Prime Inc driver thread

Well, like I said, I don't think the other opportunities are really advertised in any way. No one ever mentioned anything like that to me throughout the training process and I had no idea about the other options. However, when talking to my Fleet Manager one day, he offered me several options.

Perhaps it was because I asked him about the difference in pay between Prime and Shaffer. Shaffer offered to start me out at 41 cpm, paper logs, and the best part, you actually get paid for the miles you drive. None of the short route crap, or whatever its called, that Prime uses. Thats when the offers of other options that were available came into play.

Its a substantial amount of more money to make the switch to Shaffer. In the end I decided to stay at Prime. For now anyway. The grass isn't always greener on the other side, and I'm sure there would be things at Shaffer that I wouldn't like nearly as much as I do at Prime. But it is a big difference in pay.

I've seen a lot of pay increases being advertised at several other companies as well as many of them going to practical miles, so maybe Prime gets with the program one of these days and ups the pay a bit to keep pace with some of the other guys. Thats my hope anyway, because I would rather not make any switches.

 

Thanks Rusty. I will definitely keep that in mind when its time to explore other options with Prime. I am leaning heavily towards Prime but I have to fight a ticket that's 15 miles over or I will be disqualified and have to go with someone else. If I can get the ticket taken care of, I hope to be starting class by mid-June or first of July. By the way, what's the difference between practical miles and short route? Why wouldn't a company pay you for what you actually drive and how can they do that?

 

HHG (short) miles are zip code to zip code - and represent a way to rate a trip. It's also an industry-wide standard. It usually turns out to be -10% to +5% of the actual miles. Practical miles are measured in various ways from mapping programs to hubometers. Its only an issue if you're being paid by the mile. On a 500 mile trip at say 35 cpm the difference can be up to $17.50. IMO, that's not something to get too ruffled about.

OTOH, Prime is rather lax about how you route yourself on the short mile system. I never had a problem suggesting a route change to my company-side FM and getting it approved. Nor do they raise a fuss if you run 10 miles out of route to go to a Walmart for a grub run. Companies who pay practical miles quite frequently get bent out of shape if you go more than 1/2 mile off of your route, and I've heard drivers say they've been threatened with termination because of something like that.

Take your pick.

 

Ok. I see each has its advantages and disadvantages. Thanks IronPony. How may terminals does Prime have? (Open question to anyone). Are their maintenance/repair facilities good with repair turnaround times?

 

Terminals:
Springfield, MO
Salt Lake City, UT
Duke, OK
Pittston, PA
Denver, CO (if you want to call a triple wide trailer on a drop lot a terminal)

The first 4 have shops at them. It can be rather hard to get an appointment at the Springfield yard, when I was there last week, they were booked 5 days in advance. The other shops are easier to get into, and are usually pretty quick to get you going again.

I should probably mention that I've never been to the Duke, OK terminal. Never even been in Duke, OK. So I can't really speak to that yard or shop.

 

Thanks Sazook. No terminals at all in the East? Do they run much freight this way?

 

Pittston, PA is in the Wilkes Barre / Scranton area. As far as freight in the east, we have a ton. When I'm solo it's rare that I go west of Chicago.

 

Ok I've been near that area I believe. Up in the mountains (near Poconos)? I should have said Southeast. Is there a lot of NYC and Long Island?

 

We have a decent amount in the SE. I imagine we do a good deal of tanker freight in the SE given that Prime owns a tank wash in Savannah, GA. As far as NYC, I haven't had a delivery in NYC or LI in almost 3 years, I have driven thru NYC on the Cross-Bronx sometime 3-4 times a week when solo.

 

Didn't know they had a tank wash in Savannah. I have been trying to decide which division to go with and tankers sounds like a good option with that info...