Profile For Driver

I was at Swift orientation today and part of the hiring procedure, was the urine drug test. The person performing the test explained in a few weeks, Swift will hair test instead. I am not sure how the test will be performed, if from the head, arm and at what length. I am assuming it is a more accurate test since some drugs show positive in urine only for a few days.

This merger is creating a holding company structure called Knight -Swift. The two subsidiaries; Swift and Knight will continue to operate as independent entities, same brand, with no asset sharing.

For the driver; business as usual.

Here is the announcement on the Driver portal. I am not sure how the new company works separately, but questions will be answered at the conference call.

Dear Swift Driver:

This morning, we announced that Swift Transportation and Knight Transportation have reached an agreement to operate under common ownership. Both companies will continue to run independently and will maintain separate brands. Bringing together these two long-standing, industry-leading trucking companies means a combined strength of resources, allowing us to improve safety and better our customer and driver experiences. The joint press release we issued this morning provides further details about the transaction. It is now available, along with FAQs, on our driver portal and on our website.

This transaction creates a joint ownership of two companies that will continue to operate separately. Therefore, Swift Drivers will only access Swift terminals and support departments and Knight drivers will only access Knight service centers. There will be no combining or mingling of freight.

Also, I want you to know that I have chosen to pursue other opportunities following the close of the transaction. Likewise, our CFO, Ginnie Henkels, has chosen to step down at that time. I want to assure you that Knight’s leadership team is committed to the same principles and level of integrity that we live by every day, and I have confidence that they will continue working toward our vision.

Once the transaction is completed, Kevin Knight, Knight’s Executive Chairman, will assume the role of Swift President. Ginnie and I will continue at Swift until the close of the transaction to ensure a seamless transition. I’m proud of all we have accomplished together, and promise that I will continue to root all of you on in the future.

We are offering a “Loyalty Bonus” to all eligible Swift drivers in recognition of your commitment to the success of this business. Those eligible will include all Swift drivers who are employed as of May 1, 2017, and who are still employed and working at the close of the common ownership transaction, anticipated to be in the third quarter of 2017. Please see Company Driver Loyalty Bonus letter on the Driver Portal for more details.

For the sake of open communication and transparency, I invite all of you to join Ginnie and me on a Company-wide conference call, this afternoon, at 4:30 PM (ET)/1:30 PM (PT). .

If you receive any questions from other drivers or outside of Swift, please refer them to the press release on our website or have them email communications@swifttrans.com.

I thank you for your continued hard work and dedication to Swift.

Sincerely,

Richard Stocking President & CEO

I wonder when a trucking company gets so large it becomes counter productive. My last few deliveries, there were no empty trailers and I needed to speak with dispatch and each time, it was a different person. It's like the company gets so large it becomes to much for the support staff.

I just got the Qualcomm message and see there already 19 posts! What a hot topic. We can now cover our inside facing camera lens. This is a big policy change from the largest carrier, so will have a ripple effect in the trucking industry. I have to admit, when the camera was installed in my truck I driver, I was not happy.

I can't help but think Swift was either loosing drivers or could not hire experienced drivers because of the Camera? Possibly, there were lawsuits against the company based on the camera recordings?

I have mixed feelings about the in-cab camera now. The positive for me was it remove 100% my usage of a cell phone while driving for using the the app 'trucker path'. I was written up, so switched to a tablet on dash. Much safer. Cells phones are a big problem and are a vice.

The failure with Swift was that the implementation of the camera was horrible. Firstly, it was recording when when the truck was off, but this was changed, improvement. The events, we had no way to review unless driving to a Swift terminal. Could Lynx not design an app to watch the camera events? The events that recorded my driving, such as hard breaking, etc. and talking with my DM, did not help me much. In fact, my braking suffered because I was nervous about recording an event. There is a point were you can't be much better of a driver..

I tried once as a mentor and with a student my 10 hour day, I was strapped into the sleeper bunk. Per policy, I could not sit up. It was partly what kept me from continuing mentoring. The student received 3 events in the month and two separate occasions, we had to detour into a terminal to watch the videos.

I feel the inside camera has a place and should be used in these situations: 1. All new drivers for a determined time, 6-8 months, should be required to have the camera. It is a great training device for new drivers.

2. The camera should record and be used if there is ANY accident. That is valuable data and is important to know what happened inside during an accident. If there is a fatal accident, what was happening inside?

I learned to live with inside camera, but the experience was not enjoyable.

I have a question as I will probably be with a trainer in the future also. And this question isnt directed towards the money but does the student only get paid the miles he drives? Would you be able to explain to him hey your doing a great job but im getting board over here I would like to drive a bit more.? Also what kind of miles would you expect from a team is six hundred each in a 24hr period low?

Good questions. So, with my company the student does not get paid per mile, rather approximately 9.00 per hour driving and I believe 8.00 on duty. He needs to drive a minimum of at least 40hrs per week for the 200hr program. He is averaging 45hrs per week, so is on schedule. After, the program, I receive a few cents for every mile he drives for six months once upgraded to his own truck.

I have him start driving between 12-6pm, which gives him both day and night driving. Since we are being assigned a high number of scheduled live unloads, I can adjust our times, so that he gets the most driving. I have been told that the owner operators receive better trips than company drivers, but not sure if that is true.

When he completes a 34hr reset, I'll go back into the logs and pad him with as much on duty hours to increase his earnings.

The 600 miles each in 24hr was great, that was our one good trip. The rest of the miles that I have driven have been a few hours a day or not all.

I keep a close eye on things when he arrives at shipper/consignee, fueling, etc. But on the open road, he does not need any supervision now. So, I spend most the time just using my computer, watching youtube, etc. It is pretty relaxing for me, actually.

You will like training, because you will meet people and have contacts. You can get some bad apple students, but I think that is rare.

You have good points. I wanted to mentor to see what it was like and I felt that someone spent the time training me, so wanted to pass it along. Besides the English hurdle, I've enjoy my time with the student and sorry to see him leave. It'has been nice talking with him and learning about his country. Solo driving can get lonely.

The lack of driving and spending so much time in the sleeper birth is a lot. I get motion sickness when not driving, which does not help. I am getting headaches and have to keep the side windows open for fresh air.

I am glad I tried it out and will keep in contact with the student, but plan on hanging up my hat as a mentor after he leaves.

Thanks for your input.

I am finding mentoring boring.

I decided to mentor and completed the 1.5 day course. I wanted to see how it was driving teams, etc., as an OTR company driver. After the training, I was assigned my first student. He is a foreigner and has a low English level. He explained to me that he took the DMV general knowledge test 9 times and pre-trip test 3 times before passing them at a cost of around 450 dollars.

He is a natural at driving, but I do have an automatic so it is easier than manual. He is careful with turns and he video tapes with his cell phone different lessons. He does everything I tell him and wants to learn and we get along well. It is hard, because basic words like, "hill", "hammer", are not in his vocabulary. Also, concepts like time zones, weigh stations are new to him. My day consists of talking slowly and repeating everything 2-3 times. However, he is figuring it out.

I just calculated his hours behind the wheel and he has completed 100hrs of the 200hr program.

The problem, is that I am finding mentoring extremely boring.

The first week, I sat on the passenger side, until the student completed 50hrs. I figured things would be slow. When, he past the 50hrs, we got our first team trip for 1200 miles, which was great and both drove 600 miles for the 24hr period.

Since then, the trips have been around 800 miles with high percentage live unloads. I find myself filling the gap and setting him up for the drives. I may spend a couple hrs picking up the load and driving 100 miles, then handing the truck to him to complete the remainder 600 miles. I checked my 8 day log and have driven 23hrs. I feel like I spend most the days/nights in the sleeper being bounced around.

I never thought I would miss driving. I am assigned longer trips, but not that fantastic. I am going to start declining live unloads, because that seems to be the bottleneck.

Maybe if I was not OTR and had a dedicated route, there would be enough miles for us both. There are a lot of lease operators at my company that have students to help with payments.

I feel like I sit around a lot watching him drive. I have sooo much free time now. The financial advantage has increased only slightly. Even if I had an experienced co-driver, I would still be making more money as a solo driver with these loads.

I was thinking we would be driving much more. It's nice to have someone to talk with, but when he leaves would probably get a jerk as a next student. I think this will be my last student.

Is this the life of a mentor?

Purchase a Dometic CF-18:

Link provided: Dometic CF-18

I bought one last month and wish I had a long time ago. I use it as a freezer and surprising can store a lot of food in it. I stop at Walmart and fill it up. I buy ice cream, frozen foods and microwave at the truck stops. Fits well in the truck and portable. I have an adapter which can use on 110w. Plus, it is silent and draws hardly any battery. Don't waste your money on the truck stop fridges they sell.

Possibly cheaper than getting his truck fridge repaired anyway.

That is a good article.

I am surprised they have already done self driving testing with semi trucks on the highway already.

I am sure a truck could make a trip across country with the current technology. I like the idea of sitting in the sleeper while the truck drives itself on the interstate and then assisting with fuel ups, city driving, etc. Unfortunately, will mean a wage decrease. Once the technology develops more, which will be soon, it will be safer than a driver behind the wheel. Plus, we can all start going out to bars again on the weekend, with our self driving cars!

If I sit for awhile, I'll call the local planners. I have a sheet with all the terminal phone numbers that Swift gave me. I believe they have them at the swift terminals. Also, the app has the ability to display local planner information. However, I've started using Mac 10 to message the planners. It's been positive and I get responses. Seems better than calling directly because sometimes they get annoyed with direct calls for loads.

For hometime that is time sensitive, I'll send the normal hometime macro, then follow-up with a freeform message to my DM letting her know. I've been told that hometime does not show up on their system until 5 days before the hometime date. Seems short notice, so possibly incorrect.

For changing DMs, not sure about that but my mentor did around 3 times, but he was leasing his truck.