Comments By Michael B.

Hey Seatack, my first day in a truck driver's seat was yesterday at the Swift Academy in Phoenix (day one of week three of a four-week program). I'm excited to learn the ways of backing. Little by little, I will get there. I enjoy your diary and am following along!

Day 21 (9/20/22)

Bad start to the day. I overslept. Class starts at 8am, I didn’t arrive to campus until 8:30. To my disappointment my group had already left with the truck. I texted my instructor and he said he would come back and pick me up when they had time.

I decided to use my waiting time to work on my pre-Trip inspection. I went over to a tractor that wasn’t being used, popped the hood and started with the engine components. I finished the engine compartment and began on the suspension and brake system components. I received a text from my instructor around 9:30 that they were on their way back to campus to pick me up. They arrived around 9:45 and to my surprise they were pulling a trailer this time! No more bob tailing. All of our trailers are 53 footers, some dry van, some moving van (equipped with mattress storage compartments, and a few flat bed trailers.

I jumped in the truck, sincerely apologized to everyone for my tardiness and assured them it wouldn’t happen again. We were pulling a dry van trailer. I had missed our instructor’s demonstration on how to drive while pulling a trailer. Yesterday we only had a trailer on the pad during backing practice. He gave me a verbal crash course, and I got about 45 minutes behind the wheel due to my tardiness. We drove the same local route we did the previous day, with speeds up to 45 mph. Turning with a trailer is definitely something I’m gonna have to get used to, but I think I did pretty well. I didn't run over any curbs and I believe my trailer was only in the grass once during a turn. A couple times he did have to tell me to go out further before turning though. I got about 15 miles in after the other 2 students drove and we returned to campus for lunch.

Len told us we would be hitting I-10 tomorrow at speeds up to 70 mph! I asked “will our trucks go that fast?” and he told me none of the 2018 or newer Peterbilts are governed. I was a little nervous but excited nonetheless. He told us we would each have at least 1000 miles behind the wheel before the completion of the program.

We came back from lunch for our afternoon session on the pad. In the afternoon we have to couple the trailers to the tractor as part of our practice. Today was my turn to do it. I remembered my checklist from the class and the things the student did the day before and got it done.

We each rotated about 5 times on the straight back maneuver and then moved into offset. I felt a lot more comfortable doing the offsets today, I even managed to do it 2 or 3 times with no pull ups on either side. Len said we were doing so well he wanted to introduce us to the alley dock. He took me first and left the other 2 to do offsets.

Most of the newer tractors were in use either on the pad or on the road with the other groups. We used an old international tractor and 53 ft moving van trailer. He ran thru the maneuver twice with me sitting in the passenger seat, explaining how and when to turn, and what to look for, then we switched seats. (Deep exhale) I could see this was not going to come to me as fast as the other two backing maneuvers. I struggled, like severely! We stayed at it for a little over an hour and I think I made it into the boundary once on my own. (I competed it twice with him in the passenger seat telling when and how much to turn). My confidence took a big hit. Len gave me a pep talk and told me it was just the first day doing this not to worry, I would have plenty of time to get it down in the next 3 weeks. Tomorrow the other two students would get their turn on the alley dock and he would leave me to do offsets and straight backs all afternoon.

We filled out our driver logs and went home for the day.

Thursday 22 September 2022 Today we completed all the chapters and quizzes for Entry Level Driver Training. One was about trip planning, which I think is interesting. Route selection can sometimes offer many options, but other times, one. Our trainer told us about a resource I wasn’t really aware of, the 511 website of each state department of transportation. I used the Oregon site when I lived there so I could see when snow was hitting Mount Hood. Oregon’s road cam at Government Camp was an instant resource. Turns out, every state has a similar offering of live or nearly live cameras! In class, we took some time and looked at the 511 cameras in Wyoming. Man, that’s some wide-open country where I-90 meets I-25 in Buffalo, Wyoming!

Friday 23 September 2022 We started our last day in the classroom by leaving it, taking a van to a nearby health clinic for our pre-employment drug test. Three drug tests in three weeks seems a little excessive, but it makes sense for what Swift needs to do to keep drug users out of their academy and off their payroll. We spent the rest of the day doing Swift new hire orientation. It’s a lot of information to digest. After hearing about the compensation and benefits, I’m still confident I’ve made a good choice for me by going with Swift.

Monday 26 September 2022 Our first day on the pad! We’ve been reading the pretrip inspection for a couple of weeks, but what a difference seeing a truck and trailer up close makes! There are real leaf springs and U-bolts under there, not just words on a page!

We took turns pulling forward and straight backing. Throttle control takes some getting used to. The speed limit on the pad is two miles per hour. Most of us went faster than that because we weren’t yet familiar with the throttle, but it will come with time. Braking was choppy at first but we figured out how to smooth that out pretty quickly. We also got to try offset backing. Our instructor, April, told us one of her goals on the pad is to teach us how to fix whatever trouble we experience in backing so when we are out there on our own in a couple of months, we’re going to know what to do. We’re going to know how to fix it.

For offset backing, once we get the trailer close to being parallel with the parking spot, all we have to do is a straight back. Sounds simple but it’s gonna take practice, which I’m sure we’ll get a lot of. We also got to drive around the track. The track has a slightly higher speed limit of five miles per hour. I got reminded several times during my loop around to maintain five miles per hour, and it wasn’t because I was going too slow. I’m still learning the throttle. There’s a delay there and it’s taking me some time to get the feel for it.

There was lots of new learning today. More than ever, I can see myself doing this job, and having the confidence to “fix it” when things need fixing. It was a great day.

Tuesday 20 September 2022 I was wrong about there being no more tests until we take our final CDL exams. Between now and Friday, we will receive Entry Level Driver Training as required by the US Department of Transportation. We must earn at least 80% on each chapter quiz to pass, and it looks like there are about 30 chapters. We covered the first 10 chapters today (everyone passed!), and the plan is to do 10 more tomorrow, and 11 more on Thursday. Most of the content sounds familiar. It’s actually good for me to hear the consistency of language because it will be central to my professional life very soon.

It’s interesting to see the change in the demeanor of the students who were in our shoes last week. They are far more serious now that they are on the pad, learning the specifics of the pre-trip inspection, the backing maneuvers, and the road test. It’s not that they no longer laugh and kid around, because they do. There’s just a lot less of it. Their focus is noticeably specific.

Watching students practice parallel parking is something I get to do a few times a day. It’s nice to have Charles, our week one instructor, out there giving commentary. He says students get caught up thinking they have to do every maneuver perfectly when in reality, all they have to do is put the truck in the designated spot. Good enough is good enough. If it’s in, it’s in. It does not have to be perfect.

Wednesday 21 September 2022 We got badges today! Now instead of clocking in and out using the bar code on the back of our state-issued driver's licenses, we can clock in and out using our Swift Academy badges.

It rained on and off most of the day. What a welcome change from sunny and hot. Even in September, daytime highs of 100 degrees are common in Phoenix, and it’s nice to have a break from that.

As planned, we covered 10 more Entry Level Driver Training chapters and chapter quizzes today. We all did well. Again, the content is familiar, and again, I am grateful. Even though it’s all book learning so far – not driving learning – it’s good to know there is guidance about how to do the job of a professional truck driver.

A few times during class today we heard air horns out on the pad. Another student just passed their tests and earned their CDL!

Yesterday I had forgotten my lunch at home, so bought a sandwich from the break room vending machine. One of my classmates saw that and felt bad for me. This morning, she told me she brought me lunch. A sandwich, a small bag of chips and a donut. What a nice surprise! She is so kind, and I thanked her. It’s nice to know people still look out for each other. I’ll find a way to repay the favor.

Hi PackRat, the array of terminals is one of the reasons I steered toward Swift for training and post-training employment. It's comforting to think I have 30 "homes" across the country if need be. Parking, or lack thereof, in the great wide open, is one of the reasons I'd like to get to know some of the Swift terminals. Unless parking at Swift is also a problem? Some of them may be pretty small. I'd never thought of that! The access to Knight terminals will come in handy in places where Swift has no terminal. Idaho Falls, Idaho, comes to mind. That is where I grew up and where my parents still live.

Thanks for following along.

Terminals are a good, safe bet for many of the major cities. Swift has a bunch of terminals scattered around these tough-to-find-parking locales. You should be able to utilize Knight terminals, too.

Hi G-Town, any reality checks from you are encouraged and welcome. I will remind myself terminals are mostly for service or times I can not find parking.

I've done well tuning out the negativity of drivers, but I include it in the diary so new readers can see it's kinda prevalent and it can for the most part be dismissed. I'm happy you believe I have a shell of positivity. I believe it too!

We are practicing logs daily now, and getting in the habit of only logging what we've actually done. No "pre-logging" allowed. We log midnight to 8 am as off duty. Eight am to noon as on duty. Noon to 1 pm as off duty. One pm to 5 pm as on duty. And 5 pm to midnight as off duty. There are three flags during our day. The first is Phoenix, AZ/Classroom. The second is Phoenix, AZ/Lunch and the third is Phoenix, AZ/Off duty. We are also learning to keep our eight days rolling total, etc. It's all good practice I'm sure. Better to know what to do when called upon than not.

Yesterday's random drug test on a Monday morning has a few of us kinda freaked out. None of us did any drugs, but we did have beers, not together, but at our homes in and around Phoenix. Those beers were consumed over the weekend, including on an off-duty Sunday night. We found out today that even though the DOT limit for alcohol is 0.04, the Swift limit is ZERO. Apparently, the five-panel drug test does not specify alcohol testing, but if Swift does do that, and such tests really goes back 80 hours (into the weekend) as the internet seems to indicate, several of us will show alcohol-in-the-pee from the weekend. I really hope that does not mean any of us are dismissed. No one ever told us we could not drink when off duty. We've only received the guidance of not consuming alcohol "four hours before" reporting for duty. In real life, ignorance of a rule generally won't mean you dodge the consequence. I will be crushed if this results in anyone being ineligible to continue with training. Especially me. I have a whole new life ahead of me.

I'm happy you enjoy my diary, G-Town. I enjoy your candid posts and responses throughout the forum. You and others have built a valuable resource here. I appreciate you all.

Reality check…

Once you are solo, unless there is a pressing need to enter a terminal, like for service, don’t.

Don’t believe everything you hear; truth almost always sits in the middle of two stories, and you only heard one side. Truckers are notorious complainers. Tune it out! Don’t let any negativity penetrate your shell of positivity.

E-logs will go-down, as do GPS (Navigo), count on it. I’ve run paper at least once per year during my time with Swift. There was a huge outage a few years ago, we were running dark for over a week. Had to call-in macros (how most company drivers communicate with the mothership). Always be prepared to run paper.

Drug tests can be ordered randomly, any time, even for students. Weekend partying…etc. You are now in the world of zero tolerance for alcohol and drugs.

Enjoying your diary.

Monday 19 September 2022 Day six of 20 at Swift Driver Academy in Phoenix, Arizona.

The academy here in Phoenix is four weeks long, and today was day one of our second week. This morning we took a complete tour of the Swift compound. It included a stop at an on-campus medical office, where we all had a urine drug test. There was no advance warning, and it seemed odd to me the company would pay for another one of these after doing one a couple of weeks ago at my DOT physical. They must have their reasons. Maybe some students think since they cleared the initial drug test, another could not soon follow. Surprise!

Part of our tour was spent at the Driver Center or driver lounge. Inside is a semi truck set up as a coffee stand. I asked one of the drivers seated there if he likes to spend time at Swift terminals across the country. He was pretty blunt with his "not really." He likes the Phoenix terminal, and that's about it. Other drivers chimed in with high marks for Lancaster (near Dallas, Texas) and West Valley City (Near Salt Lake City, Utah). The ones they were especially critical of I will see for myself soon enough. No need to spread negativity about things I've not yet experienced. Suffice it to say for now, in the Swift universe, it may be hard to beat Phoenix for driver amenities.

As we made our way through the Driver Center, we encountered a couple of other drivers who recognized our trainer. He asked them how things were going, and the responses were not good. “There have been several times I’ve just about left the truck on the side of the road,” one said. Hmm… Not what I would say in front of a group of people I know are academy students. Another obviously had similar concerns but would not voice them in front of students. He told the trainer he’d just switched assignments at Swift, and will reach out to the trainer in a week or two to let him know how things are going. While I was surprised by the answers from those two drivers, I’m also kinda proud of them. Some days are diamonds, some days are coal. But they are still here, gutting it out for the diamond days. That will be me very soon. I’m glad they are hanging on. So many others just quit.

We spent much of the day learning about daily logs and how to fill them out, just in case our digital logs ever betray us. We were shown several examples of logs drivers tried to fudge. Not really smart considering all the ways the company has to track your movements. The takeaway here, is don’t try to cheat the systems that are in place. They are more consistently reliable that your subterfuge.

Toward the end of the day, we talked a little about the mentor matching process. That’s for the trainer truck we will be on for four to six weeks after graduation. We were told we get to specify whether we prefer a male or female trainer and whether that person is a smoker or a non-smoker. I don’t really have preferences based on gender or tobacco usage. I want a mentor who is the right blend of patient and pushy. Patient enough not to jump all over me for minor mistakes, but pushy enough to show me what running as hard as I can legally and safely looks like so I actually know it is possible. At least that’s what I THINK I want. We’ll see how much that changes if I actually get one!

Welcome Meg! I start week two of my training today. So excited for you!

Never would I expect myself to sit here at my desk and start writing out this introductory diary post on a trucking form, yet here I am. Excited. Nervous. Ready for this next step in my life.

I’ll start by saying I’m a young woman, mid twenties. I grew up wanting so desperately to be a middle school English teacher. It was and still is my passion to write and read, and I wanted to share my fondness of the subject and the artistry behind the wonderful English language to young people. My oh my, did that change as plans oftentimes do. I had the fortunate experience of virtually graduating University (aka walking across my living room) that May of 2020. My degree was supposed to be a Bachelors and a Masters (an accelerated program offered for aspiring teachers who were teaching foundational subjects that required you to have the Bachelors in the subject you teach.) However, I was unable to complete the Masters due to the pandemic. They were not able to give us definite answers that we could complete required student teaching courses. I decided to make the wise decision to not get my masters, which meant not having the requirements and license to teach in my state.

This bittersweet moment started to tend to the trucking embers that slowly kindled into a burning desire to become a professional driver. It started with my uncle who has and still is a driver since the early 90s. He told me shortly after I graduated that it would be a great option because the industry has been in need of drivers, and with the pandemic at the rise I wouldn’t have to worry about job security. Still, fresh out of college I wanted to find a cushy desk job and try to get some use out of this degree that felt like a waste of money at this time. I ended up working for a real estate settlement agency until surprise surprise…. a lay off because I refused their new vaccination policy.

My uncle was right. So, I turned myself over to TMC to start my new career September 26.

After reading this form, some recommended articles, and Solo’s phenomenally detailed diary, I decided, while flatbed might be a physical challenge, that I’m ready to put in a hard days work. I also always fantasized driving heavy, oversized freight one day. Maybe it’s that Napoleon complex I have, being 5’1” and all… (ha ha)

I will be attending my 3 week orientation training in Columbia, SC. My recruiter, Kelly, has been a pleasure to communicate with. She has been nothing but honest with me. She is a relatively new recruiter, so some of the questions I had she didn’t know, but was prompt with getting me an answer as quickly as she could. I also spoke to Paul, a TMC trainer on YouTube, known as White Collar Trucker who has also been a great resource. He started as a career switcher, went through CDL school at TMC, and is now a trainer.

With a CDL A permit in hand, a motor carrier atlas in the other, and a big smile on my face I’m so eager to learn the industry, get my feet wet, and get rolling -LITERALLY!!

I will update at the end of each week with an account of my experience through this entire process. Thank you again to the moderators, writers, and administrators of this website. You all are helping so much and I greatly appreciate the resources on this site.

Talk to you soon!

-Megalodon >:D

HI Youngun, thanks for commenting. The luxury of staying local and sleeping in my own bed during driving school is what kept me here in Phoenix for my training. Ultimately I'd like to leave Phoenix, as it (for me) is uninhabitable for several months of the year. Too darn hot! I've had my eye on Colorado and West Texas as places I'd like to live in the future, but for the next year or two, I imagine the Phoenix terminal of Swift (company headquarters) will be my home base. I want to learn to excel at long haul, over-the-road trucking. With that as my goal, I won't be "home"in Phoenix very often, and I am OK with that.

Best of luck to you! I will watch for your posts.

I was originally going to go with SWIFT. However, after being told that I can do the training in my home state of Oklahoma and stay at my house, I found out that I would still have to pay back the cost of a hotel room as well as the training that will becoming out of my check weekly for the first year.

I decided to join CFI, and I am currently in Neosho, MO about to take my skills test in 2 days.

Good luck!

23 August 2022

Sandman, that computerized voice was not helpful! Thanks for the heads up, I was warned by you!

Michael, here's my observation from recently going through the permit testing. I like what Charles has taught you, read each question twice, think about what questions have to be wrong. I'm in Illinois so your experience could be different, but at the computer, I had to have headphones on and a robot voice read each of the questions. This threw me off at first because I was trying to read at a pace normal to me but which was not in line with the voice. So I waited for her to finish her script, then I read the question myself and pretty much did what Charles told you to do. I think that helped me a lot.

Swift is high on my list so I'm eagerly following your journey. Anyway, if you happen to see this before your test, hope it might help. Good luck!

This is the kind of trucking story I want to read hundreds more of! It helps me imagine what life as a driver will be like once I graduate from the Swift Academy here in Phoenix in October.