Choose Prime Over Swift

Nice post so far. I am on my last day as tnt we are heading in tonight so I can upgrade to be on my own. I passed my cdl test on july3rd so we probably crossed pathes at some point. If you have any questions about the next step I will let you know as I go through it. If any one has any question s about the training process let me know I will awnser them to the best of my knowledge and I will not bs you. Stay safe fellow drivers

I have been following and reading this and other posts regarding Prime. I must say I feel much more confident in going after reading these experiences getting at least a little bit of what happens during the process. Now to continue the CDL training program.

Thanks guys this has been a huge help keep it coming

Brian

My last extended post ended the day just before I headed out with my PSD instructor...

I started driving on my own Monday November 11. It was my very first solo drive. Prior to that I was completed both the PSD and TNT training. And due to the nature of PSD, and TNT, driving, I will not go into very much detail about them. This is because every experience is different. Every PSD instructor and TNT Trainer runs their rig a different way. The only consistencies are the base things you will learn. In PSD you will learn how to pass the CDL test. This will involve lots of driving, daily pretrip and some backing. If the instructor chooses, they may have you do paper work, hook up the trailer and interact with customers. With TNT you will learn everything associated with running the vehicle as a company driver. This includes hooking the trailer, paper work and interacting with customers. If they choose the Trainer may also teach you how to be an O/O as well. It’s entirely up to them. I will warn you though, if you’re as antisocial as I am, this period of time can be very stressful and theses people can easily end your career with prime. So, be prepared to hold your temper in check and take a lot of unpleasantness.

Now for the CDL test which has no set date. It can be taken 7 days a week and should not last any longer than 3 days. The reason for 3 days is that you have 3 tries to past the test. Ideally though you should only take 1 day. That will give you a trifecta and an extra $250. To prepare you for this your instructor may decided to hold off testing for a day or two so that you can practice your backing maneuvers on the testing pad.

The CDL test consists of 3 parts, Pretrip, backing and the driving course. By now you should be able to pass the pretrip portion easily. However, there are 3 things to note. First is that not all vehicles work the same. I am told that some will not have their air gauge warning buzzer come on without the engine being on. Make sure the tester knows that. Second, if you are checking the trailer, make sure you realize the type of tandems your working with since not all use the same type of tandems. Third. Make sure you know the air break test entirely, if you screw up, you fail. If you are unsure if you did it right, then restart.

Now, the backing portion consists of 3 maneuvers. First is straight line backing. You get 1 pull-up as a way of resetting. All other maneuvers allow for 2 pull ups. Second maneuver is the offset backing to either the left or right. If your instructor is good, they will give you check points to use while you perform this maneuver. Finally you will have to either ally back or Parallel Park.

The final part of the test is the driving portion. Here you will be asked to perform various tasks out on city streets and on the free way. Remember to check your mirrors, note signs and don’t run yellow lights.

I finished TNT training the week of November 4th. Once my trainer though I was good enough, he told the fleet manager I was ready to upgrade. This does not mean you will make a bee line for the prime HQ. The main concern of prime is to serve its customers. Thus, in my case, the fleet manager sent us back to the HQ via 2 different loads. The first went from California to South Carolina. The next went from South Carolina to Montana with a stop in Springfield so I could get off the truck. (I should note, everything I write here pertained to those upgrading to company drivers, not lease.)

Once in Missouri you will be boarded in the campus inn once again free of charge. Ideally your time back at the campus inn will last until Friday when you get your truck. However, it may take longer. In my upgrade class several people were not able to get trucks. Due to a shortage of available rigs in Springfield, they were driven to the Pennsylvania terminal on Saturday where they would have trucks waiting for them.

As stated, you will be in a new class and you most likely will not know anyone. It will also likely be made of people who have been in the TNT phase for as short of 2 months to as long as a year. In my case though, I had 2 other people from my original PSD class.

This upgrade week will end up being a lot like your initial week at prime excluding the medical stuff. You will attend various classes, work on the simulator and do CBT tests.

For me, I arrived late and thus my first class was the Tuesday Smith System course. If you don’t know what Smith System is, by now you should have done it once already, it is essentially a safety system that is applied to various scenarios. Theses scenarios could be bad weather, intersections or simply keeping space cushion. This course also has the benefit of sending people to their next destinations, if you have one. The instructor will ask you to sign in and , depending on your reason for being there, he will tell you where to go after the course.

For my upgrade week, my next destination that Tuesday was the simlab. There we were all given 2 practice tries on the simulators. First we all took the same course. Each of our second courses was personalized with me getting a snowy icy mountain pass. Once done, we were given test packets which explained what the test was about. The key things you must remember are that you are on a time limit and have 2 tries. There is the possibility of a third, but you must use the get out and look camera in order to receive it. Beyond that, you have to show you can get on to a free way going uphill after being pulled over on the side of the road. Exit to get off the free way. Then you have to park in the designated area. Finally you have to leave the virtual compound. All this took me 17 minutes and I scored a 91.

Wednesday was a free day for me, ill explain way later, but just know you may be working on your CBT tests.

Thursday and Friday both had 2 classes. For Thursday, the first class was about safety with Don Lacy. During the class he stressed that safety takes precedent, if you don’t think its safe, don’t drive. It better to anger a customer with late merchandise than anger them with merchandise (and more importantly you) splattered across the freeway. After that class was the truck placement class. No actual tricks were handed out. Mostly this was primarily to get people to understand what they would be driving as well as where they would be getting their truck. If your company reefer , like me, you will most likely be getting a international or freightliner light weight unless there is a specific reason you need something bigger (such as doing flatbed instead). This was the point where we found out some people would need to go to Pennsylvania to get their rigs.

The courses that took place on Friday were the maintenance class and the operations orientation class. The operations class took place first and it is where we found out more about pay, time off and the like. One thing I found interesting was that company reefer drivers make 0.34 cents per mile driving light weight rigs. This money is taxed. However, prime also had per dium pay of 0.08 cents per mile and, if I remember correctly, it is for all company drivers. This is untaxed. Another thing I think I should say is that prime has a minimum mile per gallon average you must meet. In the class they said it was 7.25mpg and apparently this is easy to be just by driving 55-58 MPH. this was further stressed during the maintenance class where they lightly went over how to maintain the truck. Personally, I think this class was pointless and we would have been better served by them giving use owner’s manuals. Anyhow though, take notes during this class. One of the CBT tests is on maintenance and those us a very long boring movie to re-watch if you don’t pass the test.

Now I will restate the fact that I arrived late. My TNT Fleet Manager told me orientation was on Wednesday. It was not. According to another TNT up grader, the orientation class was Tuesday. To make things more annoying, when asked, the Campus inn staff said it was on Monday. To this day I still have no idea when the initial orientation is. All I do know, is that if you miss it, contact the campus inn staff, I talked to one of the guys running the sim lab, and tell them you need to be signed up for the ACE 1 company upgrade. They will have you fill out a sign in sheet and give you a class schedule. Now, I did this on Thursday and found out, nearly too late, that I had CBT tests to do. The good news is that I was able to finish them all by the end of Friday! If need be you can take longer and there is the benefit that most are short. Most of them are also tests you did during your PSD week and should not be too difficult for you. As before though, take notes. Especially on the maintenance and hazmat tests.

Next we have your brand new(to you) rig. All rigs, company and actual lease drivers are ran through primes leasing program. So, to get your company truck assignment, you will be heading to the success leasing office. Once there, you will be given keys and a maintenance packet. The packet if for you to check off various parts of the truck and to note any problems. Think of this is as more extensive pretrip check. Note everything that is wrong or could be wrong. You may also ask that they remove the passenger seat if you want more room.

Finally, before you can work, you have to pick up some supplies. Items from this list come from driver’s lineup, out bound and the company store. Purchase of all this will be deducted from your pay check. The items you are receiving are things such as an atlas, chains and your permit book. A special note is that you must have a load before you can get supplies from out bound. This load will not come from your new fleet manager but from driver’s lineup. So just go in, tell them you need a load and be off on your way.

Finally finished…I think.

Just in case your wondering, 20 weeks is how long it took me to go through the entire program.

One thing to add: Everyone you ask will tell you, "you cannot have a full-size truck if you are a solo company driver, so don't bother asking." They are wrong. If you ask for one, and they have one available, they will give you one. It will likely be old (by Prime standards at least, meaning 4 years or less), and you will make $0.36 per mile instead of $0.41, but it is possible. I had two different full-size trucks as a company driver. (The lease expired on the first one.)

Thanks for the insight. Would you choose Prime if you had it to do over again? I read a similar thread on Roehl and it seemed to be a little more streamlined.

Yes. Absolutely. Now, to be honest, I have not worked for another company, so I have no frame of reference. But I do not regret choosing Prime.

Hey guys thanks for all the great info! This truly is a great resource for someone like me trying to look at all of my options! This question is geared towards Mason, but anyone who has made it through the entire Prime inc training process is welcome to reply. I plan on going with Prime, I live in Chesterfield MO, so among other things the closeness to home is a factor. I am a very frugal person and have experience traveling on a budget. I am hoping to be able to save as much money as possible during my first year driving / training. I just have a few questions for you "Primers" out there. If I choose to remain a company driver what kind of weekly mileage will I be looking at? I was assuming 2500 a week as a minimum would be a safe bet...am I right in thinking this? I would love to have as many as possible, but I am worried about calculating my potential earnings too high. Also as a company driver are there any fees that will be deducted out of my salary besides insurance, etc? Am I responsible for paying for fuel etc. or is the 34 cents per mile 39 cents with lightweight (as I was made to understand) what I will be making? Given that 2500 is a safe average to assume, 39 cents x 2500 = $975 before taxes a week. Is this overly optimistic? If so what would a more realistic figure be after proving myself as a reliable driver once going solo as a company driver? Thanks so much in advance for anyone who answers my questions! Peace and keep on trucking.