Prime, Inc. - Springfield, Mo.

You're right; running your own business is not for everyone. Prime's lease option is a business.

 

A lease driver, and to boot, a Prime lease driver and you want me to believe that you pulled 161k miles in less then 10.5 months of operation at prime driving skateboards, and it was all legal because you got inspected and they said so and you wasted no time? I've lost some brain cells in my life, but not that many.

P.S. There was another hard running prime skateboard driver that got their hood ripped off down their in Weed Ca because they parked their lease truck halfway in the driveway getting off the fuel Island? He didn't waste any time backing his trailer it seems and thought everyone was going to squeeze around him.

 

OH MY GOD WHERE ARE U PEOPLE FROM? I HAVE BEEN WITH PRIME FOR 8 MONTHS AND I HAVE NEVER MADE MORE MONEY AND I HAVE BEEN DRIVING 15 YEARS. REMEMBER IT IS YOUR TRUCK-DRIVE IT LIKE U OWN IT

 

Well then you're the exception, not the rule. I was there 6 mos. Drove it into the ground. But once Lowe got done taking all his charges and over charges, there were some weeks after 3000 mi, taking the best loads that were offered, I would come out with just enough money left over to put food on the table, and nothing else. No paying bills, no saving money back for repairs...nothing. Prime is a joke, and should be investigated by the Feds for screwing the drivers like they do.

In fact, I just was clearing out some of my old files. I came across some of my old pay stubs. Some of the better weeks at Prime were no bigger than the ones I am making as a company driver at Crete now. Kinda' sad. Plus my Prime truck, at it's best, wouldn't come close to pulling as good as my Crete company truck (and this is a typical Crete 'cookie cutter', 'drag-n-fly' fleet truck)

 

Actually talking with well over 30 current Prime drivers, you are the exception. All report netting in excess of $1,300 per week.

 

1300 and you're operating as an owner op(lease op)...and having to save for repairs and maint. That's a joke. When I was there, many times after expenses, my pay per mile was in the low .20's. And there were many like me there. I net as a company driver here between 850 and 1100, with no financial responsibility to the truck. If drivers are doing so well there, then they must have changed things. The greyhound I was on to go home had 6 prime drivers on it. 1 was a 2 time leasee, and once he got what was left of his lease completion bonus, he wasn't coming back. I was talking to a Shaffer driver that had just came over from Prime, her and her husband both were there. The both of them couldn't make enough to live on. They had lost their house, put what they could into storage, and the rest of their stuff was in the truck with them.

 

Net pay is after all expenses including saving for repairs and maintenance. Of course those who are netting this are willing to keep their foot out of the throttle and run around 60 mph and report they are acutally making money off the fuel surcharge. A couple of drivers I have spoken with lately have reported gross pay per mile averaging $1.60.

How long ago were you there?

 

1.60/mi with what Robert Lowe charges for rent on the truck (only a lease, not a lease purchase) is not enough. My truck payment plus all his extra deductions was well over $2000/mo. Plus paying $4.50/gal at todays fuel prices, it had better be above $2/mi.

I have been with Crete 4.5 yrs, and was with a little hole of a company for 2 mos. in between Prime and Crete. So just less than 5 years since I left them. But the drivers I had spoken to was last summer ('07) (husband and wife that lost their house) and they were in the same boat I was in when I was there. So not much has changed. Prime is a truck leasing company, not a trucking company. They make more money on the leases than they do on the freight charges.

I wonder if that amount they claim to net was including the amount they needed to send Uncle George (use to be uncle sam) and the infernal revenue service.

 

When I was at Maverick I was talking to one driver and he knew a lady that got into the Prime lease deal and she went 3 weeks without getting a check. I have an older brother that went to Prime and he grossed (if I'm not mistaken) $4,300 and when he got his settlement check it was for $350.00. $350.00. When he looked, they had charged him something like 0.10-0.12 mi. for overmileage. He took the truck back and dropped it off. And he wasnt the first person I had talked to that had that happen to them.