ask your questions about prime inc here

I have some questions about Primes hiring practices. A couple of years ago I was working for a small town Fire Dept. There was a cop that absolutely hated firemen. It was his goal to make life miserable for all of us on the dept. I was driving back to my house, after a super bowl party when I was pulled over for driving " erraticly". I had a couple of beers but was far from inebriated. I passed all of the field tests, but on the last test he swept my legs out from under me and caused me to fall. He used that as an excuse to arrest me. They took me in and I did a breathalizer test. I blew a 0.10 just above the legal limit. I had to get a lawyer to take the case because they would not believe that he had assaulted me in order to make me fail the test. Before the case could go to trial my license was suspended. Pre trial my lawyer got the tape released and low and behold There was that cop sweeping my leg out from underneath me!! When the judge saw that he offered me a deal. He would change the offence, then dismiss the case. This was a closed door deal so that the PD could save face. I recieved an appology and was reimbersed my fees for bail and for my lawyer. This kind of small town bull**** is exactly the reason why I ended up leaving that job. So now I have no record, but my license was still suspended for three months!! Will Prime hire me?? Of course Because of the nature of the deal there is no record, so unfortunantly I am unable to verify my story. Since then I have held a job as a deputy director of a search and rescue organization, and another medic position that I am currently employed at. Both had background checks and I would imagine driving record searches. I'm just not sure if a trucking company would hire me for having a DL suspension, even though there is no criminal History. Any help would be appreciated.

 

I just ran a free criminal history report on myself, and no arrest records showed up on it.

 

Pull your DMV record and see what's on it. Any recent suspension will prevent you from being hired by any transportation company - if they will, the suspension needs to be at least 3 years in the past if not longer.

 

Filled out an application and talked to a recruiter today. My Driving Record is clean somehow!! She said that after my work history stuff comes back I should be ready to go.

 

I think you should still pull your MVR just to be sure - and let the recruiters know that this nonsense occurred. If you're applying at Prime they do a really serious background check using in-house investigators; they're good. The judge in your case must have expunged the record due to misconduct of the officer - good deal, and good luck!

 

Any decent trainers at Prime?

I'm sure there are, but right now, my experience has been about the same as England's training as far as trainers are conerned. I will be requesting my 3rd trainer Monday.

1st trainer had a problem staying awake at the wheel and ended up hitting another car on I10 in El Paso. I stayed on that truck long enough to deliver the load we were on.

2nd trainer, well, where should I start? The only thing I've learned from this guy is what not to do. The guy is always spewing "time management" and always has something/someone to blame for being late for about half the loads we've delivered. I know some of you may laugh at me for this part of my complaint of this guy. He's still on paper logs. If I listened to him one night, I'm sure I would've had a ticket for either speeding or falsifying my log book when we were called in for inspection in California. I received a green sticker instead. His claim for the log book stuff is he doesn't think he'd make money legal. I've been on electronic logs and know this isn't true. If he really knew "time management"...... One more thing, what is Prime's policy about alcohol while under load again? I have more on this guy, but.....

Even with the trainer problems, I still think Prime is a decent company.

 

There are... I know of a number, but you get the luck of the draw when being assigned one. A lot of drivers are attracted to training as a source of cheap labor in the codriver dept. - that doesn't help the quality of training. Best advice... find one you can deal with, finish your 60k miles, and get into your own truck. Alcohol? For non-trainees, its the same as everyone else - for trainees, don't even go near it. Any trace will lead to termination.

Good luck!

 

Im not sure about "under load"... Its definantly some ammo if you catch any flack for ditching him.

Dont quote me, but policy I think is NO driving within at least 10 hours of last drink.

Is he drinking and then coming back to the truck... Im pretty sure thats a no no too. Cant be in it, even sleeping while under the influence.

 

Thanks guys.

I know well of the luck of the draw thing. In 2 phases of England training, I went thru 5 trainers. The second 1st phase trainer was a decent guy and trainer, just kind of a slob. That was something I could deal with. What I don't deal well with is incompetence from anyone that should be a professional at what they do. This includes falling asleep at the wheel, drinking on the job or being late without a good reason.

I also realize alot of these "trainers" only care about the extra money. I have no problem helping anyone earn more money, but teach me what I need to know and I'll bust my ### doing my part.

The trainer I'm with now seems more concerned with teaching the in and outs of falsifying my log book than anything else.

As for Prime, I put in for hometime a couple weeks ago. I'm home right now. I was amazed the FM did everything possible to get me home on time. I was a little later than I hoped, but he seemed to give a crap about taking care of this in a timely manner and ended up working well for everyone involved, including the solo driver that wouldn't have been able to deliver his load on time. I wouldn't mind sitting on his truck for a couple more months, but he hasn't been with Prime long enough to train yet.

Well, I've #####ed enough about. Right now, I'll just hope for a 3rd times a charm thing to happen, or at least someone I can deal with for the next couple months.

 

Maybe I should be more clear, to my knowledge, he has not brought alcohol into the truck, just drinking before coming back to it.

The first time was between loads. He said he only had a few when he got back to the truck.

The second time we were in route with a load. I think this had something to do with his version of time management. He decided to stop to see a girlfriend for 15 hours and have a "few" drinks with her. We ended up late on that load also.

In both instances, it was planned for him to begin driving in the morning. He was unable to do so for either.