Pride Transport

Well it's been a minute since I have been on the forum. I have settled in to my new company and wanted to share the info and updates to my daily adventures in this beautiful trucking world.

I have to say I was just about to leave the industry when I left my old mega carrier company. I had some safety issues with my truck that weren't being addressed which almost caused me to have an accident. I returned to the yard and I cleaned out my truck and told them I will call them in 2-3 days. I needed some time to think about my situation and see if there were any other opportunities for me. I had only 4 months driving experience so I thought there wasn't a chance in he'll I would find something better.

After a few days I came across a 500 Truck company called Pride Transport. I called them up and spoke with Steve the head recruiter and he informed me I would be able to come aboard and would need to complete a evaluation course which consisted of 50 hours with a trainer. Once finished I could then test out out with a pre-trip and road test to be on my own. I really like what the company had to offer and felt this was a major step up from my previous company, which by the way you can check out in the Swift section of this forum. Pride has only 1 terminal that is located in Salt Lake City, UT, but they hire from a lot of states.

Swift was decent to me but the quality of life in the truck was horrific. No inverter, no apu, no fridge. Just a bed and a steering wheel. After speaking with Steve this is what he offered to me to come aboard:

1. Plane Ticket to Salt Lake City, UT
2. $3,000 sign on Bonus
3. Tuition reimbursement up to $6,000
4. 1500 watt inverter
5. Built in Fridge and Freezer
6. Direct TV w/ 24" TV and DVR
7. Daily pay when trips are completed
8. Detention @ every customer after 2 hours. $15 / hour. Except for produce loads. Produce pay $30 per Dock Bump & $100 if not loaded within HOS.
9. Brand New Freightliner/Peterbuilt
10. Automatic transmission
11. Sirius XM
12. 2700+ miles per week
13. .35 cpm w/ my experience
14. Brand new Driver Lounge w/ Free Laundry and Detergent / Dryer Sheets Provided
15. 6 Paid Holiday's a Year - $100 per Holiday / $200 if you work Christmas if you work + Mileage.
16. 24/7 Mechanic's - Preventive Maintenance done on the trucks twice a month!
17. $180 / Week Cash Advances - No Fee Charged
18. Park My Truck @ Home for Home time
19. Driver Mini-Van @ Terminal can check-out and run errands
20. Rider & Pet Policy

I decided to give it a go, and had them book me a flight. I flew American Airlines up to Salt Lake and the hotel shuttle picked me up. I booked into the Sleep Inn on Sunday and got ready for the orientation.

Monday morning came and hopped on the shuttle to the terminal. First thing was Physical and Drug Tests.
They have Dr's and assistants come to the terminal to do this. The physical was pretty standard, and they do both Urine and Hair Folicle Drug Testing. I shave my head so they took hair from my arm. Lunch was provided by a local Deli. They pass around a form and menu and you pick what you would like. Very nice high end product and was really good. Rest of the afternoon was paperwork and some company policy information. At the end of the day we were given keys to the company van and we drove ourselves back to the hotel. We could use the van also if we wanted to go anywhere special.

Tuesday morning we all hopped in the Van and back to the terminal we went. Tuesday was more same old company information and policy's. Safety came in and we practiced the "SMITH" driving system. We watched a video and then we took it to the streets for demonstration. Each one of us had to drive and perform SMITH driving techniques. Very Easy. Next we had lunch from the same Deli place and finished the rest of the day with company information and Health Benefits Information.

Wednesday - Last day of Orientation. We got a tour of the place and introduced to many departments. We were shown the new Driver's Lounge. The last day is pretty much relaxed. We were given our trainers and the people who didn't need trainers were assigned trucks. They do training in two ways. If you have 3-6 months experience you do whats called an "Evaluation". This consists of 50 hours with a trainer to ensure you are ready to go solo. New Drivers with no experience and fresh out of school must do full training of "300" hours with a trainer before going solo. 300 hours is a lot, but it's because the company takes time to ensure the driver is comfortable behind the wheel and ready to tackle any situation that they will come across being solo.

I was given my trainer and he happened to be on a Dedicated Account. We would pickup from the local Albertson's Dist. Center, and deliver to stores in Wyoming/Colorado. Once done we would pickup dunnage and return to the Dist. Center. Pretty nice gig he had. People who live in the Salt Lake area could get on these dedicated accounts if there was an open position.

Training Pay:

1. 50 Hour Evaluation - $700 / Week - Flat Rate. No matter the amount of miles you drive.
2. 300 Hour Training - $350 / 1st Week - Non Team. After 1st week Truck is Team Status and paid .14 CPM for ALL miles to the truck. (Example - 5000 miles week) = $700

It took about 5 days to complete the 50 hours I needed. It was a Friday so there wasn't anyone available to test out with until Monday. They put me up in the Comfort INN for the weekend, which was even nicer than the Sleep INN. Monday I tested out with Safety Dept. This consisted of a thorough Pre-Trip, Road Test, and Backing Test. The road test was easy if you do what your supposed to do. Read Your Signs, Stop in "Break Check" area's, watch speed limit signs, ect. The backing test was even easier. Simply park between two trailers and done.

The truck I tested out in was actually the truck I was assigned. Man was I happy.
2016 Freightliner w/ 42,000 Miles, LED Lights, Automatic, Chrome everywhere, and so #### clean inside and out. Smelled brand new and already had the Direct TV system and TV installed. Fridge worked great and only needed my inverter to be installed. I drove my truck over to the 24/7 Mechanic Bay and asked to have the inverter installed. About 2-3 hours later the truck was done. Let me also mention that the company does make you pay for the inverter. That is the only thing I was kind of upset and felt deceived about. This was told to me in Orientation so it's not like it was a surprise. The cost is $360 for the inverter and they take out $50 a week from your settlement until paid off. Once paid its yours to take if you leave the company. They want you to use their's because it has a safety feature that kills the inverter if battery gets to low. They had trouble with people bringing their own and killing the battery's and costing the company to have someone come jump the truck over and over.

I met my Driver Manager who was extremely friendly and ready to get me rolling. He asked if I preferred 11 Western Region or 48 State. I asked him to put me on the 48 State Fleet. He also asked if I wanted to go home to get my stuff or go anywhere. I asked to go home to grab my stuff. About an hour later he called me informing me that if I minded taking a load to Ca and back to UT before heading home. I didn't have a problem with that and the load was assigned to my truck and went over the details of it and asked if I had any questions. First run picked up in Salt Lake City and delivered to Southern California, around 700 miles.
Before getting to my delivery another load came through heading back to Salt Lake City. Another 700 miles. 1400 miles in 3 days I was impressed so far. He stayed true to his word and when I got back to Salt Lake City the load was waiting for me to get me through N.M. The load delivered in Texas, but they put so much time on the load I was able to spend 3 days at home. The loads kept coming and coming and never sat waiting for my next one. It seemed there was always something to go get. Sure I might have to wait till the morning sometimes for pickup time, but I was being dispatched right away. I stayed in the CA, AZ, NV, UT area for the first 1 or 2 week or so. I was in Ca when a load came through that picked up in Tracy, CA and delivered in Maryland. This was like 2500 mile run and was blown away that this was given to a solo driver. At Swift I was never given a load more than 900 miles as a solo driver. It seemed all the really long runs were given to Teams. I made good time every day to prove to my DM that I was the man for the job to ensure I would get more of these loads in the future. I got to MD the night prior to delivery and next morning I woke up to my next load. Picked up in Pennsylvania and delivered to Tennessee. While reading the load info another load came through picking up in Tennessee and delivering to California! Wooohoo! Best part was the load weighed 8,000 lbs. Two weeks in a row I had over 3,000 miles.

The loads continue to keep coming in and I keep knocking them out. I am not sure if it's the on-time record that my truck now has or the company, but I really couldn't ask for more. I told my dispatcher I will take anything that he needs, just please all I ask is to keep me moving and he has done just that. Couldn't ask for a nicer Driver Manager. He never bothers me, Micro Manages me, nothing... Hell sometimes I go weeks and I don't even talk with him. And if I do talk to him it's because I have a question. As long as I keep doing my job professionally, he seems to do his.

The company is mainly Refer, but does have a small Flat Bed Division. Their trailers are in really great shape. About 99% of the trailers I have used have all had air assisted Tandem Pins. There has only been one trailer that had that handle you have to pull/lift to release the pins. So nice! They are buying new trailers and it seems I keep getting lucky or the company keeps buying more and more brand new trailers. I have had one trailer that needed to be fixed so far, and that was due to no gas in the refer tank when I picked it up and they needed to charge the battery and Prime it to get it running. Not sure if someone dropped it off without filling the tank or the company I picked it up from left it running.

I am not force routed either. As long as I am not going 100+ miles out of route the company hasn't said anything about my routes. They get Fuel at Loves, Pilot, Flying J, TA, Petro. Mainly Flying J and Loves it seems. All tolls and Scales are paid for. I Just use my Comdata card and pay for scales that way.
If I need a cash advance for any reason (Which I have only taken one) There is no fee either. If I get $60 they take out $60, unlike Swift or other companies that charge you a $5.99 / $9.99 fee for doing this. If needed you can take $180 a week in Advances with no Fee charged.

I am always on the look-out for other opportunities to advance my career, but I would have to find one hell of a job offer for me to leave the company. Also the company is 100% company driver. No leased trucks here, not sure if that is a good / bad thing. I will be updating this thread just like my old company thread to document my trucking career and also help others with information regarding this company.

If anyone has any questions relating to this company feel free to message me. So far so good!
Two Thumbs Up

20151003_181223 by Kry0n posted Nov 8, 2015 at 2:43 AM

20151003_181735 by Kry0n posted Nov 8, 2015 at 2:43 AM

 

FYI - The company is currently testing the Drive-Cams in their trucks. I believe 20 trucks have them right now and they are still deciding if they will be going forward with installing them in all trucks. Yep sadly unless you work for a mom and pop company it seems these systems will be in just about any mid to large size companies.
I really don't like the idea of them at all, but on the other hand it can truely save me from explaining something that happened to my truck or save me from going to court for something that wasn't my fault. It's a give take kinda situation.

 

If your are driving like a professional and doing nothing wrong. There really isn't anything to fear about them.
The Safety Dept. doesn't go off on someone for nothing.

Do you have a link to the thread where people were complaining? Curious to see what event triggered the Safety Dept. to get involved.

 

Great Question. I would say 95% Tractor's and Trailer's are duals. I have pulled one trailer that had Super's, but it was an older trailer. Think the company was experimenting with them for a bit, but every new truck I see Peter/Freight and trailer are all duals.

 

Yea sorry, I am that guy that also doesn't really have a problem with E-logs either.
I pull 600+ miles on an E-log with no problems. I really don't see the big fuss about it.
Either way they are coming, why fight it? Beats getting a fat ticket for not drawing a line correctly. Most common citation for drivers is Log Books not properly filled out.

As far as freedom is concerned, 30 seconds of recording out of my day really isn't going to kill me.
And that 30 seconds will never even get recorded if I am driving in a professional manner.

The other day one of my friends hit a bird and cracked the windshield. Thanks to the camera, which he manually pressed to activate, No Safety Record, No Hassle from Safety. Nothing.

Last week one of our trucks front bumpers was torn off at a truck stop, and the driver kept driving.
Thanks to the camera it caught the truck and trailer number and the company is now paying for the damages.

Seems like a good tool to me...