ask your questions about prime inc here

Although being as the nearest terminal is a long ways away. I'm thinking it would be much easier to get home if I am actually getting loads going to California.

 

You won't get home unless you have a to the area, but that said, just let your FM know in advance and he will find a load for you. May not be exactly the day you want, but this is trucking lol

 

Well thanks man.. Honestly I think my biggest hold back is the lightweight trucks.. I mean to offer a rookie driver 42cents a mile these trucks must be really freaking small on the inside. I'm picturing like a cab over truck no cabinets just the bed right behind the seats and no room for anything.. I can't imagine living like that. But i still have time I'm not leaving until January. Just trying to decide I have narrowed it down to Prime, Watkins Shepherd, Stevens, and May just trying to figure out which one fits best.

 

LOL, They aren't as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Actually I was in a FL lightwt and also a International LW, then a FL Condo. I put in a front curtain on the LW's and that really opened up the space, plus I pulled the passenger seat in the FL LW and put my Fridge and Microwave in its place. In the International I installed cabinets behind one seat and the fridge behind the other, Microwave went on top of the fridge.
Also I am 6'3" and 250 and I did not have any problems. lol

Have heard good things about WS and May, not so good about Stevens, and that was talking to drivers.

 

If anyone is looking for a PSD student to train i'm one. Waiting for a trainer now! Anyone? Inbox me if you can. Thanks

 

i found out that the light weight trucks came into existance because of wall mart...thank wall mart for looking after drivers comfort....the light weight trucks are like 5,000 lb,s lighter....wall mart can now haul 5000 lbs more at the same price.

 

First, you'll have upwards of $4000 in your pocket if you go through PSD that you would have spent at a third-party school. They put more classroom time into the third-party school, because they can't afford to give you more than 40 or-so hours in a truck. Many schools put 3 or 4 students in a truck when it comes time to drive unless you pay for a school that promises actual one-on-one instruction, and you get perhaps an hour during each period you should be getting the entire drive time. In practice, the person with the worst skills gets most of that time. Even with all of that, they barely give you the skills to get past a state DMV road test. OTOH, Prime's PSD program puts you in the driver's seat for most of that time, and relies on your CDL instructor, and later (for most of the information transfer) your trainer during TnT to pass on essential information. My observation is the driver coming out of Prime's school has far superior driving skills both at the end of PSD and TnT... although that is heavily weighted by the quality of the CDL instructor and TnT trainer that you draw. Don't be afraid to contact management to swap these guys out if you get a lemon!

They're pushing reefer because that's our primary business, and we do tons of freight out of Cali... literally! So, if you need to come in as a reefer driver, no big deal. Most of what training is about (no matter how you get your CDL) is how to maneuver a large CMV without causing destruction and havoc! It's easy to change from one division to another once you're driving for Prime. At most, you'd end up on a flatbed trainer's truck for 30 days after driver training to learn securement. I knew a guy on the flatbed side who got loads out of the port in Long Beach, so those loads do exist. When it comes to home time, they just have to book a load into and out of the area. Being flexible with arrival and departure dates does help.

I've been in them as well, and a condo isn't exactly a whole lot bigger than a lightweight. I'll agree with Highway on this... most prospective drivers make a whole lot more out if it than it really is. Most folks can't imagine living the life of a trucker no matter how big the truck you drive is. If you do go flatbed, you'll end up in a condo. Most probably. There's just too much additional equipment to comfortably put into a lightweight.

Prime is the only one of the four with a flatbed division. Watkins Shepherd offers no actual training, they just give you 10 days of orientation, and stuff you into a truck. They're dry van, and you'll be schlepping a lot of freight out of those trucks and into stores. I went to May's orientation, and wasn't impressed... I hear a lot of biotchin' from those guys about their dispatchers. Stevens is probably the best of your alternatives after Prime for training, but they put their drivers through a lot of unnecessary crap on a regular basis. Like routing through a terminal every 45 days, for example.

Walmart had nothing to do with the decision to add the lightweights to the fleet. The additional 5,000 lbs was for one of Prime's major clients (a Fortune 500 corporation) that ships a lot of OTR freight. During their yearly talks with Prime's sales department, this was discussed... and part of that was a major expansion of Prime's market share with this client. As in hundreds of loads per year that only company guys have access to due to the weight... Prime's competition was the big looser. It's expanded into regional deals for guys on the company side. That major client also expanded the lighter loads for the lease guys a couple of years after Prime added the lightweights. It's expanded into other major shippers who have taken advantage of the extra shipping capacity per truck, as well. Once the lightweight program had been in effect for over two years, Walmart expressed interest in having Prime come in and operate the overflow freight from the DC in Lewiston ME. Since then, Prime has added two more DCs. At one location, Prime had to invest in a drop yard to handle the additional freight.

One of our competitors could only put about 39,000 lbs on their trailers... back when this started. That 10,000 lb difference represents a 20% decrease in the number of trucks that client has to service... or a 20% increase in their capacity to ship without having to invest one penny in larger facilities. Since then a lot of other carriers are trying to play catch-up with Prime... you see more of the smaller tractors on the road now... except Prime is moving that freight they lost by not being the first to do it.

The benefit for Prime's company drivers is more loads. You're into this to make money, right? It's about the loads, which means real miles to the company side. You can look as cool as you want in some bottom feeders KW9, but if you're spending your time in a truckstop with no freight, you can look just as cool as you want while you can only afford to eat ramyen noodles. There are very few trucking companies who actually pay 42-cpm to inexperienced drivers, and have real miles to actually move that into a settlement. When I was on the company side, I actually averaged over 2800 miles per week... that's not unusual at Prime, even today. The NE-regional folks get less than that, but they also get another 5-cpm for loads actually run up there to make up for it. It's good for our lease guys in the larger trucks as well... this also means more of the lighter loads (44,000 lbs and under) get shipped on the lease side. The lightweight program has been good for everyone here.

Hope that puts it in perspective.

 

Good Luck Bert !

Be very selective on your choice for a trainer.

 

Does prime hire company or do they force our starve you into a lease when your training is over. I'm only asking because that is what I heard

 

Maybe you should read instead of listening. I challenge anyone on here to find a single post where someone said they were forced into a lease at Prime.

i garauntee the only ones you will find is someone who knew a guy.

The choice is up to the driver, and usually it's their own greed that gets them into a lease rather than having enough common sense to wait, learn the business, and make an informed decision to run their own business as a L/O.