with your life, I am.