Choose Prime Over Swift

I have a cdl ,but it's been a few years, would I have to do the 10,000 miles with Prime or the 30,000 with the trainer? Thanks for all great info.

A refresher course of which I'm not sure how many miles Prime would want. Just call a recruiter and they'll tell you the scoop. Good luck.

Really good info....Im actually at Prime now, just started on the 11th. They have apparently changed things up and this is the first week that they are doing actual evaluations with the simulators ect....I don't have the time to dedicate to it now but if anyone thinks it would help out I would be happy to post up a training diary of my experience so far if there is any interest... It's still early but I am excited by the decision I made to come here

Really good info....Im actually at Prime now, just started on the 11th. They have apparently changed things up and this is the first week that they are doing actual evaluations with the simulators ect....I don't have the time to dedicate to it now but if anyone thinks it would help out I would be happy to post up a training diary of my experience so far if there is any interest... It's still early but I am excited by the decision I made to come here

Definitely put up a training diary if you can on a new thread! I was originally considering Knight but I'm now considering Prime because of the sims and longer training time. Good luck and have fun!

Waiting to hear from my recrutier and will be getting my arrival date! This has really helped me be confident in my choice to go with prime! Thank you!

Obviously, I choose prime. The main deciding factor was pay during your initial training. I have not had a construction job in some time. Thus, pay was important. I also liked that you get real world training. What I did not like was the 30k miles needed with the trainer. I like my privacy very much, but every company has this type of requirement. Also, the contract you have to sign has some negative aspects to it. Assuming I read , and remember correctly, if you leave before one year you must pay back your training tuition at 70 bucks a week until you pay them back their money. There are also aspects, again assuming I read and remember correctly, that prevent you from suing them if you get hurt due to negligence during training (you slip and crack your head open on the bottom step of the catwalk) and that they have no obligation to pay you since you are not an employee. You are not considered an employee until you get your CDL and are placed on your own truck. Also, you are not required to have the hazmat endorsement to go to the school, but it is required once you obtain the actual CDL and start working for them.

Your mostly correct. You do sign a one year contract with them in which if you leave before that one year is up you will owe the remaining balance. But if you do complete the year they reimburse you the total amount of the contract in weekly installments. I was lucky, with my Army service, I signed a one year contract but they do not take any money out for training as long as I do my one year of service. Also there is a waiver that you sign on your first day of class stating that you will not sue if you get injured during training, and you become an official Swift employee on your 2nd day of orientation. That waiver is a smart idea though, while I was there in West Valley City, Utah we had a student that jumped out of the driver seat and broke his leg, didn't use 3-point contact. He was told and told and told all through training to use 3 points of contact when entering or exiting the truck. So until you get your CDL Swift does not want to have to pay for stupidity like that example. The thing it also says in waiver is that if you do get injured, once you become a Swift employee you will be reimbursed for any medical bills that you have incurred because of that injury. So Swift is only covering their butts. And HAZMAT isn't required at all and at any point. You don't have to have that endorsement to go to school nor do you have it to be hired after you get your CDL, I still don't have my HAZMAT endorsement and don't plan on getting at this point. But I also had the option of PRIME and Swift, my uncle is an Owner Op for Prime and wanted me to go that route, but I liked Swift's training process better. And as much shi* as Swift gets for training, they actually have a pretty good program going on in West Valley, Utah. You get out of it what you put in, some guys whined because they didn't get enough seat time, those guys also didn't come in on Sundays when they had day off and worked in yard. But I had really good time at training.

WOW..GREAT series of updates..thanks a bunch..I'm in exactly the same position..toss up between Swift and Prime at the moment..and this REALLY pulls back the curtain on what to expect in orientation..keep them coming, man..I'm eating it up...

Are you in liberty to discuss how long are you supposed to stay with the company and what will be the consequences of NOT fulfilling your contract?

Eddie asks:

Are you in liberty to discuss how long are you supposed to stay with the company and what will be the consequences of NOT fulfilling your contract?

I know Swift wants one year. Most other companies need one year also.

Swift has a deal where you make payments (payroll deductions) for one year, but at the same time, they pay you back over two years what you paid them in that one year. (Your contract deal is over in one year, but if you stay two, it's all free.)

After that initial class there were 5 tasks to complete. For me the first task was the pee test and is no different from any other employment **** test. Second was part 1 of the physical and this consisted of the nurse doing the hearing test, pulse, height and the like. Third was the physical part 2. This was done at a specific time with everyone being ordered to get in a line at the same time. This is the nude part of the physical where the doctor did his part of the examination. The fourth part I did was the interview. Mine was under 5 minutes and consisted of an employee skimming my application asking about my criminal record and then passing me along the line to the next task. Other people had much longer interviews. The fifth and final task I had to do was to head to the Sim Lab again and start my CBT (computer based training) which consisted of 9 tests ranging 10-25 minutes. I took the tests in the order in which they were presented, but they can be taken in any order and you don’t seem too restricted in how to do them. That is, many people helped each other or took notes. The latter I needed to do for the hazmat test. The 9 tests are hazmat, insurance, security, high value, roll over prevention, mountain driving, orientation, sexual harassment and the sure lock system. I got most of my tests done Tuesday after noon. Wednesday consisted of 3 parts, 2 of which were connected. The connected parts are the class room pre trip education and the outside pre trip education. The inside class consisted of the primary instructor showing us what components need to be inspected and proper way to explain what is being checked to the pre trip examiner. During this entire class we had to fill out a cheat sheet to use during the program. Apparently, assuming I pass, Prime will apparently be giving me a 2014 Freightliner Cascadia. During the outside class, I, and a couple other students, headed to a blue freightliner in the parking lot. The instructor that owned it walked us through the entire tractor pre trip. After a few rounds of the inspection we were ordered to do it on our own and ask questions as needed. We also had time to walk to a nearby trailer and did the pre trip on it as well. The last part of Wednesday is more time in the Sim Lab where I was able to finish the CBT testing. However, I did not finish the simulator due to time. You should finish all your simulations and need to finish the CBT by the end of Thursday. The sooner you can finish the better. You also have to be aware of those who are getting their permit who have not yet done the simulator or CBT and will need to start doing both as early as Wednesday after noon. By then some people will have finished their first attempt at passing the permit tests. The first class for Thursday is split into 3 parts that correspond with the 3 of the CBT tests. The titles of the 3 classes are self explanatory with what they cover. Insurance deals with Prime health, dental, life and dental insurance options. Sexual harassment explains what it is and how to respond. Finally, high value loads covers protection concerning loads costing 100k+ Next you will have 1 or 2 objectives. If the prime doc flagged you for a sleep study you will head there after the first class. I, however, did not need a sleep study. Therefore I had free time until the role call meeting schedule for later that day. This meeting is to determine where everyone is and what they must do to finish this part of the program. The instructor did a roll call. The then asked a series of questions to dwindle down the amount of people in the class. The questions were on subjects like who got their health card that needed to take the test at the DMV? Who did not pass their permit test at the DMV? Who finished their CBT? And who has simulator work to still do? Once these questions were over everyone headed off to their respective areas or had the rest of the day off. All I needed to do was take 1 more simulation to be done. However, due to the buildup of people finishing their permit testing, I was unable to do it and just had the rest of the day off.

Umm. Excuse me....did you really mean to type that students get in line for the...."nude" part of the test?? And the doc does "his part"?! What part exactly? There's no way IN HELL I'd get naked in line with neither males or females for ANY physical exam!!! Surely, I must be misunderstanding!!

RebelliousVamp is shocked. Shocked!

Umm. Excuse me....did you really mean to type that students get in line for the...."nude" part of the test?? And the doc does "his part"?!

I think he means "next" but his spell checker was lonely. The DOT physical does not check below the belt.

RebelliousVamp is shocked. Shocked!

Umm. Excuse me....did you really mean to type that students get in line for the...."nude" part of the test?? And the doc does "his part"?!

I think he means "next" but his spell checker was lonely. The DOT physical does not check below the belt.

As far as psyical Females need to removes jackets,shoes/socks Males need to removes Shirts, shoes and jackets.