Prime Inc Flatbed Or Reefer

When I switched to tanker they bought my stuff back

Out of curiosity, did they give you full price for it when they bought it back or did they give you a prorated amount based on the wear and tear? As long as they give you all of your money back, no problem. If they keep some of it, that's a problem in my book.

They actually bought it back at a less price than I had paid because of wear and tear. I feel like they gave me a fair price and I ended up to the good on it because one of our terminals gave me 2 free tarps one time where a driver had abandoned them their. I told Prime that I never paid for those and they said even though they were given to me it was my property now so they would purchase those too. They were fair about it however I still question the decision to make us buy this stuff.. If anything give us the initial set of stuff free one time then if something happens to it charge us for additional items.

This is me keeping my mouth shut.

When I switched to tanker they bought my stuff back

Out of curiosity, did they give you full price for it when they bought it back or did they give you a prorated amount based on the wear and tear? As long as they give you all of your money back, no problem. If they keep some of it, that's a problem in my book.

They actually bought it back at a less price than I had paid because of wear and tear. I feel like they gave me a fair price and I ended up to the good on it because one of our terminals gave me 2 free tarps one time where a driver had abandoned them their. I told Prime that I never paid for those and they said even though they were given to me it was my property now so they would purchase those too. They were fair about it however I still question the decision to make us buy this stuff.. If anything give us the initial set of stuff free one time then if something happens to it charge us for additional items.

This is me keeping my mouth shut.

Bud, since we spoke on the phone about it, I may be the only one here that knows exactly what you're keeping your mouth shut about. Haha!

Prime is pretty infamous for screwing you on your return. I tell you with assurance, the only reason you got the good end of the deal was because you changed to tanker division and were remaining with the company.

My case wasn't like this when I quit, neither was Bud's.

You guys don't have to keep quiet about it. I personally feel this is totally wrong on Prime's part. This is the company's equipment, not the driver's equipment, so the company should pay for it.

A mechanic pays for most of his own tools and the company will buy some for all of the mechanics to use, like the specialty tools. However, those tools belong to the mechanic. The mechanic buys them, the mechanic keeps them.

This is nothing more than Prime making drivers pay for equipment and then keeping it for themselves. That's obviously wrong.

See, every company has a different strategy. Prime pays a ton of money when it comes to salary, but they make it up in a lot of other ways, like making students run team for months to support their lease drivers, convincing a ton of drivers to lease trucks, and then this example where drivers have to buy the equipment for the company's equipment.

I wouldn't mind Prime charging someone a deposit for the equipment and then giving the deposit back when the equipment is turned in. But obviously this is not what they're doing.

So what does Prime do with the used equipment then?

They take the used equipment and clean it up and make whatever repairs need made and resell it to drivers again. It is like a never ending cycle.

You guys don't have to keep quiet about it. I personally feel this is totally wrong on Prime's part. This is the company's equipment, not the driver's equipment, so the company should pay for it.

A mechanic pays for most of his own tools and the company will buy some for all of the mechanics to use, like the specialty tools. However, those tools belong to the mechanic. The mechanic buys them, the mechanic keeps them.

This is nothing more than Prime making drivers pay for equipment and then keeping it for themselves. That's obviously wrong.

See, every company has a different strategy. Prime pays a ton of money when it comes to salary, but they make it up in a lot of other ways, like making students run team for months to support their lease drivers, convincing a ton of drivers to lease trucks, and then this example where drivers have to buy the equipment for the company's equipment.

I wouldn't mind Prime charging someone a deposit for the equipment and then giving the deposit back when the equipment is turned in. But obviously this is not what they're doing.

So what does Prime do with the used equipment then?

Resells it to the next driver switching to the Flatbed division.

They have a 2 price tags; new and used. I don't recall what is the exact price for them.

Reefer also has to buy chains and load locks which comes out to $450ish. Still wrong, but nothing compared to $3,500.

Prime doesn't take/buy the equipment back when you leave unless you want them too. It's mine to keep, or so I was told. Also, I wasn't forced to buy their equipment. I could've brought my own, provided it met the load requirements. I just chose to go with Prime's stuff.

Some of my equipment was new, so I paid a new price. Likewise, the used stuff I got was discounted.

I'm ok with paying for my own tools. It ensures that I take care of it, and I do.

So you're telling me that prime forces flatbed drivers to pay for all that stuff whether you're a company driver or lease op? What kinda scam is this?

Prime doesn't take/buy the equipment back when you leave unless you want them too. It's mine to keep, or so I was told. Also, I wasn't forced to buy their equipment. I could've brought my own, provided it met the load requirements. I just chose to go with Prime's stuff.

Some of my equipment was new, so I paid a new price. Likewise, the used stuff I got was discounted.

I'm ok with paying for my own tools. It ensures that I take care of it, and I do.

Right, but everyone sells it back to Prime. Why would you quit and keep the equipment, continuing to make the weekly payments on it when your next company will 99% not charge you for the equipment.

Driver buys for $3,500, Prime rebuys for $2,500 after already collecting a ton from the driver each week. Big profit, and completely unethical if you ask me.

Im ok with not paying for own tools, because I will still take good care of them. In fact, as a fuel tanker driver I have 3 giant hoses, millions of fittings and a whole bunch of other tools provided by the company. A company that has 1/8 of the wealth of Prime. This isn't a common practice and Prime seems to be the only one doing this.

I don't understand how you are okay to pay for this equipment.

I might take care of it, and you may take care of it, but in a company of thousands of employees I'm sure a large percentage of employees may not care as much. Things get "lost" far too conveniently. Eons ago, a close friend of mine drove for Werner, and let's just say I never had a shortage of extra Werner straps and ratchets in my shed. Things "fell" off his truck all the time. He's only one of thousands of drivers.

As a former business owner, my employees always provided their own tools. Granted, I'm only talking costs in the hundreds vs thousands, but the point remains. I wasn't willing to continue laying out my money to cover their neglect.

Many many other businesses require employees to provide for and maintain their own tools.

I only paid roughly $2700 for my stuff, not $3500, but I totally see your point. However, the cost and payment structure was well disclosed long prior to me signing up. This was no surprise. Maybe other companies don't follow this policy, but I didn't sign up with another company. I signed with Prime.

That's why I'm ok with it.

As a side note: I recently slashed one of my tarps as a result of not putting proper protection in place. A steel coil put about a 6ft slice in it. Prime replaced that tarp for me at no charge, a $200+ value. This may not be the norm, but it's worth mentioning.

Except it's not a $200 value as they shouldn't be charging you guys for it at all. I had no idea Prime made you guys pay for all that crap, but now feel a heck of a lot better they didn't hire me. That's just insanity. If you work retail, the employer doesn't make you buy the cash register. Hell, in the fire departments I've been on they didn't even make us buy equipment. We could get extra stuff(and believe me, we did...), but that's more to the tune of buying a nice GPS. An option, not a requirement to do the job.