New to Prime INC - What to expect (Springfield edition)

Hmm, odd then, as there are several places they (Prime) pick up/drop off there. Any how, check with ITS as I believe they hire out of LV
Good luck

 

How long have you been working for Prime?

Also, my net take home is $972 every two weeks (when we don't have overtime)

 

So I want to share a bit about myself to see if everyone thinks I am out of my mind. I am 43, Married 25 years and my last child is now in college. I was self employed (Real Estate Title) for almost 20 years (long story of an employee stealing ended that), 3 years military service (US Army 13F in the 101st 96-99) in the last 90's and the last 3 I have worked as a logistics supervisor for a large retailer. I make 42k per year salary and I typically by choice work 60-70 hours per week (by choice). I hate, despise what I do. I did this (and have done whatever I needed over the years) to take care of my kids and get them through school. Also the 42k is the least I made other than my military service. BTW I come from a family of elevator men, railroaders and truckers. In some degree I think I am returning to roots.

I have always loved the idea of trucking. Driving cross country is a point of relaxation for me (originally from Chicago and have made that drive a couple dozen times from Chi to Lax. This isn't about money (purely). I have some minimums I want to make sure I hit (35k). I have spent the last three years while working for this retailer continuing to read and understand more about it. I almost signed with CRST (can't explain how glad I am I didn't) in 2012. Fate had a ticket from 2010 that didn't fall off (15 over the limit). I haven't had a ticket since just for the record. Everything I read on prime (I read every comment on the various employment sites and watched youtubes etc). I have done this on each one I had interest in and Prime continues to hit the top by a strong margin above all others.

I am interested in l/o but wonder if all goes well and I am able to join prime, if I should wait a year first to establish myself with fm's etc. I have very good discipline and know what it is to be 100% responsible for myself. I would love to have input on this. When I looked at the % of bill (even on a deadhead 2nd driver run), fsc and amounts to put away for other issues, I am looking at about 45k gross to me (sans the truck payment fuel and similar) IF I run about 105k miles per year and maintain driving discipline for fuel conservation. How realistic is this?

I have 2 weeks of pay I will be owed once I terminate my current employment (giving them as much notice as I can) to cover me before I get on the road and another 500 stored up as just in case set specifically for this. Does that sound like it would cover it?

I am covered by VA insurance and have a CPAP (6' 230 just for BMI reference). I want to make sure I have enough time to get the report from my doctor (the reading of the data card) to turn into prime. From reading the boards I saw I should have a year or so of readings (have had the machine almost 2 years) from the machine. I have another medical condition (hemochromotosis aka iron overload) but I donate blood every quarter to keep it regulated. I have scoliosis but its 17 degree curve, but has never kept me from the service or similar. I didn't find any reference to either condition excluding or causing me additional issues. Do you see anything that looks like a problem in that? I go to the doctor 1x per year when the VA wants to see me.

I have a budget set up for the items I will need (locks, clothing for work, have work boots already, hardhat, gloves sleeping bag (really the list from this site). What else should I prep for?

This was longer than I expected, but I appreciate the input.

 

I would

Email this to your recruiter. No definitive can come from a board. Go through the process.

 

You should be OK as far as any tickets go according to this.

DO NOT GO Lease untill you learn the business and if you want any time off LOL. You can make about the same money running company instead of running lease, with less headaches. i.e you can take some days off without going in the hole. Only difference is you will be in a LW truck. But that is doable. There's more to trucking than worrying about fuel for a L/O, such as knowing when to turn down a load.

Figure your going to be a trainee with no pay for 1 month, granted you can draw 200 per week but you have to pay that back to Prime. After that I believe TNT pay is 700 per week (before taxes), for up to 10 weeks, but ask the guys that are in training to be sure.
darthanubis is in TNT training right now.

Pass this info to the recruiter and see what happens, doesn't look to be a problem though.

No need for a hard hat, Locks you won't need till you go solo

Hope this helps

 

Retired real estate appraiser here. Also, ran my own title abstracting business & along with doing survey work.

Your compensation expectations are reasonable, should have no prob at all exceeding your minimum requirement as a company driver.

I would HIGHLY suggest you spend at least a year on company side to learn the ins/outs of the trade before taking the leap to L/O. Can't stress enough the leg up you will have with the experience you will gain. This lack of experience & knowledge of the industry is #1 reason, among others, as to the extremely high failure rate of L/O. (Astronomically high). It gets so old giving this advice to everyone, yet seeing so many ignore and fail. 100% of the few folks I know that DID make it jumping right in have ALL stated they wish they would have listened to this advice. While running the #'s is very important, there is a hell of a lot more to it out here than only that. If that's all it took, we would have a lot less failures. Why not stack the deck in your favor, learn on someone elses dime & equipment, while taking home a stable paycheck? Rather than leaping off a cliff into something completely different than any other industry in existance?

I try to use the example of paper trading stocks or commodities to see what kind of performance you can expect from yourself before you gamble your life away. Run that company truck on paper, as if it was your own, for an extended length of time, & you can be reasonably assured you can succeed. Why take that huge of a chance with your life (and family's).

I would also suggest saving up a several thousand $$ safety cushion before even considering L/O, even more if you have outside obligations to meet. (Wife, kids, mortgage, car payments, ......etc.)

As far as those medical issues, I can't really answer that. Run it by recruiting, as darthanubis stated above. Sure they can get some clarification on that for you.

Good luck on your decisions & best out to you!

PEACE.

Ha......Highway beat me to the punch!
(By the way, I owe a lot of gratitude to him & some others for answering my questions & helping me out back in the beginning. Always sage advice there.)

 

Paper trading!

I used that exact same analogy with my trainer. Great minds. Which BTW I was thinking of using from the road. If you have we should talk about that sometime. OK, sorry for the brief hijack. Carry on.

 

10/4 on that $700/wk during TNT.

 

Yeah.........you may remember this has come up in the past with some guys from NV.

 

FMJ, Darth, Highway - all of you. Thank you. I talked to my wife about the company light driving for a year to get used to things etc. You confirmed the question before it was asked I can absolutely promise you I will give myself a year before I consider it.

I read the posts about the NV stuff, but I didn't get a clear sense, coupled with what my co-worker was told I figured I would ask a great source of in. Overall I am not as worried about the time home right away because I want to move at the pace my TNT goes without creating an expectation I will then struggle with. Deployment taught me a lot about home expectations earlier in my life.

I will adjust the funds for more time without income. That 200 a week can be as painful as a payday loan I figure (yes I overstated it for humor).

As stated, thank you and greatly appreciate everyone's input and answers.