Drop Yards, Headquarters, And Other Company Facilities
Topic 12461 | Page 1
I just thought of something. All the major carriers apparently have awesome driver facilities throughout the US (depending on the carrier). I'm impressed with the ones Prime offers (and I'm concentrating on them since that's who I'm planning on going with after CDL school), and I'm looking forward to visiting them.
But my question is this: How often do drivers actually get to any of those terminals? It seems, from what I see people posting here, that they rarely, if ever, are at a company drop yard/terminal. Is this usually the case? I know it will vary based on routing, trip planning, etc. I'm just looking for generalities.
two of the people I follow on you tube go by there's a lot. You have to go in for maintenance also.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I can't anser for prime. But when I was otr general with swift I almost never saw a turmanil inless it was for maintenance, I needed to do a drug test or pick up a student. I saw a lot of drop yards, they were for the most part, Dirt, or gravel, all swift dose is lease space from the owner of the yard. Now that I run on a dedicated fleet I see a lot of terminals . I find the smaller the terminal the better they are.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
I try to avoid terminals like the flu... Just to many people complaining about their job... I don't know about everyone else but crst two main terminals are training centers and when you put that many people together there's bound to be a few people sick... What I mean is when you walk in its like walking in to a er full of sick people...
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Miss Miyoshi wrote:
I just thought of something. All the major carriers apparently have awesome driver facilities throughout the US (depending on the carrier). I'm impressed with the ones Prime offers (and I'm concentrating on them since that's who I'm planning on going with after CDL school), and I'm looking forward to visiting them.
But my question is this: How often do drivers actually get to any of those terminals? It seems, from what I see people posting here, that they rarely, if ever, are at a company drop yard/terminal. Is this usually the case? I know it will vary based on routing, trip planning, etc. I'm just looking for generalities.
For me I return to the terminal almost every day. It's the nature of the account. Before driving on a dedicated account, when OTR I was in a Swift terminal about once every other week at the most. It depends on the freight and how the driver pool is planned on the available loads. The only time I spent more than a few hours in a terminal was in Phoenix (no complaints) because of tractor maintenance.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
I avoid terminals for a variety of reasons. My company want's me to clean my shower when done, including using a squeegee to wipe the walls free of moisture. If I take a free shower at a truck stop, they clean the shower afterwrds for me, or at least they are supposed to.
Also, sometimes your company will find something for you to do for them while you are waiting at the terminal , like running errands etc. If you enjoy doing that type stuff with your free time, it might be a positive thing.
Most of it will depend on the company, and how much money they have spent on the facilities, and how many rules you must follow while on premises. Sometimes it is much more simple to just stay at a truck stop, even when the company terminal is close by.
When I am in the Atlanta area though, I usually prefer the company terminal, because it is much safer than the areas the truck stops are located on the 285 bypass.
Over time, you will just automatically know where you are going to go, based on a variety of factors.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Wow! I'm with Schneider (one year now) and I get by our Operating Centers (OC's) frequently. Last night I was at our OC in Carlisle, PA and tonight I'm at another in Charlotte, NC. I don't have to clean my shower, they pay someone to do that.
Here's why I like that Schneider has a lot of them.
1. I don't have to worry whether or not there's parking. Now, I'm not going out of my way to hit an Operating Center (OC) but if I'm being routed in the general area and I know I'm gonna be late in the day, I'll opt for the OC for parking. My current load allowed me to stop off and visit my Son for breakfast and then head on down the road to Charlotte because I didn't have to worry about whether there'd be parking.
2. Sometimes I can ask for advice from experienced drivers and trainers.
3. Maintenance can be done while I wait. E.g. I picked up a trailer that had a messed up tandem release handle and I had to slide my tandems. Within an hour it was taken care of and I was on my way.
5. I can do laundry, no charge.
6. Many of our OC's have cafeterias where you can buy a meal much cheaper than the truck stops.
7. TV lounge
I know I probably sound like a recruiter and I'm not. And I don't go out of my way to pull into our OC's, but I like that the option is there at many locations around the country. There are times I'll pull into one just for the secure parking and leave early in the morning. Other times, I've used the location as a parking spot to spend a day with some friends and get maintenance done on my truck. These are benefits the company pays for and I'm going to enjoy them as long as I'm fortunate to be on the team.
Good luck!
Tandems:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Tandem:
Tandem Axles
A set of axles spaced close together, legally defined as more than 40 and less than 96 inches apart by the USDOT. Drivers tend to refer to the tandem axles on their trailer as just "tandems". You might hear a driver say, "I'm 400 pounds overweight on my tandems", referring to his trailer tandems, not his tractor tandems. Tractor tandems are generally just referred to as "drives" which is short for "drive axles".
Prefer & agree with Steve L's answer - it's not so negative. Like other companies, the Swift terminals vary. But you'll always have a place to park. Free showers. A decent TV lounge/break area.
You have to know about drop yards. Most have a locked gate and you need the combination.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
Prime drop yards are nothing but trailers where drivers drop a loaded trailer for another driver to finish the load. The driver can then take an empty. At least that is what I saw in fontana ca... nothing to see.
I've been to Prime's pa terminal.. several times in one week cause truck stops are few and far between there and my first trainer would rather go there than a congested rest atea. As mentioned we took trailers there for repairs.
MO main terminal I have spent quite a bit of time at. My trainer lives there so we stop often... which I enjoy cause there are decent local restaurants. . Walmart..hotels if I want to spring for a room.. prime employees get half price at the ramada.... that has indoor pools and jacuzzi.... and the suite is $120 per night for is... it would be about $400 back Home. the spa at MO is half the price of those in NJ. Plus I get to meet a lot of drivers and gain knowledge from them all. The showers are free and housekeeping cleans them.... they have bunk rooms that look like small hotel rooms.. first come first serve. Laundry is $1 per load as opposed to $5 at truck stops. The food is good. if you are a trainer you will spent time there getting and testing students. Indoor basketball court where the owner of the company plays with thw employees every day and looks like a "normal" guy.
Going through PSD and TNT you will spent a bit of time there. Solo... I can't tell you.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.PSD:
Prime Student Driver
Prime Inc has a CDL training program and the first phase is referred to as PSD. You'll get your permit and then 10,000 miles of on the road instruction.
The following is from Prime's website:
Prime’s PSD begins with you obtaining your CDL permit. Then you’ll go on the road with a certified CDL instructor for no less than 75 hours of one-on-one behind the wheel training. After training, you’ll return to Prime’s corporate headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, for final CDL state testing and your CDL license.
Obtain CDL Permit / 4 Days
- Enter program, study and test for Missouri CDL permit.
- Start driving/training at Prime Training Center in Springfield, Missouri.
- Work toward 40,000 training dispatched miles (minimum) with food allowance while without CDL (Food allowance is paid back with future earnings).
On-the-Road Instruction / 10,000 Miles
- Train with experienced certified CDL instructor for 3-4 weeks in a real world environment.
- Get 75 hours of behind-the-wheel time with one-on-one student/instructor ratio.
- Earn 10,000 miles toward total 40,000 miles needed.
TNT:
Trainer-N-Trainee
Prime Inc has their own CDL training program and it's divided into two phases - PSD and TNT.
The PSD (Prime Student Driver) phase is where you'll get your permit and then go on the road for 10,000 miles with a trainer. When you come back you'll get your CDL license and enter the TNT phase.
The TNT phase is the second phase of training where you'll go on the road with an experienced driver for 30,000 miles of team driving. You'll receive 14¢ per mile ($700 per week guaranteed) during this phase. Once you're finished with TNT training you will be assigned a truck to run solo.
In the last 10 days I have been to 2 drop yards and 3 terminals.
We get routed to terminals if they are close for fuel.
Personally I like going to terminals. Shower is clean, laundry is free, and not as crowded as truck stops.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
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I just thought of something. All the major carriers apparently have awesome driver facilities throughout the US (depending on the carrier). I'm impressed with the ones Prime offers (and I'm concentrating on them since that's who I'm planning on going with after CDL school), and I'm looking forward to visiting them.
But my question is this: How often do drivers actually get to any of those terminals? It seems, from what I see people posting here, that they rarely, if ever, are at a company drop yard/terminal. Is this usually the case? I know it will vary based on routing, trip planning, etc. I'm just looking for generalities.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.