Prime Inc. CDL Training. Springfield, Missouri

Congratulations Turtle!

Well done.

Keep working to bring the BP down... the trucking part will be easy - your on the right path with the right attitude.

12/21/16 0600 hrs

It was much easier to sleep last night. After the bp scare, I'm much more relaxed. That was a huge worry for me.

Now that we're past the first couple of days, it's much easier to manage our time. Our class is a rare anomaly, in that it is so small we have the advantage of more one on one time with instructors, and no time spent waiting for someone else to complete their tasks before we can start ours. I've heard horror stories of waiting in line for hours just to get to a computer, medical office, or Sim lab. We have none of those problems thankfully. Because of this, most of us have completed all of the required tasks a day or two early. That means lots of down time at this point. There are still a few daily meetings, with time in between to do what you want.

0700hrs Pre-trip inspection class.

Once again, we're given a rundown of the inspection process. More importantly, we're given the EXACT WORDING and PHRASES inspectors are looking for. Such as:

Properly mounted and secure.

Not cracked bent or broken

No abrasions bulges or cuts

Filled to manufacturer specifications.

There are over 100 areas of the truck that are included in the inspection. You may or may not have to inspect all of these. But you should know all of them, since the inspector may randomly ask different students to inspect different areas of the tractor/trailor.

Anyway, he goes into detail about how to conduct the inspection for the inspector. Remember that during the pre-trip inspection test, you aren't actually inspecting the truck. You're simply showing that you know the steps to take. The Inspector is inspecting YOU to see if you know how to properly inspect the truck.

0900hrs I find myself with nothing to do. As noted before, I've completed all my required tasks. So now I have only to wait for my medical card to come back, so I can get to the DMV and finalize my permit. I hang around chatting with some other students for a little while, before going back to my room to chill and study the pre-trip guide.

1200hrs After lunch, I went out to the parking lot and started checking out one of the trucks, doing a mock pre-trip. No one seemed to mind, and I got to familiarize myself with the parts. Gonna see if Jack wants to be a "study-buddy" so we can test each other on the pre-trip. So many other students are only interested in sitting around jabberjawin, I'm here to learn, and learn fast!

1430hrs Finally got my med card, so I can shoot down to the DMV and finish my permit. I walk up to the counter, she asks for my ID and birth certificate. Umm, I just showed them my birth certificate yesterday. I didn't think I would need it again today. So I left it in my room, for fear of losing it. But she has to have it again now. Crap! Shuttle won't be back for two hours, and the city bus may take too long to get back before the DMV closes. So I called a cab, shoot back to the hotel, and shoot back to the DMV with 15 minutes to spare. Had a GREAT conversation with the cab driver, a really cool guy, and retired OTR driver of 24 yrs. But I digress.

Back at the dmv, I give her my info.......waiting.........waiting. Umm, Rich there's a hold on your license out of North Carolina. Uh, say what? No really, what are you talking about? I haven't been there in forever.

Yup, she's not sure why, but had a reference number for me to give. I call NC dmv, and 20+ yrs ago, when I was in NC for a few months doing some hurricane relief work, I got a speeding ticket. Apparently I paid the fine, but there was a $115 surcharge attached to the fine that I was unaware of. So they put a hold on me.

Mind you, I've had a license my whole adult life. I've had tickets since then, and I even have a NY class A cdl permit. This NC thing has NEVER came up. At this point I can't even fight it, because who keeps records for 20 years? I need this hold to be released so I can move on.

So NC dmv says I have to call a courier service to pay the surcharge by phone, and gave me that phone #. Of course by now it's 5:15 their time. They close at 5.....

So that's where I am. I'll have my wife call in the morning and get the surcharge paid. Hopefully I can have this resolved by lunch tomorrow.

Turning in early for now.

Keeping my head up!

12/22/16 0545hrs

I had the first real great night of sleep since coming here. Of course the fact that I was in bed by 2030hrs may have something to do with it lol. But it's a new day and I'm feeling great.

0700hrs Benefits meeting.

Just like it sounds, an hour-and-a-half ish rundown of the company benefits offered here. I won't go into the details, but I will say that I was pretty impressed by the package they offered. Part of my research process included looking into benefits these companies provided. Prime was right up there, comparable and competitive. You won't be eligible for benefits until 90 days after point of hire.

One thing I will mention is how your benefit premiums go down dramatically after the first year. Prime pays a much larger percentage of your coverage. Sort of like a bonus for sticking around for a year. Impressive.

0900hrs My wife let me know that she paid the surcharge to the courier service, and that they will hand the payment over to the NC DMV by 1230hrs. NC DMV says they'll release the hold immediately after receiving payment. However, they say it may take up to 48 hrs for MO DMV to see the release.

I don't understand how that's possible in this age of technology, but what can I say?

Meanwhile we have another meeting coming up at 1530hrs to get our security badges. But I won't be able to get my security badge unless all my tasks are completed, which includes getting my permit. Sigh... it's just been one obstacle after another.

So I hop on the last shuttle to DMV, hoping like mad that the release will have gone through, and that I'll still have enough time to make it back to get my badge. I'll need that badge before being able to go to the Millennium Building, Prime's corporate headquarters. We're scheduled to go there tomorrow morning. I don't want to miss that, since it includes a tour of the facility. Also, many trainers will be there to interview and and/or be interviewed by the students. I won't be left out of that.

1330hrs After the seemingly endless obstacles I've encountered this week, I naturally expected this DMV hold to stick around for the full 48hrs of course. Par for the course, as they say. Imagine my delight when the clerk said ok $52.50 please and you're all set. BAM! Got my MO CDL class A permit in hand finally! Whew!

Ok so now I gotta get my behind back to campus for the badge meeting. So, shuttles run every 2 hrs to/from dmv, meaning the next one should be along 1515hrs. That should put me back just in time at 1530. But........ remember..........that's right, ON TIME IS LATE here! I refuse to be late. So it's either a $10 cab or a $1.25 bus ride. You guessed it, I bussed it :)

I don't remember the last time I was on a city bus, but this was actually a pretty cool ride. Too often we all tend to take the quickest way somewhere. But the bus route went through some of the back streets which made it very interesting. It probably took roughly 25 minutes to get back to the campus. Plenty of time to spare for the meeting. "Badges? We need those stinkin badges!"

For the record, I took the #2 bus from dmv, and it dropped off at Walmart, a less than 5 minute walk from the campus. I don't know how often the bus runs through there though, I'd assume at least an hour loop, but don't quote me on that.

This latest hurdle cleared, I spent the remaining daylight going over pre-trip inspection on the practice truck outside. I HIGHLY suggest you future Primates take advantage of the practice truck. You can't get in there and fire her up, but you can pop the hood and look her over to familiarize yourself with the parts & pieces. It's helped me alot. Get a study buddy and grill each other. Muscle memory kicks in, trust me.

So, I may have forgotten to mention our class size has dwindled. We started with 23, and are now down to 11. I'm not sure what happened to the ones who aren't here. Any number of reasons I guess. Drug test, medical, background, the usuals.

It's been stressed here over and over again to be 150% sure you will pee clean and to DISCLOSE EVERYTHING before coming! These guys are pros at finding stuff out. Don't try to hide it, or "hope" it into going away. It wont.

I have a less-than-stellar background, including two felonies and a misdemeanor. I'm not proud of it. But they accepted me because I disclosed it all up front. Granted, my history was 29 years ago, but the point stands. They found it and looked past it.

The rest of us remaining keep on keepin on.

As a wise man said: Onward & upward.

Peace

Turtle...I'm proud of you man! You are hanging in there like a trooper! It is awesome to read your posts and re-live all those great moments that seem like a lifetime ago, but were only a few short weeks ago. Everything you have described is virtually how things happened for me. I'm envious that you had such a small class...no waiting for anything!

To anyone that is reading this and planning to go to Prime for their school, pay close attention to anything Title says about doing it not doing...he speaks the truth! Before you attend the school, LEARN THE HIGH ROAD TRAINING PROGRAM!!! They will NOT teach it nor set aside specific time to learn it. If you do religiously study the HRTP, you will pass! Also, just as Turtle is doing, take any free time to use the tractor and trailer in the parking lot to learn the pre-trip. Title is right, there are over 100 areas you must know about the truck, but the great thing is that, once you know some of the basic stuff, it gets repeated several times...I.E. brakes, rims, tires, etc. It may sound daunting, but it really isn't once you get the basics.

Turtle, you're going to LOVE Millinium! Also, it's half as expensive to do laundry their as opposed to the Campus Inn...and remember, the coffee, tea, and water is free! 😉

If I can offer any advice, just relax and trust the process...you got this, my friend! I'll probably be there later this week if you're still there. Hopefully you'll already be out for your PSD! Best of luck to you and God Speed!!

Thanks Robby! Yeah I've tried to keep my head up throughout this, and each little setback leads to the next accomplishment.

As it turns out, I probably will be here when you come back to test out. I'll explain why in my next entry. It's good news for me.

12/23/16 0700hrs

Up & at'em for roll call. Stan (one of the higher ups) came in and gave us the ol pep talk, congratulating us on making it this far. Most dont, he says. He also takes this opportunity to open up another question / answer session, and review the program thus far.

I forgot to mention in my last post that we did in fact get our badges yesterday afternoon. Speaking for myself, that was a pretty big moment for me. I'm sure others felt the same way as well. After several days of high intensity study, strife, and stress, that badge meant something! I totally embraced the moment!

We had passed all of the initial checks, pokes, prods, trials, and tests. You don't get that badge unless you've been cleared, so that in itself is a good reason for celebration. So we did! About 9 of us went next door to the Fire & Ice restaurant, located inside the Ramada. They have great food, and Prime students get a 25% discount!! Keep that in mind.

We had an absolutely fantastic time, exchanged phone numbers, created a Facebook group for ourselves, lol. And promised to keep in touch after all this.

Ok, back to Friday...

0730hrs On the way to the Millennium Building! First up is breakfast. The main cafeteria is much better than the one at the Campus Inn, with a better selection. Also, the same meal cards you use at Campus will also work here.

Friday mornings start with the safety meeting, held in the cafeteria. Basic safety related stuff, with some general info scattered in. Mr. Low, Prime's owner, showed up and said a few words. It was nice to see him. He seems like a down to earth guy, and very approachable. Breakfast is free for all those who attend the voluntary meeting.

0830hrs The trainers are lurking about. Our instructors at Campus had informed us to disregard the prior cell phone in-class rules and to now keep it on at ALL times, since the trainers had been given our names and numbers. If they call, you BETTER answer or you might miss out on a trainer at first. No worries, you will still get a trainer regardless. But it's nice to have the early option of maybe turning down a trainer, should you feel it is not a good match.

0930hrs A couple of the students were approached directly by trainers during breakfast. They and the trainers would go over to interview each other. Yes, you interview the trainer too. You may be spending the next 3 months with this person cooped up in a box. So if you don't feel comfortable with this person, politely pass and move on.

Trainers are given names and numbers of 3 students. Usually, Prime tries to pair students with trainers from the same region, for hometime simplicity reasons. But it's not always possible.

Also, very few trainers actually come to this Friday morning safety meeting. So if no trainers approach you, don't feel as though you're the ugly duckling. They will call at any time. Answer your phone and set up a meet n greet. If you don't answer their call, they'll move on to the next student on their list, and you will be put at the bottom of the rotation, so to speak.

1000hrs. We go to a little classroom adjacent to the cafeteria for a discussion on fitness. In walks "Coach", a high intensity energetic little dude who runs the driver fitness program. He gives us a lot of info on available fitness programs within the company.

During this discussion, I was approached by a trainer. He could be full of BS, but he says he's the top trainer for the last 2 years, so he gets to take first pick of students. Part of me thinks he's just trying to butter me up. But then I remember all those voluntary hours I spent in the Sim lab, and on the practice truck, and wonder if somebody was indeed watching. I've heard they see everything, so who knows.

Anyway, we spend about 5 minutes talking about basic stuff: Where we're from, my prior work experience, etc., then somehow we got on the subject of hunting, and hit it off from there. Next thing you know we're spending 20 minutes talking about land we own, sharing pictures of hunts, and so on. I think we'll get along just fine. He tells me to meet him tomorrow for some practice time on the pad. Awesome!

The downside is he only trains PSD students, meaning I won't be staying on with him through the TNT phase. So I'll have to get another trainer for that, but that shouldn't be a problem. On the plus side, he lives locally and wants to stay local through the holidays. This means him & I will make local deliveries and train locally, and I will get to come back to my hotel room each night. Gives me a 2 week reprieve on having to live with a trainer in his truck! This will have no delay on when I test out for my CDL.

1100hrs We get an abbreviated tour of the facility. It was raining so we didn't get to see some parts. But what we did see was nice. There's a big gym, full size basketball court, lounge area with pool tables, and other amenities which cater to the drivers and associates. So far, everything I've seen about Prime shows they really appreciate their employees, and reward them where they can.

1000hrs Lunch in the cafeteria, then I hop on the shuttle back to the Campus. I spend the rest of the day doing more pre-trip on the practice truck. I wanted to hit the Sim lab again, but it was locked up tight for the weekend.

Early to bed, and awaiting my first day of training on a real truck! Can't wait!

Peace

12/24/16 0800hrs

Nothing that really has to be done this morning. The cafeteria here at campus has closed for the next three days, due to the Christmas holiday. But we can still go over to the Millennium Building, where the cafeteria is always open. We're issued another meal card to get us through the weekend.

So the badge we were issued is actually a Comdata card. With it we have access to our Comdata account. In your research, you've heard how Prime loans you $200 a week to live off of during PSD. Well, that $200 gets loaded onto your Comdata card, and you can use it sort of as a debit card. After you are hired, Prime will take that $200 back out of your paycheck in weekly increments. You can choose not to use the loan, and Prime will simply pull the $200 back out after hire.

Activate your card as soon as you can. If you lose it before activating it, someone can find it, activate it, and make off with the dough.

0900 Breakfast at millennium. I must say that I've eaten more in this past week than I have in the past month, it seems. As mentioned, Prime feeds you 3 meals a day. I'm not accustomed to that, being more of a one meal a day kind of guy. No complaints here, but already I'm beginning to think about healthy eating habits and exercise on the road.

1000hrs My trainer said he'd call me this morning between 10 & 12, and that we'd get some practice time on the pad. In the meantime, I wander around the building, checking things out. At 11 I get the call, and I'm told to meet him at the pad. Cool, I'm ready.

1200hrs We start off with him hooking up to a flatbed trailer. I practically run around the trailer to watch him hook it up, being curious and anxious to see every detail. He then drives over to the offset backing area and demonstrates a left side and right side offset back, telling me the turning points quickly. It's a lot to take in at once, but I'm paying very close attention.

I thought he'd have me try it after demonstrating it, but nope he drove out to the main road and proceeded a while until he came to an industrial park. Being Christmas Eve, there was no traffic whatsoever out here. There he drove around a little bit showing me shifting methods and lane control, before finally pulling over and letting me get behind the wheel.

1300hrs Oh boy, here we go! My first time at the controls of a tractor trailer!!

The industrial park has nice wide roads and easy turns, so as a confidence builder, it's perfect. I went around the block a couple of times, up and back the straight away a couple of times reaching 8th gear. I also worked on downshifting a couple of times, and paying attention to how much off tracking my trailer did in the turns.

Next, he says to me " Ok take it up to the stop sign, hang a left and hop on the interstate."

Uhh........say what?.....

He was serious, so after I picked my jaw up off the floor, I did what I was told, and got on the interstate. This all actually went very smoothly. All those hours in the Sim lab paid off right here, as I was able to easily shift through the gears and get up to speed, and focus on the traffic around me. Once we were up to cruising speed, he got back on the hunting subject and spent the next 20 minutes or so just rambling on while I just rolled on down the highway.

After a while he had me get off the exit and proceed down an undivided four-lane highway. On this route, I encountered many traffic lights, stop signs, right and left turns, and plenty of close quarter traffic. This is where shifting practice is key. You need to be able to react and recover quickly when you miss a gear, and yes I did miss a few. But this "trial by fire" test drive went remarkably well I think.

We eventually made our way back to the practice pad where he had me drop the trailer and park the truck. All in all, this trip took 2 hrs or so, and the entire trip was absolutely exciting to me! I never expected to be on the road so soon, but I'm so glad I did.

1600hrs Late lunch/early dinner at millennium, then I get another call from my trainer...."Hey Rich, do you want me to leave my truck at Campus Inn so you can practice pretrip? Hell yeah I do! That's awesome! So he gives me a key to his car and has me follow him to Campus. There, he gives me the truck key so I can do the in-cab pretrip too. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I'm the kind of guy who likes to engross myself in study when I want to learn something. So this will be just another tool to accomplish my goal.

The rest of the night I just chilled and hung out with my friends here.

It's Christmas Eve and I'm a long way from home, but things could always be worse. It's all working towards my goal.

Peace

Congrats on the permit.

I'll be back in SpringMo end of this week or latest Monday of next. Holler if you want grab a soda or anything. I will be getting my assigned truck & will be in town through Thursday.

Dave

12/25/16 0900 hrs

Christmas morning. This is unlike any Christmas I've ever known. Although I purposely chose late December for my start date, and knew I would miss Christmas, it's still hard. Being away from my wife and family today is harder than expected. But this too shall pass. Just another obstacle in my path to clear.

Prime shows appreciation for all associates working this holiday by feeding us at no charge today. This includes drivers out on the road. If you're under a load on Christmas day, simply save the receipt from wherever you eat and Prime reimburses your cost, as a thank you for working the holiday away from home.

Think about that for a second.....

Can you imagine the cost to Prime, with thousands of associates and drivers? THAT is impressive, and one more reason why I'm so glad I chose this company.

1200hrs After the free breakfast, I hung out a little while at Millennium. Me and some other students decided a game of basketball at the corporate headquarters on Christmas day was a perfectly reasonable and logical way to celebrate the recent joining of our Prime family.

Let me just say that I once loved basketball. I can't say I was ever that good at it, but I tried, and it was fun.

I'm 47 now, and the old legs don't work quite as well as they used to. But I still gave them young bucks a run for their money. I predict I'll be quite sore tomorrow though.

As mentioned, us students have bonded somewhat since starting here. So in the absence of our real family, hangin with our fellow classmates only seemed natural, and somewhat necessary to ease our loss of family time. After the game, we loaded up on the free lunch: Prime Rib.

Yeah that's right....Prime Rib & fixins for lunch! As much as we wanted. I filled up twice before hopping the shuttle back to Campus.

1500hrs As much as my body screamed for a nap after basketball and lunch, the desire to learn was stronger. I dutifully went out to the truck to practice more pretrip. By now, I pretty much have the whole thing down. But staying occupied keeps me happy. I just need to be doing something. To my surprise, a few other guys came out and joined in, testing each other. It seems I'm not the only one who needs to stay busy.

1900hrs Back to Millennium for......you guessed it.... More Prime rib for dinner! Another 2 helpings!

I imagine the company got a big discount on the food, but still. I alone ate nearly $100 worth of food at regular restaurant prices today. It boggles my noggin to think about the money Prime laid out. PLUS, the annual Christmas/holiday party is this coming friday. Rumor is they'll have unlimited crab legs & fixins, again as a thank you to us folks away from home.

I'm totally sold on this place so far.

2100hrs Back at Campus to call the wife and family. All in all, I'm very happy with the choices I made, both the career change and the company I'm going to.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.

Peace

p.s. I know I'm constantly a day or two behind on these posts. But I'm not getting paid for this, so I'm not following a deadline.

Hi Turtle,

I am reading your posts with great interest, as I am scheduled to start there on Jan 9th. Thank you for the info! It sounds like you are doing great. Is anyone in your class going to the tanker division? I hope not to have to wait too long to get a tanker trainer, but if that is the case so be it.

Good luck with your continuing journey! Maybe I'll see you there.