Comments By Paul H.

Welcome, Daniel! I'm glad you're happy with Prime. Maybe I'll see you around one of these days.

I need to get my Missouri CDL that I just got transferred back home to Florida. I've heard that you have to do this within 30 days, but I think it depends on the state. I can't find any information on the DMV website or anywhere else to confirm this, and I am going to throw my phone on the ground and let this crazy Wyoming wind blow the pieces away if I have to listen to the hold music and the same message over and over again on the DMV customer service line. Is there anyone from Florida that knows specifically what the time frame is to transfer a CDL to Florida after school, or if there even is a time limit?

When I did my research a few months ago, Prime was the only company that has both a school and a pet policy. That's why I chose them. And as it turns out, they pay better than most as well.

I didn't wait for them to call me. I called the day after I applied, and they had me assigned to a recruiter, but she was off that day. So I first talked to my recruiter two days after I applied online. I think it took a day or two after I talked to her to be approved. You can start whenever you want. Classes start every Tuesday. I set my date about a month and a half out from when I applied. I even bumped it back another week when it got closer, because I wanted more time to do stuff with my family in Alabama before I left (like going to the Alabama vs. Tennessee game - ROLL TIDE!!!). It's not set in stone until they've bought your bus ticket.

I'm sure you'll do fine in training. As long as your background is fine, and you tell the truth about any part of it that's not fine, then you'll get through training, I'm sure. It's scary, and it's not the easiest thing, but it's not rocket science either. I still have lots to learn, and I'm not fully confident behind the wheel, but I'm getting there. As I said before, I was babied too much in the PSD phase. The TNT phase I'm starting now won't be that way. It's a team driving situation, and I will be doing just as much driving as my trainer. So those jitters are going to be worked out soon, I'm sure.

It should take no longer than a month, ideally two to three weeks. We came back to Springfield somewhere between two and three weeks to get some electrical issues fixed, and I was going to test then. But it snowed like crazy and they closed the pad. So we went back out for about another week. We came back to Springfield on Christmas Eve, and I didn't test until two days ago. My instructor's girlfriend lives near here, so he spent more time there than he did working with me. Plus he was sick for two days after the company Christmas party, which I think was more hangover than actual illness. I had three days backing on the pad, in nearly two weeks. Fortunately he was good at teaching backing, so I was able to get pretty good at it in that short amount of time. Long story short, it's been roughly a month and a half since I left home, and I just got my CDL two days ago. Oh, and I forgot to mention I was here for another week after orientation, because my instructor's previous student took forever to test out. So it shouldn't take as long as it did for me, but you never know. And as they say here, Prime isn't a school that also runs a business, it's a business that also runs a school. So running loads and making money takes priority over getting a student back for testing.

Driving the truck gets less scary the more you do it. I'm as comfortable driving on the highway as I am in a car. I'm still nervous on city streets, though. I'd rather drive down a steep mountain than drive in the city. I certainly have more experience doing so, after all the driving we did out west. I've always been a careful and defensive driver, so hopefully that will help me in this career. The travel is pretty awesome. In three weeks, I think I counted eleven states we went to that I'd never been before. I'm into photography, so I try to make a point of taking some pictures every day. I've gotten some good ones.

I also replied to you on my thread if you haven't seen that yet, but I'll answer the questions you asked here as well.

No, you don't get the $600 minimum until you pass your CDL exam. Once you finish orientation (the first four days), you get a $200 a week advance (every Friday), which will be paid back at $25 a week once you start getting paid. You're not hired until you get your CDL. And notice I said $600 MINIMUM. You are paid at a rate of 12 cents a mile during training, but are guaranteed at least $600. From what I understand, the miles you run usually get you a good bit more than $600. I'll be able to tell you soon whether this is the case.

Yes, get your CDL permit before you get here. I didn't, because I couldn't afford to get a DOT physical before I left home. You will be behind if you don't have a permit when you get here. I missed out on a lot of training. In my other reply to you, I talked about how nervous I was about backing. If I had come here with a permit, I would have gotten some backing training before I even met my instructor. I was too ridiculously broke to afford $50 or whatever for a physical, even though I knew I should have my permit. It makes me angry thinking about how broke I was. Anyway, get your permit.

Also, your training really shouldn't take four to six months. My trainer says I should be done in the beginning of March. Today is my first day. Well, tomorrow, when we leave the terminal. But I've heard that a lot of trainers keep you on their truck for as long as possible, because you make them a lot of money. Fortunately my trainer is not one of those.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you. My laptop has been packed up in my suitcase all day while I waited for my new trainer to pick me up, and I couldn't log in on my phone. Now I'm on his truck, and we're staying at the Prime terminal until six in the morning, when we will leave for North Carolina.

I had no experience before. The biggest thing I ever drove before this was a humvee when I was in the Army in South Korea. Which, over there, is huge compared to their cars! I remember one time after the first snow of the year, when I was starting up the humvee, the transportation NCO was sitting in the passenger seat next to me. He said, "So Paul, where are you from again?"

"Florida."

"So have you ever driven in snow before?"

"Nope."

He then proceeded to double-check his seat belt and probably said a prayer, though he remained silent. It went fine, because I was too scared not to be as careful as possible. We were driving on narrow roads in the mountains, which is scary to drive on even without snow. But it went fine.

Anyway, that's the extent of my experience before Prime. Not even close to the same thing. I was nervous about backing, especially since my instructor didn't let me do any backing at all on the road. I thought I would take forever to learn it, because I had a horrible experience on the simulator during orientation. But after three days of practice on the pad, I got a perfect score on backing on my exam. My road test could have been better, but it wasn't bad. My advice is to insist that you get more city driving when you're on the road with your instructor. Mine babied me too much. I did well overall on my exam, but I would have been more confident had I done more off-highway driving (a monkey can learn to drive on the highway). It's hard to get better at shifting when all you do is drive 65 mph down the highway all day or night (though driving in the mountains or through a major city gets you some shifting practice, even on the highway). I did a little bit of gear grinding on my exam, but my actual exam went better than either of the practice runs I did with my instructor. On the other end of the spectrum, I've heard of instructors that have their students do ALL the driving and backing, no matter what the situation. So you don't know what you'll end up with. My instructor was a great teacher, and a very skilled driver. I think he just gave me too much credit for being able to catch on, and didn't work me as hard as I feel he should have. And I should have asked him to. We didn't do much work on pre-trip, because he said I was book smart so I would have no problem with it. Well, I may be book smart, but I still need to get a hand on things in order to internalize the information. But I did learn pre-trip very well, because I took pictures of everything and studied. I only missed three things on the exam, and I attribute that to nervousness. I know all of it.

I did a LOT of research on companies before deciding on Prime. Truckingtruth.com was my starting point, but every time I found a company on here that interested me, I did further research. Prime initially attracted me for two reasons: They have CDL training, and they allow pets. Those were my two dealbreakers, as I can't afford school and I will not abandon my dog for anything in the world. If I recall correctly, I believe Prime was the only company that satisfied both of those requirements. Fortunately, it turned out that they also pay more to beginners than any other company I've seen. They're a very big company, they have lots of customers and lots of miles. It's a good place to be. I know Roehl has flexible home time options, so if that's your most important criteria then there's nobody better than them. Prime keeps you out for a long time. But that's how the money is made. I'm single, so once I get my dog with me (she's staying with my parents until I get done with training) then going home is just gravy for me. It'll be great to hang out with my friends for a few days and all that, but there will be no one back home that I can't stand to be away from for weeks at a time. I hope to find someone like that, but as my ex-girlfriend made me painfully aware, I am in no financial situation to have a family. That's what this job will change, and not having a family yet and not having rent or a house to pay for means it will be that much easier for me to do this and stack up the money.

So that's my situation. I don't know what yours is, but hopefully what I've said will help you understand what this company has to offer, what the drawbacks are, and how it will or won't work for you.

Thanks Howard. I have no intention of leasing. Ever. My PSD instructor is a company driver, and he makes a LOT of money. Being an instructor adds a lot to his paychecks, but even without that he would be doing very well.

Thanks Brett and Old School! I really think I will enjoy it. I have so far. I'll enjoy it even more when I have my own truck and nobody's farts to smell but my own!

Time to get started on the logbook and weight portions of the training program. I thought I understood the HOS rules well enough, but I was completely baffled as to how my instructor kept us driving the way he did. I understand that for the week the Qualcomm was down and we were on paper logs he was able to do what he wanted (we got a LOT done that week!), but I don't understand how he did what he did with the electronic log. So hopefully the program here will help me understand how to get the most out of your hours. The sections that prepared me for the permit test were great. It got me 80% ready for the Missouri test (literally; there were exactly ten questions on the test that weren't on this website - the Missouri manual got me the rest of the way there). So thanks for the training and the great forums and articles. I'll definitely keep ya'll posted.

So I passed all three parts of my CDL exam in one go, with a perfect score on backing. I got straight line, left offset, and alley dock. Oddly enough, the alley dock was my smoothest one. I had a great instructor who made backing seem somewhat easy. So starting today, I'm finally making money, plus the bonus I get for the trifecta. Unfortunately my CDL photo looks like Vern from Stand By Me. So I'm looking forward to getting it transferred to Florida.

It's been an eventful month out on the road for CDL training. I can't imagine what the next phase of training and my first year will hold. I've seen more snow than I ever have in my life, and come to learn that the worst places to drive in the snow seem to be in the South. I guess up north they prepare for it. In Texas they don't do anything. We sat in a traffic jam a couple of weeks ago coming into Amarillo for 10 hours. 25 miles in 10 hours. We actually got our 10 hour sleep break while sitting in traffic. The road was covered with bumpy ice. And the thing is, they knew the storm was coming! In Missouri, when it snows the roads are cleared by the time I wake up in the morning. I've been working on my photography and have an OTR album going on Facebook. Running reefer I'll probably have less time to take pictures. I'll take the opportunity whenever I can, though. I was on a flatbed for CDL training, but now I'll be training for reefer. So I haven't even towed a reefer trailer yet. I'm ready to get this done, get my truck, and get my dog back with me. I miss her like crazy.