prime

Yes we run on e-logs. No paper required.

 

Well it is a hassle to get home during the training if your trainer doesn't live near you, or if he doesn't like going home. Flip of a coin really.

I live in Maryland, and my Instructor when I got my CDL ran Texas Regional, so I didn't see home the entire Instructor period, and then even a decent time for my trainer to bring me home. Almost 3 months out -- my wife wanted to kill me, and I don't blame her.

Just be prepared that it is possible to not get home for a few months.

The trucks you get are decent, most Prime trucks are actually in good shape. I think they only keep them 3 years or so.

 

If my trainee wants to go home and I dont, he still gets to go home. If I want to go home, and he doesnt... well, then he gets to camp out in the truck for 4 days at a truckstop.

I try to plan my hometime at the same time as my trainee, however one time I had expensive concert tickets and it couldnt be worked out. He stayed on the truck for 2 days and I payed for a hotel room for 2 days. I didnt have to get him a room, but I did. Prime still payed him his garauntee for that week.

Here are some things you have to worry about when going home and your trainer doesnt or doesnt live near you.

He may not come back to pick you up.
He may get on a load that takes him to the opposite side of the country. you maybe off for alot longer than 4 days
He may quit.
He may not like you and use it as an excuse to pass you off to someone else.

I always have my trainees take everything with them on hometime...

Also, remember that there is no garauntee for any hometime taken on a given pay week. You are either Paid the miles completed, or the pro-rated amount. If you get stuck at home for a week, thats no check.

My last trainee lived about 4 hours away. He usually got dropped off before I delivered and picked up after I got a load. I would be off for 4 full days and that usually equated him being off 5-6 days...

He made the mistake of not getting to the meeting point early or even on time. I had over 18 hours notice of when exactly I would be there, where I was headed, and knew I could only wait one hour before I had to roll to delivery 200 miles away. Dispatch told me not to be late, and they would route me back at a later time... He waited 2 more days for me.

That was the only time I left, however it wasnt the only time he wasnt where he was supposed to be for pickup... Fortunatly I liked him ane didnt kick him to the curb, however my Dispatcher was very weary of his lateness antics and was happy to wash his hands of him when my trainee decided to go L/O and move to another board.

 

It is best to ask your trainer what he/she does for hometime before you get on the truck. I always discuss that with a new trainee before we go annywhere. This conversation tends to go like this. " I am going home on these dates for this amount of time. If thats cool with you lets roll. If it isn't cool lets work it out now". My current trainee lives in Charlotte, I live in Western PA. He got 5 extra days off for Christmas becuase of the distance and dates that I needed.

Keep in mind that if a trainee says that he needs to be home on a certain day, I have no problem with it and usually will wait the day, or run nearby until he has done what he needed to do. You have to be flexible to do this job and most trainers will tolerate alot, and do what they can to help you out.

 

As for the trucks, Prime doesn't purposely keep any junkers. Of course, some trucks are lemons. You can get that with brand new trucks. I believe the average age of our trucks are 18 months...somewhere around there.

My first truck was a 2007 Century. A total lemon. Had nothing but trouble with it. Even the APU was constantly broken. After dealing with that piece of crap for 9 months in and out of the shop, they decided to retire it early and gave me a 2008 Century which is what I'm driving today. I've had this one for about a year now and it has been a very strong truck. About 420,000 miles on it now and still pulling strong. Actually, I don't want to give up this truck. But I know within the next year they will want to retire it.

When you start out, expect a used truck. The truck will be clean as they all go through our detail shop before they are reassigned. After you have some time under your belt and prove yourself, the chances of getting a new truck is much higher.

Quite frankly, I almost prefer a used truck. Remember that brand new trucks often have some kinks and recalls that need to be worked out. A used truck is already "broken in" so to speak.

But Prime has some of the best equipment on the road, and that includes our trailers.

 

My Truck is close to being turned in... by my estimate. I love it for the high 7 to low 8 MPG I get... couldnt have a better truck for a company driver (Fuel Bonus)

However, sometimes Im just waiting for the shoe to drop on a major repair... Hasnt really happened yet expcept for a turbo replacement almost 2 years ago. I dont like the down time... If Im out I want to be rolling.

 

I hear ya. It was hard to complain with my last truck. Every time my truck went into the shop, I was paid breakdown pay. Of course I didn't make as much money as if I was rolling, but hard to whine about it when I'm sitting in a paid for hotel room watching movies and eating pizza while still collecting a decent paycheck. That's some tough work there!

One repair took a full week to fix, so they rented me a sweet pickup truck that I drove to Denver and did a truck recovery for them. That was pretty cool. I drove from Springfield, MO to Denver, CO in one shot. No logbooks to worry about when driving a Chevy Silverado! And no speed limiter either! Brought the truck back to Sprimo (under a load) and got paid well for my efforts.

Glad you're getting such great fuel mileage with that truck. I usually do alright (7.0 or higher), and in the summer time I have to actively try and get under 7.25, but this winter blend fuel has been killer. I've been running over the mountains in the Northwest this last week with snowstorms and high winds. I've had trouble keeping it over 6. Not looking forward to Tuesdays fuel mileage report as I think this week will be my worst week fuel mileage wise since I started at Prime. I've only been under 6.75 three times in the last year, but I know Tuesdays report will be terrible.