Just Finished Swift After Being There About 15 Months, The Skinny On Em

Phox wrote:

By the way Phox, any carrier running trucks 7 days per week on a 24 hour schedule can legally run the 70/8 on-duty clock for their drivers. Most of the drivers on this forum (including Swift) run 70/8.

I know that, but he was saying he would have to drive 70 hours a week, I don't know if he meant the standard 7 day week that the rest of the world goes by or the 8 day week that truckers go by. either way it's next to impossible to drive for 70 hours even in an 8 day work week because that's the max you are are allowed on any form of on duty status in the 8 day work week, not just driving and you have to be on duty for pre trip, post trip, load and unloading. correct me if i'm wrong but that's what I was taught. Perhaps he meant you were going to be working for all 70 hours of that 8 day week, that could make sense however it's not what he said so that's why I asked for clarification.

He wasn't driving for 70 hours! He was on-duty for 70 hours and legally driving up to his 70th hour of on-duty time. His Qualcom (electronic logs) would have shut him down had he actually been driving beyond his 70th hour of on-duty time. I already said, Swift is on an 8 day, 70 hour on-duty clock. Most every major carrier on this website is on the 8 day 70 hour clock because they run 7x24x365.

He didn't clarify because it doesn't require clarification.

Welcome GM.

Were you assigned Walmart Grocery (reefer) or General Merchandise? I ask because it will determine the second part of my reply (I hear the moans of boredom already).

However this applies regardless; trucking is hard, no denying that and quite frankly many of Swifts' dedicated retail accounts are an added degree of difficulty far greater because of other variables (as you indicated) and many more elements that are not within our control (at least on the surface). I read through your post and honestly the overall theme I see here is you really were not on any one account long enough to establish yourself as anything more than a driver just passing through (yes, even for a year). Nothing special, "a driver number with available hours". Is management to blame for that? You were not on any one account long enough to learn and understand how to maximize your earning potential. I only have experience with Walmart Grocery (for 3 years) and I can tell you first hand that the planners and the DMs know that most new drivers on the account will not make it past their 6th month (half fail within 1 month). "It chews drivers up and spits them out" and it's not for everyone. Although I do not know how your DC is run from a Swift perspective, as far as Walmart's process, it's 95% consistent at every Grocery DC.

The only way you are ever going to make it on a Walmart Dedicated account (or any account for that matter) is to constantly work on the professional relationship with your DMs and planners, all the while safely, professionally, and efficiently performing your job. Sitting down with the terminal manager doesn't hurt once in a while either. Everyone new to this profession, take note, it's vital to your success, happiness, and yes also safety. As a driver it's our professional responsibility to take the initiative and make an effort to build this relationship with our driver manager(s). The notion of "us" vs. "them" doesn't work; the driver, DM , and Planner are a team. Period! I know every one of them and they know me, by my first name and they now how to reach me three ways to Sunday. We have a solid working relationship and we collectively get sh** done every day. We proactively work together so that our customer (Walmart) is happy. I never find myself stuck, waiting for something to happen, whining the "woe-is-me" sob story, allowing myself to be the "victim". Especially on any dedicated account, either get with "this" as part of your job, or get left behind. GM I would strongly suggest that you never completely understood how the Walmart account operates (including the stores and their management), and the relationship with your DMs and planners was ineffective. Otherwise most of your complaints could have been corrected.

And never once did I go 24 hours straight without sleep...that's on you Brother, not Swift or Walmart. Although I've had loads delayed (up to 8 hours) for a variety of reasons, I always knew how long I'd be sitting and basically accepted it and went back to sleep if it was pushing me into driving past 0200, or I professionally requested to be removed fro the delayed load and put on something else (another load) if it was available. Again...back to the relationship and managing it.

Granted I struggled mightily my first 3-4 months on Walmart, fortunately I never broke anything or got myself into an unsafe situation. Nothing could have prepared me for the Walmart account unless I trained for 5 weeks (which they do now) with a Swift Mentor assigned to the account. Even now I have the occasional "SMH" kind of day, but I work it out and if need be "professionally and unemotionally" involve the DM and/or planner and on occasion the terminal manager. Even so, I never once grossed (before taxes and insurance deductions) less than 800.00 for a 6 day work week. At about the 6 month mark, after I absorbed 90% of the Walmart learning curve and built the relationship with driver management, I rarely made less than 1100 per week. Really a shame you has such a bad experience. But again, I cannot stress enough how important the relationship is and I strongly believe it could have changed the outcome of your situation.

Phox, you're being way too literal. I don't care if I'm driving 11 hours in a day or 7 hours and spending 5 running the crane for a customer delivery, I'm still calling it driving. I'm sure that's what he meant in his description.

I know I'm literal, that's how I am.

There are a lot of people who come here and don't understand HOS even a little bit and if you tell them you drove for all 70 hours then they'll think you "drove" for all 70 hours... they don't know that you meant that in the term of "worked" for 70 hours as a mixture of on duty not driving and on duty driving.

One of the biggest points of this website is to be helpful, if you're not careful in how you word something and someone reads something the wrong way, well now you have not helped them and point of fact caused more problems for them.

The difference between me and the rest of the world is that I get all my questions answered as clear as possible, while it seems like everyone else could care less and just wants to get through it. But when push comes to shove and those other people run into problems... now they need to know that info, meanwhile I never run into them because I know already. make sense.

Phox, you're being way too literal. I don't care if I'm driving 11 hours in a day or 7 hours and spending 5 running the crane for a customer delivery, I'm still calling it driving. I'm sure that's what he meant in his description.

I know I'm literal, that's how I am.

There are a lot of people who come here and don't understand HOS even a little bit and if you tell them you drove for all 70 hours then they'll think you "drove" for all 70 hours... they don't know that you meant that in the term of "worked" for 70 hours as a mixture of on duty not driving and on duty driving.

One of the biggest points of this website is to be helpful, if you're not careful in how you word something and someone reads something the wrong way, well now you have not helped them and point of fact caused more problems for them.

The difference between me and the rest of the world is that I get all my questions answered as clear as possible, while it seems like everyone else could care less and just wants to get through it. But when push comes to shove and those other people run into problems... now they need to know that info, meanwhile I never run into them because I know already. make sense.

Yeah, makes perfect sense, you just informed us that you have all the answers.

Phox you ripped the guy (GM) for violating HOS rules. You ripped him for his bad attitude and you ripped him for making poor career choices. And you weren't even bold about it, you jumped a reply Brett made. Seriously?

You ripped a driver with 15 months of experience when you do not have your CDL. You are a student with 4 hours of supervised driving experience!

Take your own advice, be helpful, be careful what you write and don't create problems. Your words Phox. My advice to you; curtail the editorial commentary. Make sense?

I didn't rip on anyway, I said that what he said didn't make sense because it would have been an HOS violation and then I asked for clarification so we could all understand... if that's ripping on someone to you well then you sir are too soft skinned.

You act like I'm the only one who calls anyone out for having a bad attitude. don't sit their at your keyboard and tell me you did not get the exact same thought when you read his post, he got ****ed at a customer because they wanted to take his picture for an id... a company policy, because he had only gotten 3 hours of sleep. I even said I'd be grumpy too. It seems you want to get mad at me for doing what others on this forum do just because of my lack of experience. Just because I have not been a truck driver for as long as other does not mean I don't understand basic etiquette in the work force.

15 months of experience doesn't seem to have helped him much so I don't see the point in comparing to my 8 (not 4) hours of supervised experience in a truck.

Brett called him out on his attitude too... but I don't see you getting mad at him. Why... because he has more years of experience... so... doesn't make my same opinion any different. if you're going to get mad at one person's opinion you need to be fair and get mad at everyone who has the same opinion otherwise you're just being a bully picking on specific people for whatever reason you so choose.

This is not the first time you have tried to call me out on things and frankly I don't like it. you treat me as a lesser person just because I have less experience in the trucking industry.

I think what he meant to say is your a "know it all" but in reality, you don't ****, because you actually don't know until you've done it.

I didn't rip on anyway, I said that what he said didn't make sense because it would have been an HOS violation and then I asked for clarification so we could all understand... if that's ripping on someone to you well then you sir are too soft skinned.

You act like I'm the only one who calls anyone out for having a bad attitude. don't sit their at your keyboard and tell me you did not get the exact same thought when you read his post, he got ****ed at a customer because they wanted to take his picture for an id... a company policy, because he had only gotten 3 hours of sleep. I even said I'd be grumpy too. It seems you want to get mad at me for doing what others on this forum do just because of my lack of experience. Just because I have not been a truck driver for as long as other does not mean I don't understand basic etiquette in the work force.

15 months of experience doesn't seem to have helped him much so I don't see the point in comparing to my 8 (not 4) hours of supervised experience in a truck.

Brett called him out on his attitude too... but I don't see you getting mad at him. Why... because he has more years of experience... so... doesn't make my same opinion any different. if you're going to get mad at one person's opinion you need to be fair and get mad at everyone who has the same opinion otherwise you're just being a bully picking on specific people for whatever reason you so choose.

This is not the first time you have tried to call me out on things and frankly I don't like it. you treat me as a lesser person just because I have less experience in the trucking industry.

Not true, I call it like I see it. You are a student and I strongly believe you are in no position to offer advice or criticism in areas where you lack experience, especially when offering career advice to an experienced driver.

I have read where you called a driver an idiot for having an accident, called Texas DOT stupid, bashed Swift for how they train, criticized Sage and most of your instructors. I am sure I have missed a whole lot more.

Yes I have called you out and so have several others. Keep it real and this will be the last time I have an exchange like this with you.

Good night.

Phox got confused:

he was saying he would have to drive 70 hours a week, I don't know if he meant the standard 7 day week that the rest of the world goes by or the 8 day week that truckers go by.

Truckers do not go by an 8 day week. Never have, work is always on the seven days of the calendar. When someone says they drive 70 hours on a week, that's a 7 day week, like "the rest of the world goes by".

As a student, Phox, you have learned about something having to do with 70 hours in 8 days. That's an accounting tool, not done new-fangled calendar for truckers. I'm sure in your trucker studies no one said truckers use and 8 day week for anything but measuring their work load and for calculating recap time. This is a situation where a little bit of knowledge can be "dangerous".

You come on here like you have the experience to explain things, and you have been criticized for this. Just work from what you know, and have solid knowledge of. I started out here speaking from my experience on things I knew about, even while I was in school, and didn't pass judgement on things I didn't really have experience in.

I'm not telling you to "shut up", I'm asking you to stop coming on like Old School when you haven't even started yet.

As Errol said, you can run 70 hours in 7 days, but won't have recaps until the beginning of the eighth day.