Prime - Only newbies sing the praises

Like a race horse right out of the gate or a vicious pitbull. come monday there is ironpony posting up a storm. I guess the weekend was not good enough for you. Maybe because its all done on company time!

Give it a rest man. you're the known prime stooge. People with real jobs dont have time to post so much cr*p.

 

I believe y'all are the ones posting the cr*p. What I do on my 10-hour DOT mandated breaks is my business. I have a real job. Driving an 18-wheeler. I make no pretenses about the fact that I like what I'm doing. If Prime was mistreating me in any way, I'd be gone.

- I don't have to fight for reimbursements.
- My trip reports don't get lost.
- My FM and I get along well - he keeps me running, and I get the loads done on time.
- The per-mile rate I'm paid is what many drivers won't see until they've been there for years - if they manage to stay that long.

Frankly, if you guys leased at Prime and didn't manage to make it work, I'd say its more your fault than Primes. No one ever said that leasing would be instant riches. And, in this economic environment, it doesn't make sense. That's why I've remained company, and why I tell everyone thinking about that it's not the right time to even try it.

I've talked to drivers who work for Swift and Werner (of all places) who like what they're doing, and who they're doing it for. Like every form of employment, you're going to find those who make it work and those who can't manage to walk to the coffee pot without spilling it on themselves and blame the company. I guess y'all are the latter, yes?

 

I tried to post it earlier but I don't think this website allows it. I'll try again but you might have to google it. Type in primedrivers.net
www.primedrivers.net

 

And that's... what? .32? .36?

I wonder why,

I'll bet it has nothing to do with the fact that rates are low, and more to do with the fact that prime charges out the A#$ for garbage trucks, and then nickle and dimes you to death after that's over with. I know lots of guys buying brand new Peterbilts and getting along just fine, they aren't going to get rich by any means, but they're surviving.

Not necessarily a stab at you personally, but i think we're all underpaid. It's sad when someone brags about how much per mile they make at Prime.

 

I was referring to Swift and Werner for example. Werner has been promising newbs 26 cpm, and when they get done with training having them split 26 cpm on a team truck. Yikes! That is slave wages.

I make good money... 'nuff said. I'm not bragging, just stating the fact. Y'all want to imply that Prime screws their drivers - I don't agree, and as a support for that statement, I will say that I'm paid a lot better than many of the companies who compete with us pay their drivers.

The trucks they lease are new, although you can cut the rate with one that is near to being turned back into the manufacturer. It's like any deal with a used truck - if you do the inspections you can end up with a good vehicle. If you do the inspections before signing. All of you act like you're the newbs around here. Not reading the contracts you sign. Automatically assuming that if a truck is not new its junk - there are as many new trucks that are junk, and you don't have any track record to look back on. And no... its the freight rates. I've done the due dillegence, I know what the fixed costs costs are...

The truck I'm in now had 160k on it when I moved into it. Well maintained, clean, didn't reek of cigarette smoke. I have 360k on it now, and it runs strong - I take care of it. Get the PMs when they're due. Routine maintenance on the road is up to the driver, so if you get a truck that is junked out - it's not Prime, it's the driver who didn't take care of it.

Leasing is a business deal. If you walk into it without doing the homework, and then find that you f-ed up - you don't get to blame the company. You get to blame yourself. Freight rates are depressed across the industry right now, and if you don't know this you're blind. You deserve what you get. What Prime was able to pay last year was doable for one of their leases - its not this year, and its not because Prime is scalping the leasees. They get these trucks at the agreed contract rate they have with the manufacturer... and they can't just give them away. Thats a fact of business life. If you can't make the numbers work before you sign you shouldn't sign a lease. And if you haven't researched the same extensively, it's the same as walking into a gunfight with a peashooter - you deserve what you get. And that's why I drive company for them.

And I get quite a bit more than what you quoted.

 

I heard that Prime lease ops never end up fully owning the trucks, is that true? Also, if you refuse to sign the contract to pay for refer fuel, will you still be able to get a job? Seems to me that making ME pay for fuel on YOUR trailer is STEALING. Just like it would be if I were using YOUR refer fuel to fuel MY truck. Yes, you should alway read the fine print before you sign your life away.

Nobody is out to get YOU rich. They'll feed you the line of propaganda hoping you'll swallow what they give you and then make a buck at YOUR stupid expense.

 

Two kinds of leases... first is the same as renting a car. You are leasing a piece of equipment for a fixed term in order to make money as part of a business deal. It's quite common in many industries - for example when I was in disk drive manufacturing, we leased a lot of very high-priced test equipment through HP or GE, rather than buy it. It was more common there to have options to purchase after a fixed period... and sometimes we would if it made sense.

The second kind of lease is a lease-purchase on a tractor, that is set that way at signing, and yeah... it does work that way with all the costs stated up front. No balloon payments. Saw at least one analysis by a fella who is doing that on a new Cascadia, and its not that much more than buying a new one outright.

Reefer fuel: As a company driver, all of my costs for operating the truck are absorbed by Prime... reefer fuel, tractor fuel, scale tickets, tolls, etc. You are required to pick up the tab on some ancilliary equipment... locks, load locks, a minimum chain set. There is a reason behind this... that's the kind of stuff that many drivers can't keep track of - you foot the bill, and you're more liable to remember to pull your locks off of a trailer.

As a lease op, part of the lease is you pay for reefer fuel... tractor fuel as well. Its part of the deal - they pay you to haul the freight, and you pay your costs to do that. They provide you with the equipment to do it. Like I stated earlier... if ya don't read the fine print, plan on bending over. And I really don't recommend leasing from anyone right now - at least until the economy recovers.

 

As far as i'm concerned, even at .42cpm or whatever it is you make that you consider 'good money' we're still underpaid in general. What other occupation requires staying away from your family for weeks on end, sleeping in a truck and generally working as hard as a driver does? Not very many. The ones that do exist are paid well for their time, drivers haven't received a raise in years. Alot of the problem are the larger companies like swift, werner, jb, because they are so big they set the "standard" for what other companies (like Prime) will pay their driver, although Prime may have chosen to pay slightly above what these other companies are paying between .32-36CPM is about the norm, i've even seen flat-bed companies (Paul transportation) that pay .30CPM.. That's robbery. And this is part of the reason freight rates are low.

I don't need a lesson on how leasing and contracts work, i've been around the block a time or two and am willing to bet that I have already forgotten more about trucking than you will ever know. 3,000 per month for a truck (new or not) with the standard interior, cloth seats, a Detroit engine and a 10 speed is entirely too much. You can buy a brand new peterbilt directly off the lot for less than that, with all the amenities and a TRUE O/O Spec fridge, apu, etc. I have a friend who recently did the fleece with prime and talks about how great it is.. I can't believe he's happy to be paying what he's paying for the truck that he is driving, it's the ugliest dumpiest pos I've ever seen and there is no way in the world i'd pay that amount of money for it. On top of that, they charge you weekly for the APU. Does that 740 a week cover insurance? Plates? Etc?

Again, i know how contracts work, however newbies will sign this contract with the mentality of "If it diddn't work out, it wouldn't be on here", and like a previous poster said if you refuse the sign the contract you are also refusing work, just because something is in the contract and someone is nieve enough to sign it shouldn't absolve the company of any wrong-doing, if it's unethical (and it is) then they shouldn't be doing it, contract or not, this information has been on these boards for as long as i've been here and people are still flocking to them, i can't believe the lack of research, and i do agree that if you don't read the contract it's your ##### but that doesn't mean it's "ok" to set someone up for failure just to make some extra cash for yourself.

It's funny, you say that they are honest and don't hide these facts, i went to their website after reading your post to do some research and had a hell of a time finding company driver info because they push this lease purchase so hard.. Tell me, are they really honest? If what you say is true (and it is) and freight rates will not support someone trying to complete a lease at Prime, then why are they pushing it so hard? That's far from ethical in any sense of the word.

I've never leased from Prime, or any other company as the general consesus is that it's never a good idea to trust the person getting your freight to handle the rest of your financing, and i agree with that sentiment 100% so i'm not one of these 'failed' fleecers that you think that i am, i am merely making a point, contract or no contract if you are setting someone up for failure just to take their money it's wrong, period.

Now if idiots would stop signing their lives away maybe it would stop, but that will never happen so the best thing we can hope for is to educate people, and hope that they will listen.

I'm not saying prime is a bad company, either, I don't have experience with them but you shouldn't ever lease a truck from the person getting you your freight, you are setting yourself up for disaster. The only reason that my friend that i mentioned above is making any money at all with this 'success leasing' is because he's been team driving with his wife for as long as i've known them.

 

Some times you guys give the big company's to much credit for them bringing rates down. True its a factor but very small i mean out of the 2 millionish Otr trucks
what the big company's make up 6% if that i mean if you added all the big company's Swift, JB, Werner, Crete, Schneider, and a few others you would be lucky to get 100,000 trucks. Hell i remember going with my grandpa in 77 complain about cheap freight and the Aholes that hauled it.

 

The fact remains that they go in and undercut people, they can do it too because their drivers are willing to work for slave wages.

I don't think how many trucks they have are relevant, if a customer needs something hauled and calls swift I don't think swift will turn them down, they will find a way to get a truck there.