Prime: Orientation and Training?

And you have had how much experience?

 

Can't speak for all instructors or trainers, but we do try to only get good people into the teaching business. I agree with U2 - you need to get reassigned. CALL YOUR FM IMMEDIATELY AND REPORT THIS JERK! You won't be penalized.

 

I will post my 2 cents for what it is worth. My husband is an instructor for Prime and has never once done any of the crap being discussed earlier. His job is to sit in the right seat and TEACH. He is not there to watch tv and sleep in his bunk while his student is driving. His last student tested on Memorial Day and passed his first try. They are now out teaming. Cobra I would report your instructor and asked to get reassigned ASAP. There is no excuse for his behavior. Good luck to you and best wishes.

 

ok i went ahead and reported him... but i have 20 hours left to do get my cdl road test so by the time we get back to prime ill have my 100... i pretty much learned from watching other drivers and talking to them, at truck stops, i practice my pre trip every time we get a trailer... i pre trip every day iget up and every day do my air brake test in proper order and sequence...i have a few years of yard driver experiance so on the pad i do really well with the backing stuff...i was having a problem down shifting with double clutch,,, but the 11 strait hours driving yesterday i got that all figured out...so i should pass the cdl road test... i know alot of people are comming here to prime cause there desperate for work... but make sure u have a high tolerance for stupidity... and if 2 trainers or instructors send u back to the pad.. (and alot of them will leave u at a truck stop if they find out ur ratting them out)...prime will send u home,, so u have to have some tolerance...

and for the mvr list everything in 7 years... no matter how minor.. and work history 10 years of driving CDL work history...or 3 solid years of work history... they dont really care how many jobs u have had as long as they can verify 3 strait years of work history. and they will verify so dont invent a company that u worked for ..... as long as u didnt get fired for any type of criminal act ull be fine... honesty will get u a long way here... so dont lie on any application they will pick it up...

 

Personally, I'm not sure I want to go work for a company with an absurd policy like theirs. Prime will not take students with CDLs - had a 10 minute conversation with them yesterday (after waiting quite a while on the phone)

They are willing to take on a brand new non-CDL driver but not me. I went to one of the best schools on the East Coast (Winsor) which has a tough reputation and weeds out people fast. I rode through some of the toughest areas and back alleys of Newark and the whole industrial area surrounding Linden NJ, including Elizabeth and the port areas and by the Pulaski skyway by routes 1 & 9 - these are no joke people.

I tried explaining all of this to the recruiters - they could care less. They reminded me of the mindless twits at the front-desks of many of the corporate worker/drone centers that I've consulted in for too many years - only interested in saying the same things over and over again - AND of course, their coffee and cigarette breaks.

Anyway to bypass these low-level grunts and get ahold of somebody with an education and a sense of reason? This is already a bad sign. I am completely motivated to do whatever a company wants me to in order to run a rig OTR all 48 states!

 

U2exit I have a couple of questions about prime.

if i get my cdl permit in tennessee will that be ok before i apply?

how is the company & how do u go about getting home in case of emergency? Thanks for your time

 

Actually, yes. First couple of days for a newb is the mad scramble to study and pass the permit test. If you have your permit, it avoids that hassle.

Depends on what you make of the opportunity. I've run across plenty of folks who are doing well, and like working for them. Like every company, there are those who have a bad experience - that's the way things go anywhere - but those tend to be isolated as far as I've seen.

You call your Fleet Manager, and let him/her know about it. They're supposed to get you routed home ASAP. I knew a gal who had one of these situations, and was home in about 36 hours. She exchanged loads with another driver, and was allowed to drop the load that got her home at a drop yard. Bobtail to the house.

 

I've seen that policy change back and forth a couple of times. As recently as March, I knew they were taking new drivers with CDLs from outside schools. If you are interested in driving for Prime, I'd say keep in touch with the recruiters. Quite a bit of the variability on this policy seems to be in how busy the trainers (not CDL instructors) are. Actually, I think they're trying to be fair to you - not bring you in and have you sitting around for a couple of weeks waiting for someone to take you out.

 

they are hiring so many people every week and there are tons of drivers comming from other commpanies like cr englad werner swift.. they all say there freight has fallen off...idk but alot of companies dont like to take fresh cdl licences from driving schools...primes school ur out on a truck driving the same u would in your job... and yes u can come with your cdl permit it makes it easier for the process and saves u money from going to dmv here... make sure when u come here u dotn show up broke.... u need money for dmv and a 100.00 non refundable fee they get from u first thing tues morning.. it makes up for the costs of so many people getting sent home..

 

my trainer also dont like to sit at truck stops where there are bathrooms and showers.... he parks near bars and clubs so he can beep at women all day and night long...or at walmarts...so showers happen once every 3 days it seems now...he dont care as long as there are women to stare and shout profanities at...from age 14-95 he dont care....and there are truck stops within 1 mile of where we have been sitting since yesterday early afternoon..i get tired of the local cops staring me down as he is wandering the parking lots trying to get some tail..thats why u people who are comming into trucking u better have some major patience with stupidity. and now he is saying he wants me to stay on with him after i get my cdl for another 50,000 miles...and this is no way primes fault.. cause they cant watch every driver on the road.. prime is a good company to work for,, they just have a bunch of ####### working for them...