ask your questions about prime inc here

Well #### I feel special now...lol

 

The new trucks are all auto. Or what they call automated manual. If you are coming in as a company driver (I am close to upgrading myself as a company driver) they will put you in a newer model truck which more than likely means you will get auto. But in order to even get that far in the process, you have to test out in a standard Freightliner. So if you don't know how to shift a 10 speed, expect to learn. They will teach you, but I had a friend who just couldn't get it and they asked her to leave before she even went out with a trainer.

 

How did they "ask" her to leave? Way to go Prime...giving up on potential student drivers like that. Say what you want about Swift, and CRE...they at least get them the license. I have really lost a lot of respect for Prime for some of their practices. When you are learning how to shift, you're gonna grind 'em. But it WILL come. While I do not know the whole story behind it, that's pretty ###### up that Prime would do that. Tell her to try CRE or Swift. Maybe THEY will not give up on her and see her through to her CDL Class A license. Then she can apply back to Prime and turn them down once thry offer her something and stick it to 'em. Best of luck to her.

 

She really couldn't grasp the idea. They bent over backwards trying to help her and she just never got it. At some point you have to look at it as a safety issue. They didn't just boot her, they tried and tried and tried...by the time I met her she had already been in Springfield 2 months trying to figure it out. Trust me, they work with you. I would never tell someone to go to Swift. Yeah they may get you a liscense but that's no guarantee you'll ACTUALLY know what your doing. I mean cmon...you've seen Swift drivers right? Lol

 

Lol true. Good point. Might I ask...what was it that she just couldnot seem to grasp about the shifting? I had trouble shifting myself but eventually got it. It took me awhile too. So while I am glad to read that they truly did try and work with her the very best that they could, I can imagine that she probably did not feel to good being sent home. I guess I have that empathy quality about me to sort of understand that there are struggles with learning this job but that if you really try hard enough, and apply yourself, 99 times out of a hundred, you will do well. Upshifting was not that hard, hard enough yes but downshifting was atrocious for me on the learning curve lol

 

I honestly don't know why she couldn't get it. I know she would practice on the simulator and I think that was a factor because those simulators are crap...they actually made me worse at shifting than when I started. I came in with my CDL already, so I had a pretty good grasp on it, but the simulator does more harm than good imo. The simulator is basically just a video game with a gear shift that reminds me of those driving games at arcades. But they cost a crap ton, and if anyone at Prime catches you talking about them being a video game you get your ### reamed. Lol

 

I had a old truck you had to double clutch, no synchro's. I drove it for 4 years before I gave it back to my dad, my brother tried to drive it, but he could never get his shifting hand and clutch foot coordinated enough to shift. He tried for months. He ended up with a Chevy with 3 on the tree, he had no issues with it. Some just can't coordinate their hand and foot. I equate it to some people are carpenters and some people are plumbers, but most can't be both.

 

News flash.... EVERY truck driving program teaches you ONLY what you need to know to get your CDL. Including Prime's PSD course.

Swift Academy is PTDI Certified. That means that if you get your CDL there, any company that hires rookie drivers will take you.

EVERY company that accepts new drivers expects that the driver knows nothing about the business of trucking. That's why EVERY company puts green drivers out with experienced drivers for a month or two. Prime calls it their TnT program. Swift calls it their mentorship.

I have. I am one. I went through Swift Academy nearly four years ago, with the intention of moving to Prime after getting the six months of experience they required then. (I don't know if it's the same now.) I am also one of their mentors, and I've seen what comes out of these CDL schools. Everything from the highly touted tech schools, down to "Bubba Joe's BBQ and CDL School" down on the Bayou. The Academy grads that I have had were an absolute joy to work with. They *knew* how to get us safely from point A to point B, and then park the truck safely. All I really had to do was to teach them what to do once they got there.

Also, with 20,000 trucks on the road, Swift is by far the largest carrier on the road... and that number was BEFORE the Knight merger. Remember that 2% of any large group is composed of idiots, and 2% of 20,000 is larger than many small carriers...

 

Question .

Does Prime let you guys put custom decals on your truck ? Maybe I never noticed it before but lately I've been seeing Prime trucks with weird decals on the side .

Just today I saw "Sexual Chocolate" with dice below it , yesterday I saw a red fire graphic and skull with a name "bb enterprises"

 

They do.

Somehow, I don't think that first one will last very long. LOL

There are some with pretty radical, complex graphics jobs out there, too.