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

Check with your state DMV... most (if not all) states require that you take a DOT physical before you are allowed to take the permit test. It's a small investment in furthering a new career. In any case you will take another physical once you arrive at Prime- that's Prime's way of protecting themselves against the fly-by-night medical card scams that still exist, and ensuring that they are not endangering YOUR health by putting you into a seat in one of their trucks.

 

Ok I appreciate it. The lady from the dmv didnt do a good job explaining things and I didn't wanna get up there and not have everything.

 

Nope you have to get medical card at prime it wnt transfer

 

just got the good news today. i go to prime to start working January 21st

 

Congrats pork chop, plz keep us posted. I have been looking at Prime for a while.

 

First post here. (Have been been reading since summer summer though) I am approaching 40k miles (in tnt) and my dispatcher doesnt want me to upgrade yet for lack of snow driving experience. for some reason I have been driving either before or well after it snows. (Just snow in the ditch not on the road) But team driving is wearing me out and all I can think about is my own truck

All 3 of my trainers think/thought I am/was ready for my own truck. What can I say to my dispatcher to persuade him im ready.

On a side note, has any tnt drivers had a trainer named brian from florida that drives a blue peterbilt.

 

I know the feeling about "being ready." When I went through TnT you had to have 60,000 miles, so it's a bit different, as is driving in really hazardous weather. Prime has a lot of accidents- serious ones- that occur in the winter because of the lack of experience that new drivers have in it. Your FM is right... you really should have that first experience driving in winter with a trainer if you can get it. It might save your career... and your life.

 

I agree...Im doing TnT to. I guess its juat the feeling of you want your own truck. But its not worth your life

 

True... When I started driving back in '95, it was at Schneider, and I went through their " advanced" class since I already had my cdl which I earned through a 10 week driving school in buffalo, ny prior to going there. The class basically was just a bit of what I previously learned at cdl school, and a 1 day class on the skid pad. I had no experience driving a semi truck on the snow before they turned me loose solo in a truck, and my first major storm was the blizzard of 96, and that still remains one of the most terrifying experiences of my life. Your FM is right.. Best to learn the right way to handle those conditions in training, it could save your *** long after you complete training.

 

After doing a lot of reading here and on other forums about the trucking industry, I begin to feel like I am suffering from analysis paralysis! I want to give driving a shot as a late-in-life, already retired, career and, of course, the information that is available on driving and companies is endless! I have no experience and no CDL so I am starting at the very bottom. Prime has continued to surface as a likely possibility as a starting place. Am I better served to look at other companies like Ozark, PTL, Royal, Freymiller and others who will accept a recent grad? No doubt, the schooling at Prime is probably top notch, but the negative things I see about what happens after going solo are disturbing. Is Prime really THAT much worse than any other company when it comes to dispatch, miles, driver satisfaction, home time, etc? BTW, I am not a youngster and know and appreciate that anything worth having is worth working for but, there are multiple paths to have what we want, right? I would appreciate suggestions, comments, advice from those who have walked this path before.