Prime, Inc. - Springfield, Mo.

Is that legal?Maybe OOIDA can help out?

 

From what I've seen as far as lease programs go. I'd say PRIME INC. is a better over all program than J.B.Hunt or C.R.England.Because it's a Walk away lease! Turn it in and walk away.But like all of these programs go, YOU must be business savy.Save as much $$$ as you can.Most don't and go broke.

 

Prime is one of the WORST abusers. The thing is, they will tell you plain and simple that you will not own the truck...ever.

What Prime has structured, is a plan to appeal to drivers that they are "partners" in business, without telling you the down side to the arrangement.

Without getting into all the specifics, if you take the time to run all the numbers, you will discover that when you take into all consideration what you are actually netting, after all taxes are paid, and all expenses are accounted for, a company job elsewhere will net you at least a third more spendable income, and paid benefits to boot.

The only people that are doing well with Prime, are those that have no home life, and practically live in the truck 24/7, OR those who operate the truck as team. If you have a life outside of the truck, expect to lose your shorts.

 

I see at Primes web site.Company drivers vacation =150,000 miles =
1 week vacation!300,000 miles = another $500. and 5 days vavation.
450,000 miles another $500. & 5 days off. A Joke!

 

How do they figure the miles on that? Paid/loaded miles only? I can see them "misplacing" trips and the miles that go along with it.

Last year I went to an interview and the convo got arount to pay and the guy would not come up with a set number or written policy, the reason given was that it was rather complicated with the deferent accounts he has. I walked out and never made contact with them again.

 

Your one of the Smart Ones,Jon! 8) Too bad more people aren't so Gullable!

 

I lease with Prime, Here is the Deal from an insiders point of view, i am definately not defending prime but here are my 2 cents

OK as a solo lease operator, if you want to stay afloat you cannot go home on a regular basis but this gets old after a while, when you are out you have to mak along with him e the most of it... and you have to stand up (not yelling or cussing) for yourself. You cant let them walk on you.

I ran as a solo but now have trained my wife and we run team, we stay out usually 5 weeks, but our situation is different so going home is not a priority.

It is weird as i have made more friends here than anywhere else, I hear both the positive and negative from those making money and those not making money, those making money tend to be more flexible, more business savvy, while those complaining every day about being in the hole tend to not have known what they were getting into before they joined prime, but that is not the main reason, the main reason for the unhappiness is the relationship with their fleet managers, if you dont get along with him, well you are screwed cause he wont help you much.

I have had run ins with mine, mostly because he didnt trust i would have a load on time, or i shut down due to weather etc, well that ended friday as I exploded, hopefully he got my point.


Negatives:
1. Long Times away from home
2. Getting Past the Prime Mentality and being able to think for yourself.
3. Taxes (If you dont plan on quartly tax payments then you will be in trouble)
4.Deadheading to loads that do not exist or have already been picked up
(although when this happens we were paid for the trouble) just annoying


Positives:
1. You Can Make Money if things go well
2. I have had some problems with my 2005 Century but all was covered under warranty, so no money out of my pocket.
3. I have never been punished for going home, but i have to know i will be in the hole when i come back

I am not defending prime at all, but i thought i would put some more accurate information as to what goes on.

 

Well I was thinking about switching from my job that I have now to going back to doing what I enjoyed before and that was pulling a tanker.

Prime was way up on my list but now I have heard too many horror stories to even think about doing it now, at least with PRIME that is.

 

Thank you for what appears to be an honest assessment of the company from an insider's point of view.

What concerns me about most of the lease arrangements, and it always has, is that in order to go home and enjoy life outside of the truck every now and then, it means that one has to bail water for a period of time, to stay afloat.

That right there is the worst part of those kind of arrangments, and this is the number one complaint that Prime has always weathered. They structure a plan to keep people glued to those seats, if they want consistent paychecks.

Do people actually sit down and think what they could be making under different circumstances?

Consider the following:

What would you potentially be able to net, if one has the determination to operate as an independent contractor, by simply making a few adjustments in their equipment costs, as only one of several things one can do, to raise the bottom line to a point that going home would not create a hole in the financial aspect of the situation.

With only a couple of exceptions, I never paid more than $1200 a month in payments for a truck. Yes they were used, and they often had limited or no warranty whatsoever on them, but there are tradeoffs that make the risk of repairs worth it.

From Prime's own website, their payments range from $598 -$742 a WEEK, and that's about as outrageous as it gets. This means that this alone accounts for the first $31,096 up to $38,584 of the revenue that the truck generates PER YEAR and is deducted from those driver's settlements. Compare this to a payment on a used truck that was only taking a $14,400 per year out off the top, and another consideration is that when those payments were concluded, I OWNED the equipment.

From the website, all leases are subject to a 4.5 cent per mile charge, which is undefined, but let's assume that a driver will be paid on an average of 120,000 miles solo, or 240,000 miles if team operated, which can result in a further reduction in income of $5400 to $10,800 per year.

I'm completely aware that Prime offers a "lease completion bonus" at the end of those leases, and that's fine and dandy, but what could a man realize in terms of profit if he had use of that money himself as he went along, and dumped it into investments of his own. What do you think Prime is doing with it for the three or fours years that they are deducting and holding it in escrow?

There's no need to break this down any further, or add any more criteria to demonstrate why these deals are BAD deals.

The immediate savings in the difference in payments alone for equipment and the lease mileage charges could mean an increase of between $22,096 up to $29,584 as a solo driver, or $27,496 up to $34,984 as a team operation. Of course, this does not factor in the costs of any increased repair amounts that will surely come along with a truck that has additional mileage, but I've never had to spend anywhere near this much on ANY truck per year in two and a half decades in a year's time. In fact, my averages ran about 25%-30% at worst.

So...even if we take all those amounts above, and half them for additional repairs, and this is unlikely if you select a truck that is in decent shape to begin with, and drive it responsibly, the net SPENDABLE income will rise by as little as $212 per week, to as much as $336 per week, which would certainly make a big difference and allow one to have a life outside of trucking.

And let's not forget that even when those used trucks were paid for, my revenue immediately shot up by the payment amounts, adding as much as $276 MORE per week to my bottom line, because I OWNED the truck and still had use of it in my business.

Look at those figures above and realize that those savings alone will almost make your truck payments each month, by approaching this in more economical terms.

Does anyone reading this think that they could not go home and have a life on a more regular basis, if they were realizing that much more per week in actual income? It always worked for me.

And before anyone thinks that just because you have may bad credit, you can't get a truck, think again. Save up some cash for a decent down payment, have a clear cut plan of how you plan to make that truck generate money, and you will get financing. Used trucks dealers are exploding with equipment that they need to sell on their BEST days, and they know how to get it done.

The motor carriers sell that "no credit check" crap to appeal to those who have poor credit, and would never tell you the facts of the matter, in that they are preying upon people to place immense amounts of revenue in their pockets, while keeping those that are out there working their butts off, barely above the poverty line when all is said and done by this time of the year.

It's a no-win situation for the driver and his family, and a win-win situation for the motor carrier, and there's no way around that...period.

 

Wonder if he had steel toed boots,I used to haul steel plate rolls,most of the time had trusty steel toed boots on, PEP out of maine pays for these when you start there and they want you to wear them,very good idea,should be required,they are required at fisher snow plow company in maine or you wear their portable ones that attach to your boots.