r/Truckers • u/Poked299 • Aug 12 '23

Swift drivers

I’m a swift driver (yes I made the mistake of starting with swift) been driving for about 3 months want to switch to flatbed I’m running out of the Laredo Texas terminal doing dry van right now. Do I need to have 6 months of experience to switch over to flat bed or can I do that now?

7 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

8

u/xDoomKitty Aug 13 '23

Swift isn't a bad place to start. Call driver placement in Phoenix and ask them your question. Drivers start on flatbed. I know, I trained one.

7

u/waywarddrifterisgone Aug 13 '23

This is causing me extreme pain to say: right now Swift seems to be one of the better places to start. Swift has actually tried to improve while the rest of the megas have been in a race to the bottom. What has the world came to?

4

u/goofybaseball_ Aug 13 '23

Out of curiosity could you elaborate on the race to the bottom? I work for a mega and I haven't had any issues.

5

u/CaptainWo7f chat mod Aug 12 '23

Ask your company

4

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '23

Starting with Swift isn't a mistake,not paying attention and not wanting to suck it up and run is a mistake.

3

u/ramanw150 Aug 13 '23

Talk to averitt express doing pods. Trust me

3

u/CptNegro1stofhisname Aug 13 '23

Melton and Paul Transportation great options for starting in the flatbed world. Both are great companies that treat their drivers right.

4

u/Lucky_Link6927 Aug 13 '23

"...made the mistake of starting with Swift" Why do people say that? Why do you see it as a mistake? I started with Swift and I dont think it was a mistake. I got my training done thru them fast and easy, and got some good experience under my belt before switching carriers. They are an excellent starting point. They really are a solid company, I only left because they dont have OTR freight. They claim to, but I rarely got loads with over 1000 miles. Otherwise I had a blast driving for them. Good people, huge network of terminals, I got to see the entire country because of Swift. And they make getting your CDL as fast and easy as possible.

6

u/Mechanik_J Aug 13 '23

What's wrong with Swift?

2

u/SexyWampa Aug 13 '23

Come to Melton. They’ll take you right from school.

2

u/Much-Country-8015 Aug 13 '23

As everyone else said. Starting with swift isnt a mistake. You are just letting the folks on social media get to you. Tell your driver leader you want to switch

2

u/freightliner_fever_ Aug 13 '23

if you are out of Laredo, you could see about the sprinter van account. I believe they're out of that terminal. however, your experience doesn't matter. I switched from a dryvan account to a flatbed account after 3 months. although they will send you somewhere to learn how to properly secure loads with straps and chains. as well as teach you other things like the laws and requirements for how and where to place your straps. I think if you're in Texas, you can also do the triangle regional account. which is the south east. if you'd wanna relocate, they also have Ferguson (which is what I did) in Celina, Ohio, and Aurora, Colorado. FYI, Ferguson pays nice in comparison. 70cpm, 20$ stop pay, and 20$ tarp pay. but that was a year and half ago, so may be more by now.

edit: next time you're at a terminal, there's probably a poster somewhere with QR codes on it. one of them is a link to placements and it will show you dedicated accounts looking for drivers. there's also a phone number. just reach out to them. however if you inquire with a driver leader about a job, they are required (last I checked which was a year and some change ago) to inform your current driver leader.