ask your questions about prime inc here

Idk about dedicated routes but definitely run on the east coast

 

do drivers get good miles once there go solo, if so what is the normal per week

 

Company solos should be getting around 2400-3200 per week. I averaged around 2800 a few years ago on the company side. The NE regional folks are on the bottom end of that... maybe 2000 to 2600 I'd think, but they get an extra 5-cpm in that area to make up for it.

 

Don't know the miles, but my student from last December is averaging $750 per week, but he is still learning how to talk to the FM and how to maximize his clock. My codriver from Jan-Feb is steadily pulling in $850-1000 per week since she got her truck at the end of March. Freight has picked up since March and everyone who wants to run should be able to run hard.

After talking to many failures crying that Prime (and other companies) screwed them, I am finding that the reasons for their failures are as follows:
1. Don't want to work, sits at the truckstop.....
2. uses every second between appointments, never attempts to deliver or pick up early.
3. mismanages HOS clock, ends up with no hours to run once empty.
4. FM animosity, doesn't know how to talk to other adults.

I might hurt some feelings here, but the truth sometimes does hurt. Don't be "that guy" and you will be okay.

 

You know, we have spent many hours trying hard to give you, and other prospects, as much info as possible. Being successful in any job or business is 90% your responsibility. I don't think that Prime INC, or most other businesses have a business model that is aimed at screwing people. Those businesses rarely last more than a year, and most times end up with business owners indicted. I think that you are looking for that magic wand to wave and guarantee you a certain income level. That only happens in government jobs, and with this administration it ain't working that way for most of them either.

BLUF: If you havn't read the threads here in the prime forum (like what to expect when coming to Springfield that is docked at the top) it might be time to do the hard work, reading........

 

In terms of what you can expect... the lease guarantee is an absolute floor. That should be on the website. What you can expect is an average revenue for all dispatched miles to be in the neighborhood of $1.50 to $1.70 per mile, including linehaul, fuel surcharge and accessorial payments. You will get some low paying and high paying miles. Be conservative on how you do your analysis. My long term averages for various expenses are:

Tractor fuel, pump price 55.8 cpm
Reefer fuel, 3 cpm
Maintenance 5 cpm (most expensive things are warranty) including stuff like brakes, PMs, etc
Tires - escrow is funded at 1.4 cpm, but you should put back at least another 2 cpm beyond maintenace
Tolls - I run a lot of northeast, so 3 cpm is probably a good bet
Lumpers are fully reimbursed as revenue to you.

Your tractor payment is something that you need to speak with recruiting about. It varies depending on the model year of the tractor, and the length of the lease. Undoubtedly they will quote you a new price on a 3 year lease. There are tractors with shorter lease terms available- and miles on them by someone else. There aren't a lot of these trucks, so it depends on when you are there- and they come with lower payments. For instance, in roundish numbers I was quoted $1300 per week for tractor, insurance, plates, etc., on a new 2013 Cascadia. I run about 2400 miles per week so that's around 54 cpm, but a team is going to run a lot more miles 5000 to 7000 per week. I'd think that's a lowball number at this point since the 2014's have more mandated equipment on them.

As you can see, you're big ticket items are the tractor payment and fuel, followed at quite a distance by maintenance and tires. Don't scrimp on the tires! Rolling resistance is a huge part of what contributes to the fuel bill, along with being smart about buying fuel, and operating your truck in a way to minimize how much you burn. Whether you're successful here or not in a large part is determined by how you do on this one item. As Silent Eagle points out, just about all of this is up to you... it's not controlled by Prime, so they can't tell you what these costs will be.

We use a metric that combines all of the fuel surcharge payments (part of your gross revenue,) what you pay for fuel, and the corporate discounts divided by miles to measure how you're doing on fuel. It's a little artificial, but does serve as a useful measuring stick. My number over the last 45-or-so days is around 6 cpm. There is a guy on my board during the same period who is at 39 cpm, and he's struggling. The average is around 15 cpm. This is something that is completely under his control... and he can gain a 24 cpm raise just by getting to the average if he can get his right foot under control and learning to buy fuel properly. None of this is controlled by Prime, and really can't be touted on the website because they can't guarantee your results. It's up to you.

BTW... we all know most company drivers would kill for a 24 cpm raise.

So, what can you do to insure success? First, retire as much of your personal debt as possible. Big payments on mortgages, cars, and an "upscale" lifestyle is what puts pressure on a lot of folks. Second, separating your business finances from your personal finances is a must, and treating your settlement checks as cashflow into a business that pays you and your SO as salaried employees is the way to go. Third, set aside enough money for your business to survive an extended period of no incoming revenue- whether that's from timing of your trip reports vs the weekly cutoff, hometime/vacation, downtime due to breakdowns, or whatever. Fourth, get enough business education so that you can do your own book keeping... I'm not talking about taxes, that's what a tax professional is for on a year-round basis. You need to be inside of the numbers of your business so that you understand what is happening (Mr 39 cpm doesn't seem to have a clue,) and to be able to understand your settlements.

I've put the estimates in cpm, but everything is paid either to you or on your bills in terms of a weekly basis. So running your business is better thought of in terms gross revenue per week or per day, costs per week or per day. Here's some food for thought...

I need to generate about $156 per day, every day, to cover my fixed costs that come in whether I'm running, at home, goofing off or working hard. That will be higher for you, since I bought into my contract 3 years ago. The number that includes everything EXCEPT what I pay myself is about $410 per day (plus that cost delta for your 2013 tractor) - that covers the fixed and variable costs based on a 2400-ish average DISPATCHED-mile week. So my goal is not x cpm, but rather exceeding that $410 by a comfortable margin in gross revenue per day. This number will be higher for you, since you're running in a team environment, so you'll need to make adjustments.

Take that number and add to it what you need to cover your personal needs... now you have an idea of what you'll need to make per day (and times 7 for per week) in order to just be successful here. Take what you would like to be paid per year divided by 365 days and add it to that $410+adjustments; that's what you and your husband need to generate every day to meet your fondest expectations, and work that into your conversations with the recruiters.

 

Silent eagle: thank you for responding. My post was not to be taken as condecinding or essentially negative in any way. I am merely trying to get information from this forum which has helped me tremendously on the past. Most of the folks on here are wonderful and helpful. There is a lot of information on here that is both negative and positive, and sometimes conflicting. So, I posted my own. I understand the recruiters cannot tell me how much I will be making. But, when I called in the past they would not give me any information. Just the cost of the tractor. They would not tell me if Prime supplied the permits, tags, etc. those costs need to be calculated into my budget if they don't. It's just information I'm looking for at this point. I am making pretty good money where I am. So i am not looking for a magic wand, however if you happen to know where one is, please let me know!! lol im really just joking. But, if the opportunity to own my own business AND the likelihood that I could potentially make a little more money for retirement if I play my cards right is available, then I will ask lots of questions and do a lot of reading and research. I value EVERYONE'S comments. All information is helpful.

 

WOW!! Thank you so much for all this info!! This really gives me great information to chew on!! This is exactly what I was looking for!! And we are debt free!! We decided to so that before going into trucking 'just in case'!!

 

How difficult is it for a new Prime driver to switch
from solo driver (lightwt OTR) to team driving?