FullMetalJacket at Prime

New update time, I suppose. Been awhile.

The old Century finally gave up the ghost in Muscatine, IA in early January, requiring a rebuild. We were hoping to do that later in April/May when we expected to take delivery of two new trucks, but she just couldn't make it that long. Got to give her credit, though. She made it to about 1,050,000mi. Timing forced us to immediately buy two new Cascadias off the fleet lot that were available & ready NOW.

Co driver & myself grabbed a rental car back to SpringMo to take over owner's Volvo 780 while rebuild was done on Century. Plan was to run in Volvo, then drop him back in IA to take Century over as a solo. I would continue on in Volvo & begin the PSD/TNT training I had put off since fall.

A few weeks later, ongoing sensor issues w/Volvo forced a business decision to keep it local to SpringMo for PSD training. It averaged once a month in dealer for these issues, and using it for PSD would keep it coming back at short intervals. Man, broke my heart to give it up. I absolutely loved that truck! It was otherwise mechanically perfect, but down time not practical in team situation for TNT training when other alternatives existed. Plus, it's fuel milage isn't close to what the Evo can accomplish. Thought is that we hopefully will have less problems and down time with the new Evo, if we are lucky. That is, if we didn't catch one of those Friday afternoon end of shift production ones! Oh, well.....always a crap shoot with these new trucks. Hopefully, we didn't get one of those 30% off the line that have problems. Always going to have some issues, just hope they are inconsequential.

So........I had to bite the bullet and suffer with taking one of the brand new Cascadias. Oh, what a tough life I'm living! LOL! But, sure going to miss that Volvo. What I won't miss, and hope is over, is playing musical chairs with the trucks. Pain in the keester to move all your stuff several times and organize when you live full time in the truck, and do not have time to stop between running loads.

Got back to SpringMo end of February and got certified for PSD & TNT training. Was able to take a two days after to run back to Tulsa to take care of some personal business & put some stuff in storage to make room for a student. (Man, I accumulated a lot of stuff along the way!). Came back to SpringMo and grabbed my first TNT student. Going great so far.

Many other things I passed over, but all part of the job. Things go well........things go haywire. Just hope for more of the well, rather than the haywire! Either way, just got to go with the flow & deal with whatever presents itself.

Best out to all my compadres here at Prime. I have truly been blessed to work & meet with some great folks here, both drivers and in house. Can't adequately describe how greatfull I am to have chosen to come here, especially after seeing what drivers at some other companies deal with.

To those potentially coming along after......... best wishes & hopes for y'all.

I hope some of my experience will help, no matter what decisions you happen to make.

PEACE

 

Good Lord,

Lookee what I found. Has that much time gone by, already?

Been running down memory lane & laughing. Good times......good times.

And, I'm still here...!

Just goes to show ya just how bad it must be here! Terrible, just terrible........ LOL

 

Long time, no update. Though I've always hung around on other threads.

FINALLY found a truck & trailer. Will be parting ways in 2wks with both Prime & the individual I have been running trucks for, for the last 4+yrs. Should have left over 2yrs ago, but.... things happen. I hope all was for good cause & reason, but I find it is finally time to move along. Time to put ME first for a change, rather than everything & everyone else.

Prime has been great to work with, throughout. I can truly say I believe they are one of the best companies to start out with, if not the best.

I hope I at least made a difference in a few lives while I instructed & trained. Changing lives is all I was looking for, to pay back what was given to me. Never was about the $ for me.

I feel blessed to say that I am still in contact with every single student I have helped, except for the only 3 I had that bailed out.

Figured that's not bad at all, after almost 5yrs. Especially considering.......

Every single one of them, young & old, are still currently happy & safe drivers.

THAT'S what meant the most to me throughout all the trials & tribulations.

Changing lives..... like my life was changed. What a way to spend my retirement from another life, eh? LOL

 

Wow,

It's been a year already since my last post...? My, how time seems to just fly by, the older you become.

Haven't been on TTR at all, ever since I finally decided to go semi-independent route, w/own truck & rented trailer.

Even with knowing well enough the hurdles to anticipate, it has been much more of an experience than I initially expected. Especially, with getting set up to run in the first place.

To sum it up.....

1. Got screwed over on truck I was going to buy from the guy I ran for. Ran for him over 5yrs (2/3yrs longer than ever planned), w/the expectation of buying last truck out from him at prenegotiated price. So much for just rewards for keeping him afloat a couple of years while he had empty trucks sitting to be filled..... Just a little lesson for ya'll. Dedication means absolutely nothing in this business, except for a rarity or two I can count on one hand. Look out for YOURSELF, first & foremost. No matter what...Of course, he started up another fleet & authority at the same time, but terms were just not amicable, even bringing a new truck on to him. So much for being his most productive driver ever, over his 25yrs in the business.

2. Brand new truck that was supposed to be being held for me was sold out from under me, just before heading out to pick it up... AFTER I got out of truck & left previously aforementioned individual. (Keep in mind, this was last summer at peak rates & truck order volume backlog.... custom order lead times were pushing 12mos & new trucks could not be found anywhere). Large fleet customer was obviously a higher priority than my small ###. LOL

3. After 1 1/2 months of searching & waiting on a new truck, decided to trial & possibly purchase a used truck that became available from the very same, good long term friend, I had intended to run under for so long with that new truck. (He was also a long term, mainstay member here at TTR, bless his soul.....). Always been the best split & agreement I could find, just took me too long to make move due to trying to help previous guy out. See above 1st relation...

4. On middle of way to get used truck, a new one actually came up along route. Actually, two came up. Do not suggest this to anyone, but made a very last minute decision that one met my specs & decided to go with it & bring on to friends authority.

5. Then, the registration & insurance nightmare began......!

The registration was not nearly so bad. While a pain in the ###, we figured out what we had to do & just took care of it. The differences in states & how they handle this crap is amazing. Both the state I reside in & the state I would run under's authority both required a physical presence to complete. Well, fine..... but, I was in the middle of both states & already had been down for nearly 2mos, already. And, how to move to EITHER without any registration at all...... LOL

Solved this with a 3 day temporary transport permit. Went to authority state & registered there under friends authority, as home state was 1300+ mi in other direction. Problem solved, right........? LOL

6. Insurance.............. You know, screw these folks & everything they are about. If anything is truly going to kill it all out here, it will be this. New entrants rates are shockingly high enough, understood to a degree. But, even very long term concerns I know have had some crazy rate hikes of late & for none of the typical decernable reasons. It's driving some folks out of business.

All right, I'm a new entrant. Understood I'm going to get raked to some degree. Been driving truck over 5yrs at that point. Not even a parking ticket in over 30yrs..... but, one 5mph over ticket at 60mph in Cali. (Cali....on a downhill to boot. Screw them, too!). LOL

Had only 3wks for it to be gone over 3yr period they look at. $10,000 for my end on insurance. They said I could wait those 3wks out for better rate when it dropped....... but remember, I have been down over 2/3mos at this point. Talk about kicking a man that's already been down....... LOL

Moral of the story is DEFINATELY shop this around. I finally found a reputable company to carry me at $5,500/yr. Counting myself lucky, even at that. Still took 3 more weeks to nail that all down. Of course, this is only my insurance on my own personal side. Still have load side liability on top of that, but gives an indication of what I am dealing with.

Ah, Prime........

I am reporting back here after a bit of I hiatus. It IS supposed to be about Prime now, right?

Can't lie at all. There have been several times that I have really, really missed being back there. Hell, have several friends still running & doing extremely well there. I do miss the comraderee & family aspect in a big 'ol way. Truly miss my awsome dispatcher & my 2 rock solid road assist guys. Also, miss seeing all the shop guys I personally got to know so well at all the terminals, too. (Not that I WANTED to see them, but knew they had me covered & took me in as a priority if it came down to it). All those relationships developed made so much of a difference of how things panned out there.

Remember all. I probably know better than most, there is a hell of a lot to ##### about in this industry, no doubt about that at all. But, if you really look at it..... you STILL can have more of an effect on your own outcome, even at the megas, if you really look at it & put that extra effort into it that is needed. It's definitely not going to drop into your lap. Don't become a victim & blame everything around you. Make those connections & develop those relations. It will go so, so far for you.....

Would I do Prime all over again? Most definately a yes. Only thing I might have done differently would have been to come pre licensed, to have eliminated that year obligation. But, circumstances at time precluded that. And, in the end.... it did not matter, as I stayed over 5yrs. They may have changed this since, but would avoid that obligation if at all possible. I know in the past, I found a student a good local job at 6mos & he was only on the hook for half of that obligation.

The only gripe I have with Prime, is the fact of them creating trainers at only 3mos or so. While I think it is great that they have one of the longest training requirements before cutting someone loose on their own, I still have a huge issue with trainers at only 3mos. They are still so green at this point..... some have never seen a mountain & many have never even seen a winter. Even while at Prime, can't even tell you how many I have had to assist. Both on the road & at facilities. I always assume it's a student that I am dealing with, but most often it's actually the trainer him/herself that doesn't have any idea of what they are doing. So, exactly how are the blind supposed to lead the blind.......?

Overall Prime training, longer than most & I believe a good thing, if you have an at least half way experienced trainer. Take their long training & combine with at least a year for a trainer (preferably longer), I COULD see a recipe for both success & safety.

Peace Out

✌

 

Retired truck of last 5yrs for fresh one.

We had a really good run.

Decided it's time to really rough it out here.

✌

 

120" Sleeper & reefer