Prime: Orientation and Training?

If you already have your CDL they will base your training time (miles with a trainer) on your experiance and may take you on a check ride if they are on the fence about how many miles they want you to do

The milage is based on dispatch and Dead head. Its team driving, but all the dispatch miles are credited to you training miles... Basically, they dont subtract the miles your trainer drives.

As far as how quickly the trainer eases you in, and begins to trust you as he sleeps... I dont know... My trainer was my CDL instructor and already had 4 weeks of me driving with my permit and him sitting next to me the whole time, so he trusted me the moment we left the terminal after me getting the CDL.

We ran 10 hour shifts, depending on where the next truck stop might be a little over or a little less. This rotation had our shifts move a couple hours a day, so one person wasnt constantly the night driver.

He would show me how to do the paperwork, and then let me do it every time on my own... and answer any questions if I struggled. Only way to learn was to do it.

We would usually have one stop a day for a meal and shower... There were a couple loads where the time on it made it impossible, but never more than 2 days.

I knocked out 62k team miles from early May (5th maybe) to early/Mid July. I didnt take any time at home, we did have a few days off here and there on the road, and a couple days at my trainer's house (never more than a day at a time).

Thing about going home is they will work with you, but its complicated... Trainer had to get a load going near your home to get you there, and the same thing to get back to pick you up. Meanwhile, if your trainer doesnt go home, he's out there working. You have to be reasonable, you cant expect to get your training done quickly if you are trying to get home every other week.

People say, well 60-80k thats a lot of miles (primarily newbs and drivers who have been out of a seat for a while get assigned these miles)... yes it's team miles too.. but it gives you a good foundation of tools and experiances to deal with the wide variety of situations we face out here. I still had questions everyday after I got on my own... Now its less and less.

Also, those who have some experiance, your miles can be reduced after trainer has had a chance to evaluate you over a couple weeks. He can make a reccomendation, and safety and training can re-evaluate your training mile amount.

My trainer made sure I was set up before he turned me loose... Although we always used his Reward Cards at fuel stops... he made sure I got my own set up. Truck stop guide, map book, sheets, gloves etc.... Had me purchase the stuff a little at a time, that way the day I got my truck, I had all these things already and wasnt shelling out a chunk of change my first week.

 

Truck at home policy... My dispatch, so far, has always had me drop my empty trailer at one of our customers or drop yards. Other situations I have had is having my truck worked on while at home, and hose facilities sometimes have trailer parking.

After trailer drop, I go home. Park the truck on the street where I can see, and lock it with an air cuff lock.

Now if you cant have your tractor in your neighboorhood, Im not sure, company wise.

My trainer had permission from a local supermarket to park both tractor and trailer in an out of way area in their parking lot. He was a LO and I think those guys get a little more latitude cuz they have more responsibility and investment in their trucks

 

U2Exit You had a Great trainer. I am starting to get excited about My new challenge.. Have 1 more question. Ithink ity was You that said, The trainee is a guest in his home. What do you pack. I know less is better. And You can pack Your own truck when You get it. What are the basics to travel with?

 

They still have a lousy safety record 87.53(0 being the best and 100 being the worst)as of 11/04/2008 this record reflects the last 30 months, their last compliance review was 6/12/2008. I think that part of it is the number of accidents that they have had where 14 have fatalities and there Out Of Service shutdowns for hazmat related are well above the national average(their's 7.5% and national average is 5.39%)Their driver Out of Service shutdowns are higher also(theirs 7.9% and national average is 6.8) but as far as vehicles go they are a little over half of the national average on Out of Service shutdowns(their's 14.4%, national average 23.14%) They are still given a satisfactory rating although.

 

Pack light... maybe a week of work clothes with a few extra socks/underwear/undershirts... Not often, but you may get in a situation where you plan to do laundry and it just doesnt work out... I have to have fresh underclothes everyday and can live with a recycled shirt or pants for a day or two till I can get the stuff washed.

SHOWER SHOES, flip flops will do... something cheap... The movie "Cant Hardly Wait" Jerry O'connel is giving advise about College girls and college in general, and says "Oh yeah, shower shoes, my feet are covered in warts" I already knew this from my NAVY days and saw many guys regret not having them.

Tolietry bag... keeps your stuff organized... I have a couple bags... money wise a plastic bag will suffice for some of these until you deem ready to buy some more bags. First I have my overall bag that carries 90 percent of everything (the move in and move out of truck bag and is easily stored, dont recomend a suitcase) I have a small backpack that fits my tolietry bag, shower shoes, and change of clothes (in and out of Truck Stop bag) and a dirty clothes draw string bag (in and out of laundry bag)that one saves space by keeping it down by my feet in my bed.

I always wash the dirty clothes bag with my clothes that way I can carry out my clean clothes.

I started out in Late March with just Tennis shoes... only recently purchased some work boots. I have yet to use them but as the weather is getting worse I see their day is coming real soon!

A decent flashlight... LED ones seem to get more bang in a smaller size.

I wouldnt weigh yourself down with extras, or trucking stuff just yet. Once you get on the road, your trainer will have everything and you will start to get the idea of what you will need to purchase as the time gets closer to getting out on your own truck. (whether it be map book, or TS guide) A pad of paper, pencil, and pen is good enough to start. Trainer will point out later the best type pens for logs, and a good folder to organize your paperwork and logs and stationary etc.

Rain suit is good too. I would wait and get work gloves on the road. Tylenol or aspirin is good. Carefull, there are some cold medications and stuff that cant be on a truck... something about alchol content.

I would reccomend having a Cell Phone plan with unlimited minutes... I dont make a lot of personal calls, but there are calls that have to be made to do your job and sometimes it means being on hold.

A decent cold weather sleeping bag is good.... Nearly all of our trucks have APUs.. but I recently went thru a night or two with a broken APU before I could get it fixed. I would wait till I got to the terminal before buying one, I would purchase it at a Wal-mart before heading out on the road. I think I got mine for $30 and its a 0 degree bag.

The main thing to remember is there isnt a lot of space on the truck, especially for 2 people... less is better... Its his space and your trainer will share it, but wait until you get your own truck before spreading out.

NO CLOTHES THAT YOU DONT WANT TO GET RUINED... I have yet to find a way to get 5th wheel grease out of clothes.

 

Thanks for the info pretty good stuff.

 

I just want to state that Im only here to offer up my experiances and answer any questions you may have about Prime... Also, not to antagonize those who have had a bad experiance, but to try and better understand their problem because I havent seen anything yet with this company that would indicate these problems are souly the fault of management.

There is alot of info out there good and bad...

Unfortunatly its up to you to filter the good from the bad when making your decisions. Im not advertising, or looking for a recruitment bonus... I just know my journey started here and I got a lot of info to make my decision. People have come and gone and I just wanted to keep the information up to date.

Im not looking to get banned here for the implication that some how I am recruiting. Im not, and if any Admin has read my posts and (i dont know if they can) check my PMs... I have never solicited recruits for personal enrichment ($$$)

 

NO worries......NO one ever said you were doing anything wrong.

 

U2Exit
Thanks for all the info but I have a couple of questions for ya..
As a company drive what kind of truck is issued to you? Is it just a plane company truck or does it have any extras like a O/O would have?

 

Well, I didnt get to pick it like the lease guys... There are some company guys who got assigned brand new cascadia's. As far as I know, there is an APU on every company truck.

There is no refrigerator on mind, and I dont know if any company truck has one... if they do, they either purchased one, or they got the truck after a lease was terminated early that had one on it.

When they hammerd us about picking up chains for the winter (company guys get those free) I swear they mentioned something about us having a chain rack installed... I really havent had the time to inquire much less get into the terminal to have it done... I was going home out west and stopped in just long enough to load the chains under the bunk and get moving.

Company guys cannot modify their trucks... add an antenna.. hook up a cb atc is ok... but you cant remove shelves... customize etc.

There is a decent radio that can recieve Sirius (you pay the service charge)... Ive heard of guys getting it free for months because the last guy hadnt stop the subscription.

Sorry, its late.. ive probably forgot some stuff.