Swift Driving Academy Richmond

Well, I suppose this is my first post here. Somewhat. I did have a username, but it was pointed out that if it was googled would point right to my facebook and twitter and email and... Well. Only had a few posts on that anyhow, so I guess it would be better to retire that before something silly happens. I've been stalking this forum for quite a while and it's been a godsend for information and hopefully my experience so far will help someone else down the line. As a fair warning, I treat sarcasm as a necessity in a conversation, so don't take everything I say too seriously!

A little bit about me. I'm fairly young, quite single and have no kids. Been all over the world in a bunch of different careers, but driving stuck out to me. I used to drive transit buses quite a few years ago and driving huge vehicles.. I loved every second of it. Passengers... not as much, but hey, don't have to haul them in the trucks! So I figured I'd get my CDL and give this driving thing I love a shot! I've always been an excellent driver and I'm not a dumb kid according to all those standardized tests that get given out everywhere... We'll see if it's true or not. But I've a pretty decent plan on what to do with my career to maximize the time investment that it will take and hopefully this will finally be the career that settles me down!

Anyhow. Finished the Swift Driving Academy in Richmond recently and figured it wouldn't be the worst to warn some of their recruits about some of the things to expect.

I'll keep repeating myself further down. But here's the first warning. The recruiter doesn't tell you that getting kicked out of this place is RIDICULOUSLY easy. And if you stay longer than 3 days, you get to pay them some money. So please, don't show up if you're not ready. There's very little instruction and with how huge the classes are it's very very easy to not get more than 15-20 minutes per DAY in the truck to practice. In the 3 weeks of practice, there's only 13 days on the range (taking out all the days in the classroom and days off), so you can easily be expected to pass their tests flawlessly after only getting 3 hours in the truck for everything.

Here goes!:

Week 1 - Monday - Some paperwork. Verification of all the required documents which are a hard copy of the CDL permit, the DOT Physical and any other documents that may be needed in case of sleep apnea or whatnot. I didn't need them so don't know. They will send you to a nearby clinic to get a new physical if you don't have the card and the long form. Costs ~60 at that clinic. Since I'm from VA and needed the physical to get the permit, really didn't matter. You'll get a book (no, you don't get to keep it, just read it) and some homework. A bunch of rules and regulations regular bs. My personal favorite moments of the day were the talk about how you're not allowed to drink ever (but what about when we get off friday and don't come in till monday???... NOPE) and that they'll come search your rooms. And someone in the class not wanting to fill out the affirmative action form and the instructor making him. "But it says OPTIONAL across the top (yeah, bold, all caps and underlined on their paper)" and instructor: "I don't care. fill it out or pack your #### and leave".
Also, get a few pages of homework in the book and get told about their awesome Academic Probation (AP from now on) program. Essentially fail 1 test and you're on AP and if you fail the retake or fail another test down the road you go home with no refund if you stay over 9 days in school. Get told about the tests that'll happen the next day, logging. Fun.
Schedule is pretty awesome and terrible at the same time. Hotel shuttle runs at 5 AM. Hotel is 2 miles away. Class starts at 6 AM, nothing in terminal except a small TV and overpriced vending machines. So, sit and wait for 55 minutes. Lunch from 11AM till 1PM. Out of class at 3PM but the shuttle doesn't show up till 4.
Actually, best part of the day was that it didn't take but until 6:45 AM until we were first told that Lease is the greatest way to make money that there ever was. $1.19/mi for all dispatched miles. Yeaaaa, I don't think so.

Either way. The hotel is ####ty. There is no breakfast (there's oatmeal packets for $1/packet and some fruit for some other price, everything costs money except coffee), the shuttle only runs once every couple hours. There are three students to a room, either two beds and a rollaway or a king bed, couch and rollaway. Nothing unexpected. Instructor rolls in around 11 PM and searches all your #### to look for alcohol.

Week 1 - Tuesday - Go over paper logs. Go over all the test answers. Twice. Instructor led test reading and answering. Lunch from 11-1 but the 11-12 is the "study hour". Then 3 tests are given on paper logs. Each is silly multiple choice with answers that were read to you quite a few times at this point. Still, 1 guy fails 2/3 and gets kicked out, a few more fail 1/3 and get put on AP. Not much happens for the rest of the day. Get told that cheating paper logs is absolutely unacceptable then also get told that no matter what time you get out for lunch (11 every day) to put the lunch break on the log from 12-1. Quite funny.

Week 1 - Wednesday - Mapping. Get a map book, get told stuff... Homework is due this morning, it's out of the textbook that was originally given, every book has answers circled in it. Quite a challenge not to get it right, however homework is also graded and there's 3 sheets... So, don't do one of them and AP or two and bye bye. Mapping test is 2 of them, two more people go home. That's about it for the day, supposed to sign school contracts this day, but they're not ready.

Week 1 - Thursday - Some classroom in the morning, going over adjusting mirrors and whatnot, but nothing exciting and then off to the range. Don't get to go to the classroom ever again. Range is pretty huge, a decent number of trucks around but you have all day to complete one test. Get in the truck and pull forward 150 feet and then back 150 feet straight. You get all the chances you want but if you can't do it by 3 PM you go home. Last day to quit and not pay anything. Amazingly enough, don't lose anyone here. Trucks are pretty nice, all 8 speed Volvos that only have about 300k miles on them. Apparently they're new to the school and the old Internationals that were used just got replaced. Fun. Oh! Also, today we got the pre-trip sheet and got shown it once. Told to study since we have to pass it on Wednesday of Week 2!

Week 1 - Friday - Essentially straight line backing all day with some groups getting taken away to do some shift training. Days are getting longer, getting off around 430 PM instead of 3 PM now. Actually filled out our contracts this morning! Backdated them to wednesday. $3900 for the school plus $500 for the hotel. Repaid at $75/week for the first year and ~$25/week for the hotel. After going solo OTR, get paid back half of $75 every week until you get all your money back and the school turns out free. Meh, not great, but not amazing.

Week 1 - Saturday - Only first week students are here on saturday, so it's actually not a clusterbleep. Basically three trucks on the range are doing straight line backing and some shifting all day. Actually pretty nice since you get to get in a truck more than 2-3 times for 5 minutes. At this point we're down to 18 students from over 20 in the class, but a couple manage to get kicked out halfway through the day for arguing with each other. Just general #####ing that an instructor overheard, and pulled the "no cursing on the range" rule out and bye bye. Down to 16 now.

Sunday. Free day. Not alot to do, so hey, sleep in!

Anyhow. This should give an overview that's quite detailed for the first week. The rest of the time is on the range practicing driving, offset backing, parallel parking and straight line.. So, I'll skip to the days that matter.

Week 2 - Wednesday - Pre trip test!!! Easy stuff but as per usual, two people fail. A guy that failed from the previous week's class fails it again and goes home.

Week 2 - Friday Saturday and Sunday - Boring Days that you can't do anything during. Instructors with no lives show up at the hotel a number of times to search rooms. Actually, it's not instructors. It's the #### Academy Leader. Awesome complaints from the girl that was showering when he busted into her room and had to watch him go thru her #### while she was in a towel. They REALLY care that you don't drink on your almost 72 hour break.

Week 3 - Thursday - Backing test. You get to do a straight line, offset and parallel park. You get 12 points total and if you don't make it... Well. AP or Home! Four people fail. One goes home.

Week 3 - Friday - Driving test! Awesome. A bunch of people fail. Magic. Next week we're going to the DMV to test and now we're down to less than 10 people in the class!

Week 4 - DMV. Everything is different except backing. I'm coming up with things for the pre-trip since the DMV inspector wants to know what exactly I mean when I say "not damaged" for every #### piece on the truck. Thanks Swift. That was awesome. However, I got my license.

Anyhow. Swift Driving Academy. I gotta say, the training is terrible. The instructors literally say "We will show you how to do this once as a group but we will not help you individually since then all of you will want help and we don't have time for that". Yep. Then they go off to the corner of the lot and sit in their van and watch you. Trying to get a copy of the contract was impossible. Asked for it the day I signed it and was told "oh, just get it tomorrow, I gotta go home". Then when I went to get it the next day: "Um.. why didn't you get it yesterday, we already sent them to corporate..." And that's from the same guy...

Had a military guy in the class. He didn't want to let them make a photocopy of his ID. Instructor made fun of him throughout the whole discussion.... Quick google search shows that it's a federal offense to make photocopies of those. Guy had it right, instructor didn't give a ####.

At the same time, all that said about the school... They do weed out just about everyone that can't learn on their own with almost no time in the truck each day. So only people that actually halfway know what they're doing get through.

Either way. Got my license. Now, since I didn't sign anything with Swift, only their driving school that specifically points out that there's no restriction on quitting right after...., I'm at Schneider orientation. I wonder what Swift is going to say when they don't see me in orientation on Monday...

And no, I'm not defaulting on the school tuition. Schneider will reimburse the school. And pay more in the end. And not put a camera in my face to watch me fart in my sleep... As an idea.. get the CDL and then find a company that has some more training or that will pay your tuition back.. Swift Academy does not mean that you have to work for Swift after!

See y'all in their thread on how my career there will go!

 

That sounds about right for swift training. It's not a place to go if you feel like it may take more than a couple total hours in a truck to get the concepts enough to pass the DMV test. I'm sorry to hear about your experience, and it's partly why I made this post. To warn people of what to expect.

I'm not sure about any all auto schools. I'd highly advise you to go ahead and take a longer course that uses manual trucks. It's not an easy concept to master, but a very useful one and you'll still have to know how gears work even if you drive automatics. From personal experience, it seemed harder for me to stop the habits of single clutching and pushing the clutch all the way down than for people to learn how to shift that have never done it before.

Best of luck to you!

 

3-5 backing attempts before lunch for about 6 days. 5-10 min per attempt. Then out on the road with a trainer and other students after lunch. Drive for 15-20 min each and observe others for the rest of it. Add it up. I'd say I got 2-3 hours backing and 3-4 hours driving on my own during the school