Profile For BJess

Congrats BJess, that's great. Scoring a gig there is an accomplishment. If you ever felt like jumping over to the Walmart side, you'd be in a perfect position to do so. Or you can run that out with Swift indefinitely if it's a better fit. Good luck!

Thank you all! Yes I agree it’s big accomplishment. The nice thing is it’s just a simple transfer so all my benefits and things that have kicked in are fully intact. I thought about the possibility of moving to Walmart in time but one step at a time. Swift has been good to me and if you ever get tired of what you’re doing for them there are always options. A lot of people knock the big companies but they do come with as much upside as they do downside. Kinda like everything in life I suppose?!?!?!

Well I decided to follow the advice of most on this forum and stay at Swift rather than chase something that I probably won’t find any quicker than I’ll find it here. Had a decent paycheck today with gross at $1100.

That said, I got the call from Swift Walmart Dedicated out of Cocoa, Fl yesterday and jumped on the opportunity. The pay sounds fair and should be far better than what I’m doing now. Even if it was the same....I’ll be home daily with a set weekday off so life planning just got easier. The territory isn’t very large but it’s the central east coast of Florida west to the east side of Orlando so there’s a lot of stores packed in a small footprint.

I’ll be starting either Sunday or Monday depending on this tropical storm out there at the moment. They’re giving a few days of training on how the account works and I will be paid for the runs versus a training pay which is nice. I only live 20 minutes from the DC so I’ll be home daily as well. I expect that I’ll do very well on the account because I have built my stamina running the dedicated nestle water account and can handle an unpredictable schedule. I’ll keep posting to keep updates on how things go.

You obviously need your personal hygiene stuff including a couple bath towels and a sleeping bag/blanket and pillow. When I was training I took 1 backpack with hygiene stuff and a good size duffel bag with clothes and snack food. As for clothing, talk to your trainer and see what his plans are for going home during your training and ask his recommendation for how much to bring. My trainer at Swift went home weekly as did I so he emphasized packing lightly. By the 3rd week I brought 4 changes of clothes. It’s tight quarters with 2 grown men in these things so think what’s necessary and what’s not.

Again, ask your trainer when you speak prior to going out if at all possible. Every driver is different. I’m a less is more person but my trainer had crazy amounts of stuff in the truck.

Congrats and good luck!

So it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I was fairly active keeping you informed with my progress through training but as you all know one can be fairly busy out here day to day....especially on a dedicated account.

So I’m looking for some input from the long timers/old timers. Didn’t want to infer that anyone is older than they feel but ya know what I mean. Just a quick reminder this isn’t my first go around in this industry but with the time lapse I had to go thru training and am glad I did. I’m back at Swift for my second time and things are pretty good. Miles are up and down but I do get home weekly for my reset plus a few hours most weeks.

In the 4 paychecks I’ve gotten this month the gross pay with mileage and extra pay due to detention and short haul is just under $3900 total. I do have full coverage insurance for me and family and started a 401k which they will start matching in a 2 more months. I average about 2200-2500 miles per week and have run as many as 3100 which left me thinking I could easily do 3400 even on this dedicated account with my time management skills.

Now for the question. In your opinion how do think I’m doing so far? Do you think I could better on a dedicated Walmart account or maybe regional OTR? Running 48 isn’t something I’m interested in doing and I truly want to take all the advice I read and stick it out for at least 1 year. The Walmart dedicated is in my home town and they run day cabs so it’s home daily gig. I’m really interested in that and mentioned in my first post that was my big picture goal.

Please chime in and lead this horse to water as I really just feel that I’m capable of running much harder to chase the bucks. After all....that’s why I’m out here doing this. 5 year plan to get debt free and then 5 year plan to reach a semi retired status.

Week one was a success in my opinion. Ran just over 2400 miles paid and was on time or early for everything. The 2400 miles turned into just under $1100 so again I feel it was a successful week. Got home Monday morning and will be heading back out Wednesday evening.

I already have 2 loads on me that will be nearly 600 paid miles. Both are drop and hooks at Walmart and Target DC’s so should be able to finish them both before shutting it down for a sleep break. Hopefully the rest of this week keeps getting dispatched this way.

The sliding pay scale at Swift is very beneficial for me. Starting out all my empty miles are .37 cents but I’ve had a couple trips pay .51 cents on the loaded and most of them fall between .44-.47 cents per mile. As somebody getting back in the industry after all these years the pay is really good.

For all the negative things you hear about Swift I’m not seeing them. I kinda think that The people that bash the company created their own problems. To me it seems like any job where you have a boss. If you keep your mouth shut and perform at a high level you will be successful. If you do the opposite you wont be successful. Pretty simple....I just want to make a good living.

Well things have started off well and not so well all at the Same time. First day on the job was dispatched nearly 500 miles on 2 separate loads. Had some wasted time at shipper but made the final destination with time to spare and 8 hours ahead of my appt time. Got up and delivered then finished my 10 to get a fresh start on the day. Pre trip revealed a flat drive tire so being only 30 miles from my terminal and an empty ultra lite trailer I ran back there. Shop had it changed before I got back from the shower so not a huge loss of time. Went up to grab my next load and 50 miles in blew a trailer tire. Loves here fairly quickly all things considered and getting me fixed up now. I should be able to finish off this load and start heading back for the next one. Already been committed/dispatched over 1000 miles in 2 days. Better luck and some practice on my time management and I just might have a good thing going....

Bjess

I’m All done with training as yesterday morning and am home for a couple days. I’m waiting to hear from them as to when they want me back up to do paperwork for the upgrade to solo driver and get my truck. I talked to a new driver on the account Friday and she was initially issued a 2017 freight liner. Within a month she was told to drive up to Greer, SC and pick up her brand new International. It seems most all the 2020-2021 models I’ve seen are Freightliners or Internationals. I haven’t seen any KW’s newer than 2019. My trainer said to hope for a 2017 this week so I can get a new truck very soon. My only real hope is that it has a fridge to help reduce my food expenses.

BJess

Can't say anything bad really. Seems the majority working in the offices are ex drivers and know the drill. Didn't take too long to get used to things again either. Learned what DEF was and how to elog. Oh, and SEARS shuttered its doors, oh well.

Most of our office people have driven as well. Some of them still do the casual driver thing I’m told which. It definitely helps to have people in there that understand how things really are.

BJess

Well almost done training. Doing pretty much everything on my own the past several days. It’s working out nicely as there seems to always be some type of challenge that I don’t exactly know how to overcome but most of that is with the Qualcomm. I did have a stubborn set of tandems that wouldn’t budge the other night because 1 of the pins keep engaging so I got a lesson on a few ways to solve that alone.

The set ups for my backing seems to have finally clicked and while I’m still using my pull ups to get it in the dock perfect I’m getting it in the slot fairly consistently on the first try now. Doing this dedicated account I’m sure to continue to get plenty of practice moving in reverse so I know that will continue to improve.

My trainer got a brand new truck this week so I have been able to ride around in a that this week. I have to say my favorite part is the brand new memory foam mattress....I’ve actually been able to sleep on the go for a change.

So I have 30 more hours of BTW training Before my road test and my own truck. Have a run up to Atlanta and back down to Florida tonight so I’ll easily knock out 10 hours there. It’s getting easier and easier to make those 8-10 hours runs as my body adjusts. I know it will get easier once I’m solo as I will definitely get much better sleep. Hoping to road test Friday or go home for weekend and do it Sunday/Monday. I spoke to the manager for this dedicated account and he confirmed adding me to the team. Seems there are plenty of miles if you’re willing to run them and only stop for the breaks required by DOT. I’m still quite happy with Swift and my treatment by everyone so far. I’ve said before, but I definitely made a good choice for my situation in life.

Just who are you running for?

I went with Swift and quite happy that I did. The overall opportunities were the best option for me. I’ll be running a dedicated account once I finish up training. I like the dedicated thing. I see how my trainer has built relationships at many of the shippers and receivers. He also knows a lot of the truck stop employees because he’s in the same places so often. It makes things fairly routine. The new trucks with tv and refrigerators are really nice too. Hopefully I will run the east coast of Florida a lot so I can get by the house a couple times a week for my off duty time to shower eat and sleep. The 34 hour reset will always be at home.