A Question For The Swifty's

Afternoon Gladhand, G-Town, and any other Swift drivers out there. I haven't been on here in a while however, I've been reading the posts. I'm in school and doing very well. I've gotten 2 pre-hires from companies. I asked the instructor today why we never get any info or recruiters from Swift to come in. And I kind of got the crooked eye. I have asked my friends who are drivers about swift and got bad reviews. Now I'm asking the 2 guys that I know work for Swift what is the deal with the bad reputation? I know swift is the largest company in the industry from what I'm seeing, and they have been around a long time. Can you guys give alittle insight on how it is to work for swift without getting into any trouble? I have been researching so many companies and there are good and bad reviews with them all. It really depends on who you ask and the drivers themselves. Thanks, Mark

Mark...

Yes Swift is huge and they also have a huge amount of freight. Swift is arguably the most maligned and also most misunderstood company in the trucking industry. They hire and fire more entry level drivers than any other carrier, so naturally they have more than their fair share of rookie follies that end up on YouTube and alleged bad experiences discussed ad nauseam on trucker websites. Lots of fodder that many times is reused and propagated as if it were brand new for a whole new batch of unsuspecting newbies to read and view. Horrifying. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Swift also has an incredible number of million plus mile drivers with no accidents,...you rarely "hear" about that. They next time you "hear" something bad about Swift, ask the individual if they ever worked for them and if so why is Swift so bad. Usually they will say "well I heard", and right there you basically diffuse further discussion because their knowledge is shallow unsubstantiated hearsay. If they actually did drive for Swift, 999 times out of 1000, you will find the driver was at odds with Swift for a series of critical mistakes and/or chronic unprofessional behavior. It's easy to then badmouth Swift to divert attention from the root cause of the falling out; driver error or unprofessional behavior and/or bad attitude.

In short I have been with Swift for over 4 years now, trained with them, stayed with them and have no intention of making a move at this stage of my life or career. They meet my needs, I make very good money, flexibility, have great working relationships with my DMs, Planners and Terminal Management. I am on a Dedicated Grocery Account servicing Walmart stores and Sam's and totally enjoy my job. There is a core of drivers at my DC/terminal that have been with Swift for 3 or more years, several with 10 years. I know of four drivers in the past two yeas hired by Walmart's Private Fleet from the ranks of experienced Swift drivers at the DC with Walmart Dedicated experience. That doesn't happen by accident (pun intended), it's by design.

I recently became a Grandfather for the first time. My Granddaughter lives with my daughter and son-in-law in a suburb of Indianapolis. Without asking, my DM offered to route me to the Muncie IN Walmart DC and run loads out of that region if I ever want to visit them for a period of time and then route me back home. I didn't ask,...it was offered, no conditions, no strings attached. How many so called "crappy" companies offer that to a driver? I have other stories just as compelling.

It's trucking so there is always challenges to overcome, hurdles to clear and bumps in the road. Nothing has occurred that I wasn't able to work out or manage while at Swift. Are they perfect? No. But contrary to popular belief, a professional and safe driver can succeed with Swift and any other several dozen companies I can think of off the top of my head. This job is about performance,...pure and simple. Those who figure it out and perform,...tend to refrain from posting any information because they are too busy earning a living and running their a** off. Those that can't perform have all the time in the world and typically will take the "time" to post negative and false information, telling anyone who will listen or read how they were horribly wronged by Swift. Call a Swift recruiter,...they will talk with you.

Here is a link of posts I have made regarding Swift: Swift Posts and Replies

Good luck. I am sure Gladhand, Tractor, Paul, Errol, Mr. T and Jim will chime in at some point.

Thank you sir, I knew if I asked an actual swift driver I would get good intel. I'm a pretty logical guy and figured the company cannot be all that bad if they have been running the hwys for all these years. Like I stated earlier, no matter what company I looked into, I found good and bad from them all. As you stated. It's the driver that makes his/her own success with whatever company they work for. Thanks for the input. Be safe

Mark...

Yes Swift is huge and they also have a huge amount of freight. Swift is arguably the most maligned and also most misunderstood company in the trucking industry. They hire and fire more entry level drivers than any other carrier, so naturally they have more than their fair share of rookie follies that end up on YouTube and alleged bad experiences discussed ad nauseam on trucker websites. Lots of fodder that many times is reused and propagated as if it were brand new for a whole new batch of unsuspecting newbies to read and view. Horrifying. Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Swift also has an incredible number of million plus mile drivers with no accidents,...you rarely "hear" about that. They next time you "hear" something bad about Swift, ask the individual if they ever worked for them and if so why is Swift so bad. Usually they will say "well I heard", and right there you basically diffuse further discussion because their knowledge is shallow unsubstantiated hearsay. If they actually did drive for Swift, 999 times out of 1000, you will find the driver was at odds with Swift for a series of critical mistakes and/or chronic unprofessional behavior. It's easy to then badmouth Swift to divert attention from the root cause of the falling out; driver error or unprofessional behavior and/or bad attitude.

In short I have been with Swift for over 4 years now, trained with them, stayed with them and have no intention of making a move at this stage of my life or career. They meet my needs, I make very good money, flexibility, have great working relationships with my DMs, Planners and Terminal Management. I am on a Dedicated Grocery Account servicing Walmart stores and Sam's and totally enjoy my job. There is a core of drivers at my DC/terminal that have been with Swift for 3 or more years, several with 10 years. I know of four drivers in the past two yeas hired by Walmart's Private Fleet from the ranks of experienced Swift drivers at the DC with Walmart Dedicated experience. That doesn't happen by accident (pun intended), it's by design.

I recently became a Grandfather for the first time. My Granddaughter lives with my daughter and son-in-law in a suburb of Indianapolis. Without asking, my DM offered to route me to the Muncie IN Walmart DC and run loads out of that region if I ever want to visit them for a period of time and then route me back home. I didn't ask,...it was offered, no conditions, no strings attached. How many so called "crappy" companies offer that to a driver? I have other stories just as compelling.

It's trucking so there is always challenges to overcome, hurdles to clear and bumps in the road. Nothing has occurred that I wasn't able to work out or manage while at Swift. Are they perfect? No. But contrary to popular belief, a professional and safe driver can succeed with Swift and any other several dozen companies I can think of off the top of my head. This job is about performance,...pure and simple. Those who figure it out and perform,...tend to refrain from posting any information because they are too busy earning a living and running their a** off. Those that can't perform have all the time in the world and typically will take the "time" to post negative and false information, telling anyone who will listen or read how they were horribly wronged by Swift. Call a Swift recruiter,...they will talk with you.

Here is a link of posts I have made regarding Swift: Swift Posts and Replies

Good luck. I am sure Gladhand, Tractor, Paul, Errol, Mr. T and Jim will chime in at some point.

Mark, G-town is providing you good advise! I have been with Swift for 3 months. I'm a rookie but I am 56yrs old. Remember, people only write or report the bad of anything. If things are going well who takes the time to say things are great, nobody. However, so far everything has met or above my expectations at Swift. The mentor they assigned my was great! Lots of driving experience, retired AF Veteran. He answered all my questions, let me drive and do most of the backing. He constantly drilled into me Safety First!!!! I have a great Driver Mgr. he is always looking after his drivers best interests and gives you air cover when needed. But does not tolerate Lying, Laziness, or being disrespectful. His team of drivers is called the "Elite Fleet" to which I have the privilege to be apart of. Remember you got to get experience somewhere. For me it is Swift. I get plenty of miles, great benefits, and I'm already ranked as Platinum because of the amount of miles I have driven, no accidents or incidents, 100% on time pick-up/delivery. If I do that for 3 straight years I will make Diamond. There is only a few drivers that acheive this status. Do your research then get started and remember Safety First Always!!!

G-town got the first licks in, and his testimonial is 100% spot on.

I'm looking at a different position in trucking, and it's available at other companies. But considering how I'm doing at Swift, and the people I work with here, I've decided to start with Swift.

(Don't ask, you'll jinx the process! It might be 6 months to a year. You'll all be the first to know...)

"start with Swift" should be "stay with Swift"!