Prime in Pittston (NE regional tanker... I think)

im heading to pittston on the 18th myself, get on the bus tomorrow gonna be a long journey! not sure what i will go with yet, im assuming we have till the end of team training to decide? just excited to get there, gonna miss the family though, they are very supportive so it makes it easier!

 

I've seen a couple of lightweights set up for tanker, but I think they were specifically leased to a driver that way. Most of the tractors I've seen in our tanker divisions were a full-length condo, either with the double-height condo or a mid-roof tractor. If you are determined to run tanker, you should let them know this up front, because you may get your tanker-specific training done during TnT training that way. If you wait, it's not a big deal to switch over after you have completed training. You just need to talk to the tanker management folks, and let them know you'd like to switch over.

You should know that the company tanker guys do get paid a little more cents-per-mile wise, but that's to make up for the extra waiting time they get for tank washes, loading and unloading. It takes awhile to pump one of those trailers out, and it takes some extra miles to get to a tank wash some times - that's what the extra pay is for. Once you're dispatched on a load, company guys get paid for all miles empty and loaded.

 

In the few short weeks I've done it, I've been keeping pretty busy. I did sit for a day and a half in Newark during that blizzard and from what I've found, a lot of places that take bulk liquid loads, don't need or have room in their tanks to need any product at the end of the week. That could cause sitting for a while on weekends to be pretty common. Miles are quite a bit less than reefer.

For trucks, there were a couple company guys who both got brand new full size condos. Everyone who went lease did the same. Like ip said, the only people I've seen w/ lightweight tankers were lease.

I'm not sure about a cpm increase for company tanker drivers. When I asked the guy in charge of tanker training, I was told I wouldn't get a cpm increase from reefer.

Not that it's important, but it actually only takes about 45 minutes - an hour to wash out a tank. So far I've only had to wait on a couple tanks being washed. Many of our in network tank washes have clean tanks there and we can just drop and hook.

It takes about 45 minutes to unload a full tanker if I can pump full speed. It can take more or less time depending on whether the receiver has their own pump or not. Some receivers use 2in. fittings as opposed to primes 3in. hoses which means you can't run the pump at full speed or it could build up to much pressure.

There seems to always be a tank wash near my shipper or receiver and that hasn't been a problem so far. Finding a customer near your receiver, however, is another story. A 300+ mile dead head to get reloaded is not uncommon.


Another thing to consider is fuel consumption. You get a little higher fuel surcharge as a tanker driver. But you have to burn more fuel, especially during winter. A lot of the products Prime hauls will harden at room temperature and you have to run heat lines to keep that from happening. To run heat to the tank, you have to idle your truck, which wastes a lot of fuel. You also have to idle the truck at 900 rpm to use the pump. My fleet average mpg last week was at 6.6, I hit 7.2. This week I had to idle a little more driving around Canada for a few days, only made 6.7mpg.

 

I'll be following right behind you in a week or so. I've got Two #### In a White Semi in my rear view mirror because their equipment is terrible and I had errors on EVERY paycheck!
Sooo, I'm moving on to better things with Prime where I was promised 46cpm for Northeast Regional Refer, not including fuel bonus. APU standard. I've heard the terminal in Pittston, PA was amazing with rooms for drivers like a hotel.

Can anyone driving Northeast for Prime Verify any of this? And tell me your experience with Prime. I hear drivers LOVE Prime.
Thanx..!

 

although, I am not part of the NE regional. The pay is correct. I haven't been thru the Pittston Terminal(yet) but, if its anything like the one in Springfield,MO .Yes its amazing....

 

hey guys, thinking about getting into prime and was excited to see there was a teminal in PA!

Cableguy...can you give me a low down on how the training experience was at pittston?

 

last post in this thread before yours was April 2013. Looking at Cableguy's profile, he hasn't been active here on TTR since February 2014.

you might be waiting awhile for a response from Cableguy.