questions fo rexp Prime Co. drovers

Best of Luck Driver !!!!

 

Wow, your trainer didnt teach you anything did he.

Macro 27 is your fuel msg. Just enter the closest mark on your gauge (I always go one mark under) Message will come back giving you your trip routing and fuel stops. Dont bother filling in anything else on the macro 27. This routing is also what you are expected to run... dont go out of route without getting permission from your FM, and dont bother with nights and weekends... they wont give you permission.

You will find that routing will mostly route you around the avoidable toll roads... you may find yourself in hot water if you start racking up tolls for roads you were not routed on.

re-imbursement for scale tickets- Correct Macro 13, write it on your scan sheet with the PO number. scan the sheet with all the other documents after delivery (including the scale ticket, lumper reciept, and anything else you paid for out of pocket AND got a PO number for) This money is re-imbursed to you on your next check and will show up on your statement.

VERY IMPORTANT!!!- Lumper fees are LOANED to you by Comcheck. The only way to keep from getting charged that money is to submit the reciept... and a proper reciept at that (Tax ID, address, etc must be on the reciept... get with your FM on what constitutes a proper recipet)

The lumper fee will look like this on your paycheck (lets say $300) Deductions: $301 advance.... Re-imbursement: $300 lumper

Comcheck charges a dollar for every for every check... dont want to pay that dollar... then pay the lumper cash from your pocket, and get re-imbursed... but do you really want to carry all that cash... especially if you do 3 loads in a week.

Honestly, your trainer sucked if you didnt learn these basics... Also, my FM gave me a quick FAQ sheet that answered alot of these questions... but in the end, my trainer taught me... and he was an L/O

 

You can make corrections on E-logs... you CANT adjust DRIVE TIME, but everything else can be adjusted BEFORE you submit the entries. Should have learned that in the E-log class.

Its too complicated to explain here but call the log department.

2 hours late? where you sitting in traffic? How long did you wait before telling someone you were going to be late?

Another thing, you cannot run another fuel MACRO 27 for 10 hours. So if you run past your stop and its been less than 10 hours, you will have to call your FM or fuel desk to open up a station for you. I run one once a day, especially if you are on a long trip... you may not be able to make that 2nd fuel stop if you are heavy and you MPG has dropped.. the computer will figure it out for you and adjust your stops.

 

Yup, everything U2 said is right on the money. I, too, had to learn all of this on my own after going solo. My trainer was also a lease op and didn't teach me any of this stuff. So no worries, you're not alone.

Anytime I've needed to open my fuel card at a location I wasn't approved for, I just send my dispatcher a message stating how many gallons I need and where I will be fueling (give them the code from the fuel book). I have never been questioned and always get approved within minutes.

As for your PTI, I'd just go in and change that "on-duty" time to "sleeper" and do your PTI in the morning. It doesn't really matter if it's at the beginning or end of your day, as long as it's in there.

Do as U2 said with all your receipts and paperwork. But also keep it for a while. Dispatch might come back and say "on trip 123456, lumper receipt is unreadable. Please rescan with trip sheet." If you threw it away, you're SOL. I tend to keep all my trip sheet information for about 3 months. Pretty safe doing that.

Depending on who your dispatcher is, he may or may not mind you driving out of route. You'll learn how your dispatcher is over time. My dispatcher doesn't care. As long as I get there on time, he could care less. Granted, I almost always stick to my routing, but if it has me on a ton of backroads and the expressways are only 10 or 15 miles longer, I'll take the expressways. Better on fuel and safer in my opinion. Especially if it's snowing, I always stick to major roads. But it's best to ask your dispatcher for now, just in case he / she is a stickler on that. I do try to avoid the toll roads at all costs if I'm not routed on them, but have used them once before and didn't get any flack for it.

It'll get easier in time man. It's really not that hard. It's just getting used to the added paperwork and such. Like you, I was a bit overwhelmed at first as my trainer didn't go over any of this stuff. But feel free to ask any and all questions to your FM (over QC if possible) and you'll get the hang of it quickly.

 

It makes me really sad to here you guys went through 60k miles without learning some of this stuff...

There is enough stress out here, and especially on your first couple loads by yourself.

 

Did he teach you how to split break... 8 and 2? If not, learn it backwards and forwards... any explination from me will just confuse the hell out of you, and I know it like the back of my hand...

Use that and dont be afraid to use overnight parking at shippers and recievers to get your breaks... no one says you have to be in a truck stop every night.

If the macro 19 directions doesnt say anything about overnight parking, call ahead and ask... use these as an advantage to getting a fresher clock.

You know that you are required to get the trailer washed out after every load? You need permission from you FM, or he needs to work something out for you if you cant get one before your next appointment... ESPECIALLY after meat loads! It is serious business if you get a load rejected becomes some customer(RECIEVER) rejects a load because you didnt wash out the trailer (EVEN if the SHIPPER loaded it anyway) Prime pays for it anyway. In network, no problem... Out of network, pay cash/credit/comcheck... macro 23 with a submitted reciept and you get re-imbursed.

Your fuel book has alot of places you can go for a washout... sometimes you can be a good distance from a network washout... Ask the reciever, other drivers, or truck stop about other locations... most of the time I find one pretty close... so I have to pay out of pocket, I get the money back with my next paycheck... but Im not running 30+ miles in the wrong direction from my next load becuase there isnt a network wash nearby.

Last thing there is a difference between Macro 27(fuel stops with routing) and Macro 15 (directions from loc __ to loc __)

Macro 27 is your routing including the fuel stops and if you FM is a "stickler for routing" that is the way you should go.

Macro 15 is the most direct route, and will not always take you by your assigned fuel stop.

Both have the disclaimer that it is up to you to check your atlas to avoid any restricted routes.

Neither one is to be trusted to give you every single step of the route either... so check your atlas on your routing, cuz you could be looking for that next step and find out later that you were supposed to take an unmentioned road of a mile or two to make the connection.... especially if it says "local road" with no name or number.

 

Excellent points U2, especially on the washouts. My board had 2 loads rejected in one week a couple months back, both due to blood in the trailer left over from the last load. Unexcaptable! Needless to say, my dispatcher was not too happy about it. Also, make sure you weigh every load (I believe the new limit set is anything over 18,000lbs). Even if you know you're legal, it's better to just take the 10 minutes and weigh. The $9 will be reimbursed to you anyways, and your butt is covered.

One other thing of major importance...if you have a load with multiple drops, make sure you reseal the trailer and have somebody sign your new seal out! If nobody will sign for it, call claims or dispatch on nights / weekends. Remember, cover your #####...always. I bought a little ink stamp at the company store with an area to sign for seal in and seal out. Looks more professional than just writing it on the bills and looks as if it's "supposed" to be on the bills (in other words, they can't tell that I wrote it in...it just looks like it was printed with the bills). Some places will not sign for seals...period. You'll learn who they are over time, just make sure you send a message in on QC that the new seal is not being signed for. We've had lots of claims due to this.

Trying to think of anything else your trainer might not have covered with you...

Just make sure you look through your permit book every now and then to make sure nothing has or is expiring. That is ultimately your responsiblity. I set up alerts in my cell phone when certain permits are due to expire. CSA2010 is nothin' to screw around with, so make sure everything is up to date.

Oh...pretrips! My trainer was very lazy on pretrips to say the least. That, in turn, made me lazy. I picked up a trailer one day and did a half ##### inspection, then hit the road. Went through the terminal in Sprimo, and the guy working the inspection bay said "you'll need to take this trailer to the rebuild shop for all the damage on it." Whaaaa?!? What damage!? I made myself look like an idiot. Because under the trailer on the rear right side, all the crossbeams were bent up and smashed. Looks like somebody caught it on a cement barrier or something. Luckily it was already noted, but guess who would have gotten the bill if nobody noted it before me? That spooked me, and I'm not longer lazy on the pretrips. Go ahead and flame me guys, I deserve it. Just wanted to pass that little lesson on though. I'm sure my trainer isn't the only one lazy on pretrips and forms bad habits in the trainees.

That's all I can think of for now, but feel free to post any questions you have here, or just PM one of us if you don't want to ask it in the public forum.

 

U2 and Mike,

This is awesome info... very helpful to Slick and the rest of us newbies. I report to orientation on Monday (Monday instead of Tuesday because of the holiday). I will keep this stuff in the back of my mind, just in case I too get a trainer that doesn't do his job properly and teach me this stuff.

Good stuff guys.