lightweight petes

I'm on the phone with my instructor, he say's these truck's only have 100gal. total fuel capacity. He still has a 387, so no worries to him right now. So added fuel stop's and paperless log's and cramped living quarters. I can see Prime loosing a #### load of drivers in the near future.

 

You would think a company this big would have at least one person as smart as you to spec new equipment. According to you they haven't done one thing right. Cascadias, Petes, single tires... Just curious.. how would you spec a fleet like this? Keeping in mind that 1000 of the 4000+ trucks will have to scale 49k in 3 years and they all can't come from the same supplier.

 

The new Pete's I'm sure are good truck's but who want's to be cramped up in such a small truck used for OTR when it's better suited for a couple day's out at most. No passenger seat? What if someone want's their wife to ride? Where would they sleep anyway? the bunk in a Century is big enough for two but that thing is just a tad bit bigger than a "coffen box" sleeper used on those streched out show pete's. Absolutly no diver comfort. Fridge? No room unless you stick it on the floor where the passenger seat should be. I really feel sorry for the plus size guy's because every time I talk to one in a KW T600 or 660 with the standard Aerodyne sleep complain about how small it is and they have trouble moving around. This not only includes guy's that are over weight but also one's that are just big guy's in general. It's tight, hard to fit in between the seat's, can't stand up.

Not quite sure what your referring to in your question. I won't hold up to being smart in this case but as an OTR driver there's no way in hell you would catch me in something that small. I'm 6' 0" and I had a hard time moving around in a KW. Plainly to small. If weight was such a big issue with Prime, then they should have made driver's keep a cleaner truck and not have #### stashed everywhere they could find to put it. My trainer's truck had a bunch of useless #### that served no purpose for living on the road that could have easily excessed 500 lbs. There's a lot of weight right there that's not needed.

I feel sorry for those who end up with one. Not sure how the CDL and company training is going to work. Are they going to keep the larger Pete's and Freightliner's to train in so there is room for two?

 

Well I don't know if they can pull it off or not, but their plan is to use the little trucks on closed loop and regional runs. The others will stay the same except they will have the single tires.

 

Actually they have plenty of room inside... just can't stand up in them. Yup, fridge goes in the passenger seat area, but storage is challenging. Plus size guys? Ain't ya heard - we don't hire fat slobs for drivers any more. Considering there are 5 million unemployed due to the recent financial unpleasantness, there ought to be plenty of folks interested in a job.

As far as "regional runs only" - your info is outdated Olphart. All company drivers will be getting either a Pete, Columbia or Prostar - all midroofs with the smaller sleeper - unless you're teaming or training. BTW... if you think that Prime has a problem spec'ing trucks - go look at TransAm's recent fianancial statement; they said the Cat's in those stupid T660's are killing their profits because of the maintenance costs. You might also want to take a look at what the WalMart guys are driving these days too...

 

We still have plenty of full size Cascadias and 387's. If you want to be a company solo, you get a smaller machine. Prostar - well it looks like a Prostar... just not very big.

 

Apparently there is a lot of things you wont do. Thats why your still unemployed. (you werent laid off, so no sympathy there)

Not quite 2 years yet since you got your CDL at Prime, and how many companies have you gone through?

Have you even got a full 12 months of driving (added up)?

Alot of people will do alot to get a job. If they dont like driving the smaller trucks, they can go drive somewhere else. Same deal with having a non-driver with a passenger.

Prime has a right to set specs and policy for their company trucks. If it's the direction they think will get them more business, then the company driver's either get on board, Lease or move on. (and yes it has got us more business)

Same goes for MPG policy, or do I need to quote you again about how nobody was going to tell you to slow down? If it had been a mechanical issue they would have fixed your truck. However, the sensor tracks told management the truth about your shiffting, RPM, and speed... so they "nuetured" your truck down to 55 to force you to get better MPG.

I tell you one thing, my paycheck is always right, and on time. Pay raises, vacation, and benifits are spot on. Im running against my 70 clock constantly and getting miles.

Not alot of sitting, even this past winter. Ive got more miles this first 16 weeks than the same time period last year PLUS I have have taken almost a FULL week more home time off. (11 days vs 17 days) 7 of those days were PAID vacation.

If I wasnt a trainer, and it was time to turn in my truck and get a smaller one... I dont think it would bother me. I would give it a chance for a few weeks and then decide if it was worth it.

Good Luck with your job hunt finding that "perfect" company, your stellar resume and work history is going to get you into a "Top Notch" company.

 

Yea, that's the word I got this morning is that all solo are getting them, not special suited for dedicated and regional. To be honest I wasn't aware Prime had dedicated and regional unless the fact is they never did have. All OTR 48 and Canada only choice being is lease or company.

I have to admit even though my miles went down hill along with pay and yes being harped about fuel milage, I do miss being there for a couple of reason's. I've been treated far better there with respect and dignity than either of the other two companies I have worked for and when your running low on cash, FM had no problem spotting you what you need as long as it wasn't some outragous amount like $150+ when you hit a hard spot.

Just look's like they are downgrading driver comfort quite a bit for solo driver's to gain any extra buck they can ring from a load. When and how many Columbia's did they buy? I haven't seen any of those yet except the one O/O and the one plain white blank I saw parked for a good while that looked like it's been used and abused.

 

We have had regional and dedicated for at least as long as I have been here. What do you think CHD is? Western regional.

Dedicated routes even more so now with us taking over the Wal-mart DC in Lewiston ME. Whole lot of Prime "lightweight" trucks on that lot. I wished I had taken a picture of my truck pulling a rusty Wal-Mart Dry Box, and one of their reefer trailers. With a Wal-mart trailer you usually return empty, though I did back haul some MA apples on one trip. For a company OTR driver, its almost a sure thing you will be hauling another "local" load unless you leave with your load on a Prime trailer.

I saw a "Kraft Dedicated" heading when a driver at a Friday meeting had his sensor tracks pulled up for analysis.

General Mills doing the yogurt for sure. There was a guy online earlier this year who was complaining that he was from MI and he wanted to be regular OTR. They told him tough luck, he was going to be moving loads out of the Reed City plant on regular runs.

Met a guy who hauls nothing but Sams Club out of Dallas to stores in Texas... he said there are a couple of local Prime guys. Said there were more loads than local guys so the excess goes to whatever empty OTR truck happens to be in the area. Ive done them three times now... Twice to Lubbock and once to Amarillo.

I would imagine there might be some guys on regular runs out of the Sams DC near the Monee IL Petro. Those are great because we actually drop the Prime trailers in the door,... at the actual stores, and grab the empty Prime trailer from one of the other doors.

Im pretty sure there are some Floral stuff... In and out of BC Canada. Its a guess, but what regular Prime driver has his own mini terminal in Ferndale WA? Own powerwasher, and a mini office with a cot, bathroom and fridge. If you asked me it looked like a two man operation. There were three Prime trailers there when I picked up an empty. I cant remember the details but the QC directions mentioned something about location not a customer but a private storage lot for local Prime driver.

I dont know if these guys count.... we got a guy full time shuttling trailers out of the Bensalem drop yard in an out of Jersey and Philly area customers. Same thing in Easton with a guy working up there too.