Cwc at prime inc.

cwc,

You may also want to check out Estes Express back in Richmond. Heard a lot of good things about them. Driver's I've met seem happy. Know they have local, hub & line haul, too. Hard to get into, & most guys stay. Looked into them myself, but had no experience at time.

Originally started in Richmond in 1931 & still family owned, though they have gotten huge. Might be worth a look.

Peace

 

Would someone please explain the deal about the light wt trucks at prime I keep hearing about.

 

Sure, it's real simple. It started as a regional thing for one particular client, but caught on with many of our larger, high-volume shippers. By putting a couple thousand extra pounds of freight in a reefer trailer, the number of truck loads out is either decreased so they can manage the traffic or the shipping volume is increased (depending on what the customer wants.)

So, what is the benefit to the company driver? More loads... which means more miles. And guess what? Prime pays the guys more to do it. More miles X a higher cpm rate = bigger paychecks.

We actually ran some of our competition out of some locations with the LW trucks, and some of our largest shippers have either given us many more loads or opened new locations for us to pull out of because of it.

 

Thanks ironpony. At first I thought they say that the trucks had a lower weight these days. So that the shipper can put more pallets per load.

 

Should me at Prime Mid May if everything works out here in cali. Got my permit. Now im taking a weeks refresher cource to get my CDL back. Been out of the truck for 10yrs. It feels good to be back.

 

Ok, one last question. What is APU when it comes to trucks. The driver that started this thread about a yr ago, said he got a 2013 Cascadia with apu. Now, ive looked at some Cascadia trucks this morning. They look pretty decent to me. Just preparing myself for life when I get to springfield. Especially the part where someone told him he had to surrender his CDL from his state.

 

Old info on the CDL... happened for a few months years ago. My understanding is that doesn't happen any longer. Auxiliary Power Units provide electricity and air conditioning when you're parked so you don't idle the engine. You have a bunk heater as well to stay warm.

 

That's great. I saw a generator on the back of a truck once back in 2003. Things have really changed over the years. I can't see any difference between Lt wt trucks and regular ones.

 

The cab is smaller in size, as in the bunk area, by about 14 inches, maybe more maybe less. I never measured to be exact. The Internationals have a bigger cab area than the freightliners, I could get a fridge and microwave behind the passenger seat, and a set of plastic cabinets behind the drivers seat for storage in the International where as in the Freightliner I had to remove the passenger seat