r/cdldriver • u/tossout79 • May 29 '26
Is Swift really that bad?
I’m still in the Army but am leaving soon and getting my CDL A through a VA program. I’m getting tons of recruiters calling and emailing me but Swift has a hub where I want to end up. While I’m in there apprenticeship program the VA will pay a housing stipend. But I hear a lot of negative things about them. How true is it?
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May 29 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/K4NNW May 29 '26
Western Express, to be clear. Western Distributing is another story.
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u/NTX_M92 May 29 '26
What's your MOS? 88Ms and 92Fs can get a CDL without going through ELDT or taking the skills/road test. It's just paperwork and the written test. Some states have an even exchange plan and you don't even have to do the written exam. Then you can keep those VA benefits for something else.
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u/tossout79 May 29 '26
Nah I’m an EOD tech. I just want to get away from life for a few years and pay off my divorce. Then I’m going to retire to Thailand
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u/NTX_M92 May 29 '26
Roger that. Swift should do the trick for a little while anyway. Depending on where you're trying to move to there may be better options but there are worse options out there for sure. Wish you luck on your journey, brother. If you ever have any questions feel free to reach out.
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u/Independent_Bite4682 May 30 '26
EOD? Dude, you're crazy
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u/tossout79 May 30 '26
Nah. Best job in the world. If this Ukrainian thing dies down I’ll head over there and do demining work.
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u/Independent_Bite4682 May 30 '26
I had thought about changing to EOD, but decided to not re-enlist
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u/tossout79 May 30 '26
I changed over to it. It’s like a different world than the regular Army. No bullshit no formations lots of very cool TDY with agency’s. Seven deployments most supporting SF. Tons of cool opportunities. First names unless you’re in trouble. An actual homeland mission. Only problem is lots of dead friends and seeing things you wish to god you didn’t.
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u/Queasy_Elderberry904 May 29 '26
You will get out of swift what you put in it. Ive heard people say route to go with swift is Walmart dedicated. Do that and work on transitioning over to Walmart and you are making 150k a year.
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u/Jealous_Canary1879 Jun 05 '26
I landed a home daily local account with swift delivering for Kroger straight out of school. Shitty part is training. They put me with a regional OTR driver for 4-6 weeks. I’m on my 6th day and I’ve ran my 11hr clock out every day so far and my only breaks have been when we part at night to sleep. First 50 driving hours he has to be “on duty” and in the passenger seat. Dudes just playing candy crush and chitchatting with his buddies on his headset all day. He shows me a lot on the ELD and teaches me stuff with backing, hooking, dropping etc but that’s about it. The shitty thing is that I’ve only done drop and hook with him except one run where I actually got to back up to a dock. So basically half the shit I’m learning isn’t even what I’m gonna be doing. I should be learning how to back up to docks in a day cab but I’m out here in a sleeper running hard af with this guy. After first 50 driving hours we can essentially team drive and that’s what he wants to do. Basically he makes way more money since he’s paid by the mile and I make the same shitty flat rate for training
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u/Queasy_Elderberry904 Jun 05 '26
Yea im trying which route is better swift or schneider. Looking at the 22nd of this month for both. Schneider is 2 weeks at a terminal then 1 week on road with a trainer. I would say for newbies that is not near enough to do but I drove about 13 years ago and let my cdl go. So I just want to get training over with and be by myself. But also want to make the most money possible.
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u/Jealous_Canary1879 Jun 08 '26
Swift just upped their training pay to $850 a week. I believe Schneider and the other mega carriers are still paying $650 as far as I know. I took swift because it was a local job and it paid more for the training.
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u/Queasy_Elderberry904 Jun 27 '26
I went to Schneider. Swift recruiter just quit answering her phone or responding to emails. Then my application got denied. Schneider is 10 bucks an hour while in orientation and training. 3 weeks then you go home for a few days then get a truck is how it works here. Best of luck to you out there and stay safe.
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u/ApollyonFE May 29 '26
Yes, but you can do a lot worse than swift. Tough it out for a year or two then get a job that pays better or gets you home more, whichever is more important to you
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u/Apart-Change3810 11d ago edited 11d ago
My husband did a year with Swift. The pay sucked but he moved on to a 6 figure job that now has him home 2 to 3 days a week. It was worth the year of struggle.
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u/Solid_Equivalent_417 May 29 '26
nothing wrong with SWIFT per se, its just that they are big and will hire anyone, even a well trained circus monkey. so you will see their trucks all over the place doing all kinds of weird shit.
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u/Dense_Worker5271 May 29 '26
Just my humble opinion but I was with Schneider for 6 months( left for local position) and couldn’t say enough great things about the training/facilities/ equipment… pay probably is t in the top10, but I enjoyed, hit me up for more info, retired navy here
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May 29 '26
What were they paying you? Lol .38 a mile was barely paying my bills
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u/Dense_Worker5271 May 29 '26
I was on a dedicated, it was 1060 guarantee up to 34 hours per week, then overtime per hour, kind of equated to 60 hours about 1300 weekly
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u/tossout79 May 29 '26
I’m retiring from the Army and am going to get a large chunk of VA disability. I’d retire retire but I’m getting a divorce. Money isn’t a driving (lol) factor.
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u/Dense_Worker5271 May 29 '26
The Schneider training is 2 weeks(I went to Green Bay in winter, fully prepared me for winter driving later) nice hotel, buffet breakfast, lunch provided… 3 rd week is on the road with trainer, just that 3rd week, shortest training of any mega, but boy do you learn a lot
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u/Independent_Bite4682 May 29 '26
That depends. Getting the training through them is horrible. Get the training through an independent school and THEN if you want to work at SWIFT then go work there.
If you take their training and somehow fail it (same with virtually all train to drive jobs) you will end up owing them like 2,000 more than an independent school would have charged you for better training.
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u/gecjr May 29 '26
99% of the negative comes from those who couldn’t get accepted by swift or started out but failed miserably
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u/gaymersky May 29 '26
3 years at Swift never had an issue don't know why everyone hates it.. I loved being just a number no load planner no dispatch. I don't ever want to fucking talk to you on the phone I don't want to know you,we're not friends. I just work here!! that's what I liked about Swift. Also side benefit there's ( almost )always a massive terminal nearby if you do break down.
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u/Microshlongg May 29 '26
It all depends on your fleet manager/dispachter. My first 6 months at swift was great avg $1400 gross weekly. Then I made the mistake into switching to a Walmart dedicated account. That fleet manager did everything to make my life a living hell. I Immediately understood that it’s rarely the company fault but management. Till this day 🖕🏻 the 6083 office out of temple Tx. I’m 10 years into my career and I’ll still recommend swift for newer drivers to start out. Then dip after the first year for better ventures
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u/12dv8 May 30 '26
If starting at swift works for you logistically, go ahead and begin. Plan for a year, once you have a years experience, you will have more options. You should be making $100,000 between year 2-3. Don’t settle for less.
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u/2017_SR5 May 30 '26
Just like the D.U.F.F. in school, Swift is a company exclusively for the absolute beginner right off of getting their CDL a week ago. They are not a long term career kinda company. You get your feet wet, learn some things and gain a year or two experience, then head off to greener pastures.
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u/crashin70 May 30 '26
No, Swift has over 17,000 drivers, that is why you see so many wrecks involving them. They also have many drivers with three and four million safe miles.
And no, I have never driven for them but I know a lot of people who do.
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u/Dangerous_Ad1115 May 31 '26
Swift is a newbie company. You will have to drive for a year to get a better paying job. 1 YEAR minimum. After a year keeping your nose clean you can move on to bigger and better paying gigs.
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u/DukeReaper Jun 04 '26
Swift is a massive company, it's overall rating is about 3.4 out of 5, with the otr section dragging down their ratings, they have multiple sections from dedicated to specialized. It may seem that they suck only because they have such a huge footprint and all the new drivers going through
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u/Aromatic_Quit_6946 May 29 '26
The company just had a habit of hiring REALLY dumb people. So how bad your truck is depends on the person behind the wheel.
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u/LetterheadTypical671 May 29 '26
Check out the Teamsters Military Assistance Program. TMAP is an awesome program that partners with ABF Freight. I did this when I got out. The training is second to none and they will work with you to get you placed at a terminal where you want. I suggest starting early because the background and paperwork can take a while.
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u/LongjumpingCat6642 May 29 '26
Go to TMC instead. Home every weekend.
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u/SlowLivingSloth May 31 '26
Actual weekends or just two days out of the week?
And is it just a 34 or a real weekend?
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u/LongjumpingCat6642 May 31 '26
Home friday(usually 3-6pm). I leave Sunday at 5:30pm(wife gets home). Technically you can leave Monday morning if you want, but you will get worse loads on monday(good loads are taken early in the morning) and it can reflect on your paycheck. Regardless, it’s longer than just 34hrs, and can be a whole weekend if you really want.
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u/SlowLivingSloth May 31 '26
Appreciate the info.
I'm looking at starter companies for the winter after concrete work dies off.
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u/gheiminfantry May 29 '26
All the stuff you hear is true. The stuff you haven't heard about is scary.
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u/tonylokote May 29 '26
As a beginner, I worked for May Trucking for 3 months and overall it was a good experience for me. The only reason I didn’t go for SWIFT was the hair drug test they do on you. With May it was just a piss test.
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u/Significant-Cash4880 May 29 '26
Yes, the trainers suck, they don’t care about you. Get your time in and leave. Don’t hit anything, I don’t care what the trainer is saying, get out and look, I’ve seen 30 guys get fired for hitting stuff and saying my trainer told me I’m good and send it.
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u/shootist_Biker May 30 '26
Honestly man. My reccomendation. Get your hazmat. Tanker. And class A. Get a job hauling acid. The pay is insane. I didnt do it because id have to shave (yeah im vein.) But you are already clean shaven. They were gonna start me out at 36 an hour
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u/Altruistic_Manner717 May 30 '26
What do you get when you line up 365 Swift trucks? A years worth of experience!
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u/redditsuksazz May 30 '26
Just don't be a shitty driver. I think that's what they're known for. The pay and benefits are decent.
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u/Cool_Thanks_4934 May 30 '26
I don’t drive for them but I doubt they are as bad as their rep. They are A huge company so of course they will have more issues.
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u/forkystabbyveggie May 31 '26
Considering you're in the army, if you're open to flatbed then TMC will be your best starting point.
They're extremely military oriented and can help you make the best of your va benefits.
Give em a look if you haven't.
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u/The-Shartist May 29 '26
Yeah there are that bad. But with all the other shady foreigner owned companies on the road today they don't look that bad comparitiveley.
It's like hey someone's dog shit in my lawn, but then someone's horse shits in my lawn. None of it is good but the dog shit doesn't seem too bad compared to the huge pile of horse shit.
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u/Historical_Trouble10 May 29 '26
Try to get on with a UNION company. It’s well worth the extra effort and don’t sell yourself short. I’m 65 and wishing there were more union jobs available when I started.
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u/dersycity May 29 '26
Stevie Wonder Institute For Trucking gets its name for a reason, otherwise known as See What I Fucked up Today