What To Expect... My First 2 Weeks At Prime

Not sure how I managed to pooch that reply, but... Thanks to everyone that has commented. I really have learned a great deal from all of you. 6 string, I read your entire ltl thread and would have seriously considered that if I didn't live in the boonies and could have found someone to get on with.

The most difficult thing is that I miss my family. My trainer is on home time right now so I'm camping out at a flying j somewhere in Ohio and my wife is going out with friends and the kids are hanging out at home. Life has to go on for them while you're away, but it isn't always easy to watch.

If you can get past that and know that what you do is for everyone's benefit, it makes it worth it.

Daniel B, Jopa, Old School, 6 string and everyone else make it look easy to update here after a long day on the road. I'm still trying to figure out how to sleep during the day and drive all night while not committing hate crimes against people that cut in front of me in line when I'm trying to get coffee and a fuel receipt, but I well update as I can.

Thanks again to everyone.

Hey there Carter I have a quick question: Are you a PSD student? I'm not going to open a can of worms here but you say right in your first two weeks you're driving at night and 11 hour shifts right off the bat? Please tell me you came to Prime with your CDL in hand and you're in TNT training for the 40k miles.

Terry, yes I had my cdl in hand. No shenanigans going on, I promise.

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Terry, yes I had my cdl in hand. No shenanigans going on, I promise.

That makes me feel much better. It wasn't long ago someone on the forums here was talking about a trainer sleeping while she drove and she was a PSD student if I remember correctly. Which is a big no no.

That being said welcome to the wonderful world of trucking!! When I used to team in the 90's, then again when I had to retrain last summer a couple things that helped me to sleep while co-driver was behind the wheel was #1 wearing earplugs. The soft kind that you squish together and put in your ears. This was the only way I could drown out the noises of the stereo up front or the CB. If I heard either of those I couldn't sleep what so ever. Also the squeaking the cabinets in the sleeper made would wake me up. #2 was I made sure not to eat shortly before I went to sleep. This always made me ill or sleep light as having food bouncing around in my stomach while sleeping was not conducive to a good sleep. Your body metabolism slows way down when you sleep so eating before bed is never a good thing to do. #3 I'm not a big proponent of energy drinks to stay awake as they typically make you "crash" or get sleepier than you were before you drank them. Some guys swear by them and more power to them I guess. However there was 1 that did give me a boost for those wee hours driving and that was 5 hour energy. It's the only drink I found that doesn't make me "crash" after drinking it.

In the 14 years I didn't drive tractor trailer from 2000 to 2014 I was a very regimented sleeper. Strict 8:00 PM bedtime, wake up at 5:00 AM. I got very used to sleeping 9+ hours a night. So when I came back to trucking last summer I also was put with a trainer that only took TNT students out for the extra log book basically and keeping the wheels turning. Don't get me wrong, he would answer my questions but right off the bat wanted me to drive nights. He asked me the day we met if I'd mind driving nights and I agreed thinking that I could quickly adapt like I used to in my 20's. After the first couple of nights I asked him to re-evaluate that if he valued his life as I was having a very hard time in the early hours just before the sun came up. So I started taking over later in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to drive those grueling hours just before sun up. I also only drove 8-9 hours instead of 11. After a week that trainer had to go home on emergency leave and I got put with another trainer. The second trainer was a very great trainer. We split our times every week. One week I'd drive nights, the next week he'd take them. He taught me the qualcomm inside and out and basically by the end of my 40k had me doing the entire operation so I was completely prepared to take my solo time running. We still talk frequently on the phone and are long distance friends now. I was extremely lucky to have him as a trainer. His philosophy on training I believe is what every trainer should have and that is to teach (or re teach) a person to operate by themselves, not just to get by but to excel.

Lastly I don't know anything about your trainer other than he's a LO but I'll give you this friendly piece of advice. If he tries to sell you on the idea of Leasing as a much more lucrative way of making money be careful. Also many LO I run into try to tell me how much more "freedom" they have as opposed to company guys. While there is some truth to both, it's not that much more than you'd think. My first trainer pushed lease and lease only and very hard. He showed me the wonderful settlements and told me how bad they micro manage you as a company guy and pretty much had me convinced leasing was the only way to go. Then I started asking about leasing here on the forums and had the truth to that given to me. My second trainer told me the opposite. Go company first and develop a a report with the company before taking on the financial burden of a lease. If you want to know how many miles I average per week and where I get dispatched I'll be more than happy to share that information here. After 6 months with my FM , I have a pretty darn good working relationship with him. I've made every delivery safely and ON TIME. Not once have I been told exactly what routes I have to take and where I have to break or any of what I was told was "going" to happen to me if I went company.

Good luck with Prime bud!!

Terry, wow! Lots of great info there, thank you very much. I am fortunate that I have a good trainer. He was very up front with me that he would push me hard because that is how he makes his money. He also laid down his "rules of the truck" which are just basically the way he wants things in his house. Kinda quirky, but this is his home, I'm just a guest so no big deal.

He actually gave me ear plugs and pointed out somefof what you mentioned (didn't think about the bouncing food thing though).

He definitely sings the praises of leasing, but I told him I wasn't interested and he let it go (I'm so glad I read these forums for the months before I started). One thing that I really give him credit for is that he shows me all of the tedious daily stuff that you need to do to succeed, or at least be organized and prepared and then lets me choose if I want to do it, or have him do it.

He is setting me up to succeed if I want to, but he isn't forcing it. As he says, "I already know how to do it and it doesn't bother me if you want me to, but you will wish you had made it a habit when you are all by yourself."

The schedule changes, sometimes I drive days, but mostly nights. It just depends on where we are and what our clocks look like. That, however, it's a completely different topic...

Elsworth maine they used to say "if not why not " was a saying on all the hats and t-shirts they would sell was up in bar harbor in the late 80s totally not trucking related i know.

Lets be honest. When we think about going in trucking that and I mean that very first time we thought about. We thought about Smokey and the Bandit, that cool HQ semi in Night Rider, and where does Optimus Prime's Trailer go when he transforms back into a robot. Ok well maybe not the last two. But we tend see it as a paid vacation. My.brother who got his cdl way back when asked me the other day "Do know how hard trucking is going to be?" I told ive heard its gonna be hard but i havent done it to fully grasp it. You cant say that you have been to the grand canyon just because you watched a video of it on youtube. With that being said this sight has done an awesome job painting a picture for us green horns. From Things likewise WHAT WOULD YOU DO, Daniel B's journey,to Mr. Guyjax straight up in your face suckit up or cry home response have all opened alot eyes to this Lifestyle. I dont know how he told you but Mr Brett you sir are God send.

Let's not act like it all sucks. I'm sitting on the beach in Marina, CA on a 34 right now. Some of the allure we picture does exist, from time to time.

Let's not act like it all sucks. I'm sitting on the beach in Marina, CA on a 34 right now. Some of the allure we picture does exist, from time to time.

That's for sure. I'm thinking about driving through the Appalachian mountains on a beautiful, sunny day. Jamming to some classic rock. A thermos of coffee. Not being held hostage in some office cubicle. Driving a double bottom rig and digging it. I LOVE my job. I wear flannels and have grown my beard to my chest and it fits my job description, I was born for this.

The key being that you have to trudge through the initial baptism by fire and know that eventually you'll have one of the best jobs on the planet. If you don't wind up feeling that way, you're probably due for yet another occupation change, and can consider the hell you went through as hopefully a forge of character building.