My Prime TNT Progress Updates
Topic 31625 | Page 10
04/11/22
It is 07:30 CDT. Robert finally woke up at 07:00 and started driving now. I moved from top to bottom bunk. Robert said he was just too tired to get up at midnight last night.
I guess we will be flexible again today swapping around work shifts. My 10 hr break is over in an hour, but will be late afternoon before I drive again. Whatever it takes to get the job done, while being careful not to drive fatigued (which Robert doesn’t do, he will sleep as much as his body needs).
Yesterday evening I made a quick unscheduled 15 mins stop because I was feeling a little drowsy. Bio break and got a couple caffeine drinks. I was fine the rest of my drive.
We were parked near Dandridge, TN, heading towards Knoxville now.
This current load we can D&H whenever we arrive today to Greenfield, IN near Indianapolis. Should be done about 14:30-15:00.
Our next pre-plan load is 41 miles away with a pickup time of 16:00 today with delivery time of 13:00 on Tuesday. I’m sure Robert will figure out a realistic ETA to provide Dispatch as his drive progresses.
Adding up this load (757 miles) that will complete today and the next short haul load (495 miles) that will complete on Tuesday, my total TNT miles will be 20,941.
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.
PS. A point of clarity regarding how the lumpers were paid yesterday.
When we requested the “express order” for $155.00 to pay lumpers, Dispatch transferred the $155.00 to Robert’s ComData account in a matter of minutes. Robert then uses his ComData account to pay the lumpers.
We have only had to do this a handful of times since I’ve been training with Robert (PSD & TNT). Most customers we’ve been to take care of the loading/unloading.
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.
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.
Robert just finishing a 30 mins DOT break near Georgetown, KY. About 3 hours from 90 Loc.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
PS, it was 07:30 EDT, not CDT, when he started driving. I was still groggy when I glanced at my phone to note the time. I forgot that my phone is on local time zone, which is still EDT.
I just found this handy time zone map. Watch out for AZ during daylight savings season as it is now Pacific time.
So far I have driven in 36 states. A state does not count if I just passed through as an off duty passenger.
These are the 12 states yet to be driven in as of 04/11/22.
1 Oregon 2 Washington 3 Idaho 4 North Dakota 5 South Dakota 6 Vermont 7 Rhode Island 8 Alabama 9 Florida 10 Louisiana 11 Mississippi 12 Kansas
I will be able to mark off Mississippi tomorrow.
04/11/22 continues
Another day of surprises and changing plans in trucking.
Arrived at our 90 Loc at 14:30 EDT and Completed our D&H.
The empty trailer was trashy inside. I picked up trash and blew it out, but not good enough. Will need to wash the floor only because sides cannot be wet for our next shipper.
The air shute is made of canvas like material running the length of the trailer to move cold air from front to rear of the trailer. A couple of screws had come out in this trailer so it was hanging down. I used duct tape to put it back up.
This shipper instructions state that they will reject any trailer with a damaged air shute. So we will find out soon.
Also need two load locks so having to buy one.
We were not able to meet the 16:00 EDT appointment time for live load. Just finished trailer washout and filling reefer fuel at 17:15. Provided dispatch a new ETA of 17:50 EDT.
Now for the surprise. The 90 Loc has been changed from Mount Olive, MS to Grove port, OH (suburb of Columbus). This is only ~200 miles from 01 Loc near Indianapolis.
So, what was going to be a short 465 miles load is now only 243 miles dispatched.
This load has special security requirements, all of the same work at shipper & receiver with live loading/unloading, a lot of downtime and very little reward.
We will have an option to remain parked overnight at the shipper in their secured parking (limited space permitting) and drive in the morning (~4 hours) timing our arrival for a 13:00 live unload appointment, or drive to receiver tonight and park in their secured parking area to await the appointment time. The receiver instructions say “cannot deliver early”.
We will decide later once loaded.
I don’t know how much revenue Robert will get for this short haul load. However, from my perspective this falls into my “crap” load category.
Our FM is on vacation this week. Robert was ****ed that he didn’t notify his fleet drivers ahead of time. Maybe there will be another “man to man” talk ahead next week.
This FM only handles L/O and O/O drivers. So I won’t end up in his fleet as a company driver.
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.
Fm:
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.Reefer:
A refrigerated trailer.
We are docked at 18:00 EDT. Now wait.
This place has the docks inside a secured garage. Have to get the rear of the trailer pass the entrance door columns, open the trailer doors and slide tandem all the way back.
There are a lot of Prime trucks coming and going from here now.
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".
My revised TNT miles total will be 20,689 instead of 20,941.
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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Just a heads up if you ever delivered to the produce market in Boston. You have to pay $35 just to get in the place and then the lumper fee that I had to pay was $80. All cash.