Can You Believe It.....

So.....I came to Prime during the spring of 2016. They paid for a greyhound bus ticket to get me from home to their main terminal in Missouri....Who does this?? A bus ticket??? They should be flying me first class, yet somehow I agreed to this subhuman condition. Upon arrival they place me in a room at the company hotel (Campus Inn) with a roommate for orientation. Ugh, the gull of these people to not reserve my own room at the Hilton down the street. They gave me a meal card as well, good for the week of orientation, however it was only good at the company cafeteria and had limits for each meal. How I did not starve is a miracle, I should have been treated to 5 star meals three times a day plus snacks. As a student, willing to drive one of their trucks and be paid for it, it would have been the least they could do.

Upon the completion of orientation, I found a trainer to hit the road with learning the basics of driving to pass CDL testing. During this phase (PSD) they lent me $200/wk for food and such. Couldn't believe this was a loan..as someone willing to be taught to become a driver for them, I feel they owed me a solid grand or two a week. None the less, my trainer finally brought me in for testing and I passed. The stress this put me thru nearly landed me in a psych ward but I persevered and proved I was super tough and able to withstand anything, kinda like Superman.

Note...My trainer was super mean. He expected me to drive more than 30 minutes/day, learn how to do backing maneuvers and inspect the truck for issues. He wouldn't let me just sit and enjoy the scenery (after all isn't that the point???). I wasn't able to shower multiple times/day, even after the grueling hours of driving. Craziness I tell ya

After getting my super hard earned, underpaid for license, I had to go back with that same evil trainer to run 30,000 team miles. Are these people crazy, who drives that much. During this phase (TNT), the trainer got even worse. I had to actually deal with the shippers/receivers, gain a firm understanding of Qualcomm use, execute trip planning and worst of all, I was expected to run a full shift daily while he slept. The company only paid me a minimum of $700/wk through this torturous hell. Somehow I survived, mainly because of my super human ability to do about half the miles, while my lazy trainer did the other half.

Finally, I was able to upgrade to my own truck. First tho, I had to take a worthless safety class which they only paid $100 for my four hours of time as well as a few other short classes. Again I was put up in the same hotel, still no Hilton, how other people survive this is beyond me. I can squeeze through because of my superhuman abilities but not everyone is as strong willed as me. After getting assigned a truck they gave me a list of things I had to buy at the company store....shouldn't everything be free?? I know it is stuff that I can keep and use wherever I go throughout my career, they should still pay for it, afterall, the world owes me SOOOO MUCH just for being born.

Now as a super-skilled trucker they are only gonna pay me 46cpm after everything they put me thru. I just couldn't believe it, just because some other companies start their drivers out as low as 30cpm doesn't mean they should get away with paying me so low. This is especially true since I am responsible for so much, I have to arrive for appts on time, I have to properly plan my trip and drive more than a few hours/day. I am responsible to not wreck the 2015 truck they let me use and I have to manage my HOS. Seems to me that all of this super duper hard work is worth at least a couple million a year. Don't they know I could leave them in an instant for a high paying minimum wage job flipping burgers or something. I just can't believe how poorly I have been and continue to be treated by this company I have about given my life to.

Good Stuff there BQ!

I like your sense of humor, illustrating the facts with absurdity.

Now that I've been out of commission for a couple days and apparently some more due to getting a new apu , I really feel bad for the company, particularly my dispatcher. Surely he has nobody else (of the 80 or so other drivers) in his fleet that can handle the super work and miles that I put in.

Dispatcher:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Timing is everything in comedy...well played.

Well done!