Profile For S Hampshirehick

Thanks for the speedy reply! I have western & swift & stevens offers! leaning toward the "white & blue" company! most told me 15CPM to 19CPM. One will start me @ 25cpm seems like the "logical" choice for a guy that is new to the OTR ride! cant wait! I hate the Right coast. I miss the"heartland". cant wait to move out to "east TX"

So, at first I stated I would be a potential swift driver, well circumstances changed and I went with prime instead. The following is my review/diary of the prime training process.

I started my attempt to becoming a trucker by applying for knight, prime Inc and swift. Of those 3 Knight was the only one that did not contact me. The others contacted me within days of my application being sent. Of the 2 that prime was first since I actually contacted them a week before I contacted swift. However, even though I contacted prime first, I spoke with the swift recruiter much more often. The swift recruited was much easier to get a hold of and was more responsive to the messages I left and emails I sent. Had the prime recruited been more responsive, I likely would not have contacted swift.

Any how, the entire recruitment process from beginning to end, that is submitting the application to getting on the buss, took 2 weeks for swift and 3 weeks for prime. The prime program had originally appealed to me more but due to no contact during the second week I applied for swift as well. That last week though the prime recruiter did finally get a hold of me and I ended up having both companies try to recruit me. By the travel date I had gotten to the travel part of both processes and had to make a choice.

Obviously, I choose prime. The main deciding factor was pay during your initial training. I have not had a construction job in some time. Thus, pay was important. I also liked that you get real world training. What I did not like was the 30k miles needed with the trainer. I like my privacy very much, but every company has this type of requirement. Also, the contract you have to sign has some negative aspects to it. Assuming I read , and remember correctly, if you leave before one year you must pay back your training tuition at 70 bucks a week until you pay them back their money. There are also aspects, again assuming I read and remember correctly, that prevent you from suing them if you get hurt due to negligence during training (you slip and crack your head open on the bottom step of the catwalk) and that they have no obligation to pay you since you are not an employee. You are not considered an employee until you get your CDL and are placed on your own truck. Also, you are not required to have the hazmat endorsement to go to the school, but it is required once you obtain the actual CDL and start working for them.

After a 2 day bus ride I arrived at Campus Inn Monday afternoon. After getting off the bus, the group I was with was ushered into the Campus Inn. There we were given out initial program instructions. This consisted of getting our room assignment, a property map, site rules and an application packet. At this point I headed off to my room. Most people will have roommates. If you like you can opt to not have one but you must pay for the room yourself.

Now, prior to coming to Prime, I took the time to get my practice license. Having done this, I and those like me, were given an early assignment. This was to go to a room called the Sim Lab at a prearranged time to work on the truck simulator. Remember, it is vitally important that you treat this as a real truck. You will be chewed out of you don’t. Another thing to note is that the steering wheel does not have 2in of play making it overly response and there is also no gear grinding. The shifter will refuse to go in but you cannot feel it grind. You also have to fully press the clutch pedal all the way down every time you shift.

Tuesday was the first official day of class for my group and it started at 7am. Much of that morning was spent in a large conference room getting instruction on how the program would work. We also went over how the application should be filled out. Once this was done we had to fill out our medical history with the nurse guiding us on how to correctly do it. After that was done we had to get our fingers prints taken and receive our meal cards. The cards are good for three meals a day and are required to receive a free gift at the end of the program. Each meal is set at 4.25 for breakfast, 5.75 for lunch and 6.50 for dinner. If the food you get from the cafeteria costs more than the listed amount, you much pay the difference. I only did it a couple times. Prior to leaving the class you will receive week long class schedule.

GO SWIFT!!

I have a CDL A . NO "OTR" experience, my "A" obtained at a private school. with only 80 hours. Refresher course. I had my class III years ago & have been a comercial driver for 22 years! 15 years with A CDL "B" ! I submitted on line Aps. & have 6 offers.four (4) told me my "A" with only my refresher class did not meet THEIR 120 Hour minimal class hours. anyone know the truth? 2 have told me that I can drive with them. only with a "mentor"for 3 months or 30.000 miles? ANY one here have the TRUTH? I most companies Lead you int their $ 4000-6000 $ course!! ANY answers would be Awesome! Thanks in advance. HH

Yesterday I was southbound out of Denver on I-25 down around Castle Rock. I'm cruising at 65 mph on a beautifully clear sunny day - I'm deadheading to Pueblo to pick up some steel at Evraz Rocky Mountain Steel. I'm in the right hand lane and notice a Subaru wagon slowly passing me. About the time their passenger door is even with the front bumper of my truck their front left tire falls off the edge of the asphalt and they jerk the wheel to get back over the hump - in the blink of an eye they are doing a 360 spin at about 70 mph. I hit my brakes hard and move over into the right shoulder. I can't move any further because this section of the road has guard rails on both sides of it. They hit the guard rail on the left which throws them back across both lanes and into the shoulder directly in front of me. Smoke is boiling off of my tires by now and all I can see is the top of the Subaru directly in front of me as I'm am about two coats of paint away from T-boning them. I steer hard to the left with my trailer going all squirrelly behind me hoping I can get around them when they hit the right hand guard rail and go scooting back across the road still just fractions of an inch in front of me. I steer hard back to the right hand shoulder and they hit the left guard rail, do a 180 and come to an abrupt stop hung up in the guard rail structure. This all took place in no more than three seconds max as far as I could tell.

Thank God we never actually made contact, and none of the cars and trucks behind us did either. It was nothing short of miraculous in my opinion. I got stopped and went to make sure they were okay. It was a little old lady who was a little disoriented from getting thrown all around in the spins, but she seemed to be unhurt. I stayed with her until the officer arrived and told my story to them and politely asked if I was free to move on as I had a schedule to meet. He let me go with little or no questions, thanked me for helping out, and told me to be safe out there.

After changing my pants, I got down on my knees and thanked God for helping me. I still don't really see how I avoided a complete tragedy. If you don't believe that angels can help you, after going through something like that you just might change your mind! It was like having a flashback of that video that Guyjax posted just the other day. It is incredible the responsibility we have to be on the alert for potential trouble. It can arise from out of nowhere fast!

Y'all keep it safe, and watch out for those little old ladies. They might not be the best drivers, but they don't deserve to be squashed by an eighteen wheeler.

Thank god you have the experience!