Gator's Prime Experience

well it hasbeen awhile since I posted. I did post the other day but it was on my phone and I forgot to hit send. After I got the CDL I stayed with the same guy. We have been running true team since that day. He drove 10 then I drove 10. First load went to FL. He planned the trip so we would have 5 hours close to my house so I got to have breakfast with my wife and kids. That was awesome. We delivered to Arcadia and picked up some welfare juice headded to Jersey City. Bumped the dock like a pro. On the way to NJ I asked if I could work with his numbers as I want to see how the lease stuff works and being a former banker I like numbers.

He looked at the sheet and asked what I was figuing out. I said how I would try and make money on the load. We decided to take a long break in VA so we could bypass traffic. He wanted to see my numbers. He liked what I was thinking. After bumping the dock we were preplanned to Cali so he said plan the trip and when I get up we'll go over it. I had three routes but with Irene fast approaching I decided against the southern route. So I planned I80 and also the turnpike since I was not sure about the tolls. He said with the cost of fuel he wanted to go the toll route. I planned the fuel purchases so we could buy as little in the east as possible and buy all we could scale in OK and AZ. He like the plan and said it was different but he was willing to see if my idea would save some $. It did.

We got to cali and unloaded. Within a few minutes we had a high value load to denver. I got to drive the vail leg while he slept. I got pulled over as it was 2 days before mandatory chains so they were doing a chain check. We had them so all was cool. 6100 miles my first week pretty cool

Went to Sapp Bros for my first time and it was great. The burrito bar was a fresh change. We did not stay long as we got sent to dodge city for a beef load back to cali. We needed showers but the lady at the Hook said the shower system was down nation wide so no showers. I spoke with the manager and was polite he unlocked one for me.

unloaded the beef and got another load but we'll talk about that some other time. We have been having fun working the numbers and the fuel cost is way down. Our purchase planning is a big part plus we are tweaking some other things.

This weekend I an switching trainers. It was preplanned as my current trainer has a nephew that just got out of the army and is returning to Prime. I am going with a guy my trainer trained and we have spoke a lot and get along fine. He got hung up in the Irene mess going into conn. He is now enroute to Arkansas so we should meet up in a few days.

Loving this job and Prime.

More later need sleep now

 

using the prime page for pricing. I have not had time yet to look at state taxes. My trainer said he likes to buy some fuel in Cali to offset his end of year bill to them. the other day we had room to scale full tanks into cali We topped off in kingmon az. Ran into cali. Did a 500 mile HV load in Cali then headed out. Bought in lake havasue (something like that) az as it was cheaper than kingman that day. Bought at 3.68 on the way in 3.67 out and the fuel in Cali was 3.96. not to mention we averaged 7.8mpg ( it would have been better but we had to follow load watches route through LA on I5 (they had us cross the city 3 times at peak hours)

 

dude I typed a thanks note a day or two ago but it was from my phne and it doesn't always work. I hope one day before I decide to lease we can cross paths. I know you don't train but you got a wealth of knowlege and I would buy dinner to get a chance to pick your brain a little. We got a number of months so we'll see.