How much do they get at Swift?
Posted by Traditional-Berry-94@reddit | Truckers | View on Reddit | 47 comments
How much does Swift Pay?
And can one do both OTR and regional there? Or am I being lied to?
Someone I know is past the training period and has worked there over a month now. They are trying to convince me they can't afford child support but they are working every week. They also are trying to say they have only 3-4 days to let the company know in advance if they plan for a weekend or two to 3 days off? Are they off most the time weekly? And like on call type for delievery or do they have to show up there and wait? I know well OTR pays well and the numbers i was given was between 1,300 a week up to 1,500 a week. So I know he's getting paid well. I know he's lying to me. I spoke with someone at his center.
MidLifeChanger@reddit
You can also seek a copy of pay stubs for income verification. If this driver is a rookie, OTR at the beginning doesn't pay well.
nicerakk@reddit
I bet they get more shit than pay
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
I bet not especially if they told me ‘no lol’ as a reply? 🤷♀️
Shug_Shayne@reddit
You think $1300/week before taxes is good pay for OTR?
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
For him yes it’s an increase in what he’s made. And it’s more than Amazon per week.
Shug_Shayne@reddit
Doesn’t matter. That’s absolutely horrible.
Desperate_Fee_808@reddit
I work for swift and it doesn’t suck..it definitely varies per region..I’ve been getting hit with consistent miles 2000-2500 (and even 3000) and I can go home whenever I want..literally..your trucking experience with mega’s depends on your dispatcher and fleet leader..I love my drive leader (she’s sorta hot too lol) and I’ll do almost anything for my fleet leader..they have treated me very very well..I have no complaints about swift 💯
Shug_Shayne@reddit
What are you governed at?
Desperate_Fee_808@reddit
65pmh
Distinct-Event-7472@reddit
You met her before?
CaliThunder559@reddit
I started at Swift last year and worked there 6 months before I left. I left because the pay sucked.
Training was 650 a week before tax. Pay starts at something like .42 to .44 cents per mile. At my 6 month mark I was making .50cpm.
Id have to put my hometime in 10 to 14 days ahead of time and still didnt get home until a day or 2 later.
I had checks as low as 500 bucks and as high as 1100 take home. Most were probably in the 700 range take home
I was out 18 days at a time and home 4 days.
Shug_Shayne@reddit
That’s fucking crazy
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
I appreciate this honesty.
ComprehensiveDark814@reddit
I did east coast regional for 3 years at Swift. Regional is still two weeks out and you have to request home time 7 days minimum in advance. You get one day off for every week you stay out, so if he wants 3 days off he has to stay out for 3 weeks.
BTW starting a new job makes you broke for a couple of months. I wouldn't consider myself financially stable until probably the third month at a new job. He probably didn't even get a full paycheck until the 3rd week.
ColtNickel@reddit
It depends on terminal location in general starting CPM is between 41 to 55 cpm, miles per week vary greatly depending on time with company and area they are currently driving but it’s usually between 1500 to 2000 miles per week which after taxes is between $500 to $800 after taxes and insurance, the first year is the worst the fact is most new drivers don’t even last the first 3 to 6 months
Taking time off they have to put in their home time request off at least 7 days in advance through the pointe app, a driver leader can override it for less time but getting planned to actually be home at that time is a different issue even when requesting a month in advance, being OTR you don’t really get days off unless there is no freight or doing a 34 hour reset.
Don’t go by what office staff say, most are going by terminal average or some arbitrary estimate that the drivers should be making, very few new drivers at swift are making $1,300 let alone $1,500 before taxes and other deductibles
unloader86@reddit
$800 to $1300 per week. If he's true blue OTR the weekly check varies by a lot. Dedicated is more reliable but even then he might have a short week here and there.
AgapeAnus@reddit
First year OTR with a mega you're probably grossing 45-55k and you're actually taking home about 32-42k depending on how you're using your cash advances and what kind of insurance you have. Standard child support payment is 25% of post-tax (net) income which would be 8-10.5k in child support he would owe you, which is about 660-880$ a month although if he's also carrying his child on his insurance that could count towards child support if part of the cost of insurance is coming out of his pay.
As a trucker that also pays child support - if he literally just started and he's scrimping pennies to survive, which is likely the case, then a bit of grace is probably necessary. But he's still making enough to give you 400$ a month bare minimum whether or not he's carrying his kid on his insurance, and especially if he isn't. If he keeps giving you the run around just point out how him having to take time off of work to show up to court is going to hurt his income a lot more than him just paying you what you're owed.
Alternatively if you're really fucking nice you could just tell him he doesn't owe you shit the first 4-8 weeks he's there but after that he has to start making payments. But that's entirely up to you and he's making enough to at least give you something and if he's not an idiot he'll stay out of court because that shit sucks ass for everybody involved.
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
I feel I’ve been very fair the past 10 years. He only was paying 460-470 a month in support.
Issue is also that he was working at Amazon, they were going to pass pay for 588 a month to redo support and he quit.
He’s behind currently but not too bad. He also didn’t pay the first few years after he and I separated.
AgapeAnus@reddit
Then yeah tell him he needs to be paying 400$ a month bare minimum and that's for the first two months he's there. Maybe, and this is entirely your decision, maybe give him a break for the first month but after that he needs to be contributing. I'm saying that as a first year OTR driver myself that also pays child support.
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
This is good advice thank you so much for this.
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
Great on you for paying not many do, but I do agree there are good ones and ones who aren’t so great. During Covid he and I were together just until last May before Mother’s Day.
Tiatake@reddit
I did this for my ex when he changed jobs and it was all smoke when he got there. It was terrible for him. He sold his house and moved out of state for it.
The state took it automatically so I just offered to give it back to him to make ends meet before he could get back into his old job.
I hate that too many people have no compassion for others when it comes to the other parent of your child.
AgapeAnus@reddit
I get that. But there's definitely deadbeats out there that don't pay shit and dodge it every time they can until they get dragged into court by the law, so I figured I'd cover all the bases. My ex gave me some grace the first two months when I was starting out OTR but I still sent her as much as I could in the meantime. But she also is a great mom to my kiddo and lets me be an active part of his life, and everybody involved including the state would tell you I'm the farthest thing from being a deadbeat dad as is possible.
Guy needs to help take care of his kid even if some compassion might be warranted while he's starting a brand new job and buying a bunch of shit he needs for it right out the gate.
-_Metamorphosis_-@reddit
It depends I've met regional drivers making .86cpm, rn I make .67cpm with swift. Starting out here is ass but you can get decent pay. If you're dedicated it varies based on route and state.
I_hold_stering_wheal@reddit
I kept running into drivers that weren’t making any money. Like $600 take home a week. So finally I asked a guy. If your delivery is on weds and you get there on Monday when do you deliver it? He said weds. I was showing up 2 days early, dropping the load and moving on to the next one.
The low paid drivers all had home time as their biggest complaint. They would get shitty loads so they could take their home time.
I was also selective about loads. I wasn’t taking something that lost me money or putting me into a place without freight back.
ZealousidealAngle151@reddit
Swift called me the other day and offered .40 cpm believe he said.
mvamv@reddit
Sheesh. Was that pay rate all in, or do they throw on added pay like stops, performance, fuel, safety etc all that bullshit?
ZealousidealAngle151@reddit
I dunno man. Seems like he was really pushing to fill the role and not offering much emphasizing that I was entry level and that it would be a good foot in the door for me. I passed.
mvamv@reddit
Entry level don't mean shit in this industry. You're driving a commercial truck that can weigh up to 80K lbs. For fucks sake, I was making $18/hr my first driving job... In 2015. By summer 2015 I changed to another driving job that was paying me $20/hr for local. Swift is typically governed at 63-65 according to what I found online, so at 40¢pm, max you'd be making is $26/hr. But with the way most companies favor short haul loads over long haul trips, you'd be lucky to get 500 miles a day unless they have you on a coast to coast lane where you can get 2000+ miles for one trip.
ZealousidealAngle151@reddit
Yea it’s humbling. Other industries want CDL too, like PG&E Linemen so I’m keeping open to not just trucking only.
PlastomaGaming@reddit
Try looking for a local food service job with companies like PFG, US Foods, or Sysco. You could also consider beverage distributors like Pepsi or Coca-Cola, and even local beer companies. I can almost guarantee you’ll make more money. People might say you’ll still be working long hours and doing physically demanding work and that’s probably true but at least you’ll be home in your own bed every night.
KoiwazuraiAi@reddit
They start at .47 at the lowest for dry van. You get stop pay on multi-stop loads, 1 cpm for fuel, 1 cpm for safety, 1 cpm for hitting 7k miles, another 1 cpm for hitting 10k miles and 2 cpm if you hit all of those. Detention pay after two hours past appt time. Some terminals pay for things like sweeping trailers. Breakdown pay. Layover pay. Unload pay if you unload the truck. On a dollar account it's like 275 per unload or something plus stop pay and their mileage rate can be .91-1.10.
echo78@reddit
Also pay depends on what you start as. Regional will start at .56 cpm or so while otr is closer to .40 cpm. Realistically after training you can expect to make around $800 after taxes a week to start.
CaliThunder559@reddit
Agree. I left swift a couple months ago. I make a few hundred a week more now but still thinking of going back.
And I feel like its a dumb reason but I like their trucks better than where I am. I can make it off what I made at Swift but I dont like the trucks my company has. Also i miss all the terminals to park, shower, and do laundry at.
This company schedules deliverys at like 1am and I probably have to pay for parking twice a week.
Heard they get free showers now at loves and pilot
echo78@reddit
Swift has a deal that started this month with Pilot and Loves for like 15~ free showers a month or something. I don't remember the exact number. Its a brand new thing, didn't exist before this month.
CaliThunder559@reddit
Yeah thats what I saw. Im still in the companies Facebook group. The pay was just pretty bad. Other than that I like it
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
He does already have his CDL if that changes things.
KoiwazuraiAi@reddit
OTR and regional are different drivers. Regional can expect to go home every week or every other week. OTR is expected to be on the road longer.
You let the company know when you want to take home time and it's your Driver Leader's responsibility to make it happen. You have to try to be flexible with a 2 day window where you'd like to get home.
No idea what you mean by on call. You're on the road, you get sent a preplanned load with pick up and delivery times. You accept it and run it.
You aren't making 1300 when you start. You have no experience. Can't manage your clock. Can't do anything with finesse or speed. You'll be lucky to bring in net $600. That's not really on the company, you just suck. So your friend probably isn't lying.
Once you actually get miles and time in you'll be faster, more reliable, efficient, and you'll be given loads that correspond with that. Your driver leader and the planners you deal with will make or break you but it up to you to prove that you're an adult that can be trusted to run the freight.
Some of our drivers gross $130-160k but they have been here a while and run dedicated accounts and mentor. My average net would be about $1300 on 2700 miles but I put money into retirement accounts so realistically I take home $1000. If I were to go onto one of the accounts they keep trying to push me on I could take home $2200
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
I suck how? Because he has an obligation to support his children? 🤔
Distinct-Event-7472@reddit
Don’t expect him to make much for atleast a year
mvamv@reddit
That's the average. What most of these companies do is take the highest gross pay a driver has earned, and average it out with the lowest that their drivers make, either that or take the highest weekly gross possible and multiply by 60-70% to get a number.
For example, between 5 drivers in a week, you could have two making $2K, one making $1.3K, one making $1K, and one making $600. All together adds up to $6.9K. Divide by 5 drivers to get $1.38K, that's the average. But guess what, two of the drivers grossed less than that average, and that's a common occurrence in this industry, drivers making far less than what they were promised when they signed on with a carrier.
Emergency_Ad1152@reddit
If he's doing OTR with swift he's making $800-$1000/wk before taxes. OTR pays the least tbh. Idk about the time off though, that would be dependent on the dispatcher he has and the lanes they have him running.
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
Do they assign trucks right away? And he said he’s doing both regional and OTR.
CaliThunder559@reddit
Once hes off with the trainer he woupd be assigned a truck when he tests at a terminal and cleared to go solo. Sometimes it could take a couple days depending if the terminal had trucks ready.
They usually start new drivers slow on the miles or loads with big delivery windows to make sure they can do the miles.
Traditional-Berry-94@reddit (OP)
Thank you I appreciate this much.
COATHANGER_ABORTIONS@reddit
If you talked to a recruiter for any company, they're probably feeding you 90 percent bullshit.
tonythebutcher13@reddit
He ain't making shit at swift it pays as much as a grocery store job, probably less honestly.