PRIME NEWBIES~Any comments from orientation?

I am confused. I know this isn't what this thread is for and I don't want to get this thread shut down. However, I am not one for bashing or for starting confrontations. What has me concerned is the fact that Trey or TruckDaddy is just really bitter. CivilWerks has it correct. It is time to let bygones be bygones. It takes two to tango. So you made mistakes and those mistakes probably made things worse and Prime lost patience and since they lost patience they realized that they have other people that are willing to put in the time/effort and it was time to let you go. Was it fair? That is debatable but in today's society you just have to know to grow thick-skin and just get over it. Move on. Trucking isn't for everyone. Prime isn't going to be the best company to work for but they are not going to be the worst either. Life is life. You get out of it of what you put into it. Frankly, you didn't really put anything in to it. You gave it a whopping 3 weeks. You quit 2 trainers who didn't seem to work for you. Its not their job for them to conform to your standards, it is your job to conform to theirs. You already obtained your CDL. You already knew what was expected of you. IT was just the time to suck it up as a class "B" Driver get the 60K miles under you belt get to the "A" transition get your own truck, get paid .30 a mile for the remaining 20k miles and make it to class "A" and be done. End of story. I've read a lot of posts you written on here. You were enjoying Prime at one point. I've read what you said happened. Sorry it didn't work out. No sense of coming on here bashing every thing or every body. Time to move on. Just my 2 cents. Nothing changes about how I feel about your character, just feel its time to let bygones be bygones.

 

Prime will definitely give you a start. There are things to learn you will not be shown at Prime. There is equipment available you will not get at Prime. Ask your trainer. If he or she doesn't know, ask some of the seasoned fellers at the truck stops. Nine times out of ten, they are more than happy to talk to someone willing to listen.

One thing to be said about those e-logs. Pay close attention to how they compute your hours and how they come up with the numbers they do. Those e-logs showed me the error of my ways from paper and I had more actual drive time available on them than when I was running paper before. Now I know more of the tricks of the trade and can run my paper more efficiently. Taught to me by a computer.

Some of the equipment you won't get at Prime: a trolley brake (trailer only brake controlled by a hand valve) and suspension air dump. You will be taught ways to kind of do the things these enable you to do, but it's not quite the same. As said above, ask some of the older fellers. They'll usually help you out.

Squid to Squid, it's kind of like being fresh on a boat. I was ACB-1 out of Coronado, but the idea is the same. The old Bosun's Mates were more than happy to work with you. And you knew you'd earned your stripes when someone called you "Boats" for the first time...even if it wasn't your actual rating. Especially if it wasn't your actual rating.

Good luck at training. You'll be fine as long as you keep a positive attitude and get some time away from the truck when the cabin fever starts to hit you...before you kill your trainer.

 

You are right, let it be, it is over and done with, Prime was the company for me, I think I got a bad rap from the trainers that were chosen to train me, both of them didn't need to be training at this time due to issues going on in both of their lives at this very moment in time when they were extremely distracted from trying to train me, Not anything else is going to be said about that, I'm moving on, I'm over it, when my pay checks all catch up with me I will be fine. Till Then I'm moving on, I DID NOT CHANGE MY NAME TO HIDE FROM ANYTHING I DECIDED THAT USING TWO OF MY CHILDRENS NAMES OR NICK NAMES WAS NOT AN APPROPIATE USER ID So when admin asked me to back away from my attacks on Prime I asked them if they would mind changing my user ID to something different then my childrens names etc. Thank You. TD24

 

I am sorry things didn't work out for you at Prime. Really I am. You seem like a decent person, and I wish nothing but the best for you. Whatever happened to Watkins/Shepard? I thought you were headed there? Just curious. Anyway, best of luck and best wishes to you and your family.

 

So the physical didn't include tests like carrying 60 lbs the length of a trailer and back, and lifting 40 lbs. from floor to chest while monitoring your heart rate?

 

That's not a part of the DOT physical regimen, and Prime discourages its operators from unloading their own trailers. You can - company drivers are paid a rate that doesn't make it worth it in my opinion, and a lease op is going to make much more getting the truck down the road. They do go beyond DOT requirements in terms of BMI and sleep apnea.

 

Interesting. Thanks much!

 

How do they check to see if you have sleep apnea? They go by your BMI? I don't have sleep apnea, so I am not worried, just wondering how they test for it?

 

They use a screening process to weed-out the largest cohort who may be affected; BMI, neck size, another criteria I've forgotten, and a questionaire. It covers 80% of those affected I've heard.

It's something that is serious if one has it, and should be treated. There is also no causal relationship that can be shown between CMV accidents and sleep apnea - go figure. Its the latest government kick after texting on cell phone. Many people disagree with sleep apnea screening - I understand why Prime does this and don't particularily like it - its to disarm the next legal beagle after a big payday.

 

O.K fellas been a while since I posted. Had some home time much needed, and been running. I have about 20,000 miles left and was wondering how they go about assigning a tractor to a company driver. I am asking this question as I know they have lightweight petes, I plan on being out 4-5 weeks at a time. And they are small inside, I can see the lightweights being good for a regional or dedicated run where you get home more frequently. However being out that long I am not sure they are roomy enough..... I may be wrong BUT... Just seems you would be much more comfortable in a full size tractor. Does anyone know about the process of assigning tractors after your training. Oh by the way I am having fun doing this and am enjoying the ride so far take care fellas.