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$Crazytrucker77
Jan 19, 2015
So
I have completed all my training and will be leaving to pick up my truck on
Wednesday. With that said I will tell you about my experience in a somewhat
brief thread.
Recruiting
First off take the majority of what you were told by the recruiter and chalk it
up to B.S. because they are paid to tell you things to get you in the program.
They will tell you some true things as far as the way the program works and how
long it will take but, they will flat out lie to you about some things such as
home time and my favorite thing a "guaranteed" job. I was told that
not only would I have some home time during my 5 week training if my mentor
used home time and I would also go home when my training was complete, but I
also would have a "guaranteed job when done. That is a line of bull. I had
to stay in a hotel during my mentors home time unless I wanted to pay for my
own way to go home and you are NOT "guaranteed" a job, it says it in
your contract. I will say this about the job situation, if you pass the course
you will most likely be hired.
Schooling
It was my experience that all the teachers there want you to succeed and will
do everything in their power to help you. Your first week will be class time to
prepare you for the CDL test. Be ready to study a lot and take the same practice
test over and over. You will have 3 or 4 chances to pass the test and if you do
you will move on to the truck training phase. If you don't you will be sent
home.
When you start training in the trucks you will learn three common backing
techniques, basic driving skills and how to conduct a pretrip inspection. The
three backing techniques are in line back (straight backing,) angled backing,
and parallel parking. How long it takes to learn them depends on you and your
skill level. The pretrip inspection seems intimidating but, in all honesty is
really easy. You will have a few days of practicing before testing on what you
learned. I will not go into testing requirements and stuff like that. If you
pass your backing, pretrip, and drive test then you will be sent out with a
mentor for 200 hours.
Mentor/ Driving
This is where the majority of your training happens. You will fine tune your
driving techniques and learn what life on the road is like.The type of
experience you have with your mentor depends on you and them. I had three
mentors and I got along with them all. Yes there were some trying times and
some great moments. You have to take the good with the bad. Remember you are
crammed into a small space with a complete stranger and you will get on each others
nerves. My best advice is to be adults and calmly discuss issues and try to
find a mutual agreeance. You can switch mentors but you will need a good reason
for the company to allow it. If you don't smoke they will do their best to put
you with someone who also doesn't smoke.
Comments
All I can say is my experience is a good one and I would recommend this school.
Be prepared for what you are getting into and take a lot more money then $200.
I would say double that at least. You need to take this seriously and don't
waste the instructors or other students time. You will need to study every day
because they are cramming three plus months of information into your brain in
less then three weeks. It is a lot to take in and can be overwhelming so it is best
to find a way to take a break every once in awhile and get away from it to
regroup yourself. I wish everyone who takes this journey luck.
So I was supposed to leave today to pick up my truck. I called my DM yesterday and she said there would be a plan ready for me. I call this morning and nothing was ready and she could not understand why. I think she was passing the buck on my development coordinator instead of taking her part in the issue. She told me they will get something together for me and so I sit here waiting. They better hurry up because I will not wait long. There are plenty of other companies looking for drivers and I will not hesitate to make some phone calls.
So I finally got my truck and will be leaving out for the road most likely Monday. Got to get a hold of my DM to see what the plan is.
I
am sorry that it has been a couple months since my last post. So here is what
has been going on. I have been all over the U.S. and have logged almost 25K
miles. I have seen some beautiful scenery and met some interesting people. I
have gotten pretty good at driving my rig and am getting much better at
backing. There are times I will purposely choose a parking spot that will
require me to be extra vigulent in an effort to fine tune my backing in close
quarters skills. With that said lets get into the grit of my experience. So I
have had two driver leaders now. When you go out on your own you will be put
with whats known as a development driver leader. After you hit 90 days on the
road you are switched to your permanent driver leader. I got along great with
my first DL great, but she could be difficult to contact sometimes. My second
DL was the exact opposite. Easy to get a hold of, but I did not get along with
him at all. He was one of those who wants you to run your ### off and that's
not what I am about. I will say this about my second DL he was on top of
keeping me rolling and making sure I got what I was supposed to get for my pay
rather or not I asked for it. I basically learned you have to find a common
ground with them and accept each others faults.
So lets talk about loads for a minute. I found myself running loads that were
short (400-800 miles) more often then not. I did run a few good loads that were
at least 1000 miles. The problem I had with my DL is they would not get another
load for me until I delivered the current one. This would cause me to have to
wait for awhile before picking up another load. Which is fine if you just got
done with a full day and needed to take your 10 hour break, but that was rarely
the case. I generally would try to get to my receiver within the first few
hours of my day so that I would not have to worry about running out of time to
find somewhere to park for my break. Most customers didn't allow you to park at
their facility.
An example for you would be this. I had a load that was due to be delivered
around 8am. I got up around 5am and was starting my day by 6am. I drove to the
receiver and got there around 7:15am. I was there for almost three hours while
they unloaded my truck. That means I left around 10am. Now I am 4 hours into my
day and waiting for my next load. I go to a truck stop to clean out my trailer
and deal with paperwork. I get my next load notification around 12pm and it
picked up around 100 miles away the next morning. So now I have only gotten
around 50 miles for the day due to having to wait for my next load. This
happens a lot. Another version would be a situation like this, but the next
load would be scheduled for pickup that evening and they expect you to drive
until your 14 hour clock runs out. I don't know about you but I am getting
tired after being up for 10 hours so trying to stay up for 14 while driving is
really pushing it.
When they plan trips they plan on you maxing your hours out so if you can drive
like that all the time then more power to you. I really think the most of the
planners have their head up their #####. I had to deny several loads that if
they would have took the time to look at the requirements of my current load or
my HOS they would know I can't do it so don't send it to me. There were several
times I would be sent a load that I couldn't pick up because I didn't have
enough hours of service (HOS) or it was due for pickup before my appointment
for my unload. Just last week they sent me a load that would have had to been
picked up at the end of my 14hr clock for that day. Which means that I would
have had to stay on site for my 10 hour break. On top of that I had a family
emergency and was going home after delivering my load that day. I would have
been happy to pick up the load and tcall it, but I wasn't gonna wait 12 hours
to get it. Anyway I was averaging around 1800 - 2000 miles a week which is
garbage. My truck was in the shop five times in three months for things that
could have been fixed the last time I was at a shop. I talked to several
drivers while I was out and the mileage I was getting was average for a company
driver. My favorite was someone that has worked for them for over a year and
was averaging 1500 miles a week because he wouldn't go owner operator.
About the owner op program. My mentors were all owner op and told me with the
acception of gas their expences for the truck were around $1100 a week. So I
did the math and showed them the figures. The owner op program pays $1.08 per
mile. The truck averages 6.0 mpg so if you do the math your making $0.63 cpm
after fuel cost. If you have an overhead of $1100 a week you would have to
drive 1750 miles before you make any money. So if your averaging 2700 miles a
week you made $600 dollars after overhead, but not including your maintenance
and repairs cost. So take 10% off that and you end up making $540 a week
profit. This is fine if you have no bills and no family to help support.
Especially if you factor your living costs into the equation. I averaged
spending $150 a week in food, laundry, personal needs, and eating out. You will
do a lot of eating out because you don't have time to cook very much. Even with
getting less miles I was making more then
So I am actually leaving Swift now and going to James Clark so my time with
swift is over. I would not go back due to all the problems I had with getting
the pay I was promised and the way they plan there loads. There is no reason
for you to have to sit for 12 hours before picking up your next load unless you
were taking your 10 after putting in a full day.
Lady Harris
May 18, 2015
Q: I have a question are used to work for central before Swift bought them is that a different now?? Does their physical make you do a sleep apnea test
A: Yes swift does a apnea test most companies do now. And also if your going thru the swift CDL you'll have no choice what fleet you go in dry or reefer
tangerineGT
Jun 28, 2014
I was here in Decatur at the swift office off panola rd from Monday to Friday. After testing they send you to Utah for 8 days ..that Monday you get there you will take the first test to get your class b permit. Once you pass that ...the next day you are in the trucks backing and driving. After that you go back for the Class A test which is 4 parts. You would know a lot because its pretty much what you started with in Atlanta. Once you pass and come back to Atlanta you have 60 days to get your license transferred over to the state Of georgia. There is no other testing needed. What sucks is it's 55 bucks to change it to Georgia.
Trygg
Aug 27, 2014
Q: Im thinking of central for a starter company. But I am curious of what's the average miles per week are? I know it's off topic but if y'all could help me out I'd appreciate it. Thanks
A:
I've always gotten an average of about 2800/wk as a solo.