My Prime INC Experience. (A Running Log)

Your very first post, and that"s all you have to contribute, i"m impressed.................NOT..

 

Anybody going to the Scranton pa area on the 20th for prime training

 

Been a minute or two, update how did your i believe you said he is father in law make out with everything, All Good?

 

That"s good, an must be a good feeling for you to be able to help him out. I"m still waiting on the school, but got a bad feeling i"m not gonna be in this starting class on Monday 20th. Told me to call back, have twice an keep getting the recording message full. this is the labor dep. for the w.i.a. grant.

 

JimmyBones I will have my cdl in july of 2014. Prime is going to be my first choice company to work for. Everytime I ask about Prime I hear good money and poor hometime. Is this true? How are the miles and the average take home. I don't want to end up in divorce court for lack of financial stability...You know women!!! Lol!!!

 

I ran the company side for just under three years, but that was awhile back. Perhaps JB and the company guys can give you a better perspective of the state of things currently, but here's some thoughts from a longer term view.

Home time is earned 1 day out for every week on the road, and Prime wants you out 3 weeks between home visits; you can use 4 days each time you're home, but that doesn't include your arrival and departure days. You're not going to be home every week. They're going to put you on the NE regional fleet, so that will be the rules for you even though you're working "regionally." You may be able to spend some evenings at home under load if there is enough time on that load for you to catch a HOS break and still make your appointments on time.

Your miles will be less than the OTR guys, but you will have that made-up for somewhat by the 5-cpm NE regional bonus. That's paid on any miles that a guy assigned to that fleet drives in the region. The runs are shorter up there, so that's what the extra money is for. Not to make you "rich." Reefer freight has a yearly cycle to it, so there are some ups 'n downs. After the holiday season (right now) volume is down because retailers have to move their excess inventory before shipping picks up again. That means you need to have enough in the bank to help cover smaller checks this time of year, but also to cover the ups and downs that driving a truck brings anyway. You're going to get some big checks mixed in with average and not-so-good... a guy has to bank that extra money to help smooth it out.

Remember "home time?" The wheels aren't rolling while you're sitting on the couch, so you're not making any money during that time. The following settlement check will be a "not-so-good" week... it helps to have that money in the bank to smooth that out.

Being in the Boston area, one of he things you might look into is the operation at the Lewiston ME DC. It keeps those drivers right in that area... delivering to stores in the ME-VT-NH-MA area, and might mean that there will be times you can spend a break at home before heading back up to Lewiston. Pay is on a sliding scale, depending on distance from the DC (at least it is at our Olney IL and Shelbyville TN DC operations)... so that might work to your advantage. That's also different from how the NE-regional guys are paid.

Good luck...