Profile For Jacen Cross

Oh, and chains cost around $325 if you buy them through Prime, and came out of my check at around $25/week.

I'm not Mason, but I'll give you my timeline and see if that helps. I started orientation on Nov. 27, 2012. Got out of orientation on Nov. 30, met with my instructor the next day for some initial driving around to see how quickly I picked up in stuff, and headed out in Dec. 2. My story is a little different, because it snowed on the day before Christmas, which is when my instructor and I came back for testing. They don't test on Christmas, and he didn't want to **** around for two days, so we went back out for an extra week. I tested first on Dec. 30. I failed backing the first time (I got ****y and screwed up), passed the second time I tried on Jan. 2 (no testing on New Years). So holidays and weather added an extra week to my CDL instruction. We left out on Jan 4. We came home for three days around Valentines day, and came back in on March 3. There was a shortage of trucks, so I had to wait for one to open up. I got mine on March...15? Definitely between the 15th and the 18th. Headed out the next day. As for money, they will loan you $200/week during instruction, which you pay back at $25/week. It's interest free, so if you take it and save what you don't spend, it's really not that bad. You will also have to pay for your license, which they will front you money for that if you can't cover it. You will also have to buy an Abloy kit (~$150? Something close to that), which includes a small lock, a large lock, and an air brake lock; chains (I left out in March, and nobody cared to check if I had chains, but it is against the law not to have them in at least one state starting Sept. 1). I would recommend buying or bringing several forms of entertainment (laptop, DVD player, books, etc.), because there will be times where you are bored as s*** and dispatch is making you wait for whatever reason. Cash during training is dependent on your self-control. Trust me, you will be tempted by freshly cooked food after a lot of repetition. I ate tuna sandwiches twice a day for three weeks, and I ended up blowing $5-10 per meal on truck stop food by week 5. However, my self-control with food is not great, so it might not be that hard.

Hope that answers your questions.

Any personal expenses incurred (food, laundry, etc) are not reimbursed. While at Prime for orientation they will give you a meal voucher for their own cafeterias and will give you a hotel room, but after you're out on the truck you're on your own. I can spend anywhere between $60-200 per week on food, depending on whether or not I'm able to hit a grocery store and cook my own stuff. As far as getting credit for groceries due to a vegetarian diet...good luck with that.

2500 isn't an unreasonable assumption, although it will obviously fluctuate. And of course, sometimes you'll deliver a load just after payroll cutoff, and all that, but 2500 is a good average. One correction: to start, you get 41 cpm in a lightweight, as well as up to 6 cpm for good fuel mileage (I think 7.5 gets 1 cent, up to 9+ getting 6 cents). If you train through them, they will take your $200/week training advance out in $25 weekly payments. If you are put through the sleep lab and they determine you need a CPAP, that's gonna be $55/week until you pay it off (about 35 weeks). You do not pay for your own fuel, or practically anything. They have EZPASS in all the trucks, and any expenses you incur will be reimbursed if you get a P.O. and scan the receipt in with your bills. That includes lumpers (the guys that unload your truck if you're unfamiliar with the term), and Prime will insist you let lumpers unload your truck. When I was a company driver, my average take home was $500-700 per week. After taxes and all. As a lease op I've made a bit more on average, but I've also gone negative a lot more often. If you want to lease, I recommend at least 6 months as a company driver to get at least some experience without incurring a lot of risk. You will probably make a little more as a lease op, but you will go broke if you don't know what you are doing.

Yes. Absolutely. Now, to be honest, I have not worked for another company, so I have no frame of reference. But I do not regret choosing Prime.

One thing to add: Everyone you ask will tell you, "you cannot have a full-size truck if you are a solo company driver, so don't bother asking." They are wrong. If you ask for one, and they have one available, they will give you one. It will likely be old (by Prime standards at least, meaning 4 years or less), and you will make $0.36 per mile instead of $0.41, but it is possible. I had two different full-size trucks as a company driver. (The lease expired on the first one.)