Prime Inc driver thread

I drove for Prime for six months and am very grateful that they gave me the oppurtunity to use their company as a stepping stone to get back into the trucking industry. ( I had stopped driving for a few years to take care of some things at home)
Most of the guys on here defending Prime are great guys and have driven for Prime for awhile, but Prime is the only company that they have ever driven for and it is all they know about the industry so they are very biased on their opinions of what is the Norm.
Waiting on Tyson loads for 10+ hours with Prime is the Norm.
Waiting on Mccain loads for 15-20 hours with Prime is the Norm.
Waiting on Beef loads at the packing houses or at Excel for 15 to 20 hrs with Prime is the Norm.
Waiting on hold for dispatch to answer while listining to Don Lacy re-runs for 15-20 + mins with Prime is the Norm.
Waiting on hold for Road Assist for 20-30 mins to answer a call while listening to Don Lacy re-runs then 3-4 hours for them to decide you can get a flat fixed and finally send a tire crew with Prime is the Norm.
No matter what anyone on here tells you this is not the norm for all the trucking industry. There are many, many companies out here with nice equipment and good pay where sitting and waiting for loads to be delivered or picked up is not the norm.
More and more companies are doing dedicated and regional runs to accomodate the drivers with hometime.
I'm not Prime bashing here just saying it like it is. Prime is now a full blown training company. They are no longer or will never again be set up for retaining drivers while are Govt pays them to put more and more drivers through training and into trucks.
So the best advice I can give to any newbie out there is.
Sign with Prime.
Get the training you need to get your CDL.
Do the TNT training and get your own truck.
Drive your own truck for 6 months, being safe and courtious, on time for both pick-ups and deliveries while learning as much as you can.
Then start applying to some smaller companies now that you have a little expierence.
Granted most of the really good companies want a year or two expierence but there are some decent companies that will hire a driver with 6 months.
When the calls start coming in. Run Like Hell !!!!!!!!!
Oh yea, most of all, while training you will see alot of Prime drivers out here. Don't be affraid to talk to them and ask how they are doing financially. Most will be honest and tell you not enough freight for the amount of trucks.

 

Do you think you will ever make it out of the student class? Actually my post was about the rolling road blocks called prime. Which is a safety issue.

 

Whether or not I make it out of the student class is not the issue. The issue is that when I access a thread that says "Discuss your favorite company," I expect to read posts that reflect the reasons why (insert company name here) is their favorite company. So I am trying to understand why you and other posters insist on entering threads like this one and post comments that are not a reflection of the category?

 

I know you are not Prime bashing. I have read many of your posts. I am in the same position you were in last year when you had pre-hires with 3 companies and were doing your research trying to decide which company was the best fit for you. It makes researching these issues so much easier when there is factual information by current drivers of (insert company name here) instead of having to sort through information based on an opinion.

 

BC... I've never taken issue with what you've posted, but I tend to disagree. If you want to be an employee - you're probably right. I don't. I had enough of kow-towing to a "boss" a long time ago. Probably because I spent so long as a project engineer calling my own shots.

No its not. I roll up about an hour before DDT, drop my empty and hook the load.

No its not. Generally my McCain's loads have been drop n' hook. Last week I did get a live load, and I was in and out in under 3 hours.

See comments on Tyson. However, long waits do tend to be the "norm" at packing plants. I suspect you haven't done much in the way of this kind of load in the past.

When they're busy yes. Most of my interaction with dispatch is via QualComm - its quick, and I don't have to listen to Don.

I've found that dealing with Road Assist via QualComm is quick and easy. Generally I tell them what my problem is, offer a solution, and ask them if they concur. The standard response is "go for it." No interaction with Don.

Somewhere along the line you missed the idea that our dispatchers are very busy folks, and that interacting via QualComm helps them get things done more quickly. That's not to say that I don't have a good relationship with my FM - I always have time to drop by when I'm in Springfield. He certainly knows me by my name, and who I am.

Depends on what you're looking for. Obviously, you have a problem with patience... I don't. There are profitable ways to use time encountered in shipping delays - paperwork, accounting, sleep. Agressively using the split sleeper berth rule allows one to minimize the impact on your logbook. And frankly, everyone in the reefer segment encounters this. Dry van doesn't, and I suppose that's where you're headed.

I'm sure we both agree that there is an earnings loss when you're sitting on your butt at home. But then again, if that's where you want to be, maybe a career with McDonalds is more in line with your needs. No insult intended.

Got to start somewhere.

That is a myth to to best of my knowledge. I have yet to encounter anyone who can point out exactly what program pays trucking companies to put new drivers through school. WIA doesn't count - this has been getting passed around for years.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. Not enough freight? Please! I have to tell them to quit sending me loads to get a break. Maybe on your board that was the case, but I have had 80% of my loads preplanned anywhere from 2 hours before my delivery appointment to not much more than a couple of hours after going empty. There is no lack of freight, and hasn't been since the beginning of 2010.

You're right. I haven't had numerous jobs in the trucking industry. I do have a backgound in engineering, and I know what constitutes a cluster - my time in the military as an NCO gave me ample examples of that. Maybe if you stuck around Prime long enough to establish yourself as a reliable operator, you'd have a different opinion. I certainly wish you well in your future endeavors.

 

IP, You are among the few that get Pre-planned regularly. I did have a few but they were far in between. When I did get them they were planned so far out sitting was the only option.Yes my visits to the packing plants were very limited as I ran the north east and not many of them up here. My visits to Tyson were many and though I didn't sit at Tyson I did sit and wait at near by TS waiting on DDT. That is still sitting. Just because your dispatched under a load, If your only driving 300 miles and have 2 days to get there. Wheres the money in that? We have trainers with TNT trainees doing 3000 -3500 miles a week. Wheres the money in that? Mccains was a regular stop for me and yes they were all drop and hooks but if the load wasn't ready you were sitting until DDT. Many times a day out. Do some more research on the govt pay to trucking companies. It's no myth. The info is out there and an engineering degree is not needed to find it. And as far as being an NCO. I have 12 yrs US Army 9 of them in the 2nd Ranger BN. Got out as an E-7. That's right, Sergeant First Class. So don't lay that military crap on me. Been there done that. Many years of being patient. I don't mind stopping my truck for 10 hours to sleep, eat, walk around a little bit but when the 10 is up, it's time to roll. Don't want to sit for another 10 hrs waiting on an appt, can't sleep cause I just slept for 10 hrs then have to run anther 10hrs to get it there. That means I've been up for 20 to get the load there.Thats just piss poor planning . To many trucks per FM. And again don't need an engineering degree to see, that is a cluster-. Everyone in the reefer segment does not encounter this. That's what I mean when I say your opinon is biased IP. You have established yourself with Prime as a reliable contractor but for the 5 years you have been here have you saved enough money to buy your own truck and move on to bigger and better things? I doubt it, not with making what your making as a lease operator with Prime and having a Colorado mortgage and family. Not trying to slam you Bro but I have crunched the numbers and have many friends here on both the lease and the company side. And one of them happens to be sitting outside a Tyson at a truckstop 40 miles away since yesterday evening waiting on a load that was suppose to be ready today. Seems another FM dispatched another driver for the same load. Oh,thats right, that crap don't happen here. But I guess you will remain Kow-Towing to Robert Low and help him pay for the new terminal in PA for years to come. No insult intended.

 

BC... I'm not laying anything on you. Obviously our experiences differ - and yeah, there is a lot of sitting and waiting in reefer. It's not just at Prime.

I will say that one of the things that does affect whether you have success at Prime or not is your FM. If he or she is an idiot, your bottom line will suffer. Fortunately, I've been lucky in that respect. The next step for me is my own truck - and yeah, I'm real close.

Good luck BC. Hope it works out for ya.

 

Right back to ya IP. Good Luck to ya and God Speed to all the friends I've made at Prime.

 

At one time, I couldn't either, but when better fuel economy means more money in your pocket, things change. For example, I picked up a load in Ft. Smith, AR going to Carson, CA. I drove 53 MPH the whole way, and averaged 10.5 MPG for the whole trip. I arrived Sunday evening for a Monday morning live unload. Now I could have driven 65, probably achieved 9 MPG, and arrived Sunday morning for my Monday morning live unload. It would have cost me almost $100 more in fuel. For what? So Billy Bigrigger wouldn't be mad and call me bad names? And of course, we have the tired old myth about getting rear-ended. Please. That's just nonsense. If it were true, there would be a long list of Prime trailers being rear-ended, which there are not. Anyone who would rear-end a truck traveling at 53 mph simply isn't paying attention and would likely be involved in an accident somewhere else anyway. Besides, most faster trucks enjoy passing me. Most of them do it 4 or 5 times a day!

 

What happen to freedom and all that? A lot of O/O's drive slow to conserve fuel too. It's not just the company trucks. You sound like one of them "Super Truckers"