Questions On Differences Between Company Driver And Success Leasing (Prime Inc)

Good Afternoon Everybody!

I am leaving for the Prime Student Driver (PSD) program this Saturday and I will be starting on October 1st. I am extremely excited for this new opportunity and I am also very excited to travel and see new things!

I would like some input and feedback from those individuals who have worked from Prime, either as a Company Driver, or in Success Leasing. I am looking for the cost vs. benefit of each program. I have done my research and I have talked to some people, as well as discovered some forum posts here, on TruckingTruth, but most of them are older and I want to be sure I am getting some good information.

I am a young one, well, 22 years old. I am out of Virginia and I have a wife and a son. My goal is to get into the trucking industry to make decent money, it's not my first time driving a big rig (I have been a Firefighter/EMT since I was 16 and I continue to volunteer) and that gave me experience driving heavy fire apparatus loaded with water and other equipment. I have also held jobs where I make well over $18/hr, but they just weren't for me. They say you'll never work a day in your life if you do what you love and being on the road is something I have always loved doing, I am a traveling kind of person.

So, again, to ensure this forum post stays somewhat on topic (other tips/tricks/advice welcome!!), I am interested in learning about the Company Driver side of Prime and the Success Lease side of Prime.

Thanks for all of your help, everybody! I am really excited to see what I can learn from y'all!

Welcome to the forum Alex.

As an entry level driver do NOT even consider leasing until you’ve had a minimum 12 months of experience.

As far as info? It doesn’t get any newer than this...

Don’t Be Fooled by Owner Operator Math

When you are done listening to old School’s Podcast, read the various replies in the associated thread.

You’d be far better off focusing all of your Newbie Energy on these links:

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

Good Luck!

Additional articles from the Trucking Truth Blog...

Leasing a Truck

Don't go lease if you want to go home. With Prime you can go home up to 4 days per month. Going home is costly and if you have a truck payment to worry about it's even harder to afford home time. As a brand new driver you will hit stuff. Company driver scratches a trailer, talk to safety. Lease op same thing and pay for the repair. Be a company driver for three years before you think about leasing or owning.

As an entry level driver, home time would be the least of your concerns with Leasing. Two factors; you know nothing about trucking, and you know nothing about running a trucking business. And finally the leases through the big carriers like Prine and written and skewed in favor of the company, not the driver.

Please read the thread I sent you and pay very close attention to the reply written by Rainy. She is a Prime Trainer and her boyfriend is a L/O with Prime. It’s an important read considering your question.

For now focus on learning, becoming a top performing company driver and gaining an understanding of how to earn a living in this business.

I love this forum. You read one post, and it's comments, and that leads you to another forum and more comments. I have spent the past three hours, after listening to Old School's Podcast, reading the comments and posts on things that are directly related to what I need to know about this industry and I am quite happy that I found y'all!

Since we are talking about being a "Good Company Driver", always being on-time, always able to accept a load from your dispatcher , that brings me to my next question - What is the most effective and efficient way to operate your truck? I specifically want to know the tips and tricks that y'all have to keep your truck moving when others wouldn't be able to because of HOS. I have used the HighRoad training and I am familiar with the concepts shared in there, but I want to see if there are other things out there, floating around, that folks are using to be profitable and successful in this career.

By the way, if it means anything, y'all have basically steered me clear of Leasing... I can't afford the risk, right now.

The biggie is to be able to maximize your hours available to drive (miles make money) and minimize as much as legally possible, any unpaid time (on duty not driving). For instance, we don't touch freight so once we're checked in/docked were off duty. I've heard some companies require you to remain "on duty" the whole time you are being loaded/unloaded . I simply cannot imagine that. If you're detained at a customer for say 6 hours.. if you were logged into the sleeper and took just 2 more hours, you could roll out of there with exactly the same hours you had when you first arrived.

It's little time management things like that, that will help you maximize your driving time. Your employer will let you know how they expect you to log your work time. Always keep your logs legal while meeting your employers expectations regarding time management.

Short and simple. Keep your doors closed. With Prime, get to know your and be kind to your dispatcher. Understand that in the beginning they are testing you. You need to learn how to manage your clock. Drive safe, relax and learn. You seem to have the correct attitude. Good luck.

Please keep us up to date How it go for you in training etc

Good Afternoon Everybody!

I am leaving for the Prime Student Driver (PSD) program this Saturday and I will be starting on October 1st. I am extremely excited for this new opportunity and I am also very excited to travel and see new things!

I would like some input and feedback from those individuals who have worked from Prime, either as a Company Driver, or in Success Leasing. I am looking for the cost vs. benefit of each program. I have done my research and I have talked to some people, as well as discovered some forum posts here, on TruckingTruth, but most of them are older and I want to be sure I am getting some good information.

I am a young one, well, 22 years old. I am out of Virginia and I have a wife and a son. My goal is to get into the trucking industry to make decent money, it's not my first time driving a big rig (I have been a Firefighter/EMT since I was 16 and I continue to volunteer) and that gave me experience driving heavy fire apparatus loaded with water and other equipment. I have also held jobs where I make well over $18/hr, but they just weren't for me. They say you'll never work a day in your life if you do what you love and being on the road is something I have always loved doing, I am a traveling kind of person.

So, again, to ensure this forum post stays somewhat on topic (other tips/tricks/advice welcome!!), I am interested in learning about the Company Driver side of Prime and the Success Lease side of Prime.

Thanks for all of your help, everybody! I am really excited to see what I can learn from y'all!

Good Afternoon Everybody!

I am leaving for the Prime Student Driver (PSD) program this Saturday and I will be starting on October 1st. I am extremely excited for this new opportunity and I am also very excited to travel and see new things!

I would like some input and feedback from those individuals who have worked from Prime, either as a Company Driver, or in Success Leasing. I am looking for the cost vs. benefit of each program. I have done my research and I have talked to some people, as well as discovered some forum posts here, on TruckingTruth, but most of them are older and I want to be sure I am getting some good information.

I am a young one, well, 22 years old. I am out of Virginia and I have a wife and a son. My goal is to get into the trucking industry to make decent money, it's not my first time driving a big rig (I have been a Firefighter/EMT since I was 16 and I continue to volunteer) and that gave me experience driving heavy fire apparatus loaded with water and other equipment. I have also held jobs where I make well over $18/hr, but they just weren't for me. They say you'll never work a day in your life if you do what you love and being on the road is something I have always loved doing, I am a traveling kind of person.

So, again, to ensure this forum post stays somewhat on topic (other tips/tricks/advice welcome!!), I am interested in learning about the Company Driver side of Prime and the Success Lease side of Prime.

Thanks for all of your help, everybody! I am really excited to see what I can learn from y'all!