Profile For Whitney J.

I'm a team driver and I work for Swift. I just finished school back in January. We are on Dole dedicated. So far our highest check has been $4,023 for one week. However, that was a Great week. We drove 6,000 miles to make that. We average 4,000-5,000 miles a week. As team company drivers you will make way less. The best way of getting consistent miles is on a Dedicated fleet. If you aren't on dedicated you will have to relay on your driver manager to get you loads. Which is up to otr planners to give the loads to the DM. So basically Theresa so many hands in the process of getting loads. It will never be steady. You will have good weeks, okay weeks and very bad weeks. A lot of times they will give you loads that are for a solo. Which at that point you will have to stay proactive and demand the delivery/appt date to be changed. So you can get the load delivered within a shorter time frame and be available to get your next load right after.

Continued... Now to end on a positive note. Obviously there is a good side. Otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here in my truck right now.

Bottom line is this. While working for Swift as a new company driver you will not make good money. You will get GREAT experience and a nice newer truck to work and live in. If you stay positive and realistic during your first 6 months then you will be able to explore other opportunities within the company. Such as lease owner op or become a mentor. Also Theres dedicated fleets to get on. All those opportunities are very profitable!! It does however take tough skin, patience , lifestyle change and a hustle mentality. This is also a very free feeling type of career/lifestyle. You don't have a boss breathing down your neck. There's no repetitive schedule. It's always something new. Well for your first year that is. You will travel this beautiful country. You will see some cool stuff. You will gain skills that will carry you for the rest of your life. Because having a class A drivers license is something that will always get you a job. No matter your age or where you live. Truck drivers are always needed.

Good luck and remember to stay positive. It's awesome to be a female truck driver and shocking these men out here.

Whitney

Hi Christina

I'm a female driver and I work for Swift. Just to let you know some very important things going into it....I'm going to give it to you 100% straight. You won't hear this honesty during your school and training. Not will your recruiter or Orientation leader either.

School at Swift is taught by TDA. It's an average at best program. You will be taught the basics in order to pass your federal cdl test. Which as you know is pretrip , 3 backing maneuvers and then road test. I'm sure you will do fine on all tests. As long as you stay calm and focused.

Now here's what has been challenging for at least 20+ that I knew from my class when I was in school. Everyone came to school thinking they would make $1,000 per week once their training was complete and they had their own truck. That absolutely does not happen. Luckily my husband has worked for the company for 3yrs and I only got my cdl so that I could become a team with him. He's an owner operator. I knew the earning potential for husband/wife team. Which btw is totally worth it.

Now as for new drivers. You will be upgraded to "company employee driver" and put in a truck of your own after your 200 completed hrs with your mentor. Which will probably be the most challenging plart of the entire training process. I still to this day only know 2 people that had good experiences with mentors. I've yet to hear from a female of a good experience. Fyi, swift is very short of female mentors. So that will be difficult too. Once you do upgrade you will be on your own. It will be very intimidating. There's so many things to know and do that even mentors don't teach you.

As a company drivers you will be expected to be out 6 days a week every week for a minimum of a year. Home time can't be any longer then 3 consecutive days. If you take 4 days they will take your truck and give it to someone else. The reason I say year is because you sign a contract stating you agree to pay swift back for your school. It's $75 taken out of your check every week. It's actually not a bad deal at all considering you pay nothing out of pocket for school and training. Then you have a job and truck immediately after. Just STICK WITH IT A FULL YEAR. So many quit after 1 month. They think the grass is greener and other companies are better. However, they soon realize that trucking companies are all the same. Especially the big ones like swift. Now these people are in worse situations because they will get sued by swift for the student loan they agreed to pay.

You will not make $1,000a week. The most you will make as company driver is between $700-$800. That's very rare though. You have to drive an average of 2800-3000 miles in 1 week to make that amount. My husband made $800 one time during his first 6 months as company driver. On the 7th month he became owner op. Income increased drastically. However he was never home. I only saw him 4-5 days a month. So now we drive together.

You have to drive your butt off and cover as many miles possible to make an okay living. You will have to be smart when it comes to your budget. Shop in bulk at Wal-Mart. Don't spend at truck stops. You will be broke if you do. And it's sooo easy to do. You will be frustrated very often during the first 3-8 months. You will be a new driver with very little knowledge of the industry. There will be headache after headache dealing with your driver leaders and planners. These are people you must deal 24/7 while in your truck. They are the ones in control of your loads. Which determines your pay. Your check will never be what you expect. There will be at minimum 10 deductions taken out of your check every week. You will have days when you feel so angry and want to quit. It's difficult dealing with traffic, bad drivers, bad weather conditions,running out of drive time, truck stops with no parking available and then crappy driver leader and planners that screw up your loads. All that is a daily thing. Not always all at once but Be prepared for it. It's common to have your next few days planned out perfectly. Then all of sudden your loads is taken away and your plans are ruined. Now you have to sit in a parking lot in your truck until they find you more work.

Hello all! Im Christina

im excited. Last week I obtained my DOT physical and CDL A permit. I am going to Memphis Tenn to attend Swift Training. 😀😀 Any insights. Any suggestions? Right now im studying how to do preTrip Inspections on youtube.

what was rooming like? of course I want to be roomed with a female. What was training like briefly and on the road training?

im excited. look forward to reading replies