Confused Please Help The Newbie....

That's understandable if they wanted that couple months to earn money from me before that.

On a lighter note I think I may have gotten my fiancee a bit mad when I told her I might be driving lightweight for a few. I told her that and she told me.

"If you do, may you drive internationals for the next 20 years of your career."

How bad of a truckers curse is that? Lol I know internationals suck but they aren't THAT'S bad right guys? .......right?

Mines an international. It doesn't suck, it's just different. Seems like no driver was involved in control design, tho. Hazard light switch is in a difficult to reach place on the column. Hard to reach while you're climbing a twisty hill. And you have to hit the brakes to engage the Jake's and then hit the gas to engage the cruise. Drives me crazy!

Hahah wish I could get the lottery numbers right.

They will let you switch out. Friend of mine did the LW for a couple months then got a condo. Some newbies do this because they make more CPM while paying back prime for the PSD food advances, load bars n locks, chains etc. Once they start earning real money and want a fridge TV tc they seem to upgrade.

As far as coming into terminal I pretty much go in as often as I want. I message FM "I need to get in sprimo for a Dr appointment.... My brakes need to be looked at....windshield cracked" etc. I usually go in once every six weeks and make them look at something different each time. Tires, brakes, APU etc. I'm not a.mechanic so if something feels "off" I wait a bit and have it checked out unless something major....but only had that with trailers. My truck is WELL maintained.

Swapping trucks doesn't we.like that big a deal. My friend called the leasing dept who handles even the company drivers and was put on the list so his only down time was "moving" into new truck

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.

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

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.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Internationals arent bad at all.. We have some in our fleet. They are roomier than the Volvos or the Cascadias. The autoshifts are a bit slower taking off from a stop but once they get rolling ate very nice. I drove one for 3 days when our cascadia was getting a new drive shaft. Yes, the drive shaft literally fell out of this truck when i went to backup to slide the tandems lol. Truck had less than 80,000 miles on it at the time. Seems now at 216,000 miles, all the bugs are worked out of this truck.. It runs great finally and almost time for a 2017. Go figure.

Oh wow I was always under the impression that internationals were the cheapo breakdown prone truck. That's how my dad and my grandfather always said. They said peterbilt are the cream of the crop and internationals are the worst. Apparently I've been steered wrong lol. I apologize for anyone I might have offended with my fiancees comment.

The trucks are just like the argument about Fords, Chevy and Dodge, every one has their favorites and an opinion on which is better.

Dontcha know that opinions are just like butts? Everyone had one and they're all cracked!!

True, always thought the hate on them were from their history or something. Between the peterbilt, freightliner and the international, if I havented the choice between the three which one would you guys recommend? And why?