Is Prime a good company to work for ?

Husband is at Prime now, so far so good. He drives a lightbody truck, it pays a few cents more. Pretty much is left alone. Trucks are governed, he drives a reefer, route solution for route with fuel stops designated by company. They do pay some on fuel bonus as a company driver for mileage, it varies upon the miles and fuel during the pay period. Dispatcher is good, you can call company at anytime if a problem arises or whatever if you have a question, including talking to your dispatcher or the person on duty at the time. It does take time to get use to the lightbody trucks and slower speeds though, it takes a little longer with heavy loads in hill areas.

 

hometime,& good money? not with these companies & not being a rookie. Try 8wks plus, & at the most $350 a wk! one thing people getting into trucking need to understand is that trucking is not like most jobs. 1 trucking is not covered by the 40 hr wk work rule. thats why some of these carriers can have you sitting for days without getting paid! trucking is the one job field with the most uncompensated time{thats why i work on the clock!} 2 trucking is a catch 22 ,you may have a cdl but without experience no one will hire you but these mega carriers but they want to pay .22amile {slave wages} and make you a road gypsy {8-12 wks on the road} i just want you and others thinking about trucking to have realistic objectives and remeber these recruters are like congressmen LIARS!

 

one thing pick carefully because you dont want to start with a company and quit before you get you 1yr of experience, dont be a job hopper! but know you are going to have do do your crap time!

 

See, you asked, "Is Prime a good company to go to?" How is anyone supposed to be able to answer that? We dont know what you are looking for. You say, "Good pay and decent hometime." Well, what do you consider good pay? Some guys think that $300-500 a week is good. I dont.

When I was a company driver, I wanted a minimum of $200 a day. I was paid $.40cpm. So, how many miles do I have to run to make $200 a day. Could the company give me the miles and the freight needed so that I could make my $200 a day? Apparently, they could. Are they a good company? I made $80000 my first year with them.

"But what about home time?", you may ask. As I pointed out, you have to compromise on something. I compromised on the home time. Yes, I went home, but once ever 3 months. See, if your plan is to make a paycheck, and then go home, you never get ahead. You stay right where you are at, make just enough money to make ends meet, never try to advance. The first time something goes wrong (sickness in the family, you get injured, truck is down...whatever) you fall into a hole. And once you fall into a hole, you never see daylight at that particular company again. thus you have all of these drivers badmouthing companies and complaining that they couldnt make any money and havent seen a check since God was talking to Moses. Then they switch companies, go through another week of orientation (which puts you further behind on the bills). When they start out at the new job, they apply themselves a bit and make some money. Suddenly, they are happy and they get caught up. As soon as they get caught up, they once again start to slack.

I dont slack. Then again, I wasnt content to being a company stooge. I took the money I made my first year as a company driver and bought my truck. THEN, I changed. How so? You work SMARTER, not HARDER. The truck is paid for...I can wait for the higher paying freight. I can sit at home 3-4 weeks at a time. Sitting at home 3-4 weeks at a time isnt called hometime, its called 'GOIN TO DA HOUSE!' There is a difference. Also, I dont run over 100000 miles a year.

Would Prime be a good company for me? No, not at this stage at my career. But like I said, that depends on what you want. I see these advertisements in truck stops where these drivers say that they 'found a home at XYZ Transport.' I'm not looking for a home. I'm here for the money and then I am going back to my own home.

 

Disregard post no. 12...

Surf over to the Prime forum and start there... go through the threads and see what folks have to say. Especially the threads where drivers are chatting among themselves. That will tell you a lot. Don't forget the "Bad Company folder" - quite a bit of that is folks that just won't fit in anywhere, but it will tell you something more about the carriers you mentioned. Here's a start...

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...27-new-prime-inc-what-expect-springfield.html

 

Well if you want good home time, US Xpress is not where you want to go. Schneider has weekly hometime gigs.

 

Ok, They want you out 3 weeks at a time. Company drivers make decent money but the lease ops end up in bankruptcy

 

Firstly, newbs don't need no stinkin' truck lease... unless you enjoy pain and starvation. Second, once you figure your way around this business, it works well enough.