Profile For Jaybird

I’ll weigh in on this thread, I’ve had very little activity here posting but I frequently read the topics. Approaching my 2 year mark with Swift currently I’m running dedicated Hershey freight on the west coast. Hershey has abandoned dedicated contract carriers effective May 4th, from what the account manager told me and I’ll give good reason why I trust him, he was told that all contract carriers are affected. Prime Inc, Pride Transport, Swift, Schaffer/Crete and Knight all are no longer going to be running contractually, Hershey believes they can move their freight on the spot market at cheaper rates, while true at the moment won’t last and customer service my AM says will take a massive hit.

While I’m very annoyed with this the ethic and the attitude I’ve approached this career with has given me an in on another dedicated account I’ll be moving to, I was given the option by him to move to an account of my choosing regardless of the amount of trucks currently seated on the account I wanted, in addition with a lapse of Hershey freight he rewarded me with a change of scenery before the massive change, I told him I’d like to run to the Midwest and back a few times which turned into 4 brokered loads totaling just under 8400 miles the last 2 weeks and 3 days. The final run was a reload in Washington Court Ohio with a delivery in Auburn Washington totaling 2503 paid miles empty and loaded combined. While my teammates on the account got roped into local intermodal work I ran brokered freight that Swift made no profit on, and a lot of that had to do with my attitude and ethic this last year on the account.

In addition to all of this my current DL who has been employed with Swift for 32 years is being let go, one of the other DL’s over the Midwest Hershey region that sits next to her is also being let go, there is not a seat available in the office for them to move into. I’m noticing that the ethic and attitude of certain drivers is starting to play a more critical role in how those drivers are being treated, how they are being ran and the opportunities being provided to them verse the individuals that are less willing to attempt tight schedules, adverse hours and conditions and so on. I am noticing many drivers at Swift that are sitting for several days on end, and I know a mentor with a current student in the team phase that have waited for 2 days without a load. While drivers in the OTR/Regional sectors are struggling to remain moving the dedicated sectors are still doing well over here and Swift is pulling brokered loads quite frequently on the dedicated side to keep the dedicated drivers moving back to the contracted customer to keep that dedicated freight moving.

Point is overall I guess that I’m finding it imperative to continue to build my reputation, provide the best service that I can, and be as positive as I can be regardless of any situation I’m in. Run Legal, safe, hard, and find every possible way that I can to maximize my efficiency, and above all, stay in the dedicated lanes until this nationwide market starts turning upward. I only have just about 2 years of experience, not a lot and I started in the COVID era when freight seemed much better than it is currently, but I’m noticing a major downward trend in miles with most drivers here and I’ve found myself fortunate to be in the situation I’m in.

Hello!! Great Choice with Swift. I too went through the Swift Academy a little over a year ago. Assuming the layout and process in Lewiston is the same as the location I attended, the instructor assignment for road drives and skills was random day to day. I would advise approaching the instructor you felt comfortable with, calmly explaining your feelings and your thoughts, and throw in the need for maybe a different prospective as multiple viewpoints and trainings in the small amount of hours you have to prepare on your road drives, is in my opinion beneficial. As well as that may be a route to go down that won’t potentially annoy the instructor you are having issues with.

Now, that being said, at the location I attended there was an instructor that several students had an issue with, myself included. In hindsight I see that part of the issue was myself and some overconfidence. For example we did not see eye to eye on his perspective of follow distance and slowing down in relation to approaching a red light. I mean he’s like yelling to be on the brakes, 200 yards from a red light. I’m with the mentality of, please, I got so much room. Nowadays and over a year going strong I still find myself shooting myself for not taking that seriously. Just yesterday I was grateful for 300 yards of room to stop safely having scaled at 79600.

BUT with that in mind, that instructor was recently terminated. That instructor received several complaints from students. One other instructor I still swing by and visit when I go through the terminal vocalized to me that at first they (the other instructor’s) were unaware of students feelings and what was going on in the truck out on the road and on the training pad when it was just this instructor and no other instructor’s present. It took about 4 months from what I’m told, and some solid investigation to actually be able to understand and see what the instructor was doing before action was actually taken. Not good for 4 months of Students during investigations and all the students before. Myself included. There were many more problems I had with this particular instructor, the one that I gave as an example was not a him problem it was a me problem, and I hope, was meant obviously to just try and open your mind a little to potentially helpful reasonings.

That all being said, I was informed that polite discussion, vocalization of your feelings, followed with actions by said instructor, and the simple mindset of taking seriously what you are learning now, SHOULD, go a long way with the instructor you are more comfortable with. After all, this is your new career. I am very happy I can actually give some advice having seen and experienced this now, at the same company as you.

And, now all of that aside. 4 weeks in I assume CDL testing is fast approaching although thanksgiving may or may not delay it correct? Bottom line. You are at the home stretch and will soon test out, number 1 thing. Have some serious self confidence when you approach your pre trip, skills and road test. I mean come on. You got it. Between this website, everything swift gave you and some common sense, you got it without overthinking. And again, you can GET OUT AND LOOK more than the amount of times the tester gives you. Better to lose a point getting out an extra time, then feeling like you got it in the box and you didn’t. Self confidence goes a long way, and don’t worry about getting out if you need to.

Swift from my year and 2 months has been a great experience thus far, I am still here, getting miles, and supporting my family in these dark times with my wife a stay at home mom. I will proudly wear my Swift shirt and represent a company that has done me right. Good luck! I look forward to hearing how it goes for.

To be honest, I very much prefer to keep to myself and I find myself watching others doing many of the countless odd things you see out here everyday. I actually got annoyed with a guy that was measuring other trucks 40 foot marks on the trailer to compare to his own as his did not have markings, I told him to get away from mine. If he sees me he is more than willing to ask and I would be more than glad to help so that he can be legal and comfortable running into Cali but the fact that he’s walking through the middle of 15 trucks at 2am just makes me uneasy.

My point, I am a little over paranoid but then I just calm myself and say if someone wants to cut the lock and get in the trailer at least I did what I’m supposed to do. It’s. It my cargo, it’s my job to move it safely and make my best effort to protect it but if something happens it’s not on me as long as I follow company policy and procedures.

Now, if someone comes into the Cab, I got a couple mallets and I ain’t afraid to mash someone on the head. I actually kinda want to find myself in the situation with a gunless robber or carjacker. Might bring some spice to an otherwise monotonous cycle of load, drive, sleep, deliver. BUT, don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly love this monotonous cycle and not running into problems of robbers and thieves is also very nice.

Point, you’ll be fine if you follow policy and procedures, if someone diverts to the cab cuz policy and procedures are followed, Kick butt or be butt kicked.

Hey man I'm curious, that looks like an Ag needs truck I've seen, I live less than 20 minutes from Richmond where I see them parked, I've thought about applying to them but that's beside the point. My point is, is it an Ag Needs truck and if so then thats cool because I really think I've seen that volvo on the road several times. I'm through Utah 2-3 times a week chances are I've seen one similar but I just thought it's a small world.

Rats. Didn’t mean to not include one with a sequel. Maybe I should wake up more before I reply.

In that case my favorite movie with a Sequel are Lord of the Rings. Many hours on the road has me listen to the books over and over and the movie trilogy Fellowship-Return are epic. Ian McKellen as Gandalf is played beautifully and I find myself several times a day thinking “You shall not pass” as certain situations on the road causes unfortunate events for four wheelers.

My favorite is Morgan Freeman as Red in Shawshank. Time to get busy living, or get busy dying.

Hey Everyone, been a minute since I've posted, I still read daily. Still trucking along, passed my 6 month mark with Walmart Corrine Dedicated with Swift. 76000 miles down and still enjoying it and going strong!

I read an article following up with the recent verdict against Werner and the crash outside Odessa in 2014. Read some other articles about it and I'm wondering on what everyone's opinion is in that situation. It seems to me that while a speed higher than most probably would be driving in the conditions is it unfair to place the blame on the Company and the operator when the cause of the crash was the driver of the vehicle that lost control. I'm just curious on everyone's thoughts on the situation and the trial against Werner.

I enjoy the Walmart account in Corinne, they just announced here that they renewed the contract for 4 more years so I hope it stays that way.

I'm struggling to find out what the mistake was from the DMV.

I have an "M" restriction.

I used to drive public transportation, I got my A license, I now drive for Swift. I can still drive public transportation. The M restriction is simply, I did not test for my A in a passenger transport vehicle, I cannot drive a class A passenger transport vehicle. I can Drive a Class A combination vehicle carrying cargo that doesn't complain. Or I can still drive a Class B passenger Vehicle. Just not a Class A passenger Vehicle.

But I'm struggling in your post to understand how the DMV exactly made a mistake.

I'm not G Town, am I allowed to reply? Don't want to overstep.

I went through swift academy last September, they had new classes start each Monday. I did 150 hours with my mentor and then took my upgrade written and road test.

I live in Utah, I asked during the academy if I could be placed on a dedicated account. instructor and Driver Qualification said I was hired for OTR, being dedicated was no problem. Several accounts had spots open and I chose Walmart Dedicated in Corinne. It was an easy switch and they were happy to help me find what I wanted to do but it came down to what accounts had openings. I'll let G Town answer the other questions, I'm still learning a few things but I can comfortably answer those ones.

Sorry if I overstepped by replying G Town.