Prime Trucking: Good Or Bad

Oh, also I wanted to say I am very interested in all the improvements that the owner of Prime is doing to retain drivers. The info given above about APUs , safety features, etc. was interesting. I think that speaks volumes about a company's attitude towards their employees as a whole. Sure, you'll get some direct personnel issues, but those can be worked around.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

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.

APUs:

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.

This has been an extremely informative thread, and I'm glad I stumbled across it. I'm totally fine with all the time away from home, as I used to tour with bands where we would be out 4 - 6 weeks at a time. My husband and I miss each other, but he knows how much I need to constantly be "on the go" so he's super supportive. My one concern is that I live in Virginia, just outside of Washington, DC. I'm not worried about where I'll need to be for training. I'm just wondering if we'll need to relocate sometime in the future after I'm out solo. I'm all for picking up and moving somewhere new, but since the husband will be the one having to live there 90% of the time and I'm only home 10% of the time, I'd like to not have to ask him to make that sacrifice. Can anyone shed light on how the whole home time thing works if you don't live near one of the 4 big terminals that are listed on here as their main stations? (Sorry if I got the terminology wrong. Still learning all the lingo.)

Hello Miss Miyoshi! I'll shed some light on the home time policy. What Prime will do is have you take your truck home with you. You'll drop your trailer off at a customer as close to your home as they can get you. For instance, I live near Daytona Beach FL. We have customers where we keep our empty trailers in Jacksonville, Auburndale and Bradenton. We also have two drop yards in Pierson and also Auburndale. When I unloaded in Florida I would take the empty trailer to a customer usually. In my case it was Coca-Cola in Auburndale. However a couple of times I was told to take my empty to Coke but when I got there, they didn't have room for another empty. So I'd have to take my empty to our drop yard in Pierson. Prime would rather have their trailers at a customer but if there wasn't availability, I'd drop it at one of the drop yards. Now my tractor I would drive home with me and I paid a self storage place (about $20.00 for 4 days) to park as my housing association would not allow me to park it in my driveway. If you have a safe place to park in your driveway or on property then you would be fine. Or you lived on a safe street that you wouldn't be afraid of someone breaking in to the truck you don't have to pay to park it somewhere. Sometimes, if you live near a Wal-mart, the manager will let you park your tractor there if they had room. They take NO responsibility if someone breaks into it though.

Unless Prime changed their hometime policy recently, you were allowed to go home after 3 weeks on the road. For every 7 days you work, you get 1 day at home. However they would only let you take a maximum of 4 days at home. If you stayed out longer than 4 weeks, you could bank extra days for later. I used to stay out about 25 days at a time as I always come home and delivered on a Thursday so I can be home Friday, Saturday, Sunday and return out on Monday. Your first day at home counts as the day AFTER you empty. Also keep in mind this hometime policy pertains to company drivers only. Lease operators don't have a hometime policy and you can return home and stay for as long as you wanted. However at an average of $1,200 a WEEK, you can't afford to go home or stay home too long without going broke.

Living in the Northeast, you'll have no problem at all finding a customer to park your empty at. I delivered in Manassas a couple of times while at Prime. Any other ??'s feel free to ask.

Miss Miyoshi wants to know:

I'm just wondering if we'll need to relocate sometime in the future after I'm out solo.

There are some advantages to living near a terminal. (I live 15 miles from the Swift Memphis terminal.). However the important consideration is you do need to live somewhere along your company's traffic lanes. When it's time to go home, you'll get a load that delivers and/or picks up near your place. (You'll need to figure out where to stash your truck while your off.)

So if you drive for "New England Express", they may not go to Texas very often.

Yes, your job is portable!!

Thanks Terry. I'm ok with the home time offered. I used to tour with rock bands, so I was on the road for 4 - 6 weeks at a time. I miss it, and thought this would be a good way to keep my need to constantly be moving sated, and I would be a company driver. I want to learn more before I decide if I'm going to lease a truck and work independently. I live in a condo community, so I'll definitely need to park the truck somewhere else. I do have a Walmart almost across the street from me, but I would be hesitant to park it unattended. I'll likely investigate storage companies that will allow me to park there on occasion. Thanks for the info!

Question? I have been working on getting on with prime. I have my dot physical already because another company required it. Will they still make me do a sleep study? I have two years on my dot physical but my bmi is 40 or so?

I don’t know about Prime, but Schneider would require it. My guess is that Prime would, also.

I’m sure one of the Primates will chime in soon.

Will they still make me do a sleep study?

There are still a lot of sleep studies going on at most companies. Sometimes it's the company, other times it's the medical examiner requiring it. They tend to rely less on BMI nowadays and more on neck diameter or being overweight.

If you are on the heavy side, or have a neck diameter over 17 inches, you are much more likely to be sleep tested.

Prime is indeed still doing sleep studies. We have testing centers in our terminals. They will also give you another physical and drug test. Each company may have different standards.

BMI and neck size yes