My Prime INC Experience. (A Running Log)

I am an employee officially, never a Prime student. My 'refresher' is just a Prime trainer making sure I know how to drive before solo.

Also guys, please keep the disparaging remarks and sarcasm down. This is meant to be a positive, helpful, and informative thread.

More to come.

 

I'll do the photos when I can, but after looking in one, I am going to have to make a bit of an adjustment. The 2014 models, however, according to the head of the shops around here, are quite a bit bigger. Somewhere between LW and condo, and they hit the fleet in a couple weeks.

Anyhow, riding the refresher miles, then leaving, would do you zero good, really. No company would consider that legit recent OTR experience, and you'd just have to do the same thing at whatever carrier you went to afterwards.

On top of that, Prime's training pay is higher than most other large carriers.

Now, today's classes were pretty long, but aside from the dull subject matter, the classes were pretty entertaining. The instructors, most of whom are division or office heads, are really friendly and legitimately funny folk.

Today's classes were basically QC, insurance, safety, on the road maintenance, and a couple other basic things.

It should be noted that after all I have heard today, I am even more impressed with Prime. B seats and above are eligible for the same pays and bonuses as an A seat. You get paid for minor maintenance (or other that you are certified to do yourself), for example, replacing a mudflap nets you $25, with the company paying for all necessary supplies. This gets you extra money, saves them hundreds, and gets you back on the road faster.

They also pay for clean DOT, and a few other things. The pay policy for FMs was described to us, which was designed to promote dispatch wanting to help and hating to lose drivers, and prevents forced dispatch situations, or at least lessens the feeling that they're out to use you up and discard you. They get salary, with a bonus based on your mileage, not deliveries. Also, if a driver quits, or requests a different FM due to personal or professional differences, they take a $300 hit on that week's pay.

Safety made it clear that we are the ones who decide if we can safely go, and while we cannot choose destinations, we are the captains of the ship, and safety will always take the driver's side on issues of safety or time constraints or feasibility of travel.

Also, line 5 is allowed, within reason, and within the scope of the law.