Prime the facts

They got rid of the Passmore tractors - same thing they did with the TRL junk - got rid of it. Kept the trailers which were in good shape, and the shop is still open.

Passmore happened at a time the company was having problems getting tractors out of Freightliner - production line interruptus and a 2-3 week shutdown of the assembly line for holidays, if I recall correctly.

 

Good man! Learn the business - listen to Ken Rutherford (good cheap advice) before you jump into a lease or owning your own equipment!

 

Thanks IP. I have learned a lot already by reading these forums... much of it from your posts... especially to stay away from getting into L/O or O/O right now for sure.

I am still about as green as they get, but at least I know a little about protecting myself from making bonehead mistakes and such.

It looks like I will be coming to Prime in late November/early December. I hope to meet you (and others who have helped) someday and thank you in person for the advice.

Be safe!

 

No, my beef is with prime. Seems funny that there are a lot of complaints on the reefer side. I been doing this awhile. Not my first rodeo. I have talked to a lot of prime drivers past and present. As I have said before the new drivers with no other exp come to primes rescue....

 

I don't know what to think about it. The point I keep making and my point keeps getting proven is when you speak out about prime it is not a veteran driver that bucks up it is a first time driver brought up thru prime. Why is that?

 

Two points...

First, I don't discount your complaints - but there are two sides to the story. Yeah, I don't have a million years in driving, but I've worked jacked jobs before... this isn't one of them - and you can't tell me I don't know what I'm writing about. If I was 21 and wet behind the ears, you'd have something. I'm not, and all of the complaining that I don't have anything to compare this to doesn't hold water. And why shouldn't I stick up for this company - you tar and feather it with a broad brush, claiming everything Prime is at fault for your perceived (and actual) injury inflicted by the flatbed division. They haven't treated me in this manner. And anyone reading this thread has the right to know there are two sides to this story. The truth has to lie somewhere in the middle, and I won't allow you to brow-beat me into caving in. If you want that, Prime will have to prove it to me as well - and you know how. They haven't done that, but I don't have any illusions about "corporations caring for their people" in this day and age.

Second, the people complaining about the reefer side pretty much fall into the category of folks taken in by their own greed to sign a contract to haul freight with a leased tractor. I'm not singling them out as a put-down... and I do hold Prime partially responsible in the last year. These folks were not prepared for what they got into - trucking has changed a lot, especially with the double hit of crashing rates and decreasing volume. The days of "Smokey and the Bandit" are just plain gone, and you can't make big bucks by just climbing in a truck and hammering down. The only way to make money now is to be smart about it. Smart thing no. one is minimizing your costs - which means fuel, which means slowing down. Smart thing no. two is you just have to have a cash cushion - and most of these folks are hand-to-mouth to begin with. They're just digging the hole deeper by getting into the lease. Smart thing no. 3 is to educate ones self on how to run a business - especially the financial end. Smart thing no. 4 is to pay yourself a fixed wage - not to just blow the entire settlement check.

Now here's where I will agree with you to an extent. Maybe Prime should as a good corporate citizen make these folks more aware of the financial danger involved - but there is no legal requirement for them to do that. They do a one-day seminar on how your biz is running, and I've sat through it. Everyone should. And that's where the complaining drivers quite often miss the boat - most of them can't even quote an operations cost-per-mile figure, so how can they judge whether to even take a load?

OTOH, it's in Prime's fianancial interest to offload as much of the costs for running freight as possible - same deal as an L/O keeping his fuel bill down. In our system, the corporation is not responsible for whether you, the person contracting with the corporation is capable of fulfilling the terms of the contract - that's your problem. And frankly, given how the economic system works, Prime could make it much worse for the folks who fail - ala say Stevens or CRE.

I've seen the comment that "Prime should take care of its people" - they are to the extent that they contractually must - and none of the free market champions around here are going to agree with the concept of business footing the bill for welfare. Same goes for the argument that tractor lease payments should go down... that's another thing that none of us want to see... deflation. The machines cost what they do, and one of the reasons a Prime lease costs more is that they are on a 3-year payment schedule.

So... once again... make sure you know what you're getting into with a lease contract to haul freight and lease a tractor. It's possible to be profitable with luck (and education), but more often than not will eat the unprepared alive. Not just with Prime - with any company!

 

I agree with Ironpony. People need to know what they're getting themselves into by reading and unerstanding the fine print. Ask the average person out on the streets about trucking and you'll get an answer like. That's were the money is.

Trucking is not for everyone, especially those who think you're going to get rich quickly. I remember my recruiter telling me. You're going to have money, get to see the country, make your wife happy etc. I'm pretty sure he wasn't lying to me, just hyping things a bit. But I'm not one to jump into things so quickly. A level head prevailed, I took time to think things over. Ponder what it is I was getting in to.

 

new to otr starting w/prime in a week already have cdl what cane i expect

 

DB, if OTR is what you really wan to do. then go for it. If you want some info on what you might expect at prime. User U2 has some good posts. Don't expect all drivers to have the same experience. It's all going to be up to you. You can get an idea but that's just that. An idea. Experience is your best teacher. Soak everything up and learn as much as you can. This is not like a school that we all tended growing up. It's more surreal. You're going to experience the bad with the good. All I can tell you is don't take things personal. Not all traines are bad. Some excellent others, well, you'll see.

Remember that what you're going to do is make a committment. Now it's exactly that. OTR is not going to be easy. You're going to have to experience the road lifestyle. meaning, sleeping in a truck, eating in a truck, living in a truck. Now you might say that's not bad. Think again... You're first year is not about getting paid. Well, you're going to ge paid but not well. Read earlier posts. The company is investing in your and they want to know can you return their investment. You my friend are their investment. So they might run you hard. If you can take it and really want the life of a OTR then this is for you. But remember, the life is not all glamourous or as it seems in the brochures.

Think, think, and think some more. Read the fine print over and over. Listen, listen and listen some more. Once you sign on the dotted line. You will be expected to live up to your end of the bargain. For better or worse, you'll be held to your signature.

 

You know, alot of your posts begin with "I have read alot online" or "heard"...

What exactly is your experiance in trucking (OTR or otherwise)?