Swift Says They Have Too Many Trucks And It’s Hurting Their Profits

I would think that a good portion of the turnover is related to the large number of driving opportunities available to drivers too.

I agree. From all of my research, Swift is good as a starter company, but a lot of drivers move on to other companies once they gain the experience due to better opportunities elsewhere. I've also heard Swift likes you to leave after you've gotten your one or two years of experience so that they can pay less because the more experience you have the more they have to pay you. So that could also be a huge part of the turnover ratio.

Really? I am into my third year with Swift. Enough said.

You don't have to pay experienced drivers more, they do because they want to keep them. If you have the skills to pay the bills and experience, that makes your time a more valuable commodity and more companies will bid for your labour. That's just competition, supply and demand econ 101 stuff man, simple as that.

LittleTrucker wrote:

I agree. From all of my research, Swift is good as a starter company, but a lot of drivers move on to other companies once they gain the experience due to better opportunities elsewhere. I've also heard Swift likes you to leave after you've gotten your one or two years of experience so that they can pay less because the more experience you have the more they have to pay you. So that could also be a huge part of the turnover ratio.

Really? I am into my third year with Swift. Enough said.

LittleTrucker, I respect and appreciate that you took the time to do your research, just having a tough time accepting the validity of your above comment. I can tell you for a fact that Swift will make every reasonable effort to retain their experienced and skilled drivers. I know this through first-hand experience and from the relationships built with the DMs and planners I work with every day. Like I said above; "into my third year", and as of now am quite content to stay with Swift for many reasons. In the last year alone there have been several policies implemented to improve the driver experience and offer incentive based pay for both safety and performance. I can not say this is across the board but this has definitely occurred in my assigned "Walmart Dedicated" terminal. As a result my income has steadily risen every year since I started with Swift. I cannot stress this enough, when Swift has a good, solid driver (no accidents, 100% OT delivery record, a "go-to" performer) that they have invested in, they do not want them to leave or as you implied, "encourage them to leave".

The best example of this occurred to me about 11 months ago. I applied to two local companies within a mile of where I live, just "kickin' tires" per say. I road-tested with one and got an offer (the other company was too small). From everything I researched, it was a good solid company, been in business for 65 years, good reputation with their customers and drivers. Swift was able to see that this company checked into my driving record. Long story short, the Swift terminal manager and my DM met with me and basically asked, "what can we do to keep you with us"? They approached me,... I did not resign at that point. We talked, I made some suggestions on account training, incentive bonuses, and a request for routing me through my home town on a more consistent basis. That was last December,...I am still with Swift, do not feel like a "number", making a good living, able to select the runs that I want, and part of a core driver team that actively participates in overall quality improvement & proactive account training for new drivers. You won't see this written on any of the "bashing" blogs cause it does not stir-the-pot and make for interesting reading. However it is a true story and belongs on this forum so that perhaps it can serve as a valid data-point for a future driver researching companies.

I completely agree there are many, many opportunities available when a driver has over a year of demonstrated safe driving and on-time delivery experience. But those same opportunities (and possibly more) might possibly exist within the company you started with. Just saying..."the grass always seems greener on the other side".

LittleTrucker wrote:

I agree. From all of my research, Swift is good as a starter company, but a lot of drivers move on to other companies once they gain the experience due to better opportunities elsewhere. I've also heard Swift likes you to leave after you've gotten your one or two years of experience so that they can pay less because the more experience you have the more they have to pay you. So that could also be a huge part of the turnover ratio.

Really? I am into my third year with Swift. Enough said.

LittleTrucker, I respect and appreciate that you took the time to do your research, just having a tough time accepting the validity of your above comment. I can tell you for a fact that Swift will make every reasonable effort to retain their experienced and skilled drivers. I know this through first-hand experience and from the relationships built with the DMs and planners I work with every day. Like I said above; "into my third year", and as of now am quite content to stay with Swift for many reasons. In the last year alone there have been several policies implemented to improve the driver experience and offer incentive based pay for both safety and performance. I can not say this is across the board but this has definitely occurred in my assigned "Walmart Dedicated" terminal. As a result my income has steadily risen every year since I started with Swift. I cannot stress this enough, when Swift has a good, solid driver (no accidents, 100% OT delivery record, a "go-to" performer) that they have invested in, they do not want them to leave or as you implied, "encourage them to leave".

The best example of this occurred to me about 11 months ago. I applied to two local companies within a mile of where I live, just "kickin' tires" per say. I road-tested with one and got an offer (the other company was too small). From everything I researched, it was a good solid company, been in business for 65 years, good reputation with their customers and drivers. Swift was able to see that this company checked into my driving record. Long story short, the Swift terminal manager and my DM met with me and basically asked, "what can we do to keep you with us"? They approached me,... I did not resign at that point. We talked, I made some suggestions on account training, incentive bonuses, and a request for routing me through my home town on a more consistent basis. That was last December,...I am still with Swift, do not feel like a "number", making a good living, able to select the runs that I want, and part of a core driver team that actively participates in overall quality improvement & proactive account training for new drivers. You won't see this written on any of the "bashing" blogs cause it does not stir-the-pot and make for interesting reading. However it is a true story and belongs on this forum so that perhaps it can serve as a valid data-point for a future driver researching companies.

I completely agree there are many, many opportunities available when a driver has over a year of demonstrated safe driving and on-time delivery experience. But those same opportunities (and possibly more) might possibly exist within the company you started with. Just saying..."the grass always seems greener on the other side".

I'm not knocking Swift or anything. That's actually the company I'll be training with soon. It's just something I've heard from a few of the current drivers as well as a few articles. All I was saying is IF it's a true statement, it could explain the turn over ratio. Of course there are some drivers who have been there years. Errol is another one, and he's a good driver at that. But I've asked around. I've run into a few drivers and asked them. And again it's just something I heard. I guess everybody has their own opinion on it. Which is fine because it will sway my decision to start with them.

I'm not knocking Swift or anything. That's actually the company I'll be training with soon. It's just something I've heard from a few of the current drivers as well as a few articles. All I was saying is IF it's a true statement, it could explain the turn over ratio. Of course there are some drivers who have been there years. Errol is another one, and he's a good driver at that. But I've asked around. I've run into a few drivers and asked them. And again it's just something I heard. I guess everybody has their own opinion on it. Which is fine because it will sway my decision to start with them.

I meant to say it won't sway my decision to start with them. Lol phones these days

LittleTrucker wrote:

I'm not knocking Swift or anything. That's actually the company I'll be training with soon. It's just something I've heard from a few of the current drivers as well as a few articles. All I was saying is IF it's a true statement, it could explain the turn over ratio. Of course there are some drivers who have been there years. Errol is another one, and he's a good driver at that. But I've asked around. I've run into a few drivers and asked them. And again it's just something I heard. I guess everybody has their own opinion on it. Which is fine because it will sway my decision to start with them.

Not saying that you are bashing Swift. And yes Errol is absolutely a great example. What you may have heard from others was opinion based and possibly only part of the truth, maybe or maybe not. Who really knows. For the most part, what I shared was not an opinion.

The attrition rate for drivers is industry wide and not an isolated problem specific to Swift. When you look at just the tip of the iceberg, it appears to cost more for a company to carry an experienced driver (because of higher pay). However when you look below the surface, an experienced driver is far less likely to have an accident, have a safety violation, have issues with shippers/receivers and will complete their runs within the allotted delivery window. They are lower risk and a known asset for on-time-delivery. Considering all of those elements, an experienced driver actually costs the company less money, directly and indirectly. However if an experienced driver is a marginal performer, constantly whines and complains, communicates poorly, then yes, by all means there may be pressure applied for that person to move on. I don't know the actual breakdown of the attrition rate, but I would bet that drivers leaving the trucking industry (voluntarily or in-voluntarily) all together, makes up the majority of the number.

Like every one of the major TL and LTL's, driver retention for Swift is a very high priority and if accomplished (even a small percentage) improves most of the obvious indicators used to measure operational performance.

Best of luck in your pursuit of a trucking career. Swift was a good choice for me, hopefully in a years time you can share a similar story.

Other drivers are a great resource for how a company treats its drivers, pretty policy, etc. Other drivers are - - ->> NOT <<- - - a good source of other company policies, like churning the driver pool.

Experienced drivers are worth every penny they get because they don't mess up. New drivers don't get paid so much because they're new and most have a tendency to mess up or at least be slower.

The thing about "letting experienced people go and hiring new people because they work for cheap" is an ancient piece of scuttlebutt. I have heard this story in other places including about taxi drivers and even school teachers. Don't believe it, and after this, don't repeat it.

As for attrition rates for truck drivers, the big piece is drivers who either move to another company, or give up because they figure out it's really not for them.

The percentage for ones who are let go/fired, is about as much as the percentages of some of the Republican Presidential candidates.

You know Ive talked to a few smaller truck company owners i know and they are saying since the cost of diesel is down they are just not paying as much for the same loads and the flood of new drivers this year was much more than previous years of course alot of them wont be able to handle it even now there wait times are getting a lil worse the appointment times are tightening up but I have learned from all you veterans that the market does this from time to time and the safe and slow will keep running all year and the fast nascar truckers will go broke tryin to make money... trucking tricks drive slow look at everything twice always keep a jug of bio-coolant in the sleeper just in case pilots floor is too cold at 3am XD