Prime Regional, And Other Concerns...

Check Careerbuilder website & it will show who's hiring in the town you plan to move to.

 

There's a southeast/Texas regional deal in the flatbed division. You'd have to discuss that with them.

Hometime policy for company OTR folks is 1 day earned per week out, you can take 4 days at home at a stretch- not including arrival and departure days. 3 weeks between hometime requests. No if you were to be on the southeast/Texas regional gig, its possible that you'd be able to overnight at the house under load... IF you have a load with the time on it, and it happens to be routed in the general area of your house.

8 to 12 weeks with a trainer to do about 30,000 miles if you get your CDL through the PSD program. There's more to trucking than grinding gears and mashing the throttle.

For a good portion of it, yes. That gives you someone experienced to guide you through the rough stuff, someone to answer questions. He may not always be in the seat next to you, but then again you don't always need someone there 24/7. The other thing to consider is that your trainer also has to pay his bills, so getting enough miles/loads is an important consideration for him as well.

The process works... we have relatively safe graduates. OTOH, that doesn't stop them from being boneheads every once in awhile. So, what? You want someone to point you to the Cracker Jacks box with the CDL in it, then throw you in the deep end chained to a semi? Nothing like watching the competitions newbs struggling to put a trailer in a dock door after a couple of weeks of training. How about the fools that think they are supertruckers charging down the highway as fast as they can git it going... with that trailer fishtailing all over the place? Yeah. Real safe product there.

 

I'd advise you to get as much training as you can... it might help you out some day when you get into a jam.

 

do yourself a favor, with Prime if you asked for something and if you agree to their offer ask for it in writing and see what their response is, I've been with them 6 mos, they'll either run your wheels off or you'll sit you never know. Dosen't matter either way because everything is fixed to their advantage ie; huge open drop dead time so don't expect to get detention pay, no layover pay, forced dispatch drivers are shorted miles on loads. I picked up on all this as I drove, when confronting my FM, was told I have such a bad attitude ( meaning I have a brain and can do math) that I would be called in for more orientation ( what a joke, they mean more conforming brainwash) or upgrade to lease/op. Fair warning do your homework thoroghly on their lease. Ran mine by my attorney, man did Prime not like That!!!! needless to say I'm not going lease nor do I think I'm staying. I came out here to make money, they talk a good game to get you into a truck thats where they make their money once your in its hard getting out or even tougher sticking it out! Go company for awhile and feel em out like I did, you'll see good luck

 

I'm on regional Midwest #111 mostly because I like running Olney walmart and dislike the waste of time (for company driver) NorEst.
Have not been east of Ohio or west of Nebraska since switching from otr.

If available, might keep you in the area better for home time.

Like anything else, it works if you work it;
don't let the whiners and lazy ones tell you otherwise.
Have received
Over $700 in detention
Over $1500 in fuel bonus
Over $700 in stop pay

Started solo June 12th grossing over 30k so far.
Not bad for a starter company with nice equipment.

Fill out your detention stamp fully for every trip every time, sometimes we are paid by the minute.

Cheers

 

Length of time in a cdl program doesn't necessarily equate to better training either.. but there are people who have found trainers they've been very Happy with and people who I know of on their second or third trainer and are still stuck with a farm animal driving a truck.

My problem so far with their training method is the lack of quality control with their trainers. There is a huge range from awesome trainers to bottom-of-the-barrel types. They seem to help u get a new trainer if the first one doesn't work out but they don't necessarily take any more time to see if that person is any better and a lot of times the second or third ones down the chain are even worse than the original ones assigned. lol

Not looking forward to the 30,000 miles but at least I can listen to something besides country music for a while!

In theory Prime has a really good training program. Unfortunately a high percentage of the trainers aren't as good as promised. Strongly recommend not letting them assign you someone and instead hang out at campus inn or millennium bldg until you find your own trainer.

 

While what you say is Ideal, what you may not release is that most trainers you meet at the Campus inn are generally New trainers undergoing the Trainers Program, so your taking a chance there. Most but not all. Some are there looking for trainee's. But generally the PSD trainers come in, get the trainee tested out and then grab another PSD trainee and they are gone again. Sitting around Campus Inn waiting on a PSD trainee is wasting time which equates to loosing money. Going out to the Pad is one way to do it. Also what you don't realize is Linda assigns trainers and has to approve anytime someone gets a trainee. So a Trainer cannot just go grab a trainee and say he's mine, that trainee may already be assigned to another trainer. If the trainer has a good FM then the student is already lined up for the trainer.

Trainers and FM's schedule when the trainer arrives. An example is when I came out of home time I would always arrive at Prime on Saturday or Sunday to get a Trainee, we would spend one day on the training area's and then leave on Monday. If I had to hang around any more time than that then I was loosing money.