I just signed up today on here and happy to be apart and to hear from other truckers and new upcoming truckers as well. I am trying to become a trucker myself and I am trying to get on with Swift since they have the closest Terminal for Over the Road. Plus, they are the only company that will work with me at this time because of my past 10-12 years ago.
I have also heard of so many bad reports on Swift but I feel that I should not judge company's unless I have dealt with them in person.
I am currently studying for the Swift online Course then go to Step 3 of getting my Dot testing done. Step 4 is getting my CDL permit. Once done then I will be going to Swift Academy.
I am a little afraid that I won't be able to keep a 85% average in order to stay in the School.
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
So far so good I head out tomorrow with mentor
Have a blast and best of luck to ya! Focus hard on staying relaxed and taking your time, especially in tight places.
And do everything you possibly can to be humble and get along well with your trainer. Even the harshest of people can be incredibly knowledgeable.: The experience may not be Disneyworld, but you can do so much to keep things peaceful and relaxed so you can focus on learning and keep moving forward. Hopefully you'll get the nicest person in the world, but regardless, do all you can to keep things civil and relaxed.
Here is a cool set of articles, written by a former trainer, that will really give you some interesting things to think about before heading out:
The trainer is under a lot of stress too. They're responsible for everything that happens and they're putting their lives in the hands of a student driver. It's a lot for them to take on, too.
Tony, welcome aboard!
You sound like a guy who has already turned things around and now you're ready to move on to even the next level by getting your CDL. Awesome for you, man! Whatever that trouble was I hope it's the last for ya and things just keep getting better from here. We don't even need to know what it was, it doesn't matter. Better things ahead.
I have also heard of so many bad reports on Swift but I feel that I should not judge company's unless I have dealt with them in person.
We're really huge fans of going into your training with a great attitude and focusing on yourself. That's what we always hope to instill in people before they head out for training.
It always amazes us that so many people enter this career relentlessly obsessing over how these companies are being managed. These are the largest, most successful companies in the nation. They are being managed beautifully, in fact, and they've all had the highest level of success in this industry for decades.
So hey, who the heck would you rather go work for, right? Some tiny little company with ten old clunkers in the yard struggling to stay alive each day?
Hell no!
I want to go work for some super huge, really successful company with a gigantic fleet of brand new trucks that obviously knows what they're doing and are going to be around for a very long time. Personally, when I got started in trucking, I didn't give a bouncing baloney what company I went to work for. Whoever was going to put me in some beautiful $100,000 rig and let me run around the country in it making a solid paycheck is the company for me!
And in fact that's no joke. That's pretty much what happened. A huge company, Gainey Transportation, just down the road from the school sent a recruiter to our graduation party on a Saturday morning. He told me and a couple of other guys that if we wanted jobs we could follow him back to the office and he'd get our physical, drug screen, and paperwork out of the way today and we'd be assigned trainers right after that.
We all shrugged our shoulders and said, "Great. Lead the way!" And we all went to work for Gainey. But I didn't know the first thing about the company. I had seen their terminal down the road loaded with big, beautiful new rigs and that's all I needed to know. I knew I could be successful there if I did my job and handled myself right. And of course that was true. I had a grand time of it there. Great company.
Go into this with the best attitude, ready to knuckle down and work as hard as you can. I'm going to tell you right now that there will be times you will doubt yourself. There will be times you'll think you've chosen the wrong company, or the wrong career. You'll have some huge ups and downs over the course of those first few months especially, and it's going to rock your foundation a time or two.
It happens to everyone. Expect it. Stay the course.
Don't let anything deter you or distract you from your goal - to get your CDL and become a top tier professional driving beautiful equipment making a really nice salary. Don't let a crabby trainer or a disgruntled driver or even a friend or family member who doesn't like the decision make you doubt yourself or knock you off course. Because trust me, some people will try, and some just seem to have a knack for it.
Give your first company one full year and give it everything you've got. Then see where you stand. Heck, if you handle yourself right you'll see long before that year is up that having a great attitude and working your *ss off is the way to make it to the top in this industry. Our community here is full of people who have done exactly that for themselves and are sittin' pretty making top notch wage, driving brand new equipment, in dedicated fleets for their company's most important customers. That's where you want to be. It's totally doable, but it certainly isn't easy.
Here are some great materials to help you if you haven't seen them already:
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
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So far so good I head out tomorrow with mentor