Prime Inc. PSD Covid Edition

So another student will get this trainer that should not be a trainer.

You've definitely got a point there and I considered complaining but I'm not looking to make waves and draw attention to myself and he's had half his students; according to him, either abandon prime altogether at first home time or switch trainers after complaining about him. What goes around comes around, I did my time and got out and I'll let someone more vocal take up the issue, I like to keep a very low profile in general which is why I keep personal information off of my profile, I stay as anonymous as possible so as to not influence my input here and to keep my experience as transparent as possible. I work at prime so it isn't in my best interest to be 100% honest about everything but for others viewing this thread it is in their best interest.

Besides, my experience in my life so far, if there was an issue with someone you never went to the position of authority to settle the issue whoever that might have been because it made you the squeaky wheel to whoever you were complaining to and created further issues with whoever you were dealing with. Doing such a thing resulted in a loss loss situation for you and still having to solve the problem with the other person, only now the issue us further compounded by you "going behind their back." That's just my life experience. And at the end of the day, it was his truck, his livelihood, and his rules and if I had to go and say I wanted a new trainer and be routed in, it would be asked why I was asking for that and I'd be honest. And I'm sure it would get back to him seeing as how he was doing half the driving and was the trainer. Along with that and my personality, well if he got a little more than confrontational, well, I'm not going to shy away. And I'm not interested in something like that taking place so I didn't initiate anything that could cause that to happen.

When I brought up upgrading he mentioned he would have to deal with not sleeping for a month and that I needed to stay out over the winter with him. I told him it was his choice to train and take on students and that I could never train. And then had to deal with his bad attitude about it for 3-4 days. I mean like I said, I don't want to get into everything but the guy had some issues, and now that I won't ever see him or talk to him again, it isn't my problem.

It's not quite as cut and dry as you make it sound no offense. I laid low and kept to myself because I knew I could pilot the truck without causing any damage or getting tickets and the rest of the stuff I could find out on my own one way or another. I kept everything as professional as I could and if prime goes to look into from complaints and calls me and asks I'll list out everything and tell them bluntly and truthfully everything. I didn't get a survey or anything like that. I got one for my PSD trainer and I answered it honestly, he far exceeded expectations. Perhaps I shouldn't have vented here in my earlier posts but I was frustrated and there's not exactly an opportunity to ***** for lack of a better term.

Like I said, just glad it's over now and I can move on. No point in dwelling on it anymore. I previously said I got a bad egg when I talked with other tnt students in the upgrade class. Bad roll of the dice on it and I admit I didn't try to change it. Take it for what it's worth.

People that are sheep get walked all over. These Sheeple are part of the problem.

Most truckers are Type A personalities. It seems you are the exception.

Maybe the next trainee will speak up, or take the easy way and not say anything (just like you) or just quit.

Hmm well the personality dichotomy is a new one for me. And after looking at it and what it means I don't see where you could pull out that I'm type b from what I've posted so far but who knows, I'm not a psychologist like yourself.

And I've also stirred up enough **** in life in the past to know that laying low and watching from afar is usually the best course of action. Not going to volunteer to be the martyr. I'm fine if that means some internet guy calls me a sheep lol.

Anyways, I got a truck assigned. Unfortunately there were no lightweights coming up anytime soon so they gave me a full size. Not incredibly happy about the pay cut but the extra room is nice and they said I can turn it in and go lightweight in the future. Got it all kitted out and about to become available for dispatch after doing some laundry. It's barely over 100k and whoever drove it last took good care of it. It's grown on me pretty quickly the handful of hours I've had it. Mostly spent the day running around trying to get all the stuff I need. They give a list but I went to the hazard freight up the road to get a bunch more stuff then Walmart and lowe's. Think I'm pretty well stocked and going to try and stay out until after Thanksgiving and get home. I don't have any winter clothes though so I hope I can get by until then with just a jacket and hoody lol. Dispatcher seemed nice, hopefully I won't be stuck on the i-95 corridor for my time here at prime like my tnt trainer was saying I would.

Been a long day though, hopefully when I send over I'm ready to roll I'll get some sleep before I'm sent out. Probably walked 3-4 miles today and did everything in a rush.

Hmm well the personality dichotomy is a new one for me. And after looking at it and what it means I don't see where you could pull out that I'm type b from what I've posted so far but who knows, I'm not a psychologist like yourself.

And I've also stirred up enough **** in life in the past to know that laying low and watching from afar is usually the best course of action. Not going to volunteer to be the martyr. I'm fine if that means some internet guy calls me a sheep lol.

Anyways, I got a truck assigned. Unfortunately there were no lightweights coming up anytime soon so they gave me a full size. Not incredibly happy about the pay cut but the extra room is nice and they said I can turn it in and go lightweight in the future. Got it all kitted out and about to become available for dispatch after doing some laundry. It's barely over 100k and whoever drove it last took good care of it. It's grown on me pretty quickly the handful of hours I've had it. Mostly spent the day running around trying to get all the stuff I need. They give a list but I went to the hazard freight up the road to get a bunch more stuff then Walmart and lowe's. Think I'm pretty well stocked and going to try and stay out until after Thanksgiving and get home. I don't have any winter clothes though so I hope I can get by until then with just a jacket and hoody lol. Dispatcher seemed nice, hopefully I won't be stuck on the i-95 corridor for my time here at prime like my tnt trainer was saying I would.

Been a long day though, hopefully when I send over I'm ready to roll I'll get some sleep before I'm sent out. Probably walked 3-4 miles today and did everything in a rush.

Been awhile, Doug . . . hope things are going well with you ....... finally!

We'd love to hear an update, as you are able.

Soug,

How's the upgrade going?

BTW, when I read the discussion about trainers and doing something about it I thought about my own bad trainer who was probably suspended from training because of illegal PC use. However, I also thought about a parody of the Hee Haw theme music. "If it weren't for bad trainers, Prime would have no trainers at all." I know its an exaggeration and Kearsey, please don't take offense, but my FM has already tried to recruit me for training.

Soug,

How's the upgrade going?

BTW, when I read the discussion about trainers and doing something about it I thought about my own bad trainer who was probably suspended from training because of illegal PC use. However, I also thought about a parody of the Hee Haw theme music. "If it weren't for bad trainers, Prime would have no trainers at all." I know its an exaggeration and Kearsey, please don't take offense, but my FM has already tried to recruit me for training.

Well I am offended. So there!

There are plenty of great and bad trainers everywhere. The reason they have to plant seeds of training into peoples heads early is because once drivers pay off bills and have time alone in the truck, they dont want to train. Why give up their space for extra money they dont absolutely need to strangers who will just complain about you later or possibly formally report you for something "offensive"?

People complain about trainers all the time but do students ever realize what trainers have to endure or risk? Students carrying weapons, drugs, booze. Aggressive students, assault.... Sexual misconduct, invasion of privacy beyond the normal truck life.... And we do it all while getting very little sleep and never getting appreciated. We answer the phone 24/7 after newbies upgrade and willingly interrupt our sleep answering the same questions over and over. And no matter how good we are....

We get bashed for being lousy trainers because of a few rotten apples. Trainers even bash other trainers just for teaching differently. If all of those who complained about terrible trainers became awesome trainers, there would be no more complaining.

So go ahead... Take the challenge and find out how "easy" it is.

Sorry. This hit a sore spot at the wrong time. I keep hearing people classify all trainers as lousy. If that is the belief why would someone bother to train at all?

Sorry. This hit a sore spot at the wrong time. I keep hearing people classify all trainers as lousy. If that is the belief why would someone bother to train at all?

Rainy, I could sure see this as a personal 'hotspot' for you. Yet, as you mentioned yourself, some of the L/O and O/O's don't see much more than a larger paycheck, to cover their note.

Look at yourself, Turtle, and Riehl Diehl .. for instance. (And Erroll .. all the time he put in!!) Y'all are the peeps for the job. You know yourself, as does Susan, it's something not all, nor many, are cut out to do. My husband was asked often; never leased, never trained... but for me. That was plausible, at best. Not everyone has it in them; and I wouldn't either. I still laud and applaud Tiffany and Junior...and I'm putting YOU up in their league, girl.

IMHO, Prime has some of the BEST OF the BEST .. trainers.

Chin up, girl. My fave female trucker, ya know it!

~ Anne ~

Welp been running my ass off since the last post, finally got a couple hours to post something and remembered to as well.

First off, I think keasrsey caught my drift. It was his truck, his rules and I laid low and didn't raise a fuss because I'm sure his situation isn't all that amazing and ruining his spot for him wouldn't do really anyone any good. My decision and I don't regret it.

As to being upgraded I've been "formally" on the road for nearly 4 months now but a few days ago I had about 2 days to spare on a load going about 50 miles from what I suppose I could call home. Played the don't ask don't tell and went home to actually stock up and get everything kitted out on the truck plus clothes, winter gear, and whatnot. Got a ton of miles staying in the Midwest and west coast. I'm on my first solo run to northeast and I'd be fine never being east of the mississippi again in my lifetime lol.

So far it's been alright I suppose. My apu gave up the ghost on day two in the mojave desert and I've not had it running since. Going to try and get that fixed after my first home time coming up in a week or so. My bunk heater acts a bit wonky too. Sometimes it'll boil you alive and others it seems to do nothing. The bendix lane departure is absolutely ****ed. If you get within 3-4 feet of the white line on the passenger side it starts buzzing and mutes the radio. If you drive on the passenger rumble strips it will buzz for 20 seconds straight and shut off until it recalibrates 30-60 minutes later. It drives me absolutely insane to be honest. The truck also panic brakes rather often for no reason and in a certain winter storm in az made me feel rather uneasy when it locked down and engaged the abs. Not a fan at all of all this new aged computer control over the truck. At least internationals don't have a million buzzers and beepers like the freightliner I was in. The auto in this international is leeps and bounds better than the FL but I'd still rather have a 10 speed at the very least. Call me old school but I don't need some goofy computer complaining about how I drive or throwing me into the windshield whenever a car goes down an off ramp.

That's the annoying stuff out of the way. The good is prime seems to work their per diem to where you clean out on taxes and take home a lot more than what you should. I've read that per diem doesn't count towards gross income under Trump's tax changes so that's pretty nice. I'm clearing an average of 1000 to the bank a week with 150 loaded on comdata card for expenses and 75 for all the stuff you have to buy from prime. My total came out around 800-900 and they charge chains seperate so you're paying PSD advance if you took it, chains, company store stuff at 25 each a week. It's decent money depending on how you look at it. I'm averaging about 80hrs a week at a minimum worked or doing something related to the truck and take home 1k a week. So far time management hasn't been the goliath I was led to believe it would be. I do alright and have only had to run illegally 2 times so far, both because dispatch sent me on loads I couldn't make at all but I stay busy nonstop essentially. If I'm not driving, I'm sleeping. I usually end up chasing the clock back 4-5 hours everyday and keep no sleep schedule. Don't know if that is expected but it's rough for me personally. I run nonstop, burn up what I can of my clock, park, shower, then sleep until 5 minutes before 10 hrs is up. I was used to sleeping for 12-15 hours every night and more on the weekend working a 9-5 due to some health problems and so 8-9 hours a night or less has been brutal for me personally. I also stay pretty sick living on the road too. I don't have an iron gut and eating just about anything results in, ahem, rapid elimination. I've fallen into the habit of just refusing to eat if I know I'm going near a big city with no bathrooms or shoulders to jump out and do my business on. I've lost about 40lbs since starting last I weighed and I wasn't too overweight starting. 205 lbs to about 170 or maybe less. I've muscled through it so far but otr is definitely rough on my body and usually the hunger is a lot less of a hassle than having to panic stop in LA and moon everyone on the road 3 times in a day lmao.

I'm thinking I'm going to serve my sentence and go local or back into heavy equipment in a nicer part of the country than my crummy home town. I don't mind the job that much but my body struggles with it way more than my mind and I like having the freedom to wash my hands of work at the end of everyday. Plus my personality doesn't lend itself well to doing anything but working when I'm at work. I've met other truckers that will unhook and bobtail to local points of interest and stuff like that and enjoy themselves but I can't mentally think about anything other than delivering asap and getting another load asap and thus more money.

I can't really complain though, I was scraping by living with family going nowhere and never having much to show for working and no hope of getting out on my own to now having money build up in the bank and a golden ticket to easily transition into whatever town I could reasonably afford. Trucking has gotten me out of a meth filled slum in exchange for a year contract to work all day everyday. Could be a lot worse but now that I'm in the day to day of it, I'm ready for the finish line and to get back to having a life, free time, and decent health.

Bobtail:

"Bobtailing" means you are driving a tractor without a trailer attached.

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.

SAP:

Substance Abuse Professional

The Substance Abuse Professional (SAP) is a person who evaluates employees who have violated a DOT drug and alcohol program regulation and makes recommendations concerning education, treatment, follow-up testing, and aftercare.

Per Diem:

Getting paid per diem means getting a portion of your salary paid to you without taxes taken out. It's technically classified as a meal and expense reimbursement.

Truck drivers and others who travel for a living get large tax deductions for meal expenses. The Government set up per diem pay as a way to reimburse some of the taxes you pay with each paycheck instead of making you wait until tax filing season.

Getting per diem pay means a driver will get a larger paycheck each week but a smaller tax return at tax time.

We have a ton of information on our wiki page on per diem pay

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

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.