My First year with Prime

no book.

Electronic log... so Im going off duty for 2, 3, 4 or however long I take to "leak"... thats 2, 3, 4 or however more minutes I can use elsewhere to drive or on duty.

Elog is going to mark your stop automatically the moment you turn off the truck by automatically put you On Duty (and it notes the location)... but if your not doing anything considered "On Duty" it takes 2 sec to manually switch that On Duty to Off Duty.

 

I will agree with that statement. If you get behind, there isn't a 15-minute cushion you can pull out by doing a little convenient rounding-off magic. Makes it more important to be aware of how you stand concerning available drive time, time-to-destination, possible delays, etc. OTOH, timely communication with your FM when delays occur can help get you out of trouble, or a dog of a load repowered, so you can move on to something else.

Well, no, you don't HAVE to. No one is attaching a high-voltage lead to your tender parts, and zapping you if you don't. OTOH, it's not all that hard to adjust your driving technique to gain a pile of mileage. I started out with a 65-mph company truck, and that's what I turned in a few weeks ago.

Nothin' like leaving money on the table.

There are times when speed is useful. I always called ahead to receivers just to see what the scoop was on delivery times. Some places you can show early (very early) and get unloaded early - drop n' hooks are great! However, there are a tremendous number of places we deliver at that will not do squat about helping you out. There's absolutely no sense in hammering down just to sit around... that's stupid.

Lessee... 1.5 cpm week-in, and week-out for a 125,000-mile-year is...

$1875.00

That looks to be a really nice extra paycheck.

True, but if the only other thing you'd be doing is grazing at the buffet... slowing down and getting a little fuel bonus money isn't a bad way of spending your time.

Its 6.75 mpg, and they do make some allowance for crappy weather, cold temperatures, winter-blend fuel during the winter months. Heck, I had some absolutely horrid weeks.

OTOH, the guys in the lightweight trucks are getting the shaft concerning lack of APUs, and idle time. That cuts into your mileage pretty deeply, so either they have to really toe the fuel conservation line, or put up with less air-conditioned comfort than others during the summer. Wish the powers-what-be would hurry up and resolve this!

OTOH, going slow means more air-condition time - and a fuel bonus. Truck stops are air-conditioned.

Depending on the company, somewhere above $3/gal for diesel fuel is a point where fuel costs outweigh personnel costs. That's what got the fuel kick going, and (for example) do you know how Swift got their name? Not by running at 62! But all the big companies are signing on to this as a survival measure in times of high fuel prices.

Yup, the company guys must toe the line, have a truck with a maintenance issue, or get some more training. There's a lot to fuel economy that just isn't taught by anyone, that you get from experience.

Ah yeah... lease ops don't HAVE to do much of anything, except run their butts off in order to make the payments. It's a different world... you don't run more miles to make it on the lease side... it's getting more dead presidents past the bottom line. The fewer miles you run for more revenue, the better off you are - and (just like the companies) the more efficient you run your truck, the more "Ben Franklin's" you put in your pocket. One of the very successful lease-ops I've met told me one time that if you can't get 7mpg week-over-week, you're not going to make it.

So yeah, you can hammer-down when you need to, but fuel economy is $$$ on the lease side.

You can run plenty illegal - you can't cover your tracks though.

There are advantages to both the company and the driver. One of the biggest batch of problems that Prime has with CSA2010 is logbook violations. That entire batch of problems goes away with elogs.

On the drivers side, if you are logging legally, you will get more time - no rounding up to the nearest minute, and it forces better planning.

But... the real advantage is in feedback to management. By knowing what your HOS status is to the exactitude that elogs provides, they say that they are much better able to match you with loads.

On the strength of my last week on elogs I'd say that's the case. I was getting matched to loads much more quickly than the case with the comic books.

Depends on the truck. I was doing a ton of stuff to get my Century up to 7.3 average, and the lower rolling-resistance tires I was using this last half year along with better trailers was trending me more to 7.5 mpg. But to get it THAT high, I was going slower. My real trick wasn't to get fixated on speed, but to keep my turbo boost pressure below 10 psi as much as possible - and take whatever speed the road would give me - with obvious bottom-end limits. That works as long as you have the time to indulge in lower speeds. Of course, I did go like a bat outta hell downhill!

There are drivers who didn't appreciate all the "greenness" my truck was generating! LOL!

Ch19: "Hey Prime! Something wrong with your truck?"

Me: "Nah... they just cut us back to 52!"

Ch19: "####! Didn't know it got that bad!"

It's certainly less stressful... and you do spend more time checking the rearview to make sure there isn't a high-speed problem approaching!

 

Unless they have corrected the paperwork, you will be asked to cross out the 6.5 mpg requirement on the agreement you sign with Prime and write in 6.75. Thats was the new minimum when I was there last October. I've heard it could be going to 7. Company drivers only. My take? Its an easy way for them to terminate you should the need arise for whatever reason. I've been above the so called minimum exactly 2 times, thats it. The bonus is $0.01 per mile. $30.00 per week if you run 3000 miles. Which like I said in an earlier post isn't worth it to me. I'd rather get everything I possibly can out of each hour I work and translate that into extra miles at the going rate.

I think its safe to say that at some point your fuel mileage could be at a level that is low enough to cause a problem, but I haven't heard one word from anyone and my average since I went out on my own is 6.42 for all miles driven.

As for running illegal on E-logs. Its pretty simple. If you run out of hours, just keep going. When you take the log class be sure to ask them the question, what happens when you do this. You might be surprised at the answer.

 

Hopefully from the granny lane....

 

I look at it this way... I control my MPG as best as I can and get paid for it... I can also control my hours as best as I can based on the load and appointments..... Fuel Economy is one more feather in my cap along with being on time, accident free, no citations, no driver caused claims, and generally not being a pain in my Fleet Managers butt. Basically covering all the major excuses they can use to fire you.

You are imagining loads that may or may not be there. You dont know, and no one is going to tell you that you missed out on a load because you couldnt go 240 more miles.

They are going to match you with the best available freight in your area that works best with your clock... If you are the only one in the area, you dont have the hours to complete it, and they are desperate to get it moving, they will have you pick it up and get rolling with it until someone can repower it.

By using your 240 extra miles example:

You may get a load utilizing those 240 miles or...

You could end up with a load that weekend that is 300 miles shorter than what you could do... putting you at a loss of 60 miles.

I should just say that you should cross your fingers everytime you pass through a terminal or get serviced at a company shop... you just might find your self maxing out at 58 mph when you get back out on the interstate.

They periodically hook the computer up to the truck to download data... this is the point at which they MAY or MAY NOT turn your truck down... It first depends on whether the powers that be make a notation about turning down your truck in the computer. Second, depends on whether the tech actually notices the note.

And yes the fuel bonus is a sliding scale... if I remember correctly it goes up $0.002 for every .01 MPG improvement over 6.75... up to $.04/mile on trips scanned in within 72 hours of unload.

You are fairly new... I can tell as the .33 pay bracket is fairly new... in the past drivers went from .30 to .34 at the 80k milage mark.

I would be interested to know what your pay raise sheet looks like.
I started in 2008 so mine is as follows. all miles include dispatched training miles.

.30 under 80k
.34 at 80k
.35 at 120k
.355 at 180k
.36 at 250k
.37 at 320k and so on...

BTW in case you didnt know, your vacation counter starts from 0 dispatched miles the day you upgraded to A seat (training miles dont count)

 

It's really a give and take situation. If I can run faster, I will, but not to the point it affects my fuel mileage. With the wind, coming out of the High Plains, running through rolling hills go ahead and kick it up a notch. But into a strong wind you're killing your mileage by trying to fight it. Remember too, slowing down is only one way to boost your MPG. A lot more goes into it than just that.

I've gone 16 straight weeks over 2 cpm on the fuel bonus, the highest being a 2.8 during a 3200 mile week. That was $90. I'd say the average is about $65 a week. I always unload early when possible and try to run at the most efficient speed as conditions and time on the load will allow. So the way I look at is I drive less miles per week, at a safer speed, for about the same paycheck as someone using the "hammer down" method.

 

I have not run into the slow moving Prime Trucks. Everyone passes me on a regular basis. If I go 59 I get passed, when I go 55 I get passed.
I do not mind at all...as you said it is less stressful!

 

Hi all you guys! I've been reading some of the older post from a couple weeks ago about Prime. I am so glad to hear you speak good of them. I also have put application in with Prime for team drivers for my husband and I. He has about 20 yrs under his belt and I only have 5 yrs. Whats the deal with the test they put you through at Prime? I was reading something about body weight mass that it couldn't be above 37? Not that I or Jimmy is fat but its surprises me. Never had to do that test before.
Anyway, Sounds like it takes a long time to get invited to a terminal. Hope not I need to get back out there. I had to come in off the road to tend to my elderly mother's issues in April. I didn't want to go back to old company because they are becoming a sh#! hole to work for. If you know what I mean.
you all sound as though you do pretty well there.
We were also thinking of becoming leased operators. Do they have a class there to teach the drivers about the business aspect of it all or are we on our own?
Your post from Ironpony,TruckerMike and others have been really helpful in easing my mind on our decission with Prime.
Thank You all so much. Hope to meet you all someday!

 

5 weeks out every trip is 2 long for me