Prime - Only newbies sing the praises

He may not have been there, but I can say prime is the most yanked up OTR co I ever went too. Funny I am doing nothing different now then I was at prime and freight is worse now, but at least I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Nothing's Changed. The new prime is still the old prime.

 

Up until about a year ago, the deal at Prime for the lease side wasn't all that bad. Even a solo could make good money. Downturn has changed everything - really only the teams and training trucks are making good lease money right now. So, if you're a solo-lease operator, Prime didn't screw you - the economy did... Prime has never made promises about surplus lease revenue. Sounds to me like the solos are getting just enough to keep the payments up, because there isn't enough gravy to go around the table. You really do have to know when your hand isn't holding enough cards to win the pot, cause bluffing in this game only gets you broke.

OTOH, running company solo hasn't been all that bad. Not making as much money as I did last year, but it's been pretty good just the same. As far as the trolls who like to run Prime down - no I don't appreciate it, because that's not the general experience of drivers I know on the company side and the lease side - apart from the revenue issues.

Freight will be on the downslide around November, plus with weather, I'd probably wait till March - but that's me. Don't expect that the used truck market is going to take a turn to higher prices anytime soon myself.

 

Well you're the one flatbedder I can say got a raw deal. That truck they put you in was a junker, no doubt about it.

 

Lease-operators are company drivers who pay for their feul. The profit margin is so low that you have to run 7,000 miles a week just to eat.

 

I figured I was, but the truck wasn't the only problem, matter of fact it was the least of my problems there. Everything was yanked up there. Seems like no 2 people up there have the same plan they are working off of. When we went to altus OK to pick up are trucks they told us in springfield you will bring back stacked trailers for us then lease your trucks when you get back. Get there and no stacked trailers. Sent me off to get a pre loaded trailer to take back a load of drywall. Get there tarp it call in and say I am ready to roll and they tell me you can't pull that. You are not a company driver and have not leased your truck, you are not covered by our insurance.

They finally told me to bring it back and things just kept getting worse every day. I was straight out lied to from my recruiter to most of the people I dealt with there. I got tired of being lied to on a regular basis and all of the stupid crap they called a company. One of the main reasons I went there over ATS was location. Figured I could get home more often with them. The recruiter told me I lived in the middle of 3 flat bed divisions that I could get home weekly or stay out my choice. I get there and I am told you are not in a good area for us you will need to go in to the national account. I need to quit talking about that yanked up co before my BP gets up and I stroke out....

 

Prime sucks my opinion and I'm sticken to it

 

It just seems like to me that debating rather or not any particular company is good or bad is a bit of a waste of time. It dosent matter where you go some people will see diamonds and some will just see the rocks in the way. I think it'd be way more productive to just post your own personal experiances and let people make thier own opinions about a companies worth or lack thereof. Kind of a 'this is what happened from my perspective, make what you will of it' type of deal. All of the I think this and if you think that then your wrong, dosent help anyone.

You know what would help? a copy of a lease contract or an example would be a fantastic start. That way people could look at cold hard facts and decide for themselves if they liked it or not and could do it without the influence of a salesman breathing down thier neck. Imagine that! Logic and numbers and info, oh my!

I know that the above will probably only ever happen in a perfect world scenario. Egos are going to flare, facts are going to be distorted to help stroke those egos and make them feel all better again. Tempers are going to get the better of us (Ragh! how dare you not accept the absolute validity of my claim at face value! You heathens! *RAGERAGERAGE*)

Sadly, the only thing this accomplishes is depriving prospective truckers the information they need to make an informed choice about what companies they may want to work for, what schools to go to, what they can realy expect in this industry.

Myself, I'm fresh out of the big green machine, and I would like nothing more than to drive. My grandfather was a logging driver, my father drove for Keller untill he retired (anyone remember them?) My uncle drove for Crete many years untill another drivers negligence cost him his life (hmmm I'm going to stop in the middle of the road on this blind curve, at 4am, turn off all my lights, and put up no warning triangle or road flares, cause that seems like a good idea) And my sisters husband is an owner operator. I've been in and around these machines probably longer than some people on the road right now. But no matter how much you know you can always learn more.

So for the past two months I've been doing research (Waves a half full single subject notebook "Look! I took notes!") And the one overwhelming fact I've walked away with is:

Noone is happy, anywhere!

No, just kidding I've gleaned a few nuggets of information that I think will help. But I just thought I would put the word out that the people who take the time to actualy research thier choice to drive, come to places like this to do it. Anyone who has a couple of synapsies that still fire knows that you dont go to recruiters or c.e.os to get honest information, all they have is sales pitch. You go to the worker bees, the men and women whos sweat and effort actualy earn the company it's daily bread. Thats the key to realy great research.

I just wish I didnt have to pick apart ego's, spin, and morals to get to that nugget of usefull information.

And thats just my two cents, keep the change.

 

Ive been labled a cheerleader here (see one of the very early posts in this thread)... Ive only tried to be helpful and honest about my experiance at Prime. I have no complaints and have never been disrespected or treated unfairly.

I want to get this clear....I dont claim to know much about the intricate details of the Lease program... though I have mentioned quite a few times that given the economic situation, right now is probably not a good time to lease... and I have been very consistant on that statement

Based on my experiance with my trainer last year, I found Leasing to be very enticing... Based on the settlements he was getting, it looked REALLY good (mind you this was well over a year ago)... As a newb, right off the training truck, I felt I needed some time to get some miles under my belt as a company driver before leasing... also, with winter aproaching, I felt that leasing was something that was best to wait until Spring...

That was my gameplan... Lease in the Spring... well, the economy got worse... Everyone (Lease) stopped talking (bragging) about their revenue... Lease guys with problems complained louder, the ones without problems (getting by or making a profit) began offering advice and keeping their revenue quiet so as not to stir up anti-sentiment towards themselves. It didnt make sense for me to take the risk so I have stayed Company.

There seems to be to camps right now, Im losing my shirt(nothing is working) and Im doing ok(waiting for freight rates to come back up)

I try to answer questions, and relate my experiances as a Company Driver. I do pretty well at Prime, and for the first time in my life I have real savings, an IRA account maxed with my yearly contribution limit, and an 401k account that I take full advantage of Prime's matching contributions.

I have no family to support, and no idea what it takes in this day and age to do so... So I cant say Prime Company Driver is for everyone. I even went so far as to comment once last winter when things were slow and I was making the less than usual paychecks, that I couldnt imagine supporting a family on what I was making.

I provide my numbers from time to time... Simply for others to make an informed decision on whether Prime (Company Driver) would be a good fit for them... no lies...

A pay hiccup here and there (less than 3) that have been fixed right away with no argument... and nothing major.

There have been a few bumps but nothing where I was treated with disrespect or ignored. I had to argue for a tow start reimbursement. Road Assist took the word of a TA mechanic that there was no problem. I was subsequently vindicated after the same electrical issue continued and was repaired by Prime mechanics. Batteries needed to be replaced and Road Assist probably thought I wasnt telling the whole truth when I said I didnt have any accesories plugged in or left anything on while the truck sat for four days while on hometime.

Another time I got steamed listening to another Company Driver go on and on about how he was running 3k+ miles a week, every week... pretty convincingly... I followed him to his truck and jotted down his truck number... I made sure I "popped" in to visit my FM unannounced as to my intentions... and right there he showed me the milage numbers side by side with mine... proving that guy was a liar. There were a couple weeks I did far better than he did.

I do what my Fleet Manager asks me to do... Be safe, Get good fuel milage, dont be late, communicate problems, avoid citations and accidents... Scale every load and washout the trailer after every load. He treats me with respect, doesnt hassle me, trusts my judgement... and knows me by name on sight, when I probably only visit with him for about 5 minutes once every couple months.

I know exactly when I get my pay raises, I know exactly when I have earned a vacation... as they are all milage based.

Ive have never recieved or invited recruitment bonus from members on this forum. I did meet my current trainee on this board... He saw that my last trainee had quit and he was finishing up Prime's CDL school and asked if I would take him... No bonus involved, if it wasnt him, I would have picked up another from the trainee pool. No financial gain by posting on this forum.

Sad thing is, lately I have noticed alot of Anti-Company Driver sentiment from the Prime Lease guys... and not just here online. Conspiracy rumors abound not just outside the company and online, but also from within. Nothing like being screamed at by a L/O in Sacramento when he asked me where I was picking up... My "Salinas area" response got me a rant about my "Dole" load paying better than his... he wouldnt even let me respond that I wasnt even going to Dole before he cursed Company Drivers and sped out of the lot.

Ive worked in another high turnover job as a waiter, and I always found that the grass is almost never greener on the otherside, And when it is, you have to deal with alot more fertalizer (BS)... if your not happy move on.

 

I didn't know fleet managers freely gave away personal information about other drivers.

It's gotten so bad at prime that the way to make guaranteed money is to take on a trainee at $300 per week plus all his miles at $0.34 to $0.40 a mile plus $500 when he/she passes the road test then keep them for a few more weeks afterwards at about $300 per week.

I met drivers who couldn't even afford a cell phone and had to resort to the above strategy just to survive. This proves once again that prime has built a business around a business model that requires a constant supply of new drivers.

"Conspiracy rumors" is an oft used label by misdirection agents. Facts speak for themselves.