Prime the facts

I've had 9 jobs in about 10 years and they still hired me. Be very honest about reasons for leaving a job, they call everyone and will verify everything. If they find a discrepency you'll be sent home.

 

Yes be very honest.... I was very honest on everything and I was approved for Orientation. Just be upfront and honest and let your recruiter know of everything you can think of. Better to tell them now ahead of time than later and get the big ole' boot.

 

I have been with Prime now for awhile, and everything you said is pretty well true. I am company being the only difference. I have been treated well, my FM is fantastic, and i am getting decent miles. Am home for 5 days now, FM gave his fleet 2 free days for working thru the 4th of july weekend. sure my check will suck next week, but i'm just stoked to be home lol. I run 3 weeks out, 3 days home, and i get there on time every time, sometimes a day or 2 early. My gps took a dump a few weeks ago, talked to my FM, his reply? whatever, if you want one run down to the store and get one. My first run to Canada, followed the fuel routing to the letter, went to the wrong port of entry to get home....his reply? whatever, i'll get you home and out of customs. 3 hours later i was on my way. Overall i am quite happy with Prime, and glad to hear there are others that are happy with them too.

 

Keep up the good work, I'm heading there son, I like what I'm reading. Thanks. TD.

 

I'm heading to Springfield at the end of the month. I have been reading post on this site since April and would like to give a huge thanks to U2, TruckerMike, Ironpony and even notarps for advice and the expectations of life on the road. wish you all the best and I'll do my best to share my experiences.

 

it seems to me like prime is just another member of BFI. someone just starting out has to choose the lesser of two evils so to speak. i could be wrong jmo but from what i have read LTL is the holy grail of trucking for the driver that values hometime and the fastest way to attain the otr experience required is through one of these bottom feeders. so newbies just make the best of a bad situation expect the worst and you will be disappointed less often

 

and even? How did I get lumped in with and even?

 

No good deed goes unpunished on this forum - looks like you've become one of the "usual suspects."

 

We may have the same dispatcher! I went home for the 4th weekend for a camping trip. For some stupid reason I told him I wanted to be home on the 4th, when I actually meant to tell him the 2nd. So on the 2nd, when I got a load that was going into Detroit instead of Chicago where I live, I sent a message saying that I had requested hometime. He dug up my message showing where I told him the 4th and I proceeded to feel like an idiot. Asked if there was any chance he could still get me home as I was supposed to be taking a trip. Guess what? He immediately got with sales and still got me there.

zebcohobo, you're totally off base. Some people, such as myself, have no desire to run LTL. Some people, such as myself, don't mind being on the road a few weeks at a time. Some people, such as myself, love being in Denver one day, then in Maine 4 days later, then to who knows where after that (my current situation). On what basis do you call Prime a bottom feeder company? As somebody who started out with Prime, how was I making the best of a bad situation? Can you enlighten me, please? Are you speaking from experience, or did you hear that from a guy who heard it from a guy who heard it from another on the CB radio?

I just don't understand these Prime complainers. While I have nothing to compare Prime to, they have never given me any reason to leave. It's just the little things that they do. Let's take yesterday / this morning, for example. I'm running low on hours, only 6hrs on my 70 yesterday and 6hrs that came back to me at midnight this morning (my 2400 mile run ate up a lot of my hours!). You'd expect me to get a short run with those hours. Which is exactly what I got....175 miles. But then I get a message shortly after I was dispatched saying "shorter run, so adding an extra $65 to paid miles." Suddenly, I'm only driving 175 miles, but being paid for 366! In other words, I made 71 cents per mile on my last run!! Actually, it's even more than that, because my short little run had 3 stops on it. Add in my stop pay, and I made over that. This is not an isolated incident. Happens all the time on my shorter runs. And that's all I could have run anyway due to my hours!! Even companies who offer "short mileage pay" can't compete with this. Seriously. Now, if that is what a bottom feeder company does when they don't care about their drivers, than this is a pretty darn good industry! Making over 70 cents per mile? You're right, that is making the best of a bad (bad?) situation.

I'm only speaking from the company reefer side. Lease side or another devision might be different. But we seem to have many happy lease drivers on the board, including IP who seems even happier as a lease driver than when he was company.

I know, I'm a cheerleader. So be it. I'm very, very happy with my employer and I get nothing in return for giving them praises (despite some people calling me a recruiter - I'm not. Ask IP.). Some people just so happen to enjoy who they work for.

Every now and then I go off on one of my tangents. So there you have it. Another one to follow in a couple months.

 

The lease side is going great as well. I am very happy with Prime... and almost every other lease guy I have talked to is very happy as well. There are always a few poor mouthers, no matter who you drive for. There is alot of freight right now at Prime, and good paying freight at that... that always makes a driver happy.