Prime Trucking School-my Experience

Hello. So i know there are a bunch of forums in regards to Prime, but there were a few things that I noticed were missing. So I would like to put my perspective on my experience so far.

To start off, I'd like to give a little background on myself. I used to be an EMT in New York State(not the city) and did that for about 4 years. Last year I took a break and drove commercially for a food delivery service. We were still monitored by DOT but I was able to use my class D license as my truck was only 25K lbs. While doing that, I started researching changing license class, bigger vehicle, etc. I happened to stumble upon Prime Inc. Knowing nothing about trucks and trucking, I decided to call and get more information. The recruiters were very helpful, but just remember, that is their job-to get you to come to whatever company. Some things that I had been told did not hold up as promised. So I did my research of all the big companies, and basically found identical information for all companies. During my research, is when I found this site (which was unbelievably helpful-thank you!) I studied the material on this site, and read reviews and forums and decided that I was going to go with Prime Inc. Called my recruiter and set up a date and off I went.

Little side note: from the time the recruiter calls you initially to setting up a date is about a week. Background checks, legal stuff, etc.

So anyway...my recruiter asked me how I wanted to get to Springfield. Either by bus and the ticket is paid for or by my own means and they would either give me the cost of the bus ticket or 10 cents a mile. I chose to fly into St. Louis and see family and then they would take me. Obviously that was my decision and I'm not saying its the best or worst way of doing it. But that's how i chose to do it.

So I arrive Springfield. Nice city. Very industrial. But overall pretty happy with it. You check in at the Campus Inn which is not connected to the Prime Terminal. I learned this quickly. Check in, go take care of your DOT medical paperwork and get your room assignment. Based off of smoking/non smoking. You will have a roommate or you can opt out and have a room to yourself and pay $53 a day. Obvious choice. So you get to your room and they give you a small mountain of paperwork to fill out and take with you to class on Day 1. The remainder of the day is free time. Go explore. There is a wal mart real close. Laundry is $1 per load. Quarters only. They give you a schedule. Make sure to read it. Read EVERYTHING THEY GIVE YOU! You have free time. Do it. Lots of fine print thzt the recruiter may have left out. Monday morning, you wake up at 5:30 and MUST be to class before 7:00. Prime is very strict on being on time-and rightfully so considering thats how we make money.

For now, thats all of the intel I have. I will keep updating this as I progress thru Prime Student Driver Program. I am looking forward to it.

So day 1- 5:30am wake up call. Go get breakfast at the cafe at the campus inn. You are allotted 4.25 for breakfast. If you go over, you cover the remainder. I got 2 biscuits with gravy, eggs, grits and a bottle of water and I had to pay .11 extra. So its really not all that bad. Tea, coffee and tap water is free. You must report to your class by 7:00am no exceptions. So, make sure you are there by 6:45. Being on time is being late; being early is being on time.

So you go thru your course syllabus type deal and you are assigned to groups A-D. This is your group for all of training. Make friends. It helps. So my group was sent to the physical agility testing first. Lift boxes above your head with 45lbs in them. Then lift box waist high with 80lbs. Climb up 2 rungs of ladder 6 times. Pretty simple stuff. Then off to the Dr office. Urine test, physical, and to see if you are required to take sleep study. Well, I'm 6'2" 290lbs and i have to take it. I was given a 2 month medical card and have to return post training to do it. Whatever. No big deal. The first day is a lot of hurry up and wait. Structured very similar to intake at boot camp, with a lot less yelling of course. Finished up that which took probably an hour and a half with the waiting and testing stuff. Off to lunch. Where you are alotted 5.75. I got country fried steak with gravy, mixed veggies, macaroni and cheese, dinner roll, sweet tea and cherry cobbler type thing. And didn't have to pay. (So overall its pretty decent food and servings for the price of free). Quick smoke break and off to the SIM lab. Arrived there at 1245 for 1300 class. Learned basic shifting and double clutching along with using tachometer and spedometer for up and downshifting. 2.5 hours of that and I am done for the day to study. At 5ish I will go get dinner which you are allotted 6.50. No idea whats on the menu for tonight but so far I have been pretty impressed with Prime. My roommate left (he was the class before me) so I now have my own room without having to pay extra. Very hectic day but everybody I have dealt with; drivers, other students, and instructors/admin have been fantastic and very easy to work with-as long as they see you are serious and are willing to out in the effort into this class.

I hope that this helps prospective PSD students as much as others on here have helped me.

Day 2: Same breakfast as day 1. Roll call in the main lab at 0730. Learned about logging, qualcomm , who to talk to for what, etc. Also went over in depth the program. Answered all questions we had on stuff we read, heard from other drivers, etc. Prices of permits, licenses, transfers, etc explained today. I am going ti have to pay $52.50 total which includes my Missouri permit and transferring my NYS license to Missouri. So when all was said and done, 2 hour lecture ultimately. 0930 shows up and myself and like 5 other people high tail it to the CDL permit testing room. We are to take 4 tests today; tanker, combination, air brakes, and general knowledge. After about an hour and a half of lines, and tests, I PASS! Step one complete! Off to call the fiancé and let her know! Lunch time- beef, gravy, and noodles with mashed potatoes. Very good! SIM lab time. New topic today-downshifting. Slowly putting everything together from safe starts to shifting up thru 10th and cruising at 55 mph then downshifting into 5th and coming to a stop. Everything is starting to get easier and make more sense. A few hours of that, and it's time for my interview/paperwork process. The guy i was with, talked about my paperwork for about 3 minutes then we talked about sports and politics. Not usually a good idea, but considering he brought it up, I felt it was appropriate to talk about. About 25 minutes of that, and I am free from class tonight. I may go to the lab tonight to do my CBT classes because those must be done by tomorrow. And the last thing I want to do at this point is fall behind when I've busted myself to get ahead of the game. Went and spoke with a few drivers while on a smoke break. It is unbelievable how high moral is at this place. I have yet heard one person be negative about anything. Im definitely feeling like this was an awesome choice for me. Dinner time in a few minutes but I wanted to update everyone on day 2 of Prime's training

Ha ha. Looks like you beat me to the diary. I'm here too. The boy with the GIANT glasses. I'm sure iv seen you around. Good luck.

Ha ha. Looks like you beat me to the diary. I'm here too. The boy with the GIANT glasses. I'm sure iv seen you around. Good luck.

Could always start your own from your POV. I enjoy reading them all

So I'm gonna combine day 3 and day 4 because I forgot to do day 3 yesterday.

Day 3: 8am class/roll call. Released from that and because I'm a bigger dude, I have to go to the meeting about sleep apnea. So let me talk about a few things here. When you go to your initial physical you are chosen to do your sleep study based on multiple factors. Either your BMI is 35+, your neck is 17"+ for men and 15"+ for women, or you have a tendency to fall asleep easilly while relaxing, watching tv, etc. Because you are chosen does not mean you have sleep apnea. If you were to go home and go thru your doctor an everything, you are looking at about $3600 with the study, machine, and mask before insurance. With going thru prime, they cover a huge portion of the cost. To have the study done, it is $500 cash, credit, etc. The company prime uses is a private company that does not accept insurance. If you test positive for sleep apnea , you must purchase the machine for $600. So out of pocket the most you will spend is $1100. Which is a ton of money yes. But if you are like me and don't have insurance, its much cheaper than the alternative of $3600. If and when you are issued a cpap machine, you must wear it at least 70% of the time and for at least 4 hours a night. There is a modem connected to the machine that transmits when it is in use. If they find that you are not using it, say hello to a 7 day suspension without pay. They will not let you back on the road until the machine says you are using it regularly. They are very strict on this but this helps prevent drivers falling asleep one night and dying. The meeting today was more questions and answers. I was issued a 60 day medical card. When I come back to Springfield in a few weeks to take my road test, I will be taking the actual sleep study as well. So enough of that for now...

Left that meeting and because I was able to finish everything up, I'm going to the DMV! $52.50 is whatnit will cost at the DMV max! 32.50 for your CDL A permit with tanker and $20 for transfer fee from your home state to Missouri. Prime provides a courtesy shuttle to the dmv every 2 hours starting at 9am. It took me 45 mins to finalize everything at the DMV. There is a city bus station that will take you back to Wal Mart (which is about a 10 minute walk to the Campus Inn) for $1.25. I highly suggest you take that back unless you wanna wait a long time for Prime to come get you again. And its probably 6 miles back to Prime from the DMV. I returned to Prime, and now I have to work on my CBT (computer based training). It will take about 3 hours to do start to finish. I don't suggest waiting because they are dry and boring and tedious. They must be done by Wednesday night though. No exceptions! Finished those, and off to Dinner. Not impressed with dinner tonight. But again, it's free! Off to SIM lab. Few hours of skip shifting and lane changing. Will test out on skills tomorrow. This completes day 3 of Prime's PSD program. I am still really enjoying my time here at Prime.

Day 4: 8am roll call/benefits class. They discuss all insurance type things today. Very decent prices! Upon finishing that class, I officially had nothing to do. Had my permit in hand but I could not get my Prime ID yet so i can't go to the main terminal - remember the Campus Inn is about 2.5 miles away from Prime's terminal. So I went exploring a l8ttle with a guy from my classm went to Wal Mart to get cards to send to our spouse/fiancé/ girlfriend back home. Also grabbed a case of water for my room. Returned to Campus Inn after awhile, sent out the cards and now we play the waiting game. I don't have to be to the SIM lab until 1900. So I have all day to try to keep myself occupied. Spent some time talking with other drivers and such. My roommate who is a company driver got his truck today so we talked about that for awhile. Dinner was awesome-Chicken and biscuits. Some more hanging out and talking. So overall pretty low key boring day which was definitely noce to have considering what I just went thru the first few days this week. So until next time...

Day 5: 7am roll call. This is your final day of "classes". You are given your actual DOT med card and physical paperwork that you filled out on Monday. You sit thru an hour and a half or so class for pre trip. Gets very tedious, but remember it is part of your CDL A test in a few weeks. Make sure you pay attention. When released from this class, you are sent down to get your official purple Prime ID badge/comdata card with your $200/week "loan". Once you have this badge, you now have access to the Millennium Building. Guard that badge with your life because its the only thing that shows you are part of Prime-(remember you are not an employee until you pass your CDL A ). The day goes on low key-talking to people. I almost had a trainer but he was from Oklahoma and I'm from NY so that would make home time very difficult. Great guy though. SIM lab at night. I passed all of my tests. For the remaining 2 hours I played on the simulator in the snow, mountains, truck stops, etc. They are pretty cool if you dont get sick from staring at a 3D screen for long periods of time. Released from that and done for the day. However, I am stuck in Springfield until I can get a trainer that is from the Northeast or is willing to go to NY. Quite the difficult task considering nobody wants to be close to NYS because of the odds of being sent to the Big Apple.

Saturday/Day 6: 8am roll call. Hanging out in the SIM lab again. Played a bunch of different scenarios. One of the scenarios was similar to a post apocalyptic city that you had to get out of before they blew you up. Pretty crazy stuff. I think one of the instructors designed that purely out of boredom. Towards the end of the class, the instructor thought he would be funny and add 50mph winds to my game and a BAC of .12. Needless to say...my truck was toast and I didn't last very long after those slight changes. Released from there for about an hour and a half. Pre trip time. There is a truck and half trailer (they literally cut out about 30 feet of this trailer and welded it back together so they could use it for pre trip at the hotel....seeing how a full size semi wont fit thru the gate). Freightliner cascadia. And you can pre trip it 24 hours a day. There are no limits. Once that's finished up, off to the Millennium building for dinner because the cafe at the Campus inn closes at 1400. Not much for excitement over the weekend. Hopefully I have a trainer soon.

Sunday/Day 7: 8am roll call. Split into 2 groups. One group spent time inside on the simulators and the other group went outside for pre trip. Identical to Saturday. After a few hours of SIM time, a little lunch break and then off to pre trip. A very crucial part of this experience. Make sure you know it front and back and you can recite it in your sleep, and in 3 different languages(okay a little exaggeration there but you get the point) Still in Springfield though. Starting to get a little antsy. Our class is getting smaller by the day with people going home and people leaving with trainers. Whatever you do though, don't get down on yourselves. Just because you don't have a trainer does not mean you did anything wrong necessarily. The company itself has about 900 people certified to do PSD training. But they still have to make money too. And there is about 100 people per class. So you are looking at 400 of those trainers have students already and the remaining trainers are out somewhere in the 48 trying to get loads back to Missouri. Its a tough game to play between drivers, fleet managers, orientation admin, etc. Just don't get discouraged. If you make it this far, they will get you with somebody. They are well into the $2,000 range of what they have paid for you so far. Just make sure you answer all phone calls. Your trainer should try calling you, and if you don't answer, they usually go right to the next student. Okay, so finished that and went to the Millennium building. DInner time. A few of us went out exploring and went to the pad. Talked with a couple people who came back to Springfield for road testing. Pretty decent day overall. Upon my return to the Campus Inn, I found a guy that was willing to go thru the pre trip one on one with me. That was awesome. Again, this Prime family has pulled thru and a guy that happened to be standing there was more than willing to spend an hour going over pre trip with me. Finished that and to my room for the night. New class came in today for tomorrow morning so I'm officially not on the bottom of the food chain anymore. Well until tomorrow..