My Prime Inc Training Journal

I'm heading off to Prime Inc CDL training. Currently sitting at the Greyhound terminal in Tampa, FL for my 31-hour trip to Springfield, Missouri. I will update as much as possible on my experience at orientation and the training program. I arrive tomorrow, Sunday, at Campus Inn and start on Monday, 9/15/14.

I got my CDL permit from Florida already. My recruiter told me the tanker endorsement was required, which I got also. I'm going into the reefer division.

My wife has been driving for 6 months now and I've been riding passenger in her truck, learning as much as I can before starting school.

Well, it's almost time to start boarding the bus. I'll update tomorrow with details on my trip there and the Campus Inn.

Looking forward to this thread, good luck.

I arrived in Springfield this afternoon. Got on the shuttle to the hotel from the Greyhound Terminal , which was already there and only a mile or so away was Campus Inn. The orientation and training classes are located at the hotel. When arriving, the hotel staff gives you your room assignment and paperwork to fill out to bring to the 1st day of class. They also show you where all the classrooms and cafeteria are located. The rooms are free, you also can pay $26.13 a night if you wish to have your own room with no roommate. The rooms are pretty large with flat screen tvs, decent beds and coffee makers, but no fridge or microwaves. They have smoking and non-smoking rooms and a pool.

There are plenty of restaurants and a Walmart right outside the hotel. They provide 3 meals a day at the on-site cafeteria. Vending machines are located only in the lobby and the front desk also sells snacks, toiletries and medicine like for headaches, colds, etc... Cash only, there is an ATM in the lobby.

Well, that's it for now, breakfast is at 6am and class starts at 7am Monday morning. I will update each day and describe what happens daily in the orientation classes.

I know there are already other Prime training journals on here, but some are older and everyone has different experiences and opinions, so I'm just putting in my two cents.

Looking forward to hearing about your experience at Prime. I start my training Oct. 3rd. I've read a few other training diaries on Prime, so I already have an idea of what to expect. Always looking to hear more from other people about Prime. Goodluck!!!

Looking forward to your postings!

Class started at 7am today. It started off by getting your meal card for the cafeteria and a presentation from the fitness instructor and his program, which is optional to participate in. Then the instructor did roll call, reviewed how to fill out the application and gave out schedules of where to be and when. Next, the nurses came in and went over the medical forms to fill out.

After all that, the people with permits already were sent to the interviews to go over your application and people without permits went to Medical to do the drug test, vitals and physical. Then, once your done with wherever you were sent first, then you do the other.

After interview and medical, you have 8 cbt's to do and 7 simulators to complete. You can't do the simulator until you have your permit. I was able to complete the simulator and 4 cbt's today.

Tomorrow, class starts at 730am. It is a log class, then at 830am, people without permits are going to the DMV for testing if medical and interview were completed, if not they have to do those first, then go to the DMV in the afternoon.

Since I have my permit and completed the interview, simulator and medical, all I have to do tomorrow is the log class and the remaining 4 cbt's. On Wednesday we start the pretrip class over at the terminal.

Couple words of advice: 1. Be on time, which means early. Couple people already got sent home for being late to class. 2. Have your permit before you come to orientation. It will save you time and possibly money. I got my for free in Florida and Missouri charges only $7.50 to transfer the permit. To test in Missouri, it cost $50.00. Also, you get to start on your simulators early. Only 11 people came with permits out of about 60 people. There's only 5 simulators. The 11 of us got done today since not many of us taking turns using them. The other 50 people are going to take 5 times as long. 3. Sit in the back of the class the 1st day so when it ends, you get out the door 1st to the interview or medical, so you don't have to wait in line for at least one of them. I sat in front and wound up waiting in long lines for both. 4. Finally, make sure you have your social security card, license and state issued certified birth certificate. Some people forgot these things and we're sent back home on their dime to get the missing items. Also, if you have any medical issues or recent surgeries, make sure to bring your forms from your doctor or hospital. If not, you won't be able to continue until your doctor or hospital faxes or mail the forms, which happened to people today. If you take prescription medications, bring them with you with your prescriptions.

One last thing, if your BMI is 39 or more or neck size of 17 or bigger, you will have to do the sleep study. There is quite a few seriously overweight people here and all got hit to do the sleep study, which isn't cheap.

Also, the cafeteria food isn't all that bad. You get so much to spend on each meal and if you want more than you have to spend on your card, you must pay the difference, cash only!

Well, that's it for now. I'll probably won't update till Wednesday since tomorrow I don't have much to do, which I already said earlier what I'm doing.

For those who don't know, CBT stands for computer based training. You watch a 15 to 20 minute video, then take a 10 question quiz on each of the 8 sections which you must get a 100%. There are 90 computers, so there is no wait to use them.

This morning did the logging class, which was 30 mins on how to do paper logs, in case your Qualcomm goes down. Then for 45 minutes, the student program director came in to review the training in more detail.

Then we had 1hr & 45 mins to do cbt's if not completed yet or if you didn't have the permit yet, you studied. At 10:30am, they handed out medical cards for the ones they received already from the doctor, I was one of them, but not everyone received theirs today.

After that, people without permits went to the DMV for testing. I only had 1 cbt at that point to complete, did that, ate lunch and now I have the rest of today to do whatever I want.

Tomorrow there's only 1 class to do, pretrip inspection. Then at 3pm, I'm going to the DMV to transfer my permit to Missouri from Florida.

One correction, the permit to test in Missouri is $32.50, not 50. To transfer is $7.50.

One last thing, for those wondering, yes the training is free other than the $100 administration fee if you stay for 1 year. The total cost is a little over $3700. If you stay for at least 6 months but less then 1 year, it's half the cost, any less than 6 months, it's full cost. You have 7 days from signing the contract, to cancel and leave without penalty other than the 100 admin fee and paying your way home if you decide it's not what you want to do.

If you complete training and get your CDL but don't stay the year, the repayment is only $72 a month. But here's the kicker, if you fail the training or don't get your CDL or leave after the initial 7 days, you still owe the full program cost and it's $70 per week repayment not monthly. You have to sign a wage garnishment form stating any employer you work for after not completing training, you give permission for them to take $70 per week of your pay. So keep that in mind ... if you don't give 110% during training, it's going to cost you big time. So make sure this is what you seriously want to do, it's not a game.

Until tomorrow .....

I'm heading off to Prime Inc CDL training. Currently sitting at the Greyhound terminal in Tampa, FL for my 31-hour trip to Springfield, Missouri. I will update as much as possible on my experience at orientation and the training program. I arrive tomorrow, Sunday, at Campus Inn and start on Monday, 9/15/14.

I got my CDL permit from Florida already. My recruiter told me the tanker endorsement was required, which I got also. I'm going into the reefer division.

My wife has been driving for 6 months now and I've been riding passenger in her truck, learning as much as I can before starting school.

Well, it's almost time to start boarding the bus. I'll update tomorrow with details on my trip there and the Campus Inn.

Husband / wife team? I wish I could talk my wife into getting her CDL! THAT would be THE LIFE!!!! Good luck with your training! It's a little overwhelming at first, but once it starts to "click", it starts to be fun!

I just started tnt phase. Trifected Saturday and got a load Monday night. My class had over a hundred and I think there's about under 20 still here. Do everything right or you're riding the dirty dog home. That alone was most of my motivation to do my best haha. Anyways, instructors are hard to come by, If you get one after the first week Great, if not your paying for your own food till you find one. Seriously be picky, it's tough because there's not enough but your experience during psd phase is directly related to how good your instructor is and how tall get along. I was there for just over 2 weeks and ended up with a great instructor. There are some bad ones believe me, a friend of mine ended up stranded after his instructor wrecked the truck after a night of gambling. Be Picky. Good luck, hope to see you make it.