any info on primes cdl training

Have you done all of your so called, homework? Have you read the good and the bad about them? Remember when you talk with drivers they do not benefit from telling you the bad stuff. Drivers get a good referral fee if you sign on and the more people that sign on with the company the better off the company is and the employee's/drivers, are. Read the bad stuff. Incorporate it into your thinking process. It's your time. By the time you find out if they will be good or bad for you you will have 6 mos to a year in vested.

I would give a lot of weight to Scheinder. Well known, good training program, respected, decent money, they've been around. The training is in school, on training grounds, on the road. It's 4-6 weeks from morning until late afternoon. You eat regular. You study at night in your room. You will suffer as a team driver if you go with on the road training. Your not trapped in a truck 24 hrs a day a SNI. When your done you can team drive if you want more support, if you don't have confidence, or you can get on your own truck. Remember being stuck on a truck with someone for 4 mos is a major deal and it's not good. Especially as a so called trainee. I already wrote on the big draw backs above.

On the subject of owning your own business. The way I see it is this is a way for the company to put the burden on you. They just act like there doing you a favor and making it sound like your a buisssssness man, instead of a truck driver. You can get .47 cpm at some place like Crete and make the same kinda money. Your not in the "army now", your jumping into a so called business thing. And business likes to screw people and say, "it's just business, nothing personal."

I'm a guy like you looking at getting into driving. I don't stand to gain or lose anything by telling you any of this. I just hope to offer information that will help some else.

Hope this will help you out in your decision.

 

I have looked at Schneider (only hiring experienced right now), Roehl (leaning toward them) and many others. I have also looked at TMC and Maverick but got to get my CDL and i will not pay someone 3-4k to get it. I have been researching for months and don't retire until next July so i will keep researching until then.

I am pretty computer literate so when i read something i go over to google and try and either confirm what i have read or find something to disprove it (trust me i am very sketical about what anyone says).

Just about every company has good and bad you just need to find a way to wade through all the BS and make an informed decision. Hopefully my age and life experience will help me make a good decision. If i go to Prime and at a minimum get my CDL and walk away with my dignity i will be happy. If i go with them and make money i will be estatic!

thanks for the advice, it is helpful!

 

while i am not a Prime driver, training depends on the individual. i soloed out in one week. depends on the Co. and student abilities...

eating healthy out on the road is very hard to do, its just the way it is out here

whom ever you consider to drive for u need to remember its their sandbox and they say how its going to happen.

any preconceived ideas about this industry is best left at home till you actually have gotten out here and lived the life, wannabe's just need to roll with the program and learn...

 

totally understand what you are saying. I think that is the biggest problem with most people making this career choice. It isn't sight seeing it is work. Sometimes the money is good and sometimes well it isn't. luckily for me your tax dollars will be giving a $30K + salary every year. thanks guys!

I have no pre-conceived notions as to how this will be. i realize that i am a guest in this person's home and will respect that until they start to disrespect me. I will handle any problems with dignity and will try to work through them. if they can't...well there are other trainers out there. i cn put up with just about anything for 3-4 months though, i have been in the military for 24 years .

 

WOW, Schneider is only hiring experienced drivers they say! This is NOT good as it pertains to the economy. Worse yet, it may be a way of saying THERE NOT HIRING at all.

If you don't have to retire you may want to rethink things. The economy is probably going to get real, real bad, worse than we can imagine. SNI not taking on trainees is a big indicator. Stay in!

I am glad the info was worth looking at.

 

Well let me clarify just a little bit. they are still accepting applications and getting folks into the school just not as many as before. As ex-military i would get a preference with them. (recruiter told me this after i attended a Schnieder recruitment briefing. after everyone else left of course)

Bottom-line on the economy and i have seen it here before, people still have to eat and buy consumer goods and those goods have to be delivered. my biggest concern is with all the layoffs where are people going to work and will they see trusking as a viable option, thus overloading the trucking industry.

 

Many say that, "... people still need to eat.....". Yes they do, but they cut way back and when they cut way back, it cuts way back on trucking. The statement is no support for the idea that truckers are some how safe from loseing work. SNI is cutting back according to what you've mentioned.

So I'm missing out on something. SNI will take you because your military but your not going to go with them. Why is that? You could be tained as I've mentioned and be on the road solo in 4-6 weeks.

By the way I've seen the up's and down's and have been an avid market watcher over 30 years. There has not been anything like what we are experiencing in modern history. The 1929 crash was not as bad as what we are going to experience. A country can not servive unless they produce products and sell it to themselves, at least, and other's to boot. This is the basis of an economy. Our country has built an economy on a foundation of sand.

Thanks for your ifo.
Good luck with your persuit.

 

im with Prime... been on my own for 2 months now as a company driver and will not ask you to put me down as a referal.

there is a rule about students driving at night, 7pm to 5am i think. In your safety breifing they encourage you to report anything you deem unsafe or questionable/uncomfortable doing. The safety director gives you his personal cell#...the man trumps everyone in the company. dont be a douchebag and complain about food choices,storage space, or being stuck at home when you asked to go home.

7 day dispatch means you are available to work all 7 days... you go home you get paid .12 per mile period(for the miles you accumulated that week) 600 is gaurenteed if you are on that truck all 7 days or the.12 whichever is greater...(btw this is for the training phase when you have your CDL) this money is paid from you trainers settlement plus he is paying your workmans comp . i got my 60k in about 2 1/2 months... its a business for your trainer, if you want to go home prime has to find a load heading in that direction... same thing on picking you up. .. if your trainer wants to go home and you are still on the truck, you still get paid.(some trainers put you up in a hotel, take you home with them or you live in the truck at a truck stop) mine never went home for more than 36 hours and i slept on his couch and he let me use his jeep around town. i have heard of trainees waiting a week for a load that gets their instructor back to pick them up.

me, i didnt go home at all. after i got 62k (it took 2k miles of loads to get back to Prime...see) I went thru the upgrade class and then went home for 10 days... they didnt even give a date to be back. they told me to call ahead and make sure there were trucks to be issued thata day (not like i was getting paid while i was home so why should they care how long i took)

listen, driving at night is part of the job. during training we did a roughly 10 on 10 off... that shifts your shift 4 hours everday... so you only got a pure 100 percent daylight shift evry couple days... if your trainer wants to drive days only thats bs... first he has to ease you into night situations (part of training) and second I would object by driving and pulling over the second i feel fatigued... parking the truck is not what he wants and if it is to move an equitable system is in his best intrest... (dont pull this crap to get anything you want) but safety will take intrest if you have a legitamite complaint on your driving schedule.

last thing (cuz its been long winded) 60k or even 80k is not enough to train you on evrythin. but it is enough to see a lot of situations...and give you the tools to use the company resources when you need help... 60k knocked out in 2.5 months... this 20k will take 2 (on my own. and i will have gone nehome twice) if i had stuck with my trainer that last 20k would have been knocked out in 3 to 4 weeks...but i felt it was time to cut the umbilical cord... i was terrified i would screw something up that first week(i id but not that bad) and lost 10 lbs worrying.

 

btw... armchair drivers with no experiance should not offer up advice... they have all the tools you have... an internet. I can only tell you about Prime... do your own research, look for things that appeal to you... find CURRENT drivers of the companies that have the things you want and the PM them with your questions and get their opinions... make it a point not to use anyone as a referal and let them know... the honest ones will respond. ..

finding current drivers isnt hard...just scan the boards here for their postings... PM prevents the chuckleheads from throwing their unasked 2cents to your questions... oh and ask multiple drivers from your interested companies, that way you can compare and contrast the company itself and against other companies.

 

Nicely put. Unlike some people who made things extremly difficult. Thanks.

I tried to pm you but you don't have enough comments posted yet.