Maybe try to sign with Prime at the end of this Month???

I understand what you guys are sayin. I appreciate it. Im not mad. Ive been reading alot. Almost everyday for the last month before i turned 21.

The daughter is only 2 right now. So it wouldnt be bad till she started school. I understand that. My step dad was a truck driver. But O/O so didnt seem that bad. He would leave for 2 weeks then come home for a day. I talked to my mom and said he turned $80k after his 2nd year doin it.

I would love to stay at tracker, Im home everyday and have friday-sunday off.

But its just im at top pay and this is all our area has to offer.

My brother in-law just signed for Maverick cause he quit his factory job.

My sister and him just bought a big house and are doin good. But hes a company driver. And noone under 12 is allowed to go. I wouldnt mind that but then my wife and 2 year old couldnt go at all if i went company driving.

Acouple i know who work at prime as company drivers make close to $1000 a week.

But i have yet to hear what a Lease Operator makes after everything is paid. And what all exactly has to be paid in L/O...

Im not tryin to be stuburn. But im just doin my research before i do anything. I dont wanna go in the hole.

(cant get rid of car, just bought it for my wife. Its only $250 a month so its not to bad)

Even $800 a week is way better than $300 a week. I can do it for acouple years. Get a house and get settle and go back to a factory.

Its just Factories and Truck Driving around here.

Sorry if i make anyone mad, just asking questions, thought thats why these sights were made.

 

On there sight it says $200 a week and then .12 pm or $600 which ever is greater. How long are you a student on the road.

And do you just show up to prime (saying after you get approved to come) and leave on a truck or are you there for training at prime. How far do you drive as a Student before you can take the test to graduate to Trainee.

I dont live far from Springfield, MO 40-50 miles max. I see Prime every weekend. So idk if that will matter or not.

Just somethin new i would like to try and get out of the Factory business.

 

I was thinking if it would be worth it to at least to Company Driver for a few months to get money saved up before i went into Lease driving.

I really wanna drive a truck and fill at just 21 starting young i can learn alot and make decent amount of money.

I know i hear all these horror stories about leasing but with my daughter bein 2 i want them to go every so often since she wont be starting school for awhile.

And she wont be able to if i drive company. Ive read reviews on alot of places and Prime seems the best. My brother was a Trailer Mechanic there for 3 years and never treated him wrong till he decided to start showing up late so they fired him. (not primes fault, it was his).

Just asking some more questions. Sorry.

Thanks, Ryan

 

Ask away Dude, it's still America !!!!!

Don't need to apologize for squat !!!!

Good Luck !!!!

 

Nobodys mad were just trying to tell you the truth unlike the companies website. Let me ask you this have you ever been away from your wife and child for over a week? How about a month? cause it will happen.

I love driving trucks and everything about them. But when I gotta ride in that passeneger seat with no air ride on it I'll tell you what after about ten miles I want out of there. Its not fun having your kness against the dash and spilling your coffe on every bump.

You said your Dad made $80 thousand his 2nd year. I belive it 100%. But you also said you had to ask your mother so I am going to assume this was a long time ago. Yes a long time ago trucking paid very well compared to today. My good friends Dad was an o/o. He ran skate board and he drove for days straight and made all kinds of money. My friend seen has Dad once a month for most of his life. Befor he retired He died. They all said he drove himself to death. I guess moral of the story is if you want to spend time with your family dont truck. You may not wake up tommrow.

Alot of people that have just joined a company do great their first year. Why because your a walking billboard your gonna tell everyone you know how wonderful it is working for ______. Than its all down hill from there untill your broker than you started off as.
That $800 a week isnt a garenteed thing either. Look some more around here I know theres other posts were l/o's are starving to death.


Never belive the companys website. New guys get paid the least thats why they are always hiring. Once its time for your big raise your out the door, why pay you more when Joe Blow just put a application in? Go down to the local truckstop and talk to some drivers and get some real answers.

I know times are hard everywhere and I realize your hard up for a better job but Id look elsewhere.

Thats all my advice. Take it or leave it. Im just telling you what I would want someone to tell me if I was in your situation. Hopefully your not as thick headed as me and you belive them. Anyways no matter what you choose good luck.

 

Don't listen to these guys. You can make really good money (for living in the Ozarks) leasing at Prime. I live in Ozark, and I am making 3 times what I could make at any job around there. You have to be ready to stay away from home 4 to 5 weeks at a time and run hard. The loads are there, you just have to be willing to run them.

If you feel like you want to go for it, then go for it. Give it 100%, and you will do fine. You'll definitely make alot more money than you would at the Tracker Boats place.

 

By the way, I consider myself a new guy (been out 7 months now), and I am making great money... and have been from the beginning.

 

Here you go Mustang... I'll try to give you some real answers rather than barcoded BS.

You're going to spend at least a week in Springfield for orientation - and each time you go back for upgrade classes. Training is done by the number of miles you accumulate - which is a reasonable measure of experience in this industry. Its 10,000 miles for instruction to get your CDL, and you aren't an employee nor do you get a paycheck until you receive your CDL. From the git go, I'd say you're looking at three weeks to a month to get this far.

Then you're into training for another 50,000 to 70,000 miles (depending on when you decide to split off and go solo or not) before you're an A-seat - which means you're a trained driver. You're looking at three to four months for this depending on how the miles rack up. You're also getting training pay during this period... after the first month or so (once you become a B-seat) it's $600 per week or 12 cents per mile for all miles driven, whichever is greater, before taxes. You must be available for dispatch to be paid... so you don't get a paycheck if you're sitting at home.

It's not that hard to make the minumum requirement. But before you start getting lease-op $$$-signs in your eyes, understand this. We get paid a percentage of the linehaul fee plus other accessorial payments - it's not "cents per mile." You're running a business, and the biggest controllable expense you have is fuel. That's the bottom line. It will make you or break you. If you can't drive a truck economically enough to make the company minumum fuel mileage, you won't make money as a lease-op.

That would be very hard to do. Management wants you out 3 weeks between home visits, and you accrue 1 home day a week as a company driver. Lease ops can spend as much time as they like at home. However, on both sides it depends on your bank account. As a company driver if you spend the maximum 4-days you can take at once at home, you've essentially tanked a paycheck. On the lease side, the truck payments continue whether you're driving or not. Either you have the money in the bank, or you're in the hole. Get in the hole deep enough, and they'll cut you loose.

OTOH, being from the area near Springfield, it does give you the opportunity to meet your family at the yard on loads dispatched in and out of there - while remaining available for dispatch. Not the same as "home time," but still...

As a father you need to do what you need to do for your family. If you go OTR, you're going to miss a lot of your children growing up. That can't ever be replaced, so think this through. Also it's real easy to jump from the company side to leasing. Not so easy to go the other way. If you decide this OTR stuff is not for you, its easy to quit as a company driver - not so easy if you're financially tied into it via a truck lease.

That's ok... this is a huge change for anyone. OTR is not so much a job as a completely different lifestyle. Your wife must be on board with you and understand this difference for it to work.

Its a little less at first, but as a company driver you can make $800 per week on the average. It depends on the miles. Either as a company or lease op you must sock away as much as you can to cover the slack times - and trucking isn't always on full blast. There are periods when you won't make that much either way.

I'd say no. You can make more as a lease op if you know what you're doing. Its also possible to loose your #####. I'd really suggest you spend a minumum of a year as a company driver figuring this business out before you commit your financial future to leasing a truck.

They relieve you from paying the first weeks' rent, and back load it on the end of the lease. Still, that's not the way to start out. You really need to put a month or three of expenses in the bank BEFORE you start leasing just to cover yourself... and keep it there. Also, as a lease op, you're responsible for taking taxes out of your settlement checks... so you can't view them as a "paycheck." That will get you in some deep money trouble.

Sure... call recruiting - and ask plenty of questions here. You'll get to know which ones of us are actually driving for Prime, and the BSer's. If you call Prime, I suggest you park on hold rather than leaving a voicemail... they're slammed, and it may take sometime before they return your call via voicemail.

There's a thread in the new drivers area with questions you might want to ask the recruiters... I suggest you look at it. Then, go through a lot of the posts in this section, and see what you think. I like Prime - so do a lot of the other guys who drive for us. OTOH, there are plenty of folks who have a bad opinion of the company as well - it depends on what your expectations are. You can make a good living here, you can also loose your ##### if you go jump into the deep end before you know how to swim.

Recruiting: 800.224.4585

Good luck!

 

Great post! Thanks I haven't decided which way to yet local community college or Prime. Starting to lean more towards Prime. So much to take in. Alot good advice and bad advice on every forum. Prime really seems the way to go. the recruter said they pair you with a trainer near your address is this correct?

 

I've heard they try to get you a trainer that lives near you. Then dwindle it down with smoker vs. non-smoker, etc...

OTOH, how can you be a Steelers fan in MD? GO RAVENS!!!!!