Prime Inc Paid CDL Training Salt Lake Training
Topic 18698 | Page 2
I can't imagine getting 9.5mpg. The best I can seem to do is 8.3mpg, and that's on a good day. Sometimes I'm down in the mid 7s. It's gotta be because of the aerodynamics of the various loads we haul in flatbed.
Anyhoo, you're getting close bud. Starting to feel it yet? Lol
Yea, everyday I feel more and more comfortable with the driving. I did another 300 miles today about 6 total hours of driving. I'm much better later in the day, I get exhausted around mid day. Good thing my trainer exercises a lot I get an hour to take a nap. I aced the engine this morning on the pre trip and missed one thing on the driver side. I aced the trailer this afternoon. We just added coupling today and went over the in cab. My trainer is already thinking about getting me back to SLC so we can put hours in in the manual before my test. (That's why my MPG is so good I think, the auto transmission.)
Anyway we get to deliver tomorrow, I think I get to try backing into the dock. If I take too long he will take over, but he has assured me that we will back a lot when we get back to the pad.
Until next time.
The Griz,
Hey again, not sure what day it is now. Anyways lots of driving done. Started at 7 this morning made my first stop about 2 hours early. Got my first backing job done. Took a couple pull ups but overall went well. Got our next load picked it up, thought we were going to have to wait all night it was ready for us when we arrived. That's awesome cuz you know if the wheels aren't turning you're not earning.
Not much more went on today, more driving tomorrow and another drop off, then I'm hoping for a big trip.
Until next time.
The Griz,
Day 7 of PSD. We dropped the second load took almost all morning at the receiver. Immediately had another load to be picked up and delivered in 24 hours. So we high tailed it to the shipper dropped and hooked. (First time I've done that.) then off to a truck stop for the night. A nice shower good home cooked meal, and off to sleep. I have been milking the pre-trip. I know everything about it know. It's just keeping calm and not going to fast and skipping something.
So we are dropping off this load we had to deliver in 24 hours. I'm hoping the next one is back out west. I'm loving what I do, I'm just ready to be a CDL A holder. Ready to earn some real money, and get to my own truck. Really it's the truck part that excites me the most.
To all the primates out there be safe, I'm sure I'll see you on the road.
Until next time.
The Griz,
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.
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
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.
So wow what a last 48+ hours. We did get a load back out west, only problem was it did not load until 7 pm Friday night, and we finished around 2 pm Thursday. No biggie. So 7 comes and goes, in fact the shipper says they most likely won't have us loaded until past midnight. So we have been chilling all day, and now all night. Midnight comes, not ready. 1am comes not ready, 2am the load is ready. We finally get hooked up and all the paperwork to find out we are overweight by about 2k lbs in the drives. We even drive 25 miles one way to the nearest scale. We do so, so there is a paper trail and not he said/she said. So back to the shipper now it's about 4:15am. They put us in a door and reload us the next 3 hours. Finally we leave the shipper around 8:15am. Had we not had to reload or drive to the shipper we could have gotten a 34 hour restart. Anyways we are off and headed back to SLC so I can train on the manual, then test in Friday. Primates in SLC next week let me know I should be there from Tuesday on.
Until next time everyone be safe.
The Griz,
Shipper:
The customer who is shipping the freight. This is where the driver will pick up a load and then deliver it to the receiver or consignee.
Alright so here we go. We get back to Utah. We did two super single days back to back. Meaning I drive about 8 hours and my trainer drive about 4/5. The first day I did ok, but the second I struggled. I had some home stuff in my mind (more in that in a bit). I think starting the days in the morning is a cause too, I'm not an early riser. I'll be up and ready to go, but I'll still be tired. I'm better in the afternoon and evening. The main reason might also be I need a clap machine to get a good nights rest.
So the personal stuff. Prior to this journey I gave up my dog. I was living in Louisiana and he was over the Prime 40 pound limit. Well I get a text at 1:30 in the morning from the lady who was my dog sitter saying my dog has been spotted in her neighborhood. That's a 140 mile hike for him to come look for me. This was totally breaking my heart. I'm in Utah in training with no way to get to him. So sad to say I'm going to have to give him up a second time to a shelter for adopting pets. But making that decision weighed on me all day yesterday.
Coming up this week, it's a pretty big week. Two/three days of training in the manual pad truck. Then test in Friday Morning at 8am.
Until next time be safe,
Ohh yea, backing the truck up, I'm like a Pro now. Lol.
The Griz,
So I typed this up once already, but the update didn't make it through the submission I guess.
So we made it back to Salt Lake City yesterday, we wanted to train some city driving in the afternoon, but the truck was in use. So we started early this morning 4 am until 7:30 am. Now going into today, I was super confident in my ability to be the first Prime student to score a perfect score on the CDL test. After today, I'm not so confident. I made lots of mistakes during the City drive. Missed turns, not making smooth stops, missed gears, just so many common mistakes holding up traffic, etc. so those frustrations carried over to the backing practice we were doing after the city drive. Straight backs, and off sets were not going well. Luckily for me the truck was needed for a student to test, so we took a long lunch break. This gave me some time to collect my thoughts, and just calm down overall. Soooo after the long break, we were told another trainer needed the manual transmission truck to test prep with his student as well. So we finished the backing practiced him my trainers auto transmission. After this I felt much better. I was able to learn what I needed to do with out having to also learn the manual at the same time.
I feel more confident I'll pass at the end of the day. However I do not feel I will be perfect. With that said I have one more day of practice before I test on Friday morning.
Until then be safe everyone.
The Griz,
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.
BMI:
Body mass index (BMI)
BMI is a formula that uses weight and height to estimate body fat. For most people, BMI provides a reasonable estimate of body fat. The BMI's biggest weakness is that it doesn't consider individual factors such as bone or muscle mass. BMI may:
- Underestimate body fat for older adults or other people with low muscle mass
- Overestimate body fat for people who are very muscular and physically fit
It's quite common, especially for men, to fall into the "overweight" category if you happen to be stronger than average. If you're pretty strong but in good shape then pay no attention.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
So it's here test day, I did about 3-4 hours of practicing yesterday. I did worse City driving at first. I was dreading in the turns taking them too fast, and hitting curbs in the dark. Then the sun comes out and all us good once again, I can see!!!!. So then we went back to the pad and ran through all of the backing maneuvers. I have them all down. I'm really confident with pre-trip and backing. But I was still a bit nervous on the City driving. So I asked my trainer for one more trip around this morning before I test. We got out, and I'm hitting all my points. I'm doing great. I feel much more comfortable driving the manual and for this test.
Stay tuned I test in about 2 hours. I will follow up with the results.
Until then be safe everyone.
The Griz,
And.... you guessed it Trifecta. I'm at the DMV no switching my permit over. I got all Pre-trip questions correct. I did perfect on the backing maneuvers. In the city drive I received 10 points. I missed the bridge height sign, I kept my blinker on too long had a few issues not looking far enough down the road on my turns and I stalked coming out of the emergency stop. Thankfully I was not in the middle if traffic.
Overall it has been a great experience. I will call tomorrow and see who they have for TNT , but I'm glad to finally be a primate.
Dm:
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.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
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.
So I luckily had a few days at home before I left. I got to run some errands and just relax and celebrate this occasion. On Tuesday I left we picked up a load in Idaho headed for NY. Lots of miles and I have driven almost 1000 so far. Only 3 days into TNT and we are rockin and rollin. I spend my hours not in the seat in the bunk. Sleep is your friend during this phase.
Until next time.
The Griz,
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.
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I can't imagine getting 9.5mpg. The best fuel mileage I can seem to get is 8.3 mpg, and that's on a good day. Sometimes I'm down in the mid 7s. It's gotta be because of the aerodynamics of the various loads we haul in flatbed.
Anyhoo, you're getting close bud. Starting to feel it yet? Lol