Time for Prime.....

I made more money with maverick when I went back to them in orientation than the 30 days I was with prime.

 

Thanks, but I was pretty aggravated with the run around. 1 week unpaid orientation was bad enough. It was a total mess. They passed out different schedules with different class times and no one had a clue where or when you was suppose to be somewhere. They had different study sheets they passed out with different answers to the same question. Total mass confussion. Got out and they only had 2 ratty old freight shakers available for flatbed. 20 + guys needing a truck.

They sent us to altus OK unpaid to pick up trucks from passmore trucking. Suppose to bring back stacked trailers for prime paid really crappy. Was suppose to be (I can't remember 30 or 32cpm) Got down there and the truck had to go in the shop. Lost a day unpaid. Plus they did not fix the truck. No trailers available so they sent us to get a load of drywall. It delivered out of route if I took it to springfield like I was suppose to. The plan was to just get a truck to them so I could lease it. I called and asked about this if they wanted me to del it or just bring to the yard. They said you can't pull that load you are not a company driver or signed your lease yet.

They finally told me to bring it to the yard. Ended up getting paid 20 some cents a mile to run this and I tarped it with lumber tarps......
Put the truck in the shop there and they was sippose to fix it, they didn't and they had it as a freightshaker on the work completed. It was a long nose pete and still had the same problem. They said if you run this load down to GA we will get you home to set up your truck for the holiday weekend. Did not happen. They ended up getting me a load that I had to call for directions to make sure it was the right plant. The shipper told me that load will not be ready till next week. I was on hold a long time getting this info. I call prime and they put me on hold and said we just got off the phone with them that load is ready, but if you don't get there before they close you will be hung out.
I beat feet over there and get there 10 minutes before my deadline and the load was not ready. They told me we told you it would not be ready.
I have plenty more issues that I could go into, but the bottom line is I got tired of getting lied to and getting shafted by them. From the get go they lied to me. Was told I would be in the regional division. They said I was in the middle of 3 regional divisions and could run any of them and still get home on weekends or stay out if I choose. After I got there and leased on it was sorry you will have to go in the national fleet, we have nothing in your area. I don't need to work for a rip off outfit that will lie to me and gouge my paycheck. They are the worst outfit I have been with since I started trucking back in the 80's

 

If you are making money with Prime, Inc., you're lucky and God Bless You, seriously !!! I went to Springfield, MO with a dream in my heart, and soaked in all of the orientation. They showed a video on the first day of orientation (with that Garth Brooks song about a dream being like a river or something) and I thought that I was in heaven. I got approved and I found the perfect truck. It was a brand new black Century Class Freightliner with nothing wrong. I had never had a new truck, or a condo, and I immediately signed the lease for 3 years, and the payment was like $700 per week, plus, I think well over $100 in other things, such as plates, permits, bobtail insurance, Qualcomm (mandatory), trip pack, etc. I left the Prime yard thinking that I had just won the lottery. Boy was I wrong !!!

I did everything that Prime asked me to do. I never went home (I was home 7 whole days combined the one year that I was with them), I turned the truck off at night (no apu's at that time), I ran totally legal, I only turned down one load, and I drove the truck at 60 mph, and carefully researched my fuel stops. If a load required a lumper, I would unload it and take the lumper's fee( I had to, since that was the only reason I didn't go broke). I totally drank the kool-aid, even going so far as to grease my own truck (and their trailer), make sure their trailer(s) were repaired if broken, and I even started dressing in a suit and tie. I thought by doing all of this that I would make it big. I mean, like they said, "TRUST THE SYSTEM," AND "LEASING IS BETTER THAN OWNING." I bought into it hook, line, and sinker.

First of all, Prime could never get me by the house (I live in Aiken, SC). They would constantly run me into Florida, but then the loads coming out were orange juice loads that only paid $.65 per mile. Prime, Inc. did not want you to complain about loads and would punish you if you bucked the system (remember I said I turned down 1 load?). "TRUST THE SYSTEM ... TRUST THE COMPUTER." They would send me many times to Denver where I would have to dead head 300 miles to Kansas or Nebraska and wait 3 days to pickup a load of beef going to New England or New York. The loads coming out of NY or NE were atrocious unless they were going to Florida, where upon you'd get burned when you got down there. But, I thought if I did everything they asked me that sooner or later I'd get noticed and start getting better loads.

After a while reality set in. I figured out that they gave me cheap freight because I would haul cheap freight. I figured out that they triple brokered the loads between Wil-Trans and their other company called RTC (I think they call it that, the company previously called Ronco and Donco). I figured out that after 3 years of $700 truck payments that I wouldn't own the truck, but that I'd have to come up with a $36,000 ballon payment if I wanted to buy the truck. I figured out that I'd never have that much money to buy the truck. I met more and more people who owed Prime, Inc. %15000 or $20000 and was thanking God that I was at least breaking even and paying a few bills at home. I was an embarrassment to my family, which I never got to see, and the front end of the truck wouldn't stop shaking, even though I paid for an alignment (It was going thru a set of steers at half the usual mileage). I couldn't understand why I had to pay for qualcomm (which was liable to go off at any time of the day or night) if I had a cell phone and other mandatory charges. I got a ticket in Manitoba, that was written to Prime, Inc., for a law which I didn't(and still don't) understand, but Prime, Inc., took it out of my settlement. I had to get out while I could. It was a complete disaster and I had to come home on Easter weekend on a greyhound bus with all my belongings and my tail in between my legs.

Some good things about Prime, Inc. Their facility in Springfield is immaculate. I got really good rest on their yard, and the showers are the best in the United States. Some of the people that work at that facility (fuel guys, restaurant, the lady that cleans the showers) are the best people on earth. They have a basketball court, gym, restaurant, CPA, game room, etc., right on site. They are really safety oriented and you can learn a lot about safety, fuel taxes, the law, and truck mechanics, if you pay attention.

If you're a husband and wife team, and you own the truck outright, I believe that you could make decent money at Prime, Inc. with very little risk. In fact, I had planned on letting Prime, Inc. train my wife and training her myself, so that we could do that, before she had 3 back surgeries. That plan obviously fell through.

If you're a solo DON'T GO WITH PRIME, INC., AND FOR GOD'S SAKE DON'T LEASE A TRUCK WITH THEM. You simply can't make it. I did EVERYTHING that they asked me to do, and did it with 1000% intensity and I paid taxes on like $17,000 the year that I was with them. You will learn a lot, but the lessons are expensive. The dispatchers are all kids who are in college during the day or night, earning a logistics degree, and they work at Prime, Inc. when they're not in school. They won't answer the phone and they really don't care about you personally, although I can't say that they're a bunch of liars. They're simply disinterested in you as a person and could care less whether you succeed or not. You don't have any choice in the dispatches and you really don't know what the true rates are on the freight. It was a complete disaster for me.

 

Does Prime use O/O's with their own authority ??

 

I was there for 1 year, from the spring of 2002 until Easter 2003. I was a proud contractor with them. I did everything that they asked of me, and treated everyone I met with the utmost respect and professionalism. Heck, I even wore a suit while driving !!! I really thought I would get rich with them. Again, if you're doing great, then that's awesome, and may God continue to bless you and your family as you prosper.

I was just saying that it didn't work for me - and it wasn't b/c I wasted time at home, wasted time at the truck stops, bought expensive fuel, idled the truck too much, or any of that, because I did not.

 

Parking Really I'snt My Expertiese-PRIME

Sorry Steve i just couldnt resist