Well, you would have thought the flatbed boat was sinking with all of the drivers coming out of the woodwork looking for a berth in reefers. I used to get rather upset with all of the guys (not Prime) pulling reefers with a headache rack (not always enough loads to go around) - and them biotchin' about having to get up early enough to unload at a grocery DC.
Back to the Q/A Now- does the trainee w/o CDL always go the route outlined on the website as in reefer, lease or whatever ? Or if the demand is there when arriving for training do they (managemnt) steer someone off the generic outline of reefer etc. towards flat b or tank ?
It depends on who is available. There are instructors in flatbed and tanker divisions - its just that reefer freight is Prime's primary business, so there are a whole lot more of them. It really doesn't matter what kind of trailer you're pulling around while trying to learn how to manuever a truck...
for ORD or any Prime flatbedder,what does prime pay for tarping a load and would you say it's more often than not? thanks
A few inexperienced yet common sense thoughts on this statement - With flatbed relative to height of load one would be less inclined to worry about overhead clearances... Also I would assume one needs to be more aware of mechanical and temperature conditions of a refer- a greater responsibility than just focusing on managing trailer loading and manauevering tasks... Unless your just talking about initially being on a training pad with a trailer ? I was considering the in field alternatives that may be of importance. Like the old military service alternatives air, ground, or sea before signing on the dotted line for the tour of duty... I did jarhead time many years ago - stuck for the first 3 yrs w/o alternatives until enlistment was coming up. Oh the alternatives once that piece of (CDL-A) paper and SUCCESSFUL experience is extracted !!! HA ! Where's the dice roll emoticon ? Thanks
Actually, it does matter. If your wanting to go flatbed, but have to start out in a reefer for 40k miles, you have to do an additional 30 days with a flatbed trainer for load securement. But if you start off with a flatbed trainer, once your 40k is done then you are ready to upgrade right away.
Before I came, but we had a flatbedder hit a low clearance bridge. The truck is a full-size, not a midroof.
Does Prime use the Electronic log book or is it paper? getting ready to go to Springfield next month and will have CDL Permit in hand when i leave Mid TN going Monday for my DOT Medical, trying to do as much prep as i can and had heard a lot of company's are moving to an elog. Thanks and I'm sure I'll have more questions before i leave LOL
