Update On My Truckin Life

So I've been trucking along on Swift's Miller Coors dedicated account for the past four months and been enjoying it for the most part. I didn't get home as much as I wanted (still about two weeks out at a time) but I've been getting good miles and have had a very flexible schedule. I also had a great dispatcher who always kept me running and had a way of always getting me whatever I needed or asked for. He was also really easy to get in touch with. I got so spoiled working with him!

Basically, my plan was to stay on Miller Coors for another month or two and then switch to another account that would get me home more often. That plan was foiled when my dispatcher suddenly moved to a different dedicated account last week. I could have stayed on but I didn't think it was worth it since I'd have to get used to a new dispatcher all over again.

I started looking around at other fleets within Swift and narrowed it down to Walmart, Target, and Costco--all good fleets from what I could tell. The part I want to point out is that I had my pick of just about any fleet I wanted to drive on. Even with my less than pristine record at Swift (check out my thread High Risk Driver) I was given a chance to prove myself on a different fleet if that's what I wanted. I initially went with Costco, but about four days in, the Walmart fleet manager messaged me that he had a spot if I was interested. Here's the cool thing. I talked to my new dispatcher on Costco and asked if I could leave, apologizing the whole time for making her life so complicated. She told me it was totally all right and that if things didn't work out on Walmart I was always welcome back. She even said if ever just want to run a few runs here or there for her just give her a call. I was definitely impressed.

My first day out of the Loveland DC was yesterday so I'll post about my experience shortly.

I don't have time to write up something new, so I'm just going to share an email I wrote to a friend last night:

I think I've met my match. I started out bored with the training. Then got to the first stop and got really excited. It was actually tough to get in there--a pleasant surprise. I get kinda tired of these huge yards where there's no challenge whatsoever. I started getting a little overwhelmed with all the little procedural things I've never done before--mainly paperwork and macros. None of it is hard at all, just takes me forever since I haven't established a system yet. The driving is different too. No such thing as avoiding rush hour traffic now. My patience was starting to wear a little thin after hours of dealing with idiots cutting me off, not knowing how to merge, and so on. Tonight I barely made it back to the DC with 9 minutes left on my 14. I was so tired I could not park the trailer in the spot. I tried for almost half an hour and finally just asked the yard dog to do it for me. That never happens. I've parked in tighter spots plenty of times but I just couldn't focus tonight.

Some specifics. We generally don't park at this DC. Most of the dedicated drivers park at Johnson's Corner a few miles away (too far to creep unfortunately). The dispatching is handled by Walmart personnel. I tell them how many hours I have left on my clocks and they assign me the loads. Then I follow the proper procedures to notify Swift of my assignment and they dispatch me over the Qualcomm. Much different than up in Corinne where Swift has their own mini terminal within the DC and I just go through them for everything. GM is mostly drop and hook , unless we are delivering to a Neighborhood Market store.

The most notable detail of this account is that it's salaried. $200 each day I'm available to work. We usually work Tues to Sat and can work an extra day if we want. I prefer performance pay but this is ok since it's decent money. Problem is, I feel pressured. If Swift is paying me $200/day, they're gonna get their money's worth. I don't mind working hard, but it's nice to have the flexibility to take a few minutes off to go pick up a prescription or God-forbid eat something. I'll figure it out.

I'll try to keep updating this thread as I go so others have some sort of idea what it's like on Walmart. It's important to note that my experience on this account could be vastly different than someone else's experience at a different Walmart DC. Each DC follows the same procedures more or less, but the location can have a huge impact on your experience. Traffic and length of runs are the biggest differences I can think of off the top of my head.

Good to hear you got a good gig. I am planning to keep doing otr for the time being and hope to get on shuttle or winco dedicated in Phoenix in the future since I am planning to move there. Not easy to get, but hopefully I can get it some day.

Good to hear you got a good gig. I am planning to keep doing otr for the time being and hope to get on shuttle or winco dedicated in Phoenix in the future since I am planning to move there. Not easy to get, but hopefully I can get it some day.

Thanks man! Not sure yet if this will work long term for me but I'm gonna work hard at this for the time being. Best of luck with your plan! Sounds like you've really thought it through.

Not much to report for yesterday. Got up in the morning and went inside to let them know I was ready to go. A few minutes later they gave me a run going up to Rawlins. And you all know the rest... Barely made it to the store in the high winds (only had 25k in the box), dropped my loaded trailer in the door and hooked to the empty trailer there, then shut down. I managed to make it over to the TA at the next exit so I could get a much needed shower.

I did meet another dedicated Swiftie in the morning who gave me his number and told me more about how to do things on this account. There are only six of us on this account including me. I forgot too, on the first day the first person I met was a Walmart driver who said he started out with Swift on this dedicated account, so that's a good sign.

What's going to take some getting used to, is that I talk more to Walmart dispatch than Swift dispatch now. Walmart tells me where to go and what my deadlines are. I also call them whenever I leave a store or if I shut down for weather like I did yesterday. We don't have a weekend dispatcher on this fleet so I didn't talk to Swift dispatch at all yesterday.

Well today was interesting. I had the last day and a half off (would have been two whole days but I was stuck in WY) which I spent down in Colorado Springs with my family. I came back to Denver last night and spent the night in the truck. This morning I went in and they said Walmart didn't need us today and to check with the planners to see if they needed any local work done. They assigned me to take a couple of empty trailers to a paper plant maybe 10 miles away. That took me several hours by the time it was all said and done. I just finished and called in to do more work and they said I'm done for the day. Sooo I get the rest of the day off and I still get paid. I'll take it!

Well today was interesting. I had the last day and a half off (would have been two whole days but I was stuck in WY) which I spent down in Colorado Springs with my family. I came back to Denver last night and spent the night in the truck. This morning I went in and they said Walmart didn't need us today and to check with the planners to see if they needed any local work done. They assigned me to take a couple of empty trailers to a paper plant maybe 10 miles away. That took me several hours by the time it was all said and done. I just finished and called in to do more work and they said I'm done for the day. Sooo I get the rest of the day off and I still get paid. I'll take it!

Like I have said many times (and Patrick too), some days you are the bat, and some days you are the ball. Enjoy your half day for a full days pay...livin' large there Wally Driver.

Today, supposedly we were going to be busy most of the day and be released sometime in the afternoon so we could go home for Thanksgiving. Instead, I got a 360 mile run to the Supercenter in Spearfish, SD, which means I wouldn't have enough drive time to make it back to the DC. Oh well, I'm still fortunate to have most of the day off tomorrow and I'm allowed to bobtail home, so I'm very thankful for that.

I discovered today I don't hate Wyoming so much after all. I took 85 north to 585 to I90, which was actually pretty scenic. There was one spot I remember feeling like I should have brought a tent so I could just park and camp out about a mile or two from the road!

So far I'm liking this better than anything I've done before. There's alot more variety so it stays interesting. I also enjoy the extra backing and close quarters maneuvering I get to do on this. One of my favorite things though is pulling these trailers. Every one I've pulled so far is in immaculate condition. The one I'm hooked to right now is so pretty and shiny I had to do an extra long post trip tonight just so I could admire it. LOL.

I love Spearfish SD! Lived there for about 3 1/2 years while I was working in the oil fields. Great little town and having a small business college in town never hurt my dating prospects either. LOL

JJ