ask your questions about prime inc here

I forgot to mention the flies. I have never encountered so many flies as at a Pilgrim's Pride operation...

Not even in black fly season up in Maine.

 

Well Prime wants to hire me. I will have to start from the beginning because I didn't keep my CDL. I'll never do that again. The recruiter said I might not have do go through all the training because of my driving experience. Thats up to the safety Dept. I plan on starting Orientation in Sept. and I'm going to lease a truck. Also I'm going to drive myself there. That way I can bring everything I need and when i get my own truck it will be there to put it together. Any advice??? :smt079

 

Driving there don't make much sense. If you're starting from the beginning that means you'd have a ton of things sitting in a lot for 4 months. Might as well leave it at home, take the free bus ride, and just when you get your truck, push to get back home for your stuff.

 

Normally i would agree. My kids are grown and i have minimal bills and except for a girlfriend, i dont need to be back here in Virginia any time soon. i plan on running for quite awhile. So i will just pack my trucking gear and when i get my truck i'll be ready...

 

if you fail your cdl test through prime's school, can you retake it or do you get sent home?

is there a number of retries?

 

I think you've got two or three tries... U2 or Sazook would probably be a better source for this one.

 

Why are Prime trucks so SLOW? I heard something about some Prime company drivers will idle along at 55 mph ON PURPOSE even though the truck will go 60-something. What's the deal with that? Do they make company drivers pay for fuel or something???

 

Nah... that's just to tee you off!

Company drivers are required to maintain an average fuel economy of 6.75 mpg week over week. Since we are usually at 75k GVW or more, the primary way to do that is to slow down. There is also a fuel bonus program for company drivers that kicks in at that point as well... the better you do, the more it pays. Lease drivers pay for their own fuel, so you can run at any speed you like up to the governed limit. However, the size of your settlement check is directly related to the fuel bill. So there's a financial incentive for all of us to slow down.

For the most part, we are all dispatched in a way that doesn't require us to go tearing down the roads at warp 9 in order to meet our appointment times so there's no reason to push the speed. The benefits of this show up in our carriers accident rate (the lowest its ever been,) the number of speeding tickets is down, there is less wear and tear on the equipment, and puts the financial health of Prime in a better place.

 

How can you be "dispatched in a way that doesn't require tearing down the roads at warp 9"? I've seen your trailers at Tyson/IBP yards before. Tyson loads are RARELY loaded until shortly before the "Drop dead time" & they raise a FIT if you're late. Maybe your company sets their appointments based on a 40 mph average or something.

I don't know. But I like how Prime puts their name in BIG letters on the back of the trailers, so when I see one up ahead, I can read it from quite a ways back and most of the time I can get in the hammer lane before I have to hit the brakes and waste all that kinetic energy. Sometimes I pass you guys like you're standing still, and my truck only goes 65!

Seriously, though. I think Prime trucks should be required to follow the same rules as farm equipment. Banned from controlled-access highways, and required to have those orange triangles on the back.

 

Following a Prime truck down the road is NOT FUN!!! I finally made it to the Pittston yard to see hubby and since I had no idea how to really get there I tried to follow one but omg. Everybody is just flying past you. Needless to say I passed the poor guy and got there like 20 mins before him LoL