Complaint Review: Swift Transportation

I had never been treated like a dog til I went to that academy. I also have a good job in which I drive for the company. I drove for a few companies in California and if I ever go back. I am eligible for rehire. I drive for a good company now. I talk to alot of drivers at truck stops and they never have anything good to say about Swift.

When someone asks me who I used to work for. I get lots of laughs or lots of comments. Your company may be the biggest, but not the best. I have even talked to a few Swifties and they don't seem to be too happy either.

One couple said they get good miles one week and left sitting the next. They said, "Too many truckers and not enough loads/miles." At least the company I work for keeps me moving and treats me with respect....I get lots of miles and I am also responsible for the upkeep of the vehicles when I am not driving. All my consigners enjoy my service, and I get the job done and always on time or early.

If there is a problem. I work with them and we get it resolved. I double check my loads and make sure they are secure before the door is sealed. I know the business well and I know it isn't a easy job. My husband found out the hard way. I tried to tell him, but he insisted on doing it. He had alot of little problems til I joined him a few months later.

I was working on his little problems and he was getting better. Then out of the blue...they canned him for things that happened before I came along. I even asked my recruiter if everything was going to be okay before I joined my husband. She made a few calls and said everything had been settled. I wanted to make sure...because I met a female trucker who joined her hubby and a few months after she joined him.

They canned him also for similar reasons and she was left to drive alone. She told me to make sure before I commit or they may be just waiting for you to join so they can fire him and keep you to keep that truck moving. And that very same thing happened to us and they wanted me to go on without him. They said I was doing great and I would make a good driver. I just looked over at my husband and he sat there with his head hung low and I felt really bad.

I just didn't know what to do. They told my husband they would have me to drive the load back solo and he would be put on a bus. I had only had 2 weeks experience and wasn't about to take that load back to NC alone. They extended his drive time to get the load home and we had to call my 72 year old father to get us home and I was assured they would have us bus tickets to get us home if we got the load back safely.

Now my husband has gone back to driving a school bus and me a truck doing local and regional deliveries.

All I can say is Good for you. so your a good trainer. many are, but some of us get those super trucker trainers who think they are the best and their poop don't stink. Mine just happened to be going through a nasty divorce with his wife and he had a problem with women. Us students had a joke going that he slept with his cell phone and texted in his sleep.

At least the other school I went to made me feel at ease and never treated me anything less than a driver to be. I passed with a 95 GPA. Maybe because all I have ever done was driving for a living anyway but as a class B driver. I love my job and my job likes my work. God bless and treat the female drivers like they are worth something.

I wish you luck but I can almost bet your next employment will be a great ordeal also. I work at an Academy and I guarantee you it is not a mill. Our students are tested by the state...totally out of our control or influence....which I am glad it is that way. Richmond is not 3rd party, so I cannot see how you claim it to be a mill.

Every student that has failed, albeit a very few, blames everyone but who is to be blamed ( themselves). What you said happened, and I am not saying it didnt, could have been taken care of through the chain of command. I know there are more outs than just your instructor or even the Academy Manager. I have seen similar things happen and they were taken care of through proper chains.

I wish you luck but I can almost bet your next employment will be a great ordeal also. I work at an Academy and I guarantee you it is not a mill. Our students are tested by the state...totally out of our control or influence....which I am glad it is that way. Richmond is not 3rd party, so I cannot see how you claim it to be a mill.

Every student that has failed, albeit a very few, blames everyone but who is to be blamed ( themselves). What you said happened, and I am not saying it didnt, could have been taken care of through the chain of command. I know there are more outs than just your instructor or even the Academy Manager. I have seen similar things happen and they were taken care of through proper chains.

I wish you luck but I can almost bet your next employment will be a great ordeal also. I work at an Academy and I guarantee you it is not a mill. Our students are tested by the state...totally out of our control or influence....which I am glad it is that way. Richmond is not 3rd party, so I cannot see how you claim it to be a mill.

Every student that has failed, albeit a very few, blames everyone but who is to be blamed ( themselves). What you said happened, and I am not saying it didnt, could have been taken care of through the chain of command. I know there are more outs than just your instructor or even the Academy Manager. I have seen similar things happen and they were taken care of through proper chains.

I am not worried about Swift anymore. I got alot of offers to work anywhere I want. I already have a good driving job. I have been there for 4 months now. I am well respected and paid well. Swift is to me now is just a bad dream.

The job I have now is surprised at my trucking knowledge. I drive regional and deliver sign and screen print supplies to sign and screen print companies. I have no regrets now about going to Swift, but wished I knew about this site before I went to drive for them.

As far as getting reimbursed. I did turn in all my receipts and had made copies of them. I keep detailed records of everything we did out there. I mapped our routes and found our way to where ever we were sent. We were never late once I joined my husband. I had know how to log and know the rules. I have many years of commercial driving experience. Husband didn't. That's why they wanted to keep me on and they let him go. In the few weeks I was out there with him. I never got a log violation. I never hit anything. I got to the consigners on time and sometimes early. I knew how to use the Qualcom and like I said. I kept accurate records of everything we did and even made copies of them.

You were just one of the lucky ones. You didn't have a pregnant DM who used her pregnancy to make drivers lives miserable. When he requested for another DM. He was suddenly let go. He was cleared of 2 accidents. One was fraudulent and the driver or company never came forward. It was claimed that he hit another truck at 9:35am and he didn't wake up til 11:00am. You should know about those drivers who hit other trucks and if they don't see the other driver around. They report to their company that the other driver hit them to just cover their own butts. The other accident had been directed back to his mentor. They got the facts straight on that one and let the other mentor go.

I'm not some dumb blonde out there. I know the in's and outs of the business better than you think. It's just that his DM didn't like my husband from the beginning. I witnessed that. She talked to him like a dog and then would apologize later and tell him her pregnancy was making her miserable. He would feel sorry for her and try and overlook it. She just got worse after that. I advised to him once i joined him to ask for another DM and when he did. He started having problems with them. Then all of a sudden. He was let go. Most of the drivers in Eden told him to get another DM and that she had alot of drivers fired. One driver told him, " If she don't like you...You won't last long." I liked my DM and he requested to her to be his DM and then the next thing he knew. He was unemployed.

Ahhhh....It doesn't matter. He went back to driving a school bus and I got a job driving for a good company. Swift has their pets. I got other companies clammering for me to drive for them...but for now...I have a good job. Have fun and stay safe out there....

i've been sitting here for about an hour reading all the bad things about Swift. i'm not gonna say they're all lies,and that Swift is the greatest company in the world, but NONE of it has happened to me. i have been a mentor for Swift for 1.5 years and have 13 years OTR experience. I get good miles (except for the recent lull), make good money (just bought a house)get good home time, and have a good relationship with my DM.

i'm only hearing one side of these stories, the disgruntled ex employees. this job is'nt for everybody, freight is not always good, directions are not always correct, customers treat you like s**t, some of the students i get expect the company to give them everything, hotel rooms, cab fare etc etc.

sorry you did'nt have the momey to pay your training and living expenses while training. hell, life's a b***h. thats the reason i did'nt graduate college! if you did'nt get expenses reimbursed, its probably because you did'nt know the proper precedures.

read the friggen company manual! (something i always have to nag my students to do). if you had an a-hole for a trainer, suck it up and shut up! thats what i did. there was'nt a ripoffreport.com for me to b***h and moan to. sure the company makes mistakes, keep good records and speak to someone in the appropriate department (in a civil manner) regarding your problem (easier with honey.)

treat EVERYONE you deal with (DMs,dept personnel,customers) with respect and things will get done quicker.

i understand that some of you have legitimate complaints, and Swift has some bad apples (just like every large company). but some of these posting are from ex employees who did'nt have the desire, dedication resolve and sacrifice to do this job (it's not for everybody), and i'm sorry you had a bad experience, but it happens in every company.

i know' i've worked for a few of them.

I have a clean driving record. I have always practiced safety what ever I am driving. The safety director said he would get us home once we got that load back to NC. He shouldn't had made that commitment to us and not keep it.
No I don't know it all, but have been in some kind of transportation business since 1993. I am a truck drivers daughter.

When my husband came to me and said he decided to drive a truck. My thoughts went back to my dad. He has been a trucker for over 40 years. I remember the days where weeks passed and never seeing my dad. I remember my mom and dad divorcing because he was never there for her when she needed him. I remember hearing my mom crying at night because my dad was not there. I remember the times he was at home and too tired to spend time with any of us. I remember times he would come in frustrated and angry because the company did something to piss him off. I remember times I went with him to help him unload trucks. Those were the days you unloaded most loads yourself. I remember he had a right broken wrist and still worked. I went with him and helped shift gears. He got hurt when a washer slammed against his wrist. Company put him out of work, but got them to agree to let me come along to help him. Workers comp didn't pay enough and insurance companies weren't as strict as they are today. I enjoyed being out there with my dad.

When other truckers had their sons with them. My dad had his daughter. My pop had always been proud of me.

Then I got on my husbands case. I told him I wasn't gonna go through that again. We talked and then I realized my husband had all the right to pursue that career if he wanted. He was tired of dealing with all the bullshit of being a school bus driver. The mouthy kids who tried to get him into trouble just because he is from another country.

He loved driving though. He said he loved the job. He had been a delivery driver in California. He delivered medical supplies from Hayward to Chico. He drove all night and when he was finished. He drove back to San Francisco to go to his other job. I, at the time was a driver for paratransit company and a delivery driver for another company.

That's always been my best career. Driving. That incident I was talking about occurred in 1993. A long time ago. The guy had been executed years later for insurance fraud. He did this for a living, and mainly he committed those incidents to women or the elderly. I just happened to be one of his victims. If my company had fought it. They would had found he had 6 previous incidents before mine, and relatively recent incidents.
The company I worked for just settled the case without a fight. He got by with it. A couple of years later I saw his picture in the San Francisco Cronicle. He had been sentenced to 15 years for insurance fraud. I still have the article and thought, Wow! I had been one of his many victims.

Anyway, after about a month of my husband being gone. I got tired of coming home to a empty house and started toying with the idea of joining him. Our children were grown and being here alone was depressing. Driving for a living was nothing new to me. I just never had jobs where I was gone for weeks at a time, but no big deal.


I went to truck driving school. I got my license and went on with him. We did fine out there, but wasn't aware that they were about to terminate him.

What has gotten me is that he attended the classes they accused him of not attending. He attended all the required classes, and at the unemployment hearing. The guy said they had no record of him attending those classes. I was there. I saw him in those classes in Greer. I was in orientation. I walked by the classrooms and saw him in those classes. I even told the judge about it. I am a eyewitness, but I guess being my husbands spouse doesn't count. I wouldn't lie about it. We got that beat up truck repaired at the same time. That truck had been in several accidents before they had assigned it to my husband. When he brought it home that day after orientation. I thought, Oh my God! He said he did the initial inspection and was alittle shocked himself. When we got the truck back from the shop in Greer. It looked brand new. We turned it in to dispatch that night we got in with the last load and the dispatcher was surprised. He knew that truck well and said, "Are you sure this is the same truck that was assigned to your husband?" I replied, "Yep,We had it fixed in Greer while we we in training. I always take care of my house. I spent 5 hours scouring it and cleaning it." I told him that I couldn't drive into consigners with a beat up dirty truck. He said, "It looked good and at least yall took care of it."
He also said, "I knows guys that have had worse incidents than my husband and are still with the company." He pointed out the trailer in the parking lot that had the top ripped off. I saw it when we first drove in. He said the guy just got suspended. The guy had only been with Swift a couple of months and he had 2 previous accidents before this one." I just looked at my husband.


The dispatcher then walked around with a list and checked off everything and I drove it over to the lot and parked it. The dispatcher talked to us and said "I got alot of loads in there and am short of drivers. It's a shame they are doing this to you guys." He said, "I need help and they are letting people go for stupid stuff. It's ridiculous." I gave him the keys and went inside and got a cup of coffee. I asked if he knew about us having a way home. He said he had never been advised about it.


"That's okay." I just called my 72 year old father at 13:30 to pick us up. Thank God he had not went back to Michigan yet. Other wise we would had to hitch hike 145 miles home. The safety director shouldn't had lied about getting us home. I didn't expect it, but it he offered. I didn't ask him to help us. He told me, "Just get the load to NC and I will arrange a ride to get you home." I agreed to his offer, otherwise I would had started making calls before I left the terminal in Edwardsville, Kansas.


Personal problems....Well would you like to take on a student/trainee and feed them for a week out of your own pocket? 3 meals a day? I would had gone on, but had to consider the trainers finances also. Even husband asked me if I wanted to continue. I told him it depends on what we have in the bank Tuesday. It wasn't enough and I couldn't leave my husband stranded with all the bills that had accumulated in our absence. Plus he was very down and worried.I was in between a rock and a hard place and didn't know what to do.
If Swift had kept their promises. I probably would had went on and starved for a week. I would had felt secure knowing that this company takes care of their employees. I have worked for too many transportation businesses to know the good from the bad.
I'm not saying actually Swift is a terrible company, but they should keep promises.
You have to understand. When a company makes a promise to you. You expect them to keep it. If they don't. It only shows they aren't concerned with you at all and you are just a number to them and being a CDL mill. They also know they can replace you with no problem. They turn out at least 15 drivers a week from their academies.
I want to work for a employers that stands behind their employees and investigates any problems.
That one accident he supposedly had, had to be cleared from his record, because the company never came forward with a estimate or ever got back to SWIFT. They said he had the accident at 9:35am. He didn't wake up til 11:am and all the trucks around him had already left that morning. He pulled in at 1:am and there were no trucks next to him at the time. They reported it had happened at a truck stop. Husband never went to a truck stop that day. He had some food with him and went straight to the consigner.
The first one his mentor yelled at him and just sat there in the seat. Dispatch told husband the mentor was suppose to help him. The mentor just yelled,"Do as I told you!" Husband had gotten out a few time and even started to pull forward to straighten out the rig and trailer.
The mentor yelled "What the 'F' are you doing?" My husband told him he was going to reposition the trailer. The mentor just repeated, " Do as I told you to do and just keep backing!" My husband just did as he was told. He did as the mentor commanded and he knocked a hinge loose from a trailer door. The mentor just blamed the entire thing on my husband. A worker on the dock had witnessed the incident and said, "It seemed like the mentor wanted my husband to get into the accident and it was a set up to get my husband fired." The mentor never liked my husband from the start. My husband complained and got left stranded in Atlanta for almost a week. The mentor went out joy rideing and picking up his friends while my husband was asleep in the top bunk. Husband woke up and the mentor just told him to go back to sleep. Husband started to go to the bottom bunk and the mentor told him to stay off of his bunk. Husband then asked mentor if he could just drop him off at the terminal and the mentor just yelled at him to go back to sleep. The mentor had several of his friends in there with him and was playing the music loud and just driving around.
Husband called the home base the next day and the mentor came up to him and cussed him out. A few hours later. My husband saw the truck pulling out. The mentor told him he had to go to the store and never came back. The second mentor was okay, but never let my husband do any backing or use the Qualcom. So when my husband was put out solo. He still never had very much training to do backing and such. He went to do a test drive in Eden. Since they had nobody to take him out. They just let him drive around the parking lot and passed him.
I think they should had listened to him when he said he wasn't quite ready, but they told him he would do fine. He told the guy in Eden he wasn't quite ready because he hadn't much backing experience. They told him he would be okay and cut him loose. My husband came home in a junky looking truck and told me he tried to tell them he needed a little more training on backing, but they wouldn't listen.
I just stood there looking at a beat up rig and said, "I can't believe they just let you go. That's not right. I would had protested and insisted that they train me on backing."
He did the best he could.
I remember at orientation. They told us they had to take each of us out for a test drive. The people that recently graduated trucking school went last. When they got around to the few of us that just graduated trucking school. They just said they didn't have enough time to test us and let us go.
They told me my husband would finish training me.
The first thing I thought of is that he had not much experience and he was going to train me?
I thought I would be actually one doing the training and I did. I actually helped him back the first 2 weeks. I figured I would learn backing once he got the hang of it. I helped with the logs and the Qualcom. I am the one who is computer literate anyway. We were doing fine. I did all the mapping. I found our destinations accurately. Made all of our appointments on time. No more incidents or, being accused of incidents. I would actually take the license plate number and the company name of any truck we parked next to when we went to sleep just in case we got falsely accused of hitting that rig. I kept a eye on everything. I did all the pretrips and double checked everything when we stopped to eat. I double checked all the logs before we turned them in. I made double copies of everything, receipts, shipping papers, everything. I kept everything in a folder in order.
Things were looking up finally. I enjoyed the short time I got to be out there. I would be driving. Husband asleep. I would look around and think, I am following my dads footsteps and he will be proud of me. I was actually happy.
Then the bottom fell out of the bag without any kind of warning.
I am not whining as some of you accuse me of. I have always worked hard and so has my husband. I am cut out for this kind of job. I am a mechanic, a volunteer firefighter. I don't mind hard work and do more than what is expected of me. I have always believed in honesty and helping others and not expecting gratuities. I have never expected handouts, but expect people to keep their word and not lie to me just to get their rig and load back.
I know companies such as Swift will screw over anybody if it comes to their reputation, even if they are wrong. They have the power to destroy lives. We didn't burn our bridges. They burned it for us, and left us like we were some kind of garbage to be dumped in a hole and covered up.

well tammy, no i dont have it all figured out. and anybody out here on the road that says they do is a liar.

you said you you didnt have any incidents or accidents, maybe not at swift, but you say you have one on your record. oh, and of course it was someone elses fault. but then, swift didt fire you did they? in your own words, you quit because you felt you didnt have the money to go back on the road. well, no one can blame you for taking that position, that's for sure. however, you did voluntarily quit. and you quit for personal reasons or personal problems, whatever you want to call it. the letter you received was a form letter and i think it said you quit because of marital problems OR personal problems. "OR" being the key word here. you say you are broke and losing everything. and honestly, my heart goes out to you for that. been there done that. i dont know if you and your husband are employed now or not and i hope you are. but you are wasting your time fighting a company as big as swift. please understand i am not defending them, i cant because i dont know all of the facts and only hear your side of the story. i am just a dumb old truck driver trying to point out what i think is the obvious, or at least it is to me.

again, good luck to you, i hope things get better for you.

well tammy, no i dont have it all figured out. and anybody out here on the road that says they do is a liar.

you said you you didnt have any incidents or accidents, maybe not at swift, but you say you have one on your record. oh, and of course it was someone elses fault. but then, swift didt fire you did they? in your own words, you quit because you felt you didnt have the money to go back on the road. well, no one can blame you for taking that position, that's for sure. however, you did voluntarily quit. and you quit for personal reasons or personal problems, whatever you want to call it. the letter you received was a form letter and i think it said you quit because of marital problems OR personal problems. "OR" being the key word here. you say you are broke and losing everything. and honestly, my heart goes out to you for that. been there done that. i dont know if you and your husband are employed now or not and i hope you are. but you are wasting your time fighting a company as big as swift. please understand i am not defending them, i cant because i dont know all of the facts and only hear your side of the story. i am just a dumb old truck driver trying to point out what i think is the obvious, or at least it is to me.

again, good luck to you, i hope things get better for you.

Well Robin. It seems you already have it figured out. I didn't have any incidents. My husband didn't really have but one actually. We had a bad DM as well. I kept tabs on all of our expenses.

The safety manager told us he would get us home if we got the load back to the terminal. We live 150 miles away. He didn't even keep up on his promise.

I had job and a bank account and a pickup truck before Swift. I didn't owe anybody anything, and now about to lose everything. They had a d**n good sales pitch. My husband and I talked about this before we made the plunge. He made a few calls and they made he a offer he couldn't refuse. He was so excited. I mean he drove a school bus for 2 years and loved driving. I am a ex transit driver. I just got tired of the same routes everyday and I decided to go back to delivery driving.


When I was a delivery driver in California. I did that for 10 years and another 4 years driving for a paratransit company. I enjoyed my delivery driving jobs the best. I had driven articulate buses that were 60 foot long.
Anyway, husband went to truck driving school and passed. After he was out there a few months. He asked me if I wanted to ride along. I decided to drive. I am used to working. I didn't just want to be a rider. I had to do my part. So I joined him. We didn't have alot of problems out there. We didn't get lost. We were on time to all our appointments. We were happy. What they did was like drop a bomb on us out of the blue.
They told me I was doing great and My husband had improved his on time rate substantially since I joined him. I helped him back and he helped me with my shifting. We were just a happy couple out there.


Swift offered me to stay on and go with another trainer. I didn't get into trucking to go out with strangers. I got in it to be with my husband and share the responsibility of the job.
Tell me how they can lie and say I quit because of marital problems. My husband and I are very close. We have a very stable marriage and love each other. They are allowed to lie and say anything they want I guess. They have the power to ruin the little people that made them who they are today.
Ah ....you just have no idea.

while am sure you some problems with swift, it seems as though your anger is clouding your memory. first of all,swift does not hold pay for missing logs. i can gaurantee you that. however they will hold pay for missing BOL's. also, you said you would send in loags and then a FEW days later you got a qcomm msg saying there were missing logs. the auto puter system that swift uses does not look for missing logs until they are 13 days late.

you describe accidents and incidents that both you and your husband had, but they are everyone someone else's fault. take a look at yorself.

i know life on the road is tough, especially for someone just starting out. we all had to start somewhere. I have been driving for 22 years and still have days and weeks where i think i am going to go postal, or just sit down and cry.(have done that)yes i do cry.

you also stated that when you quit, swift wouldnt give you a bus ticket home. look at it this, yes, maybe they should have been a little more caring, but,if you worked at the local mall, and quit your job one day. is the store you worked at responsible to pay your taxi fare home? i think not.

as far as pay goes. you say you werent getting paid. but were you taking advances? this industry is full of people taking advances and before they know it, they have advanced their whole paycheck and are screaming they are making any money. it is an easy to hole to fall inot. i know of no other industry that you can take a $100 or more advance without explaining to someone why. and you can even get more thatn that if you know how to play the system. but it is a dnagerous game, and advances have brought down many drivers.

some people are just not cut out for this life. and it is nothing against you. i have tried other jobs over the years only to find out i wasnt cut out for them.

good luck to you and your husband. i really think you sit back and reflect on your experienceand you might possibly see that some of the blame goes on your shoulders.

Look, I know there are some of you who really care about their jobs. There are some are just in it for the money and don't give a dang about the person they are training.

My husbands first trainer was one of those who frequently cussed out other drivers on the CB. He made my husband do most of the driving while he slept. He yelled at my husband many times when he picked up the Qualcom. He never let my husband use it. He was somewhat responsible for my husbands 1st accident. My husband got out a few times as he was backing. The mentor yelled at him.

Finally my husband put into 2nd gear and started forward. This made the mentor angry. He said, "What the hell are you doing? I told you to continue backing. Now do as I told you!" Husband said,"I'm going to hit that trailer." The mentor yelled at him again more angrily. My husband afraid by not listening to his mentor, would lose his job. Did as the mentor told him. My husband just knocked 1 hinge off a trailer door. The mentor got out and again yelled at my husband and never took any responsibility for the accident. The mentor also made my husband do all the driving.

Even made out my husbands logs when he ran over the 11 hour rule. The mentor boasted on how good he was at cheating on logs. So when my husband knew it was time to stop. The mentor just would yell at him to keep driving. My husband tried talk to the guy. Tried reasoning with the guy.

Finally called in to the office after the mentor went out joyriding in the rig one morning about 2am. The guy picked up his buddies and was just cruising around Atlanta, Georgia. Husband had been asleep in the top bunk of the sleeper. The noise woke him up. The mentor just yelled at my husband and told him to go back to sleep. My husband started to get down and go to the bottom bunk knowing it was illegal to ride in the top bunk while the vehicle was in motion.

Again the mentor yelled at him to stay off the bottom bunk. My husband had to lay there for hours as the guy continued to cruise around Atlanta with his friends. When daylight came and they had gotten back to the terminal. My husband called the home terminal. He stated they had been in Atlanta since Wednesday. It was now Friday. He told his DM the windshield had been repaired and the truck had been ready since Wednesday night. He asked about a load. Mentor kept telling husband there had been no load. Husbands DM said the mentor had never called in and DM told my husband they had plenty of loads. Then my husband told her about the incident. She said she would get back to him.

Later the mentor walked up to my husband and chewed him out. Then the mentor just disappeared. My husband had been left behind. DM told him just to hang around til they could find him another mentor. He called everyday. By Tuesday. He had almost ran out of money. Was hungry and tired. He called me and asked me if I could call his DM. He called several times that morning and no response. I called several times before I got ahold of her. I told her he wanted to come home for a few days. She got him bus tickets and he came home.

2nd mentor was okay, but never let my husband do anything much except do all the night driving. Husband is a great driver. Its just he never got to do hardly any backing. When they put him out there alone. He had only one accident in a very difficult terminal. He knocked a handrail off the dock. The other so called accident he has been cleared of. The company never called back with a estimate and never got back with Swift.

My husband had been hit, and the driver had called Swift and told them my husband hit him/her. The accident had been reported at 9:35am. Husband didn't wake up that morning til 11:am. It was a pull off on the side of the road. When my husband woke up. All the trucks that were parked there were gone. He was falsely accused of that one.

The logs were turned in on time when I went with him. He would turn them in and within a few days. A message would come in over the Qualcom saying he had missing logs. I checked them before he turned them in. I used to do my dads logs when he broke his wrist. I made sure everything was where it was suppose to be. I double checked his hours and mileage. I went over them several times before he turned them in.

I noticed his DM was on his case all the time. I watched his every move. All the things he got fired for is bogus. I watched him do his driver status every morning and the message on the Qualcom would came back saying, "Bad PTA"
One morning I decided to do our driver status. I did mine first since husband was still asleep. Return message was "Good PTA, have a safe day."
Then I sent my husband in and he got "Bad PTA"
I got back on the Qualcom and told the DM I was the one who sent the driver status report. She said. Okay,have a safe day.

I constantly battled with the DMs. I watched my husband go through hell. He worked so hard. I turned down no loads when I went with him. I took one that somebody had a family emergency. It was in Indianapolis. We were in Effingham, Illinois. It was after 11pm when the message came in over the Qualcom. The load was suppose to had been delivered to Forest Park Illinois by 4 am the next morning. She said if you take this load. I'll give you a load going to Santa Fe Springs, California. I told her if I took the load from Indiana. It would be late. I didn't want to get into trouble for it. She told me not to worry. It was not my fault. I took it. I woke my husband up and we got ready to roll.

We pulled out of there about 12:30am. We got to Indiana about 3:30am. The guard there held us up, but finally got to leave about 5:15am.
It was my turn to drive. I got into Chicago about 8:45, 9am. The traffic was really bad. Reminded me of game day in San Francisco and trying to get across the bay bridge at rush hour.
I finally got out of that traffic about 10:30 and onto 294 to 290. I got off where the Qualcom said to. I went down and made the right turn after the railroad tracks as the Qualcom said. I drove down a busy street for about 5 miles and didn't see the place we were suppose to drop the load.

I found a safe place to pull off the road and got on the Qualcom. No response. I waited a few minutes and got back on to the qualcom and sent another message. I was told to stand by. I know it is not good to try and find a address when you drive something that big. I knew I could get into a situation that I could get into trouble. Especially when you aren't familiar to an area. So I waited. It was now almost noon. The traffic was getting heavier. I just got tired of waiting and got back onto the road.

I decided to go back the other direction. I went back to where I turned from. I went up that road and down that road. Still nothing. I went back toward the freeway. I turned around and decided to make a left turn instead of the advised right turn. I found the place about 2 miles down the road. It was now 1pm.

The consigner was pissed and took it out on us. Ah I just did the best I could. And I was told not to worry about it. Well after I got out of there. The day person/Dm got on our case and asked us why we were late to a load that was suppose to be delivered at 4am? I tried to explain and was told there was no excuse.
I told my husband I would never take a hot load again to help them out. Then we went on to Gurnee and picked up our California load.

I am a experienced delivery driver. I am a truckers daughter and went with my dad alot on many runs. I know the ropes well.

I never had any incidents. I do not have marital problems as stated on the letter they sent me when I quit. As far as I could see. My husband did a good job. I helped him back into places when we got to them. We obeyed the laws.
My husband taught me alot. He even admitted he hated backing and now that I was with him. He wasn't worried anymore. I helped him. He helped me. That's the way it is suppose to be. We were doing great. We made all our appointments on time,except that one in which it wasn't our fault.

Whining and complaining. How would you feel if it happened to you and you did nothing wrong?You know that there are drivers out there who will hit your truck, and if you aren't in the truck or really dead tired and sleeping. They will report you to cover their asses. Been there myself. Was falsely accused of hitting someone and I was sitting still. The guy pulled up behind me. I had 2 meter maids as witnesses. I had other witnesses. I pulled out and the guy raced up and cut me off at the light. Was a real ahole. Called me a w***e and threatened me. I just sat there and waited for a cop. Finally a cop came. The cop saw how nasty the guys attitude was and gave him a ticket for obstructing traffic. That really ticked the guy off. The cop listened to my witnesses and determined I was telling the truth.

Anyway, he made such a stink out of the matter. My company paid off his claim to get him off their backs. I was also charged with the accident and it went on my record. I wanted to fight it, but it was a company vehicle. So I quit that company. I know how it is out there. If you are a experienced trucker. So should you.
Driving has always been in my blood. I get emails and calls from many companies every week trying to get me to come drive for them. I just don't want to go through the hell my husband went through. Since my dads day.

Trucking positions and rules has went to the dogs. Too much bull and not enough companies that will stand behind their drivers. Swift is a CDL mill. They know they can fire and replace drivers faster that I can bat an eyelash.
Anyway, I am not going to stop til they clear my husbands record and take that remark they made about me off their records as well.

I've driven for Swift Transportation for 12 years with a total of 1.2 million miles driven. I've trained many very good students who've given 100% effort and attetion during their time out for their six weeks of training and have each went on to successful driving careers here at Swift and a few on to other companies.

I've also mentored some students that either were not cut out for the trucking lifestyle or job. Then there were some that just never gave 100% and thought they knew everything from the start because they had went to CDL school for two to three weeks. I'm sure some people have not had the best of experiences at Swift or any of the other major carriers.

I can say that i consider myself successful here at Swift. I get all the miles i can legally handle, get home when it's time to get home, pay is straight most of the time because i make sure trip packs and reimbursements are clearly marked and get the best support from my driver manager, fleet manager and other terminal support staff there in Atlanta, which i truly believe is the best management team Swift has to offer.

As for everyone complaining about being fired for having a bunch of accidents in a short period of time, maybe you have to look in the mirror. Maybe you or your spouse's erratic driving behavior was a red flag to the safety department that your driving may lead to potentially worse accidents. If this is the case then they have done the right thing in terminating your employment. Trucking is not for everyone and safety for myself and everyone else in the motoring public has to be the priority.

Swift, you haven't heard the last of me yet. I am about to lose everything anyway. I was a happy person and had a nice pickup truck and a place to live. Thank God for understanding landlords. He knows we are decent hardworking people and all those know me that I am a good person. I will give you the last bite of food I have if you are hungry. I will risk my own life to save a life. My husband has been a wonderful person and all that really know him knows how kindhearted he is.

You think by writing a letter stating I had marital problems will stop me from telling you bunch of liars the truth. I know who you are. I write directly to Swift, because they read this stuff. Like they really care about people...Yeah right.

Your safety director didn't even know my husband. He just probably just thought of him as a wetback trying to rip off the company. Misty is another problem we had. You know who she is. A DM that never gave a poop if we got loads or not. Never responding to our calls and Qualcom messages.

My husband turned those logs in in time and I know because I was with him. And they kept coming up missing. What's up with that????
Maybe you should make sure your trainers are doing their jobs. My husband was put out solo with hardly any backing experience. He is a very inexperienced trucker. Yet your company let him become my mentor and then let him go 2 weeks later.

What kind of poop is that! I even inquired about his lttle incidents and made sure everything was going to be okay before I went on the road with him.

I mean you knew about his incidents and still let him become my mentor. What got me is that the incidents occurred long before I came on board. You even lied about the classes he took. He took the classes in mid October. I was there. He took safety, simulator, log book and mentor classes while I attended orientation. We even got that junky truck repaired and when we turned it over to Eden. It was in better shape than when it had been assigned to him. We even had body work done on it.

It looked like a brand new truck by the time we got it back from the shop in Greer. Don't you dare tell me he was careless. I know my husband better. He has always took pride in his jobs. He has never went against people for the hell of it. He was so happy when I finally joined him and we were on top of the world regardless of the hell we went through out there. I was doing the route planning and he stopped getting lost except when your Qualcom directions kept giving us wrong turns. Our last load to Kansas was on time.

yeah your company won and my husband didn't get his unemployment. Why should you care. Afterall you are the ones who put him in this mess and now acting like he and I are the villains. As you sit in your nice warm homes. How many people have you destroyed with all your lies?

I never in my life had to apply for foodstamps til now. And when the social worker called your office in Phoenix for employment verification. The lady there told the social worker there was a fee for that. Then the social worker replied that this was a government agency. The lady at Swift just stated she couldn't help her and rudely hung up on her.

So you are trying to keep my family from eating too. Thank God the social worker was understanding enough. And she did make mark on her records of the incident. We have that in writing and was also told by a government agency that was illegal. But your company breaks the law all the time and gets by with it.

I will search for every little thing on Swift til I find someone to aiding me into bringing a lawsuit against you for all the misery you have caused my family. I stand for truth and I stand for all those out there who has faced this same hardship put on to them by big bad corporations like you. I am not afraid of you. I have had enough I do know that. My husband is my rock and you had the nerve to say I quit because of marital problem. My God...Do you think you can keep playing God with us hardworking people of America.
I THINK NOT!!!!!