Comments By Roadkill (aka:Guy DeCou)

I decided not to document my orientation time just mainly due to the fact that its been so well documented already. This number of students isnt typical and i would guess that by the end of the month it should be a little more back to normal. I WILL however give ANYONE who is set on coming to PRIME this advice. Get your permit BEFORE you get on that bus. Go to your local physician and get a DOT physical before you get your permit. Guys and gals, I cannot tell you how much stress this will take off of your already stressful period here during your orientation. We lost at least 25 students today because they could not pass their permit tests. And you have three tries to pass and these guys and gals simply could not cram in enough knowledge on top of everything else that was going on to absorb it all. Do yourselves a favor and start studying now if you haven't already. If you have that permit and you self certify which means you get a DOT medical card before you take and pass your permit exam you will be MILES ahead of those that dont. Orientation will be a cakewalk for you. If you get your physical and permit before you come to Prime you will not be required to transfer your permit to Missouri. If you dont you will have to waste time going to the dmv to have it done and spending money needlessly.

This is nothing more than smoke and mirrors, and a ton of BS. Just another way for Prime to shake down drivers for more money. Imagine how many drivers per day they run through their so called "Orientation mill." That is a lot of $$$$$$$.

Let the drivers sleep when they need,and not keep them up all day and expect them to drive all night. Its that simple!

If you havent been to Prime then you have no basis for your comment. I am currently ay Prime and have been slated for the sleep apnea test due to my weight. I have mo problem with this as i am confident that i will pass but if i dont and i need a cpap then i will get it. The number of students that i have seen falling asleep in class and in front of the computers doi.h cbt's is frightening. Know what they ALL have in common?? They're ALL overweight.

Wow...how do they manage to teach/deal with a 100 new boots all at once...? I was wanting to go to a smaller school/classes but Prime is on my SHORT SHORT list because of the LW trucks and extra nickel per mile but mostly because I think they have more to offer in terms of freight so I can stay put for long time. How many of the current class are likely to make it to the finish line...?

Thanks for the question. My understanding is that the situation with the high number of new students is mainly due to the bad weather recently. A lot of people couldnt get here when they were supposed to and once the roads cleared and buses started running it was all hands on deck. My understanding is the usual class number is about 40-60 students per orientation class. Prime is being good about dealing with this overflow but we have students from orientation classes from two weeks ago still waiting on instructors so its a first come-first served basis so all of us FNG's are just having to suck it up and be patient. This is already starting to take its toll on some people who are starting to complain quite vocally regardless of who is around. I dont expext those persons to be here much longer. Im especially happy i got my permit and DOT before i got here because other than the first day of getting my U/A, physical and interview and finishing up my cbt by 10 am yesterday morning i have had LOADS of free time. Today we started intro to pre trip. I can tell you this. If i had not spent the better part of the last year studying the pretrip guide i would be just as lost as most of the people in my class. But im not. I know what the instructor is talking about the first time he says it. Now i dont say that to brag on my self. I say that to highlight what a great learning tool we have here. As far as how many students do i expect to make it. I think a liberal number would be about 50%. There are people here who are just not cut out for this lifestyle. You can see it already. Theyre either ****ing amd moaning about having to stand in line for two hours for a pee test or their complaining because we arent already on a truck and driving. Its obvious the majority of them did NO research about how Prime runs their training program. All they saw was rookie driver gets paid $.38 a mile. And others simply dont have the literate skills to pass the permit test. Its perplexing to see how many people couldnt even follow simple instructions on how to properly fill out the mountain of paperwork we had to get through. So, no i dont think many of them are going to be here by the end of the week for the reasons ive listed and other reasons. I mean,there were guys that came to school and had to make a stop in Colorado. There was a pot shop near the bus station. Do you know what these idiots did??? Went and got high. Why?? Because it was legal to do so in Colorado. Guess who is going to be the first guys out the door when the U/A results come back?? My other piece of advice is this. If you are desperate for money and need to start earning now, Dont come to Prime.I say that not to be mean, but again you will not start earning money until you are hired. You will not be hired until you pass your CDL. You will not even get the opportunity to test for your CDL for 4-6weeks. Sorry for the long winded answer to your short question but i hope its been helpful.

Hey Mongo and Roadkill...I'm at Prime right now with Jeff..he is here completing his upgrade and waiting for our truck...I will have a Prime visitor badge on..the difference is the chain and the background is gray...if you see me please do not hesitate to say hi!!

Hey Freespirit. Im in PSD right now. Im enjoying it but we're pretty slammed with the number of new students. Almost 100 in my class alone. If i see you i will certainly say hi. If you see me please say hi,too.

I think Prime is a great company. My instructor is a company driver. He wants to be my tent trainer also. I should roll back to Springfield the week of the week 10th to Springfield to get my cal test and Lic.

Hope to see you there...I start orientation on the 10th.. any idea about why they moved up orientation to Monday from Tuesday???

Haha..Yeah, I'm lurking around here, too...There were a couple of the TS's that I was in and out of last year that DID have a separate shower area for the ladies...not the rule, generally, but they are there...and yes, all of the shower's that I was in were very clean..

That's why you gotta read those question very carefully...Brett designed the program to make you have to pay very close attention to the details...because guess what...that's attention to detail will come in very handy on the road.. glad you were able to figure it out..

Check to see if Oregon's legal weight isn't 12,000 lbs.? It doesn't matter what your tires are rated for if the state limit is lower, you have to go by the lowest weight limit..

GREAT advice, Woody and Great article, too, Brett..I think a lot of drivers, especially rookies think you need to be "on duty" all the time and that costs them when it comes to hours....You're absolutely right about using line 2 as much as possible and about trying to get as close to your shipper or receiver as possible before you shut down for the night...

Here is probably a silly question for Daniel B. or anybody really......what is an LW truck in relation to a full size truck that you mentioned?

Thanks

LW means Light Weight...they are almost exclusively Freightliners...they have a somewhat smaller sleeper and use a lot more aluminum and fiberglass in their construction, thus saving several thousand pounds of weight off the GVW of the truck so you can load the trailer heavier and still be legal..