Looking At Company Sponsored Schools
Topic 18683 | Page 2
Ok swifties, for the benefit if myself and Glenn here is what I was told yesterday by the recruiter: 1. My academy will be in Memphis for 3 weeks then head home to await a mentor. 2. Go out with mentor 4 weeks cone home get my cdl a and my truck. 3. Gonna go reefer , go out 2 weeks home 2 days. 4. Ill run Kansas to Pennsylvania and points in between. 5. If I wanted to run all 48 then I would be out 3-4 weeks. She did mention cpm after going solo and the quarterly bonuses. This is all based on my residence of Arkansas.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
Ok swifties, for the benefit if myself and Glenn here is what I was told yesterday by the recruiter: 1. My academy will be in Memphis for 3 weeks then head home to await a mentor. 2. Go out with mentor 4 weeks cone home get my cdl a and my truck. 3. Gonna go reefer , go out 2 weeks home 2 days. 4. Ill run Kansas to Pennsylvania and points in between. 5. If I wanted to run all 48 then I would be out 3-4 weeks. She did mention cpm after going solo and the quarterly bonuses. This is all based on my residence of Arkansas.
Where do I start??? Close, but not quite...
The Academy Schooling is 3-3.5 weeks. It varies because not everyone graduates at the exact same time. You must arrive at the Academy with a valid medical card and class A permit.
Once you graduate, you will then be required to take the CDL tests at your home state DMV or Authorized Exam center. Once you pass and get your CDL, you will then receive disposition on where to meet your Mentor. Unless something has changed (and fairly sure it hasn't) you must have your CDL before road training/mentoring. There is a reason for this...
Mentoring is a minimum of 200 hours of student driving, first 50 is fully supervised with the Mentor in the passenger seat. Once that is completed, you and the mentor will decide if you are ready to run as a team. At that point, if agreed, the second 150 hours will be in a team fashion with the student driving while the mentor sleeps (and visa-versa). This is why you must have the CDL as opposed to the permit, because you will be in the first seat without direct supervision. Most mentors expect to be interrupted during this process, so holler for help if needed. Be prepared to be out the entire 200 hours of training.
Once you have completed training satisfactorily, you will be invited to a 3 day orientation (which is an extended interview) to receive additional training and test out for the solo upgrade. At some point during the 3rd day, shortly there after, you receive your assigned truck.
Home time and the trip duration really has nothing to do with running dry or reefer. Depends on the freight, where it's running and it's proximity to where you want to take home time.
Once you formally apply, Swift will send you a training package that will go into far greater detail than I have.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
Thanks G-town. That's pretty much what she said. I knew after training I would go back,for orientation, just forgot to mention that.
Im,pretty excited about this. Only concern is academy and the first 200 hours are liable to put me in the poor house. Lol. Once I go solo if I can get about 2500 miles a week I will be fine and actually make more than I do now.
Yeah you hear bad things about any company out there so you have to figure how much is really a problem with the company or the driver. But being on here reading different post it good to hear other drivers come to the defense of there company when someone talks negative about them. Put a call to my swift recruiter so waiting now for him to return my call. I am going to do this but I'm not rushing into anything this is a life changing move so talking to a recruiter for more than 5 minutes is a must lol. Driver solution guy already has me starting school in April in Springfield and i haven't been on phone with him more than 5 minutes total. Of course haven't signed anything yet and going to try again with him so I'm going to wait and talk to swift see how it goes. I have gotten a lot of good information on here and just wanted to say thanks to TT and everyone that post on here i may not post a lot but i am reading the posts on here every day.
Yeah you hear bad things about any company out there so you have to figure how much is really a problem with the company or the driver. But being on here reading different post it good to hear other drivers come to the defense of there company when someone talks negative about them. Put a call to my swift recruiter so waiting now for him to return my call. I am going to do this but I'm not rushing into anything this is a life changing move so talking to a recruiter for more than 5 minutes is a must lol. Driver solution guy already has me starting school in April in Springfield and i haven't been on phone with him more than 5 minutes total. Of course haven't signed anything yet and going to try again with him so I'm going to wait and talk to swift see how it goes. I have gotten a lot of good information on here and just wanted to say thanks to TT and everyone that post on here i may not post a lot but i am reading the posts on here every day.
Glenn you will get more and higher quality attention once you fill out an online application. No worries, you are not obligated.
Well just had a good long visit with swift recruiter he listen and answer my question he really made a good impression with me so looks like i will be going to Memphis for school not sure exactly when but late April early May. Now that i made my decision and the reality i am going to do this saying I'm a little nervous would be an understatement. This is a great site those that responded to my post thanks y'all were supportive and really help me.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Welcome to Swift, Glenn! There's enough to be nervous about, for sure, but just remember hundreds of new students survive truck driving school every week. (Total USA. Your class may start with about 20-30.)
I'm at the terminal almost every day. When you get your dates down, and me contact information at this email:
TT. Errolv@spamgourmet.com
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Glenn, I had to move my start date with Swift. It was over 30 days so my Recruiter just asked me to update my application. It is already saved online, so all you need to do is go back thru it and make changes, if any are needed. Good luck!
Thanks errolv i will and thanks to everyone that gave me advice and made me feel welcome. Don't think i been this nervous and excited since i rolled into marine boot camp about 2 a.m. many years ago. So much to do in my personal life to be able to leave for school and when i go on the road but i have my sister close by so she can look after my house going to have to build a fence at her house so she can keep my baby a spoiled rotten black lab lol. So can anyone have any information on the school in Memphis where i will be going
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Glenn H wrote:
Can't guarantee that,...however there are numerous successful Swifties on this forum,...I can guarantee that you'll get your questions answered truthfully and factually from this group.
Good luck.