Is It Ever Going To Get Better?

You've gotta be kidding me? You got a personal phone call about your concerns, on the same day even, from the terminal manager at a company with like 20,000 drivers and you never got back to him?

Wow, dude. I don't even know what to say about that. I mean......omg.......I just don't even know what to say.

Thanks for that. Super helpful and much appreciated. I'll call him back first thing tomorrow, driving or not. I'm not at super trucker level yet where I can drive wrecklessly, tailgate while speeding, talk on the cell phone, play a game, eat a burger and fries while my feet are propped up on the dash all at the same time.

I'd be asking to get routed to the terminal even if I had to do it as home time, then schedule a meeting with my DM and his boss. Bring some bagels and donuts and coffee and ask how you can improve yourself to get the higher miles. Don't blame them, just have a positive "I feel I can contribute more and don't feel like I am meeting that potential. How can you help me?".

That says ambition, professionalism and understanding of the industry.

Sometimes I think the DM/FM get so wrapped upndealing with " problem children" that if the DM is not a.mutitasker some good drivers can fall by the way side.

This is a really good idea that I might consider if I can't get things to improve over the phone. Hopefully they would be into a face to face meeting.

This is a really good idea that I might consider if I can't get things to improve over the phone. Hopefully they would be into a face to face meeting.

I'm guessing Swift has an open door policy like Prime. This is something our owner would insist the management comply with. I can walk into any department and manager and just chat or question. I can ask for an appt for any reason.

Its a great idea to get to know your staff. When you meet face to face and even just call to say hi once in a awhile it builds you a support team. Lots of people think large carriers treat you as a number. Not so. I actually know the switch board operators, my road assist people. Claims, safety..payroll, logs etc. When they KNOW you, you get treated better. I make it a point to stop by each one to say hi when in the terminal. I say "thank you for keeping me rolling". Heck I even thank mechanics who didn't work on my truck....cause next time they see me, my truck gets pushed to the front of the line.

Today I called when i picked up my load for a verification of info before I can roll and the guy said " I know your voice. You always rattle off the answers before I ask the questions. You are one of the few drivers who makes my life easier."

Be determined to make their lives easier...then see how much you roll lol

You've gotta be kidding me? You got a personal phone call about your concerns, on the same day even, from the terminal manager at a company with like 20,000 drivers and you never got back to him?

Wow, dude. I don't even know what to say about that. I mean......omg.......I just don't even know what to say.

Thanks for that. Super helpful and much appreciated. I'll call him back first thing tomorrow, driving or not. I'm not at super trucker level yet where I can drive wrecklessly, tailgate while speeding, talk on the cell phone, play a game, eat a burger and fries while my feet are propped up on the dash all at the same time.

AC no one suggested you were a super trucker.

But missing the TMs call? Not calling him back as soon as you knew it? These folks are crazy busy. Hope it doesn't turn out to be a lost opportunity. Most TMs start their day @0700. 0701...make the call...!

Good luck.

I haven't been back to my home terminal since Jan 20th :)1

My DM likes me because I don't whine and when bad things happen I just roll with it and adjust.

I just get the feeling the new OTRs are at the very bottom. Which I completely get, rough estimate of the class I went to the academy with, about half were gone in under sixty days, and probably close to 70% by 90. Unfortunately that leaves me and guys like AC swimming in the same pool that is in almost constant flux. Very easy to get lost in the shuffle even as a good "Steering wheel holder". (I got upgraded from window licker after 60 days solo and no accidents) :)

Side note I think AC is on to something with trying to get on a specific fleet. See Gladhand, he's running pretty solid now. And another couple I know who are getting miles one is reefer and the othet is TJMax.

But good points and advice.. Got me thinking, I like OTR so maybe I'll look into General Mills or GeorgiaPacific, they both are long haulers.

MC wrote:

Side note I think AC is on to something with trying to get on a specific fleet. See Gladhand, he's running pretty solid now. And another couple I know who are getting miles one is reefer and the othet is TJMax.

I agree with you. Swift has an incredible number of dedicated accounts, lots of opportunities. Many have waiting lists and performance requirements, but definitely worth a try. I have been on a Dedicated Account since my third month OTR...no regrets and that was over four years ago.

Good luck...to you both; MC and AC.

I'm not at super trucker level yet where I can drive wrecklessly, tailgate while speeding, talk on the cell phone, play a game, eat a burger and fries while my feet are propped up on the dash all at the same time.

Oh yeah, my bad. Sorry. I forgot you've been pounding out 1,500 hardcore miles a week, about half of what your peers are doing. It really take a supertrucker making a heroic effort to pull over for five minutes to call someone back, doesn't it smartass? I didn't realize that was more than you could handle.

You just watched an incredibly important opportunity whiz right by your head like a comet and instead of jumping on it you treated it like Rent-A-Center was calling about your television rental.

But wait, this gets better. Here's my favorite part. The sentence immediately before the sentence where he tells us he didn't bother to call back the terminal manager:

Seems to me like people in the Swift organization just don't care.

Good God. Yeah, you blow off a personal call from the terminal manager, something most drivers won't get in their entire careers, but it's Swift that doesn't care? As a rookie you're getting same day phone calls from powerful managers trying to help you but that's not showing that they care, right? It's Swift that needs to step up their game?

Fine job, man. So you had no problem finding the time to make a smartass remark to me about not being a supertrucker when all I said was that you should have either taken the call or called the guy back? That's too much for you to manage, but you fancy yourself ready to turn 3,000 miles a week?

You also had plenty of time to let our community know that you don't think Swift cares about their drivers, even though it was you who couldn't manage to make time for a quick call from your own terminal manager who's trying to help you.

And you can't figure out why things aren't going as you expected?

Brett,

The guy posted here at like 6:30pm his time, presumably the manager had gone home by then, so his free time to post here doesn't really prove anything. I also don't see any indication of when the terminal manager called him - It could have been at the end of the day to start with. Good grief.

I mean, I agree that he shouldn't put off contacting the guy if he wants his issues resolved, but we don't even know that happened. Also, acting like he should treat the terminal manager like royalty is ridiculous.

*Laughs* some of the things I've done to CEOs of companies I've worked for would make you squirm so much. :P

*Laughs* some of the things I've done to CEOs of companies I've worked for would make you squirm so much. :P

Yes, and you are currently unemployed, and can't seem to figure out this whole trucking career.

Nobody claimed he should have treated the guy like royalty. He wants more miles, and we're trying to help him understand how you do that. He botched an easy opportunity - that's the point. In a performance based business stuff like this gets you nowhere fast.

The bottom line is that you can't miss opportunities like that. In 15 years of driving I never once got a call from a terminal manager asking if he could help me with my situation. All he had to do was make sure he got that manager on the line.

I mean, chances are it's no big deal and he'll talk to him today and he'll get the attention he was hoping for. But my problem is simple - if a guy can find time to be a smartass, and he can find time to criticize his company publicly for not caring enough about him, he damn better be able to find the time to call back the one person on this planet that can press a button and make all of his problems go away. That's my point.

Some people just can't seem to figure out how to make any headway in this industry. He's been floundering with pathetic miles for months. We tell him exactly how to create the opportunity he's looking for, and everything goes exactly as we had hoped, except he doesn't field the call or call him back.

A thousand little things like this happen every day out there. The savvy drivers know how to navigate the roadblocks and make things happen in spite of the odds being against them. They overcome snowstorms, breakdowns, traffic jams, burning bridges in Atlanta, roadside DOT checks, and a million other things to get the loads delivered safely and on time, month after month, year after year. That's the type of determination it takes to turn the miles this guy is hoping to turn. So my point is that he needs to get on the ball and learn how to make things happen. Being a smartass toward me didn't help him. Criticizing his company publicly, after failing to take that call of all things, also did not help him.

*Laughs* some of the things I've done to CEOs of companies I've worked for would make you squirm so much. :P

I'm certain they would. I'm writing today's podcast right now and it's about handling a very tough situation where I was fired and had to try talking my way into getting my job back. So my take is exactly the opposite of yours I would imagine. If you listen to it you'll definitely be thinking, "I would have never handled that situation that way."

It should be up by noon Eastern Time.