Swift Or May Trucking?

Having a hard time choosing what company to go to as of right now. I read the pros and cons of Swift and May. I'm leaning more on May as of right now. If anyone could add their experience with any of these companies it will be greatly appreciated!!

Why just those two? What does each have that's most important to you?

There is no such thing as a perfect company, it becomes what we make of it. Proving yourself to the company is most important. Out of those two, I know Swift has every most types of driving options. They have dry van , refer, flatbed and intermodal. They have OTR , regional , dedicated and local.

We have several very happy Swift drivers here.

Hope that helps.

Thanks Big Scott for your reply. And what's most important to me ( besides having family time) is SAFETY. I can't stress that enough. Safety by far is my number one priority. How I left my home,i would want to come back atleast 95% the same way (I delt with broken bones before) returning. I really wanted to go with Swift but I started reading horror stories recently and that's when I started looking at May Trucking. See alot of happy people over there. BUT man you can only choose to run 11 western states or the 48. OHHHHH Big Scott,ya got me leaning on Swift again dammit HAHA. I really want to try otr for atleast 6 months and than get switched on to dedicated,hopefully I made sense.

I really wanted to go with Swift but I started reading horror stories recently and that's when I started looking at May Trucking.

Bubbles, it's always hard, for new people looking to get into trucking, to filter through the nonsense they find online. Swift appears to have a lot of haters online, but those in the know, understand it really is not an honest reflection of what working for them is like.

May trucking has less than 1,000 trucks. Swift has somewhere near 18,000 trucks. That's a huge difference! Simple math will tell you Swift hires a lot more new drivers in a month than May probably handles in a year. Trucking is a challenging career to jump into. That same math will conclude that Swift has more rookie failures than May.

Most people who fail at trucking don't want to admit they didn't have what it takes to be a professional driver. So what do they do to save face? They blame the company! This is where all the hate comes from. People tried, and people failed. Naturally Swift is going to have a lot more failed attempts than May. But you would never understand those dynamics. All you are going to recognize is all the nightmare stories on the internet.

The biggest thing you have to focus on is proving yourself as a competent driver. No matter where you start, that is going to be your biggest challenge. Every company hiring newbies will give you that opportunity. You have to make that happen. It won't be the name on your truck's doors that will determine that. It's always the person in the driver's seat that seals their fate. Relax a little - give yourself a break from reading too many reviews or watching too many YouTube videos. There's a whole subculture of nonsense about this career.

At Trucking Truth we will shoot straight with you. We're focused on the truth. We are all successful drivers, and we know the path that will get you to a rewarding career in trucking. Listen to this excellent Podcast that Brett produced. It will break it down for you in a way that should help you understand what I'm talking about.

Stop The Fear And Doubt - Focus On Your Own Success

Keep in mind that Swift is the largest trucking company in North America!!! They have something like 25,000 trucks on the road, maybe more. You are gonna find more accidents and what not involving Swift trucks just because of the law of averages. That doesn't mean they aren't running a safe operation. I am hoping to get on with Swift and run Wallmart regional in Eastern PA.

Also, beware of what you find on the internet in regards to truck companies. Many of the reviews are bad because they are written by people who failed to make it in this career and want to lay the blame on the company rather then themselves

Safety is up to the driver. Large companies have the money, manpower and contracts to keep their fleets maintained.

Like Old School said don't pay attention to the online horror stories. I love CFI but I bet you can find horror stories about them. Swift being one of the largest companies in the US has a higher visibility rate than others. I don't think they have a higher accident rate than other companies. Does that make sense?

I don't think every company is a good fit for everybody. This is why it's important to know what's most important to you. Then you can find the company that checks most of your boxes. As a new driver many doors will be closed. One or more years of safe OTR driving opens up many doors. Many years of safe driving and you can work almost anywhere.

Keep us posted we are here to help.

Old School,Big Scott, Delco Dave,thank y'all so much for your responses and you all are right. I was more focus on other people's outcomes with these companies and not more on what I want/need to expect when building myself to go a different pathway. I guess I let the reviews,stories and jokes get to me. Swift was and still is the only company Im aiming to work for. And to be completely honest never have I giving thought that som people would stoop so low as to tarnish a company's reputation just because they have fail miserably. That's low. Really low. Hopefully after getting hired on,I can prove myself & the company that I can take control & steer myself productively.

Bubbles making it home in one piece is mainly on the driver. You are the one that is responsible for inspecting the vehicle and operating it safely. Swift's big thing is "Safe by Choice".

Sunday marked three years with Swift and in that time I have had one disagreement about safety. I "won" the argument and safety backed me up.

As far as May goes I have not met any unhappy May drivers.

I completely agree. Your safety is in your own hands. Your the one on deck with the most info on what you need to do to be safe as possible. Can freak things happen, yep. However those are the exception rather than the rule.

With ELD’s and camera’s being more and more common carriers or dispatchers pushing drivers to be careless and push to much has largely gone away. Now that said, if you make a habit of having issues and trying to claim your failures in the name of safety it will be found out rather quickly. And yes there are drivers that will do that.

Like any other business trucking has some great companies to work for, alot of okay companies, and there are horrible companies to work for.

Get on with one that will fit your needs, learn your craft for 1-2 years and make yourself more marketable. Have realistic goals and desires. I have no doubt all the experienced drivers on here could walk through the door of any company if they wanted too.

My company has a very good reputation for safety. When I went through the CDL program with them last year one of the instructors mentioned that Swift has a nearly identical CSA (safety) score as ours. As others have said you read more about Swift accidents just because they have so many more trucks in the road. Be a safe driver, slow down and stay back that’s what will get you home safe.