Profile For Jeff B.

Hey Aaron, I've been reading your thread for a bit just been to busy to comment lol.

Your training class was so different compared to mine, maybe it was because I was the only guy in it.

Let me tell you, shifting (up and down) gets easier so does backing, I can't nail it 100% of the time on the first try but I'm getting there. I couldn't shift or back when I showed up and I feared passing my tests because of it lol. But I made it, passed the first time. I remember Shannon looking at me as me and the examiner got out of the truck and he gave a silent shout of exclamation when I gave him the thumbs up.

I went through there program I started in March and got my truck the first week of June. If I can make it then you will too!

So if you ever see JP0045 say hi! And belated welcome to the fam!

When I did my application they took a week to verify all my information, and I was brought in immediately, however Jim Palmer's popularity has gone up since then lol.

I do not have an answer to your question directly I do know that the company tries to keep its training classes small so nobody gets missed, but the amount of applications the recruiters receive everyday is massive.

The best thing to do is to just contact recruiting and they'd be able to tell you if there is a wait.

Boy have I been busy. I completed the training program with Jim Palmer the first week of June, at that time I was assigned my truck which I'm still driving today.

Milage and pay works out to what they told me it was but like any other company you hit awesome weeks then not so great weeks but on the average I'm happy with what I make.

Right now I'm a company driver and will be so until I complete my 1 year (7 months to go!) then I'll consider the lease option.

Overall I've been pleased with my decision to drive for Palmer, walking in I didn't know much about trucks but now I can float the gears up and down with the best of them. It has been an awesome experience for me and I'm content with my choice.

So if you ever see JP0045 on the road or at a truck stop say hi! I love to meet knew people, share experiences and learn new things from those with more experience than me.

I thought I would give an update, I didn't want to flood this thread with posts (high-jack it), but also I just wanted to give an update about my experience with Jim Palmer.

In short, it's been awesome.

I completed the 1 week training phase at the terminal, then met up with my trainer. He's a great guy, but if you're messing up he will let you know it, but at the end of the day he always gave a full proper feedback on stuff I needed to work on, and advise on how not to mess up on the same item in the future. I've had my good days I've had my bad days, I did the majority of the driving and even got to back into a few docks at shipper/receivers which again some where good others made me want to hide lol.

It's basically just like Prime's PSD phase. I had money they could advance me but didn't need to use any of it because I had saved enough for this venture to survive on my own. It truely has been an eye opening experience.

I came back to the terminal last Thursday night, they wanted me back early so we could work on the pad with my backing. For some reason I just had not been getting it. I couldn't do 90's my straight lines didn't end up straight, and I couldn't offset well either. I was nervous I had to take my test on Tuesday 4/05/16 and if I didn't pass even though I had a retake already scheduled, I thought I would fail in my goals.

My trainer is a lease op and I felt guilty that he had to hang around for me even though he needed to make his revenue for his lease payment and his household I didn't want to hold him up and I just felt so down in the dumps about it I thought I wasn't going to make it.

Then a minor miracle happened. The 16 hours we spent on the pad worked. By Sunday I was doing 90's, doing offsets, and doing straights to the point my trainer stopped giving me instructions and just let me do it, all 3 over and over and over again. I was messing up less, it was going into the box more and by Sunday night I was able to do all 3 backing maneuvers without really needing to get out and look and I only needed 1 pullup for the entire set.

I was also nervous about my shifting, up and down. Sunday I did okay with my trainer. Monday when the training staff came back from being off on the weekend I ran with them and got a little better. I ran again before my test on Tuesday and saw more progress.

And you know what?

I passed my test the first time!

I believe all the worry all the doubt is really what was making me have issues. Minor panics kept me from seeing what I needed to be doing, and being afraid to try something different on the 90's versus what everyone else told me worked for them was causing me to fail in that, so on a whim I tried doing something different (a bigger cut at the end so I could see the back of the trailer since my depth perception is a bit off) and it worked!

So now I sit here, at the hotel (my trainer went ahead and took a dispatch for a short load while I was taking my test, we're going to florida when he gets back tomorrow) a fully licensed CDL driver waiting to begin the next (paid) portion of my training.

Everyone here at Jim Palmer has been awesome. Of course everyone at the terminal new I passed before I got back so the recruiters where blowing up my phone to congratulate on top of everyone at home on facebook blowing up at my news I passed, it was truly an awesome feeling to succeed. When we got back to the terminal I got more congratulatory comments from the training staff, the rest of the guys in recruiting, the dispatchers and FM's it was a humble experience.

So now I go on to complete 30,000 more miles of driving before I do a check ride with a guy from on boarding and get my own truck.

At this point I don't care if it's a Pete or a Cascadia, new or used it'll be mine and I'll drive the wheels off it lol.

Thanks for reading and I hope this update helps someone in the future. :)

For anyone paying attention to this still, I'm actually in Montana right now with Jim Palmer going through my first week getting my CDL. I got the permit for Montana yesterday and when we got back to the terminal I was in a truck doing laps around the yard to learn to shift. After that the trainer drove us to a truck stop outside of Missoula and we did laps around the parking area, then had lunch and I ended up driving the truck back. This was all bobtail, we came back to the yard got the trailer and drove some more.

When I applied to Jim Palmer I had already done my home work, I spent a couple of months researching, weighing pros and cons, then started wrapping stuff up at home so I could do it. Then I came across Allie and Valerie's stuff, and applied with Palmer after applying a couple of other places. The application process took a couple of weeks, they verified references, verified employment. They are a subsidiary of Wil-Trans and Wil-Trans is part of Prime's Advanced Fleet Program.

The training program and pay is very much the same as Prime's because when I asked about the similarities the short answer was "What Prime is doing works." And I believe that since I applied there too.

Right now I'm getting the 1 on 1 treatment from the get go. Out of the applications they had the phone interviews and checks they did I'm the only student this week. This may not be the case but I lucked out big time. Everyone here has been so friendly and have gone out of their way to make me feel welcome. They put your name on a sign at the front door to welcome you your first day.

I've met nearly everyone in the building including the owner, and I don't have any complaints right now. If the company is this good at the door I don't think I'm going to leave any time soon.

They are trying to get more people in the door but they don't mind being choosy about it, every driver Palmer brings in is a risky investment for the company because it's unsure if the prospect is going to stay in this day and age.

I guess I lucked out, I'm going through the full program with them and yes you do have to sign the one year contract. I'm from Texas originally and this was a major life change for me especially in employment lol.

If you are interested in Jim Palmer continue talking to the recruiters, they aren't blowing smoke the company is doing good with what they have now but they do want to grow but don't mind growing slowly, and Haley is a good recruiter, first time she met me she handed me her card and let me know call day or night if I ever needed help with ANYTHING.

If theres any questions I can try to reply as I go through the program. I'm in Missoula till the end of the week then I'm going OTR for a bit with an instructor so I can come back and pass my CDL exam.

Hope this helps someone out.