My NEW driver training at Prime!

Start by reading this...

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...27-new-prime-inc-what-expect-springfield.html

You get pretty much the same orientation as the PSD students, without the permit kerfuffle. If you get through the background, physical and drug tests, you'll be out with a TnT trainer by Friday, and on the road. 40,000 miles - you don't get the 10k credit the PSDer's do. The first 4 weeks you're at $500 per week as a C-seat, bumped to B-seat after the first month and $600 per week.

 

I want to read the Greyhound bus story ######!

 

Is all training in backing and shifting and everything else required to drive successfully done on the road with an instructor?

Is it a crapshoot as to the quality of instructor at Prime like it seems to be at most other companies I've read about?

 

Oh, and good luck familyman. I hope it all works out for you.

 

Day 3


Pretty much todaywas all about taking the Studying the CDL permit test (Combination, General and Air Brakes), taking the CDL permit test and catching up on Virtual training modules. This is all we did today!

 

The trainers I see hanging around are all great people. They tell you what to expect and just relax while you are here. They reassure you everything will come to you. Alot of the people I have met that work for Prime some of their trainers are walking around and all of them have good things to say. Quite a few of these guys also have been here for 8-10 years. From other companies I hear people who just graduate become trainers which sometimes it's the blind leading the blind. But to sum it up, you get a trainer here you are gonna get someone who will teach you the company way from the get go. These guys have alot of PRIDE and high morale around here.....which is good..... even when they complain about it being slow.... they emphasize that Prime treats you right!

 

Familyman2013, I just wanted to say thanks for taking the time to share your experience... for ppl like myself that are "searching"... posts of personal experience such as yours is very helpful...

I have narrowed my search down to two companies (from a couple dozen that I started with a couple months ago) and Prime has been pushed into first place, thanks to folks like yourself, and several of the others I've found in here (that already work at Prime) helps a great deal in making a decision.

I hope to be heading to training in June.

Keep it safe!

God bless.

 

Familyman,
There is no doubt in my mind that once you finish the training an hit the road you will make a good driver.. After 23 years OTR and many years before that here on the farm it is easy to see who has common sense and who has the drive to succeed..
I think that you have found your fit with Prime.. You will do great the truck is bigger than the car you drove at home that is obvious, but if you listen, watch and learn you will do just fine... Common sense is a huge part of this job, never forget this for as long as you drive.. Any Monkey can hold a steering wheel (there are over 3 million of them on the road today) a real driver can not only go straight, but he develops the ability to adapt to any situation.... A driver can back, never gets in a hurry and puts himself/herself in a situation that will compromise their safety.. They are always looking and watching the traffic around them to further prevent an accident.. and even after doing thousands of pre trip inspections he/she will continue to do it every time they get ready to roll. A driver gets adequate rest, and they plan their trip to be on time.. You will see tons of drivers with bad habits, headphones on, texting while driving, talking on a cell phone and not on a hands free, hell they will cut you off short to make a stop light ahead of you.. Being a good driver you watch for the morons and don't become one...
Relax and absorb all they are teaching you use your own judgement and ask questions if you are unsure there is no reason not to ask, at this point not asking would be a mistake..
Stay focused and one day soon we will see you out on the bigroad..


PS the big Grey DOG is a nightmare nothing you do will ever wash that from your mind..

 

O.K. here it goes!

My bus left Riverside to arrive at the Phoenix terminal.....
An hour and a half into my bus ride we catch a flat..... it took two and a half hours to get someone out there to change it.....
We arrive at Phoenix 3 hours late. The next bus does not leave out until 7 hours later.... so guess where we had to wait for 7 hours?
We finally board out bus the next day (1:45a.m.) which by the way was 30 min late....... 3 hours in to the ride a rockslide happens and damages the front of the bus.....
The bus driver calls it in...they tell him to continue to drive to Albuquerque NM and they will switch out the bus.... keep in mind the internet not working on the bus......
We get to Albuquerque and as we are getting off of the bus he lets us know that Greyhound was not sending another bus. They were going to fix the bus we were on. He told everyone.... "This bus will leave in 2 hours from now" I told him the new schedule we got from Phoenix said we had a 1 hour layover. He reassured EVERYONE 2 hours. He also recommended for us to go downtown and get something to eat because the price inside were sky high..... Me and another passenger made it downtown and grabbed a bite at this burger joint.... I told the guy I was was with... hey I dont feel comfortable about going back after an hour... we should get this order to go and head back..... we did.... ate our burgers in the terminal awaiting for the next hour to pass..... GUESS WHAT?!?!?!? They called for boarding of our bus after the hour passed..... Seriously? I thought it was 2 hours? No sir....we are boarding now..... Well we tell the new bus driver .. and he was nice enough to wait another 30 min... just in case someone was late....but no one came... so we dont know if we left anyone behind......
Trip was O.K until Amarillo....... we changed drivers here...... There was this girl on the bus who had a 6 mos year old and a 2 year old...pretty well behaved all trip... she actually was on the bus BEFORE I caught it in Riverside.....well this driver in Amarillo told her she could not board the bus because she didnt have the proper restraints..... Wait ...what?!?!? This girl been on the bus 2 days already and this guy did not want her to board the bus..... after 20 mins of THE ENTIRE BUS raising hell and people calling ANY MANAGER at terminal stations she was allowed on the bus....this took an hour.....
We think we are finally getting ready to take off...... (you thought that was the end of the story.....NOOOOOOO....) this guy sits in the open seat behind the bus driver... the bus driver stops the bus ... tells the guy "YOU are not sitting behind me" get up and go to the back.... The guys tells him I want to sit in the open seat I dont want to sit next to anyone if I dont have to....... the bus driver tells him again...."get dont sit behind me" so the guy grabs his stuff and sits in the seats directly across from where he was...... the whole time the bus driver has this evil look in his eyes....EVIL..... and he tells the man... "Dont you turn on your phone while you are up here or I am gonna kick you off"..... the guy tells him.....hey sir my phone is not even on, it is not even charged up. Then the bus driver orders this man to get off of the bus...... Of course the guy is standing there like What the hell did I do.... I am not getting off of the bus! They continue to go back and forth for about 10 mins until the bus driver gets off of the bus and calls security..... this man was almost in tears telling us he is sorry but he cant get off the bus because he is on his way to work...... Security comes and orders him off the bus....guy not leaving so most of us telling the security officer that this bus driver is "tripping". The security officer said hey if the driver wants this guy off I have to take him off......so the guy gets off talks to security and then is allowed on the bus.....but he sat all the way in the back this time. The driver then gets on the bus and lets us know "I gonna stop in the next couple of cities, you not on my bus when I close the door I am not opening it and you better find a hotel." (I have video, I will upload soon!) We are finally on the road after a 50 min delay! We then get to the next stop, get off and we hurry to the counter and keep this guy in the corner of our eye. As I am checking out the counter lady asked me "you guys having trouble with that driver tonite huh?" I'm like ya! I asked her "with you asking me what you just did, I take it this driver is a problem"....... her and the other lady behind the counter just laughed!................................................................... WOW!!!!

Oh you think the story of this trip is DONE!!!!! LMBO sorry.......

We get to Oklahoma City.......layover was supposed to be 1 hour but being that the driver left 50 min late from Amarillo 10 mins was supposed to be our layover. We arrived in OKC and a 10 min layover turned into a 2 hour layover because the bus was late........... lol

The last driver was finally a decent driver, kept us informed and got us to Springfield!


Every terminal we stopped at with the exception of the terminal here in Springfield MO, Gallup and Albuqurque NM was atrocious! The place were they served food even smelled like human feces...... In more than 1 terminal! Dont take my word for it..... if you ever travel that route you will see for yourself! This whole line running from Cali to here was just bad business. Employees run around like they are just the bottom of the barrel.

No wonder companies like MegaBus and other guys are taking their business!



So there you go.....

When I upload the video of the driver I will post here.

 

Good luck FamilyMan