Prime (and Maybe Other Companies) Hometime

Drivers earn 1 day off for each week out. Minimum time out is 4 weeks and maximum home time is 4 days.

This came from Prime dispatching policies, and confused me a bit.

Does this mean I have to be out for at LEAST a month at a time? That's just silly!

How would, and does, this work with Prime or the company you work for?

Thank you, and good miles to all!

Normally you are out 3 to 4 weeks then you put in your request for home time... If your out 4 weeks u get 4 days off

Hey Mariah. They do have one of the best pay packages in the industry, especially for new drivers, and they have a ton of miles available if you can handle em. You'll also get more opportunities to see both coasts than you would with most dry van and flatbed companies that tend to regionalize more.

So there are advantages and disadvantages to every company. It's really about finding the one that suits you best. Most of the 15 years I spent on the road I literally lived in my truck. I didn't have a home or personal vehicle most of that time. I'd travel for weeks or sometimes months at a time before stopping by to hang out with friends and family for a weekend. I was never married and have no kids so I just kept travelin.

OTR is more than a job, it's a whole different way of living. I'm with Primes flatbed division and in orientation they said we had to be out at least 3 weeks. I live on the road full time.

I've read that before and I have to agree that is a ridiculous home time policy. So you will have to be out minimum 4 weeks, more likely I'd guess 5 weeks before they get you home, BUT you are only allowed 4 days off.... of course unless you get a special favor from your generous dispatcher. Lifestyle choice or not, this home time policy strikes me as awefully heavy handed.... It's not like they are paying you for your home time or anything, so I also don't understand why they have it worded so strictly myself.

There's some confusion going on in here.

The minimum time on the road before you're allowed to go home is three weeks.

1 day off per week.

You can be home for a maximum of 5 days. Anymore than that requires your DM's approval.

You can bank days. For example, if I do 5 weeks on the road I can go home for 4 days and bank a day. Next time I'll do 3 weeks on the road but I'll use my banked day and be home for 4 days.

Prime isn't the best carrier for Hometime. That's not their strength. This is something you sort of have to accept if you're going to come to Prime.

QwQ

First I'll say how I dished for 5 minutes about Brett replying to Lil ol me :D thank you Brett, and of course Scott once more, and also to Chris Ralph and Daniel.

I've looked onto Prime extensively, as they were me first choice before I made lists and still weigh heavy in my choices.

I understand (with no experience) as best I can that it is as much, if not more, a lifestyle choice than a job. I am married however and while we have talked extensively about this it still makes it hard to decide.

Still 3 weeks is still much better than four. As quoted I thought it would be a minimum of four, but it sounds like it might only be 3 now.

The situation will have to be handled no matter the company I'm sure. Still I have yet to look at more than a few closely. I'll continue to do so as I study for my permit. :3

Thank you guys for the help, and keep letting me know what your situations are out there on the road! Someone else out there might have something totally different :3

Mariah, if you're married and don't want to go OTR , have you looked into local opportunities? Local will depend on your location, first and foremost. Location trumps experience. Depending on your location, you can get local gigs without any experience. Some examples of local work would be the food service industry (which is heavy labor w/ delivering your goods), or LTL. LTL has some of the best paying trucking jobs available, but you've gotta be in the right area. Typically LTL jobs would be a P&D (pickup and delivery) driver, or a linehaul driver. Some LTL companies are Old Dominion, Estes, ABF, Saia, Conway-Freight, there are many more. Usually when you have once LTL company terminal , there will be others close by. Unlike OTR, you'll need to be near an LTL terminal in order to have an LTL job.

There's some confusion going on in here.

The minimum time on the road before you're allowed to go home is three weeks.

1 day off per week.

You can be home for a maximum of 5 days. Anymore than that requires your DM's approval.

You can bank days. For example, if I do 5 weeks on the road I can go home for 4 days and bank a day. Next time I'll do 3 weeks on the road but I'll use my banked day and be home for 4 days.

Prime isn't the best carrier for Hometime. That's not their strength. This is something you sort of have to accept if you're going to come to Prime.

That's a little better! Thanks for clarifying :) Three weeks out is still a bit much for me, but as many have already stated, that is a matter of preference and what works for the individual. Guess I get hung up on how strictly worded it was in the OP...

My family and I go on 7 day cruises once a year for our vacation. We like to get out there by plane a day early before getting on the cruise. So I know Prime gives you 1 week of vacation time after 120,000 miles driven or 1 year with them. So will I be able to combine 1 day of hometime with my 7 days of vacation time?

There's some confusion going on in here.

The minimum time on the road before you're allowed to go home is three weeks.

1 day off per week.

You can be home for a maximum of 5 days. Anymore than that requires your DM's approval.

You can bank days. For example, if I do 5 weeks on the road I can go home for 4 days and bank a day. Next time I'll do 3 weeks on the road but I'll use my banked day and be home for 4 days.

Prime isn't the best carrier for Hometime. That's not their strength. This is something you sort of have to accept if you're going to come to Prime.