Prime CDL Training - Springfield, MO
Topic 24301 | Page 3
Today is the big travel day! Have some butterflies, sadness about leaving, but my goals are clear and the same thing pulling my heart home is what will keep me strong.
I'll be heading from Pittsburgh to St. Louis then to Springfield.
It heads out at 7 so I can sleep awhile if I'm lucky. Everything packed, triple checked and ready to go.
Good luck Britton, it's about to get very real.
I strongly urge you to completely focus on the task at hand, and to put the videos on the back burner for now. There will be enough on your plate to worry about in the immediate future.
An observation:
The video you took while driving, you know the one in which you're distracted by looking down at the camera instead of the road, that's enough for Prime to pass on you. I've seen another driver fired for the exact same thing. You're applying for a job as a professional driver operating an 80,000 lb depth machine. You need to take it very seriously my friend, I guarantee you Prime will.
Good luck Britton, it's about to get very real.
I strongly urge you to completely focus on the task at hand, and to put the videos on the back burner for now. There will be enough on your plate to worry about in the immediate future.
You're right, I appreciate the advice as I definitely want to be full steam ahead on this. Also on the video, great point and will keep in mind to work on eliminating bad habits like that.
I just want you to be very aware of what you're putting in public. There are eyes everywhere
Absolutely. Bad habits be fixed, regardless of who sees it, safety first.
Made it to Columbus on the Greyhound. Unable to depart on scheduled bus, no idea why. Now I am waiting here until 3am to go up to Chicago and back down towards St Louis and Springfield. Will get there around 11 instead of 1 as scheduled.
Oh well. Stuff happens, I'll get extra sleep on the bus while heading to Chicago.
I lucked out. Picked up by a PSD trainer today. Her current trainee is testing tomorrow but we’ll be hitting the road Monday morning. Got some hours on Qualcomm while helping other student review. Learned straight back and L/R offset...and how to fix a botched attempt. Definitely a well defined formula on the pad, curious to see how it works in the field.
There are still 60+ waiting for trainers...some even from class before ours. Impressive really...about 350+ students for first 3 weeks in January.
Qualcomm:
Omnitracs (a.k.a. Qualcomm) is a satellite-based messaging system with built-in GPS capabilities built by Qualcomm. It has a small computer screen and keyboard and is tied into the truck’s computer. It allows trucking companies to track where the driver is at, monitor the truck, and send and receive messages with the driver – similar to email.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.
Definitely a well defined formula on the pad, curious to see how it works in the field.
It doesnt. And backing in real.life becomes very frustrating for a newbie because of it. No reference.points in real life, every lot is different, not always room to pull up.
The most important things that helped me back OTR:
1) Which way do i want the BACK of my trailer to go? Turn the opposite
2) Which way do i want the FRONT of.my trailer to go? Turn the same direction.
3) Get as close perpendicularly on the left to the dock doors so the back of the trailer is as close to the door as possible.
4) Pull to a 45 degree angle making sure the trailer is way past the empty dock. this allows swing room.
5) When the tandems meet the imaginary extended line of the space crank it really hard. (This is the step taught in the offset) This is the most important to understand because cutting at the wrong time will put the trailer in the wrong dock
6) If there is an empty space on the left of your dock, line the tires on or to the left of the line. Once straight again, you can pull up multiole times to "scoot right" in the space, but doing it this way assures you wont hit anything in the right.
Hope this helps
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.
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".
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That's a bummer. My recruiter got all my previous work verified. Some he couldn't reach so I sent him w2s and paystubs. On my end it's all been really smooth. Not sure what happened on your end.