Swift Travel Lanes

I'm looking into Swift, but can't find what a typical driver's month will be like. My recruiter, I suspect, is only telling me what I want to hear.

My question is do they typically keep you in a region as an otr driver, or will they bounce you around the lower 48. Are planners assigned to regions? How does that work?

I'd much prefer bouncing around. Seeing the country is one of the reasons I'm doing this. I'll be one of those drivers who won't care where they send me, as long as I'm not stuck in a particular region indefinitely.

Hey Turtle...including myself there are at least 6 active Swifties actively contributing to the forum; Errol, Paul, Devon (Gladhand), and Tractor Man come to mind. I apologize if I missed anyone.

Each of them has documented their trials and tribulations, successes and at times failures. If you enter their individual names in the search bar, the search engine will return their most recent posts. This might be a good place to start while you wait for specific replies from them and others.

As for me I am on a Dedicated Walmart account running in the Northeast. Although this doesn't sound like what you want to do, Tractor recently ran Walmart surge and was quick to offer that he believed the experience helped further his career.

As a dedicated driver I can request to run out of other Walmart DCs. For instance, my daughter just gave birth to my first Grandchild. They live in Indianapolis. My DM has already offered to dispatch me on an Indy load and let me run out of the Muncie DC for a week or two to visit with them (I didn't ask, they offered). Point is, even on a dedicated regional account, once you have built up a solid performance record they will work with you if you want to stretch your wheels a bit.

Good luck and be safe.

Turtle, I can't offhand remember what part of the country you live in. I'm in So California and I've been bounced all over the country. In the 3 1/2 months I've been OTR I've been literally everywhere except the northeast corner and Florida. I usually seem to get a nice long haul out to wherever they need drivers and then I'll work that area of the country for a week or so. Then shipped off to another area, rinse and repeat. It's pretty much exactly what I wanted. Recently they asked me to come back to So California and work Western 11 regional and that's working out pretty well also. I've had 34 resets all over the country as well. Dallas, KC, Nashville, Missoula MT, Spokane WA, Little Rock AR, Las Vegas, Reno NV, and several others. Heck, I've only taken home time here in California once so far, I've spent 3 days in Phoenix, 4 in Reno and I'm heading back to Phoenix for Thanksgiving. I don't think you'll have any problems seeing the country.

JJ

Oh, every area / section of the country has it's own set of planners.

JJ

Excellent, that sounds like just what I'm looking for. I live in NY, and I've never been west of Kentucky.

As I said earlier, I'm going to be the kind of driver a dispatcher loves. Wherever they need me to go, I'm on it. The more bouncing around, the better.

Eventually I'll settle into a dedicated or regional account, perhaps. Or maybe I'll just love otr so much, I'll keep rolling. For now, I want to see it all.

Thanks

I'm in pretty much the same boat you are and from NY too. I've seen much of the country but it's never enough. I'll be taking my permit test tomorrow, got my med card today. Also hoping for Swift above anyone else.

Excellent, that sounds like just what I'm looking for. I live in NY, and I've never been west of Kentucky.

As I said earlier, I'm going to be the kind of driver a dispatcher loves. Wherever they need me to go, I'm on it. The more bouncing around, the better.

Eventually I'll settle into a dedicated or regional account, perhaps. Or maybe I'll just love otr so much, I'll keep rolling. For now, I want to see it all.

Thanks

I am mainly in California, Arizona, Utah, and new mexico. Part of the reason for that is I hinted to my dm that I like this area and I seem to stay around it. However if you are willing and also just ask once in a while they will have you everywhere. I been out to most of the country except the north east and upper Midwest (Wisconsin, Dakotas, and Minnesota). Nice part about this big company is we have the frieght. One thing I notice however is each month tends to be regional in a way. Like when I was in the southeast I seemed to mainly stay that way. There is a cross country run here and there but those usually go to the more experienced solo guys and to teams.

I did reefer for six months before switching to dedicated. I stayed mostly in the Midwest and western 11. I spent alot of time on I80. When I switched to Miller Coors (dedicated) I got to see some of the states I'd missed before. If you do reefer, there are still planners for different regions but they are all based out of Salt Lake. My experience has always been, if I want to go to a specific region I just ask and they usually give me what I asked for. If you want to see the country and also try different things, Swift is a good place to go. They have tons (no pun intended) of freight and so many dedicated and local accounts it's hard to keep track of all of them. You could literally spend years trying out all the different accounts Swift has, getting to know how each one runs differently. Of course they prefer you find a position you're happy with and stick with it, but if you get too bored in one spot it's pretty easy to switch to something else without changing companies or burning any bridges.

Brian and Turtle,...Swift has numerous opportunities for Dedicated running. Not sure if you live within proximity of Johnstown NY, but Swift runs the transportation aspect of the Walmart DC up there. Something to keep in mind for future reference.

I see on your bio you are from NY. What part? I'm from Suffolk county, Long Island, but ooooh I love upstate. Swift would probably love it if you were a city boy.