Comments By Aaron M.

Illinois has WIOA. I live in Chicago and went through their program. I passed everything but unfortunately the area Ilived in had no funding available and they had no idea how long it would take to get it.

I started the program in January 2016. By August 2016 the money still hadn't released for my area and I didn't feellike waiting anymore So i signed a 1 year contract with swift that same month.

The money finally released in Novemeber but I already had 2 months experience with swift.

It would have been nice to get my cdl for free but I am almost 7 months in with driving and I am glad I did what I did.

I know this thread is old but I can't resist the temptation to reply hehe.

I've nosed in several times but EVERY time I've nosed in, either the truck in front of me was gone when I woke up so I just easily pulled forward, the surrounding trucks around me and in back was gone so back out was SUPER easy or I was able to nose in in a place to where I can do a straight back out.

Now I try to back in as often as possible. I really need the practice. Been driving swift 6 months now.

Or worse..didn't knownyoi dragged the tires down the road and pulled into a terminal where they said "wth???"

Lol

Oh I have a story to tell 😂😂😂😂😂

Congrats on noticing you had stuck brakes. At least you didn't have to call dispatch and tell them you need 2 new tires cause you dragged them down the road.

Uh actually.....😂😂😂

Daniel B, that I did not know lol.

At least nothing was found but the light! Good example ito always pretrip.

At prime we get paid for passing the inspections and are told to scan the paperwork in with the loads. So who knows you could get a bonus ;)

That would be nice to get a bonus but I'm not sure swift does that.

Aaron if you haven't already, make sure you let your DM know you passed a level 2. It will have a positive affect on your safety score.

Stay safe.

I did. I even scanned in the report they gave me too.

Welcome to swift. I've been with them almost 6 months now. I do regional now. I was told u can't have microwaves in company trucks but Im not 100% on that. Others might give a more definitive response. I have a small 12v cooler that I use. The newer trucks should have a 110 v outlets installed behind the passenger seat.

Well I had gotten my first inspection done. A level 2 on March 14 out in Quincy, Michigan.

It was a cold morning (12 degrees) around 6am. Still dark of course. First problem I had was a stuck trailer brake but it eventually loosened up itself.

I was already a day late picking up a load from the shipper so I was in a bit of a hurry.

I was 2 blocks from the shipper when I spotted a state trooper sitting at an intersection. He saw me, backed up into a service station (I thought he was giving me a bunch of room so I can turn lol) and sat there.

I made my turn and sure enough he got me.

The road I was on was small so there was no shoulder but I pulled as far over as I could.

He got out the car and asked to open my door. I did and he stepped up and said he pulled me over because I had a burnt out headlight.

I did not do a pre trip that morning but I did do a post trip the night before and the light was working. I'm guessing the cold knocked the light completely out. Whatever the case is ALWAYS DO A PRE AND POST TRIP!

Anyways the cop was cool and I was polite with him and kept a postive attitude (VERY IMPORTANT). He did the level 2 (no citation) and nothing else was wrong with my truck.

After he let me go ( He had me for about 30minutes )I grabbed the load and went to the nearest petro (they had a freightliner dealer there) and I grabbed 2 new bulbs and replaced both of them myself.

Oh and even after being a day late picking up the load, getting a stuck trailer brake and getting pulled over, i still made my appointment with the reciever with 2 hours to spare.

Happy trucking!

When I can find the time, I usually play a game on my laptop, watch a movie, surf the internet or make music on fl studio. I have books to read and I usually talk to my family almost daily. If I'm not doing that, catching up on some sleep isn't half bad either.