Trucking Co. Is A "Broker"?

I am attending CDL School, in the 2nd week of four, and know little to nothing yet re: how some things work regarding the ownership of trucking companies, carriers, brokers, and leasing from one outfit to another...so my questions may be about things that are "normal", but to someone who is new to all of this, this situation made me want to ask questions:

Recruiter for a company named DSW came to class. Afterwards when I look up company name in Google I found their website at DSWDRIVERS.COM, but when I ran the DOT Number from the side of the truck it comes back as "SWIFT LEASING LLC". Then at a site called http://www.quicktransportsolutions.com/ I entered DSW Trucking, with no results, but just DSW came back with a match to DSW Brokerage., with a different physical address from the one on the brochure given out by the recruiter in the class.

Is the DOT Number on the side of a company's Tractor unique to that Tractor (ie. a company with five tractors would have five DOT Numbers) or is the number the same on all five tractors?

If one were hired by DSW would they really then be working for Swift, since that is who the DOT Number on the side of the truck links back to? I heard through the rumor will that was the case in this instance...and that a cpl. drivers claimed that when calling their DM (at DSW) from the road about issues they were told to call Swift...but I have no way of knowing if these stories are accurate.

Anyone have any information regarding this situation they care to pass along to a student such as myself?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

I am attending CDL School, in the 2nd week of four, and know little to nothing yet re: how some things work regarding the ownership of trucking companies, carriers, brokers, and leasing from one outfit to another...so my questions may be about things that are "normal", but to someone who is new to all of this, this situation made me want to ask questions:

Recruiter for a company named DSW came to class. Afterwards when I look up company name in Google I found their website at DSWDRIVERS.COM, but when I ran the DOT Number from the side of the truck it comes back as "SWIFT LEASING LLC". Then at a site called http://www.quicktransportsolutions.com/ I entered DSW Trucking, with no results, but just DSW came back with a match to DSW Brokerage., with a different physical address from the one on the brochure given out by the recruiter in the class.

Is the DOT Number on the side of a company's Tractor unique to that Tractor (ie. a company with five tractors would have five DOT Numbers) or is the number the same on all five tractors?

If one were hired by DSW would they really then be working for Swift, since that is who the DOT Number on the side of the truck links back to? I heard through the rumor will that was the case in this instance...and that a cpl. drivers claimed that when calling their DM (at DSW) from the road about issues they were told to call Swift...but I have no way of knowing if these stories are accurate.

Anyone have any information regarding this situation they care to pass along to a student such as myself?

Thank you for your time and assistance.

Digby Southwest Inc. Tucson AZ www.dswdrivers.com

Best I can determine they are an owner operator (O/O) company leasing trucks through Swift and likely tapped into Swift's logistics system (possibly explains the Swift DM getting involved). There are many O/Os working through Swift, DSW appears to be one of the larger operators.

I know an O/O who leases three trucks through Swift. Two teams work for him and he runs the third truck. He is incorporated, pays his drivers through his payroll, and is not a corporate affiliate of Swift. However most of the time he is moving Swift freight in Swift wagons, tapped into their systems (dispatch).

Perhaps some of the other Swift drivers on this site can shed additional light on this. Swift's DOT number is 054283 and appears on all of their tractors.

Thank you for the reply.

When the DOT Number on the DSW Tractors came back as Swift, I thought I'd mis-typed it and after I realized I'd typed it correctly that was when I started wondering about the situation...as I said I am still in school and know nothing about how all of this works, but assumed that DSW would have their own DOT Number on their tractors.

I believe G-Town is correct. Prime is another company that has a lot of "sub-companies" I guess you could call em.

They are independent companies that lease their trucks on with Prime or Swift. You will be paid by the company and you're an employee of the company. You would not be an employee of Swift or Prime but you would be pulling their trailers loaded with their freight.

In general I would say you should avoid these companies in the beginning of your career. I don't know what advantages they could possibly offer over driving for Prime or Swift directly. They might have fancier trucks? I don't know. But if you're working for them and they're leased on with another company than you're basically working for a middleman. It's best to just avoid that for now and go with the main company itself.

Maybe at some point down the line you'll come across a situation like that and find some advantages in it. I don't know, really. I've come across several companies like that and couldn't find any advantages to working for them other than having a fancier truck.

I believe G-Town is correct. Prime is another company that has a lot of "sub-companies" I guess you could call em.

They are independent companies that lease their trucks on with Prime or Swift. You will be paid by the company and you're an employee of the company. You would not be an employee of Swift or Prime but you would be pulling their trailers loaded with their freight.

In general I would say you should avoid these companies in the beginning of your career. I don't know what advantages they could possibly offer over driving for Prime or Swift directly. They might have fancier trucks? I don't know. But if you're working for them and they're leased on with another company than you're basically working for a middleman. It's best to just avoid that for now and go with the main company itself.

Maybe at some point down the line you'll come across a situation like that and find some advantages in it. I don't know, really. I've come across several companies like that and couldn't find any advantages to working for them other than having a fancier truck.

FYI - DSW seems to cater to the actively retired driver. Drive a week, play golf for a week. Interesting.