Comments By Michael Y.

I leave for Prime training tomorrow. I hope I'm not sitting long past orientation.

Is that an expense thay they cover up front and you pay it back when you go solo or is that out of pocket? Do you know of you can do the test somewhere else prior to going to Prime? I'm looking at going to Prime training in August. I'm hoping to lose a bunch of weight prior to leaving but need a backup plan just in case. It seems like they are hustling people. That's my fear. Showing up and not being able to afford the study and then get sent home where I already quit my job.

Any one have an answer to the payment question?

Just look at the requirements on Prime 's website. It may have change in the last 6 months since I looked. But hazmat and Fast Pass/passport was required.

It may be required for flatbed, since the tanker division is only food grade, and I don't think they would put hazmat into the reefers due to hauling mostly food products in them. I could be wrong on that one. They don't have a dry van division.

Example....Prime is a great company to work for. Well maintained equipment and excellent starting pay but I won't work for them. They require hazmat and the ability to cross into Canada. I don't want to get my hazmat again and I refuse to leave the country.

When I asked my recruiter at Prime about needing to have HAZMAT he said it wasn't required. But then that could be just the "give the answer they want to hear to get them here" answer. Either way, I'm prepared to have my HAZMAT.

If all goes well on tests, do you typically go back out for second phase of training with the same trainer?

Its 6:45AM over here....

Where's my morning news?

Well let's see...we have a huge airplane that has mysteriously vanished, a building that exploded in NYC with a death toll of 8 so far, and a drunk driver that crashed into a crowd killing 2 at the SXSW festival in Texas.

That's why I don't ever watch the news. Always bad news.

I can answer #2 for you.

It is how the other driver has their echo set. The only way to stop that is to turn off your radio or, if you can find the idiot, slap him upside the head and tell them to adjust it down to a level where they could be understood.

As far as the noise you get while running your windows, there is whats called a filter that is placed on a wire somewhere. I am not sure where, maybe on the power wire?

First off, welcome to TT.

Second, research, research, research. That's the only real way to find out who pays what, and it also boils down to what your personally looking for. OTR, regional, local, type of freight you want to haul, the list goes on and on.

I recently obtained my CDL A permit. While I was talking to the officer administering the test, she asked me what endorsements I wanted to test for. I told her everything but the HAZMAT since I had not taken care of the TSA background check and fingerprinting part yet. She said I could go ahead and take it now to see if I would pass (which I did) and do that part before I got my actual license. So like Old School said, it depends on your state for the HAZMAT endorsement. Otherwise get all the ones you can now, it will save you time and hassle later.

Another thing to think about with tankers. The difference between chemical and food grade tankers is, generally the chemical tanks have baffles in them helping to reduce liquid surge. With food grade tanks, they don't have them. You would have to fight the truck while going down the road more than you would be fighting traffic. That's where the extra OTR experience that Brett mentioned comes into play, learning to fight the truck and win.