Prime Company Driver

one luv my bro glad to see that you are back keep up the good work

 

welcome back U2.. you and ironpony are about the main reason i chose prime. Done with orientation just waiting for an instructor.

 

My application for training with Prime was approved and was told that I could start the first week of November. I just wanted to post what I was told by my recruiter about the training process/ home time/ pay/ etc., and was hoping that someone that has recently been through their apprenticeship program could tell me if my information is correct.

Start off with 4 days of orientation then test for your permit if you don't have one already. Then you get paired with your CDL instructor for 4 weeks. What kind of freight? Any home time between orientation until the time you are finished with instructor?

Come back for road test then paired with a trainer for 50k miles (approx. 4 MONTHS according to my recruiter). Is this 50k total team miles or 50k miles driven personally with trainer? How is home time worked out when you and trainer live in different areas/states or are you paired according to where you live?

Pay with trainer is 600/wk or .12/mile whichever is more. Then .30/ mile when you first go solo. After 20k solo miles you get .33.

Home time is one day off for each week out, three weeks out at a time. Is more time allowed or is this expected from all company drivers?

 

You would start your orientation on a tuesday.. test for your cdl permit on wednesday morning.. easier to get your permit before you come, otherwise at least pick up a cdl study guide from your local dmv and study your ### off, otherwise you will have to cram all night. Friday you will get paired with an instructor to start your 100+ hours of behind the wheel time. When your instructor feels your ready to test (usually 3-4 weeks), you come back to springfield and test for your cdl.

Once you pass you will be assigned a driver trainer in which you will have to get 60,000 combined miles (you and your trainers miles). You will be paid a minimum of $600 per week or .12cpm whichever is greater (.12cpm x 5000 = $600), as long as you are available for dispatch. Then you upgrade and can go solo for .30cpm for 20,000 miles, or stay with your trainer for 80,000 and upgrade and earn .34cpm.. either way once you get the other 20,000 miles you automatically get .34cpm.

Hope that helps

 

Don't forget... you get 10,000 miles credit for your INSTRUCTOR training that goes toward your 60,000 miles... so you only have 50,000 miles left with your trainer.

 

This is kinda off the post but I live in Florida ( close to Pensacola) and I dont have alot of OTR experience so mixed with being in Florida and the OTR experience I'm very limited but the companys I have found are crazy about their idle policy and thats something I cant deal with so I figured I needed to find companys with APU'S and Prime seems like the best fit for me. My question is to see what others think and would they hire me out of area?

 

I have a few questions.

1. What are the trucks governed at?

2. What is the average MPG do you have to maintain?

3. Whats kinda of miles do the drivers get a week?
(I heard 2000 at best.)

 

I think I have the answers.. lol

1. 61 or 62mph for company 65mph for lease (so you can go into canada)

2. 6.75mpg must be maintained as a company driver, lease i don't think matters

3. I am still a student so I am not sure but most people I talk to between 2200-3000.

 

65 for new leases, and company starts at 62. If you have a lead foot, they start turning it down more.

6.75 mpg... week over week. If you drop below that for three weeks in a row, then they have a conversation with you. That can result in getting your truck turned down more, being placed back on a training truck for more, or termination - depending on how often it's occuring. It's not that hard to get 6.75, and I regularily run above 7 in an old Century. You may end up in the shop for something to be fixed too, if the sensortrax numbers and your experience with the truck indicate there is something wrong.

There are weeks I drop below that... mostly its weather related, but I did get a dog of a trailer last week that got me lousy mileage every time they put even a busted pallet in the dang thing!

That's bull. Every once in awhile it drops that low... usually due to a load that ends up delivering on the far side of a weekend with a lot of time on the load. 2600 - 2800 with gusts over 3000 are average for a solo driver.

Keep in mind this includes the really BAD time that we all went through last winter, but my average through the third quarter is 2500 miles per week. That's down from last year - naturally. I'm hearing from outside sources that a lot of transportation sector analyst types are expecting freight volume to pick up towards the end of the year...