Comments By Garrett J.

Pretty shady on Prime's part if you ask me. But hey, I guess that's one way they get away with paying a little higher than the average. Always a trade-off.

What's shady about it? I'm not seeing anything I'd call shady.

Laura

Referring to how they make you pay for the equipment. No other company does that. I guess it's not too shady to make you to pay if its brand new, but if they already own it they should just give it to you and make you pay for any lost or damaged items.

As far as securement equipment the cost is about $4,000 that they take it out in each paycheck at $75. But you generally tarp at least one load a week and the tarp pay is at least $80. So, you will at least recoup the cost of the equipment in tarp pay.

Thanks SO much for that info. I almost decided on refer instead of flatbed for that reason, but now its back on the table.

Pretty shady on Prime's part if you ask me. But hey, I guess that's one way they get away with paying a little higher than the average. Always a trade-off.

Starting with Prime next week, but haven't quite decided on reefer or flatbed yet, though I'm leaning towards flatbed.

Which is more rookie-friendly & why?

Which is a better introduction to the industry as a whole, and why?

Do flatbed drivers actually make a little more than reefer drivers on average across the board?

Does it ever get so slow for flatbed that there aren't any loads available for you for a few days, or longer?

I'm leaning towards flatbed since I'm young, physically fit, and don't mind physical labor or working outdoors. But honestly mainly because you're sleeping schedule is so irregular and inconsistent with reefer. Or, is it really that bad?

What do y'all think? What are the pros and cons of each?

So I've decided on Prime!

Currently trying to decide on OTR reefer or OTR flatbed now and totally on the fence.

I'm not lazy in the slightest, don't mind hard physical labor, and love working and being outside. So maybe flatbed is for me. But apparently you pay for thousands of dollars worth of securement equipment at prime...so that's not cool.

Is there any truth in that you're sleeping schedule might be more consistent and regular with otr flatbed?

You're current schedule sounds pretty sweet man. How much experience did it take to get a nice schedule like that? Just out of curiosity

I pretty much ran that schedule right off the bat. Because the boat loads were easy, I could settle into a good schedule. Now ,there are some weeks where I spend more time securing, but for the most part the schedule works well for me and my FM. It's nice for me and predictable for my FM.

You're home during your 34 hour reset, correct?

Yes, it sure is, that's why we keep telling you on all these different topics you start to go with a large, well-established company that offers paid, company sponsored training.

How many times should we keep recommending this to you?

You can blame the canadian dude from the Smart Trucking Youtube channel for getting it into my head, lol.

Thanks for the input and advice everyone. Really good stuff. I'm learning a lot.

Hi Garrett,

There is a right way and a wrong way 1099 companies are run. If your going to work as an independent contractor you need to have some kind of risk. What i mean is you need to own or be leasing the truck, paying for fuel, paying for repairs...something. The reason is because of taxes. Your going to be making estimated quarterly tax payments and if you don't know what you're doing your going to end up with a 5 figure tax bill come end of the year. I don't want to get too much into it, but the reason you need some kind of risk is because of write offs, which saves you a ton on taxes.

If your just jumping into a truck that the company pays for, you don't pay for fuel, all you do is drive the truck then the company is basically paying you employee wages while not giving you employee benefits, it's just that simple.

One of the dispatchers did say "You get to write everything off though." ...so would you say this company is doing things more the right way?

Regardless, I shall call them tomorrow and get all the details.

I'll most likely just go with Prime though. I was only considering this company since what I've been reading about trying to find a good, wholesome, driver-friendly small to medium sized carrier that's doing it all the right way to work for- if you can... but apparently this company is not doing it all the right way and is in fact doing something illegal.

I have noticed they've switch insurance companies a lot in a short amount of time, used to go by a different name until recently, and seem to have several different addresses. They're just all over the place.

Considering a smaller, private, local company, but just found out today that their drivers are all 1099.

I understand the basics of what this means, but anyone care to elaborate on exactly how this would affect the job on a day-to-day basis & the more long-term effects of it?

Anyone have any experience working for such a company?

Is it a red flag? Should these companies be avoided? Could it have its positive aspects?

I find it suspicious that they didn't reveal this information until after I already put in an app and approached them in person with questions and probably wouldn't have even disclosed it until i accepted the job.

That, and I have a tendency to scroll past the thread subject too quickly. My bad.

All good brotha!

Knight does both - hair and urinalysis - for pre-employment.

I'm asking if Prime, Inc does good sir, not Knight.