Going with Prime

# Basser.... I take it you already have your CDL?

 

I test out for my cdl on Fri. April 22. Have been in contact with my recruiter at Prime, She wanted me in SLC this next Tue. for orientation, but asked for 1 week to get a few things done around the homefront. I also been approved to go to Gordon in Pacific, WA. So anybody have experience with these two companies?

 

I assume you are planning on running 11western out of salt lake. They kept me real busy when i worked for them seven years ago, averaged 2900-3400miles a week during summer. If you are go company get ready for a lot of loads of groceries from Ogden/Clearfield into Seattle metro. I also used to make some pretty good money running the ice/snow run from Evanston, Wy into SLC when the O/O and Leased drivers refused to chain. Over all was pretty happy with the, enough that I've recently applied and been accepted to go leased. Gonna make my decision this week.

 

Mogadeth thanks for the info. I am going to SLC because I got my cdl from an outside school . Was hoping to do the western states but with a few rides eastward just to break it up some, do they do that? Also 2900 to 3400 miles during the summer is great but what did you average during the slow winter months? Are you from the Pac. NW? And if so what is your take or comparison of them with Gordon?

 

He may have run 2900-3400mi a week seven years ago. Dont expect to do that now on a electronic log. Isnt goin to happen solo week after week.

 

So what is the average miles per week now.

 

Depends on how efficient you are with your time, and whether or not your FM is good at getting you reloaded in a timely manner. If you're going to run a high average on elogs, then you can't be foolin' around much. The 11 and 14-hour clocks are hard targets now... not something you can push on a bit.

2900 - 3400 solo is probably a little high even on paper logs the last couple of years, but my company reefer side average that previous 3 years was at 2800-ish. Can't say how that would work on the flatbed side, as Dan is fond of pointing out. The minumum fuel economy requirements were put into place in the later half of '08 - that will preclude a company driver from hammerin' down as hard as is possible.

 

Cant say for Prime but pulling flats here on elogs I average 2500mi/wk with a 34hr restart on weekends. If I run the weekend without a restart I can get up to 2800-2900 but the next week suffers because I didnt get a restart.

 

Don't forget HOS will probably lower drive clock from 11 hours to 10 hours and mandate some sort of break (1/2 hour?) during your drive shift. Also new rule on restarts could have you sitting up to 50+ hours. (On my last two I would have had to sit 52 hours for one and on the other I would not have been able to complete a 2000 mile load) While the new flexibility of having 16 hours two days a week may help, I can see average miles dropping a tad if the proposal comes about unchanged.