Attention interested persons for prime.

I work local so i don't know about otr and team stuff. I like sleeping in my bed every day and being off on the weekend.

 

A lot depends on your location as far as local options available goes.

 

Since this is about Prime I will post this. A former employee of mine went to attend there school on October 11th 2015. He called me when he arrived and felt a bit uneasy about the situation. Apparently the hotel is owned by Prime and that is where the school is held. Now I paid to fly him to the school as I did not want him to take any money from them up front and then they have 1 hook in him already. I calmed him down and advised him to just see what the next morning (start of school) would bring. He called me later the next day and was a bit more at ease. He did say that he could not supply enough urine at the drug screen and they told him that they would set up a time later in the week to take the drug screening. On Tuesday he passed all of the written tests for the CDL General knowledge, Air breaks, Combination trailers and Tanker endorsement. With 94 to 100%. He did not feel comfortable with transferring his Illinois License to a Missouri License for his CDL Permit because you cannot transfer a CDL A license from any state to Illinois so he wanted to just go back to Illinois and do all of the tests written and skills pre trip and backing in Illinois instead of taking them twice. He said his recruiter had said that he could go with his trainer and do that in his trainers truck after orientation week. Which I told him then to check again because I believed that to not be true. He did and as I thought that was not true. So he called me again and told me that not only was that a lie but he had been contacted by a trainer and when he asked an instructor when he would be able to be picked up by the trainer he was told he would not be going any where with anyone except the trainer they picked for him.
He said how could they could pick a trainer for him when they had known him for 2 days at this point. The Instructor told him that was just the way it was and also that he would have to take there 200 dollar advance but could just not use the card they gave him but he had to take it. Again I felt that was just another way to trap him and he did not need there money.
He called me again Thursday and said he was leaving the program just to many things he was not comfortable with. I booked him a flight home that left Friday. He also mentioned he had put down on his medical form that he had taken Hydrocodone in the past for a hand infection showed them his Doctors prescription for it and advised them he had been off it for a couple of weeks prior to coming to class. He was being honest. He called his recruiter to let her know he was leaving and she was on vacation so he advised the orientation office he was not continuing.

He got home friday evening. He decided to look at other schools that were smaller and applied to 1. They called him this morning and told him that he needed to list prime as an employer as they had reported to DAC that he had taken a drug test. He had not taken a drug test and he was never an employee of Primes. We called and spoke with DAC services. He did not know what DAC was nor did I. He does not have a DAC report as he does not have a CDL but Prime did report that he had taken a drug screen they also stated he had failed that drug screen. both of which were False. DAC advised him and he filed a dispute.

This could be on his file for 3 years if not cleared by the dispute but now when he applies to other company schools they come back to him and say that he lied when he says he did not take a drug test as the company reported he did and DAC said that it will now only say it is being disputed. and they say he failed it.

As his former employer for more than 10 years and a friend for almost 20 I know he is being honest with me about what happened. I also know that he would not have failed a drug test had he taken 1 because I had him go to my testing company for a random drug screen 1 week before he went to Missouri and had them test piss test him the same DOT test. I also had him go today and take another piss test at a DOT certified testing facility to administer the exact test.. He is a great young man and while he does not need to have a trucking career he has had a passion to do it since I have known him again for 20 years.

I am sorry so long but I wanted to ask HOW CAN SOMEONE MAKE UP LIES ABOUT A PERSON AND BASICALLY CAUSE THAT PERSON TO NOT BE ABLE TO GET A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING THEY TRULY HAVE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO AND HAVE A PASSION FOR BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT TO GO FORWARD IN THERE PROGRAM? hE DID NOT TAKE 1 DIME FROM THEM, HE DID NOT ASK THEM FOR 1 THING. IT HAS COST HIM 1500 - 2000.00 OUT OF HIS OWN POCKET AND THE FACT THAT HE NOW HAS TO TAKE HIS TIME AND MONEY TO DISPUTE THESE LIES..

IS THIS THE WAY THE TRUCKING INDUSTRY OPERATES AS A WHOLE OR IS THIS JUST 1 COMPANY? I would hope it is 1 company but has anyone ever heard of or experienced such a thing??

Thanks for any feed back..

 

Unless things have changed drastically since I went to school there, you would be shown the door if you could not pass piss test regardless of the reason on that day; I know since I watched near 33% of our orientation were sent packing due to it.

The $200.00 advance per week is not forced at all & is put on the comdata card every week regardless of if you use it or not. You only owe it back if you use it.

On the CDL issue, that is the unfortunate reality of both Illinois & California, should not have been told he could go home to test as all students of the Prime training are monitored & tested at the terminals since it is primes responsibility to train properly, they are monitored heavily by the DOT including officers riding with students in cab during testing.
He should have been told by recruiter to bring his CDL permit from current state of residence to orientation so he would not have to even turn in his Illinois license to begin with.

Also, he should have got his hazmat endorsement as it is also required as a company policy.

Many companies have been accused of falsifying DAC records as backlash for employees that quit or used as a leash to keep employees stuck working for that company; cannot say from personal experience if that is the case here but it seems weird since technically he was never an employee of prime if he never took his piss test, nor ever got assigned to a trainer...

Hope it works out for him.

 

If your happy where your at why change? If the system is working for him good.

 

Prime is a vindictive company...if you don't kiss their behind and let them walk all over you,they will find ways to try to screw you...

 

LOL - This is so true. Not many drivers understand earning potential. My company turned the trucks down to 64 and then gave us a .02 raise. After doing the math we actually took a pay cut!

 

I would love to be able to go 80 in the few areas where it is legal, can you point me to a company driver job with 80mph trucks & consistent miles to burn out a 70 every week?

Only one that I can think of off the top is Van Kampen, but the cpm is not there.

 

Pretty sad what Van Kampen pays....but those trucks are sweet.

 

Agreed; Van Kampen, Van Eerden, Mountain River, Smith, Western Distribution all have some of the nicest company driver equipment.

A lesser known one I have dealt with is S.S. Skikos our of Santa Rosa, CA; they mostly service the high end winerys in the Napa valley region with stunning gunmetal/purple Kenworth T660's, Peterbilt 386's, & a Volvo day cab along with flawless food tankers, Great Dane spread axle dry vans & thermoking reefers.

Is Farmers Oil out of Anthony, KS running company drivers in those amazing show truck tankers & some dry vans they have running out there?