Complaint Review: Swift Transportation Inc. - Phoenix Arizona

I got out of the army and started my driving career with them. i attended the driving school in millington, tn. I did learn alot there and my instructor was a old red neck that made sure that we were down shifting and up shifting. allright. then i was a company team driver for several months and then i started training about a year with swift. a few months later i bought my own truck and started training. I tell you what I was a great mentor. I did not drive nights but i made sure that the students got enough sleep before they started driving at night and i would tell all my students that at anytime you start to get tried wake me up, I don't care if i only slept one hour wake me up when you start to get tired, i would tell my students that if I'm dead the money isn't going to do me any good so its important that you wake me up when you start to feel tired. and then when the students would wake me up I would tell them to pull into a rest area or truck stop and sleep for a few hours and then wake up again and try to give me at least 3 to 4 more hours of driving. Quess what I never got into a accident with any student or even gotten a ticket either. BUT I TELL YOU WHAT 70 PERCENT OF MENTORS WITH SWIFT ARE F**KING WORTHLESS AND DON'T CARE IF THE STUDENT IS TIRED OR NOT THEY WANT TO MAKE MORE MILES TO BE ABLE TO MAKE MONEY ON THE SWIFT LEASE PLAN THAT THEY GOT FROM THEM. MY TRUCK I BOUGHT IT FROM SELECTRUCKS IN JACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA AND MY PAYMENTS WERE ONLY $681 A MONTH SO I DIDN'T NEED TO KILL MYSELF OR THE STUDENT WITH 6000 PLUS MILES A WEEK IN ORDER FOR ME TO MAKE MONEY. PLUS MY 2001 FREIGHTLINER WOULD AVERAGE 8 MPG WITH LOADS LESS THAN 15000 POUNDS. NO JOKE MY 2001 ENGINE DIDN'T HAVE THE EGR VALVE THAT SUCKS YOUR FUEL LIKE CRAZY. MY TERMINAL WAS IN JONESTOWN, PA AND MY DM WAS TAMMY WHITLATCH AND ONE DAY I GOT A FLEET FUEL REPORT AND GUESS WHAT MY OLD a*s TRUCK HAD THE BEST FUEL MILEAGE IN THE WHOLE FLEET AND SHE COULDN'T BELIEVE IT AT ALL. SO I WOULD RUN 4600 MILES A WEEK AND STILL BRING HOME $2400 A WEEK. I DID RAN THE 747 FLEET AKA FEDEX FLEET FOR SWIFT. AND THE BEST WEEK I HAD WITH SWIFT WAS A WEEK THAT I RAN 6600 MILES WITH A STUDENT FROM QUEENS, NY AND I MADE $3988 THAT WEEK AFTER FUEL. IT TOOK ME 3 TO 4 DAYS TO TEACH THE STUDENT DOWN SHIFTING AND UP SHIFTING THATS ALL, NO BULLSHIT IT DEPENDS ON THE TRAINER I WOULD MAKE THE STUDENT DOWN SHIFT OVER 150 TIMES IN 4 DAYS UNTIL HE GOT IT DOWN PACK. ONE OF MY STUDENT FROM QUEENS, NY WENT TO A SCHOOL IN NEW JERSEY AND GUESS WHAT HE TOOK HIS DRIVING TEST IN A AUTOMATIC. AND WHEN HE GOT INTO MY TRUCK HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS DOUBLE CLUTCH OR ANY OF THE GEARS BUT I MADE HIM DOWN SHIFT LIKE CRAZY FOR 4 DAYS AND THEN HE WAS SHIFTING LIKE A GUY THATS BEEN ON THE ROAD FOR MONTHS AND HE WAS THE STUDENT THE WAS WITH ME THE TIME I DROVE 6600 IN A WEEK. FIRST TRIP WAS NJ TO LA THEN LA TO SEATTLE, WA THEN KENT,WA TO MARYLAND. THE STUDENT FROM QUEENS, NY IS STILL WITH SWIFT BUT AS A OWNER OPERATOR AND IS MAKING OVER 1800 A WEEK AFTER EXPENSES AND HE IS A SOLO DRIVER, HE DRIVERS FOR THE TARGET DEDICATED OUT OF AMSTERDAM, NY. I TOLD HIM NOT TO GET A TRUCK FROM SWIFT BECAUSE THE PAYMENTS WOULD BE TOO MUCH MONEY A WEEK, SO HE TOOK MY ADVICE AND GOT A USED TRUCK FROM A OUTSIDE DEALER AND PAYS ABOUT $1000 A MONTH. I NEVER DROVE NIGHTS AT ALL AND I MADE SURE THAT I INFORMED MY STUDENTS THAT IF THEY EVER HAD A QUESTION TO ASK TO LET ME KNOW BECAUSE I'M THE MENTOR AND ITS MY JOB TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. I HAVE TWO KIDS AT HOME AND THATS WHY I MADE SURE THAT I DID THE BEST JOB AS A MENTOR BECAUSE I WANTED TO SEE MY KIDS WHEN I GOT HOME AND NOT HAVE THEM SEE ME IN A COFFIN BECAUSE I MADE THE STUDENT DRIVE WHEN HE WAS TIRED OR SLEEPLY. I LEFT SWIFT BECAUSE .87 CENTS A MILE IS A PIECE OF s**t AND AFTER MY DM SAW THAT I WAS GETTING THE BEST FUEL MILEAGE IN HER WHOLE FLEET AND DIESEL PRICES STARTED GOING UP THEY DECIDED TO GIVE ME 200 DEADHEAD AND 350 LOADED MILES LOADS THAT WEIGHT 45000 POUNDS AND BASICALLY ONE TOO MANY OF THOSE AND I SAID F**K THIS SH**T. I DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE BUT I HAD NO CHOICE BUT TO LEAVE I LEFT THE ARMY AND WAS WITH SWIFT FOR OVER 3 YEARS. DON'T GET ME WRONG MY DM WAS THE BEST DM I EVER HAD WITH MY TIME WITH SWIFT SHE GOT ME HOME WHEN I WANTED TO AND I GOT MY MONEY BACK WHEN I HAD TO PAY THE STUDENTS HOTEL ROOMS. BUT THE MILES STARTED HEADING SOUTH AND THE LOADS STARTED TO GET TOO F**KING HEAVY AND THATS WHEN I LEFT, BUT I STILL GOT MY MENTOR SHIRTS AND I'M PROUD THAT I WAS A MENTOR AND IT MAKES ME PROUD THAT SEVERAL STUDENTS OF MINE DID STAY WITH SWIFT.

You'll find poor trainers at any company. The larger the company, the greater the potential to have poor trainers and swift is a large company. There's nothing wrong with having training mentors that have 6 months of experience. In this industry you can learn a lot in 6 months. I plan on moving up to Training Mentor in a month when I get my time in. Not saying I know everything there is to know about driving truck but I pay attention and I absorb as much as possible. I spent 7 years doing managerial work and 4 years in EMS in Detroit where I also taught CPR. Just because someone doesn't have 10 years behind the wheel doesn't mean they'll be a poor trainer. Swift just needs a better check and balance system on the current training mentors to make sure they are doing they're job correctly. You can't put all the ownus on the management at Swift either. It's hard to know specifically what a mentor is or isn't doing when a student hops off the truck (be it early or at the end of their 6 weeks) and doesn't say a word about problems they encountered. I've heard stories about dozens of other companies whom have had accidents and injuries involving poor trainers/finishers. CRST earned its acronym (crash and roll stunt team) for such a thing. Granted im not discounting the original complaint, I just think your blame is ill placed. Im happy here. I love it at Swift. I had a great mentor who taught me a lot and didnt treat me like a second logbook. He was genuinely concerned about me learning the business and we still talk on the phone. I took a rookie onto my truck recently to run teams and ended up teaching him a lot that his mentor never showed him. We're now on a dedicated Forward Air account, we make great money, Ded Fleet manager and Planners take care of us and I've always gotten excellent service out of the shops I've been to when I encountered issues with my tractor. I feel bad for anyone who runs into problems but again, it doesnt matter what company you roll with you're eventualy gonna have issues. That's true of any business. I've had a week long breakdown before and a couple weeks wher freight was slow. Ive had questions go unanswered before and was left hanging once or twice by planners. I just keep telling myself that it happens sometimes. It would happen anywhere else. Just grin and bear it. Anyone who tells you they drive truck and love it, have never had problems, and have never considered quitting is a liar. It just takes patience and a certain type of person. It helps if you're not an a**.

Trainers who have a whole six months of experience!! Join Swift and in six months you can use the log book of a new driver...make huge bucks! 2004...driver kills man in KS....Swift cant produce logbook...Swift has verdict of 37 million dollars handed to them.....2005.....driver seriously injures two people in Missouri....Swift settles for 5 million dollars...two cases....42 million dollars....one would think safety concerns might cross the minds of management....LOL!!! No...lets pump out more drivers from our 3rd party mills to make up for that lost revenue....this is how upper management thinks...I know first hand...I tried to reason with executive management but who the hell was I??? First hand knowledge....a student goes through the academy I worked for three times before finally passing the state CDL exam, which was failed numerous times to the point where student almost had to get a waiver to retest. Within a year this student is training new drivers. I had a chance to talk to one of the students of this now Mentor....it was a down right sickening discussion. Now....let's hear from some Swift cronies. Tell us all what a great company Swift is. Tell us about their excellent safety record....20,000 accidents in 2006...sure they have 20,000 drivers so there will be alot of accidents...but wait...20,000 accidents...20,000 drivers...hmmmm. Cant wait to hear the rebuttals of Swift drivers who are on easy street because of this great company.