Being A Company Driver
Topic 27180 | Page 2
I hear ya Grumpy!!! I’m shutting down/ selling off my landscape business at end of this season(3-4weeks) and applying for training this winter. In addition to all the reasons you listed, poor work ethic from a lot of today’s young adults, unreliable help and a ton of non tax paying competition in my area has finally drove me to get out. Also tired of the rainy and windy days shutting me down all the time and killing my schedule. I’ve been physically and mentally killing myself to make roughly the same $$$ that is listed as the average driver salary. I’m looking forward to, where do you want me and what time?
Well done, 40! Hope your upgrade goes smoothly.
I'm curious, if you and your trainer stay out during the bonus dates (12/2 to 1/6 I think), and you upgrade by the 6th, will you get the A-seat bonus or the student bonus?
I spent 4 years as a company driver with Werner. I had to come off the road for several reasons, mainly because I needed to be home every night (joys of having a special needs child). I worked on dedicated accounts, and had 2 years of $45k+ (the first 2 years) and over 2 years of $53k+ a year. I had no expenses related to the truck. No maintenance, no fuel, no tires, no tolls, nothing. If I needed (or wanted something) for the truck, such as lights/fluids/etc, I sent in a request for it. If my truck was down for more than 2 or 3 days, I would be offered a loaner truck. If maintenance was going to be in the shop overnight, I would be put up in a hotel at the company expense. The last account I was on, I left around 11 am on Sunday and I was home by noon Friday most weeks. I averaged 2200-2500 miles a week at .62cpm (average between mileage pay, safety pay, stop pay, unload pay, etc).
CPM:
Cents Per Mile
Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.
@ Rob I started orientation August 12. -3 weeks to go out psd then come home and redo permit. Then 3 more psd.
-2 days home to get automatic restriction removed/ retest in manual.
-1 week off trainer B-day.
-1 week off Thanksgiving.
-1 week off Christmas unless I get my own truck..
Should finish before Christmas hopefully. Will upgrade during.
Not sure how to sum up training? East, West, North, South and up and down every mountain in between. Ice and snow then shorts and sandals in just 1 day. Crazy when I really think about it. Was in Massachusetts last night will be in southern Florida tomorrow morning. Love the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia in between reminds me of home in Arkansas.
@RealDeihl wont be working Christmas so don't get paid anything. Not sure what upgrade consists of but hoping for best. Saw that on prime app but not sure.
PSD:
Prime Student Driver
Prime Inc has a CDL training program and the first phase is referred to as PSD. You'll get your permit and then 10,000 miles of on the road instruction.
The following is from Prime's website:
Prime’s PSD begins with you obtaining your CDL permit. Then you’ll go on the road with a certified CDL instructor for no less than 75 hours of one-on-one behind the wheel training. After training, you’ll return to Prime’s corporate headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, for final CDL state testing and your CDL license.
Obtain CDL Permit / 4 Days
- Enter program, study and test for Missouri CDL permit.
- Start driving/training at Prime Training Center in Springfield, Missouri.
- Work toward 40,000 training dispatched miles (minimum) with food allowance while without CDL (Food allowance is paid back with future earnings).
On-the-Road Instruction / 10,000 Miles
- Train with experienced certified CDL instructor for 3-4 weeks in a real world environment.
- Get 75 hours of behind-the-wheel time with one-on-one student/instructor ratio.
- Earn 10,000 miles toward total 40,000 miles needed.
Upgrade in a nutshell is: -Take a couple classes -Do the simulator a couple times -Watch ALL those CBT's again -Apply for TWIC card (if you don't have one -Put your name on list to get your own truck
TWIC:
Transportation Worker Identification Credential
Truck drivers who regularly pick up from or deliver to the shipping ports will often be required to carry a TWIC card.
Your TWIC is a tamper-resistant biometric card which acts as both your identification in secure areas, as well as an indicator of you having passed the necessary security clearance. TWIC cards are valid for five years. The issuance of TWIC cards is overseen by the Transportation Security Administration and the Department of Homeland Security.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
@ Rob I started orientation August 12. -3 weeks to go out psd then come home and redo permit. Then 3 more psd.
-2 days home to get automatic restriction removed/ retest in manual.
-1 week off trainer B-day.
-1 week off Thanksgiving.
-1 week off Christmas unless I get my own truck..
Should finish before Christmas hopefully. Will upgrade during.
Not sure how to sum up training? East, West, North, South and up and down every mountain in between. Ice and snow then shorts and sandals in just 1 day. Crazy when I really think about it. Was in Massachusetts last night will be in southern Florida tomorrow morning. Love the Appalachian mountains of West Virginia in between reminds me of home in Arkansas.
@RealDeihl wont be working Christmas so don't get paid anything. Not sure what upgrade consists of but hoping for best. Saw that on prime app but not sure.
40 days, thanks. Based on the tone of your post, sounds like you're pretty content with where you are.
PSD:
Prime Student Driver
Prime Inc has a CDL training program and the first phase is referred to as PSD. You'll get your permit and then 10,000 miles of on the road instruction.
The following is from Prime's website:
Prime’s PSD begins with you obtaining your CDL permit. Then you’ll go on the road with a certified CDL instructor for no less than 75 hours of one-on-one behind the wheel training. After training, you’ll return to Prime’s corporate headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, for final CDL state testing and your CDL license.
Obtain CDL Permit / 4 Days
- Enter program, study and test for Missouri CDL permit.
- Start driving/training at Prime Training Center in Springfield, Missouri.
- Work toward 40,000 training dispatched miles (minimum) with food allowance while without CDL (Food allowance is paid back with future earnings).
On-the-Road Instruction / 10,000 Miles
- Train with experienced certified CDL instructor for 3-4 weeks in a real world environment.
- Get 75 hours of behind-the-wheel time with one-on-one student/instructor ratio.
- Earn 10,000 miles toward total 40,000 miles needed.
Wow! That's a lot of deadhead miles on that load. Enjoy your fuel bonus. Luckily since I have a TNT student right now, miles are not hard to come by. We recently had a trip from Kennesaw,GA to Tacoma, WA (by the way, trying to find a place to park in Tacoma is impossible. The Loves there is temporarily closed). Then from Oregon to New Jersey. Getting unloaded in Jersey now. Im glad you are getting miles, Donna.
11 Mpg this week! More money!
Deadhead:
To drive with an empty trailer. After delivering your load you will deadhead to a shipper to pick up your next load.
TNT:
Trainer-N-Trainee
Prime Inc has their own CDL training program and it's divided into two phases - PSD and TNT.
The PSD (Prime Student Driver) phase is where you'll get your permit and then go on the road for 10,000 miles with a trainer. When you come back you'll get your CDL license and enter the TNT phase.
The TNT phase is the second phase of training where you'll go on the road with an experienced driver for 30,000 miles of team driving. You'll receive 14¢ per mile ($700 per week guaranteed) during this phase. Once you're finished with TNT training you will be assigned a truck to run solo.
I think there are several Prime drivers here. For a husband/wife team, would you recommend we lease or drive team as company drivers? I spoke with a husband/wife Prime team a few years back. They were doing the ace lease and the wife was a company driver for the benefits. The husband said they were clearing $5000/week after all expenses. Looking for advice. Thank you.
I think there are several Prime drivers here. For a husband/wife team, would you recommend we lease or drive team as company drivers? I spoke with a husband/wife Prime team a few years back. They were doing the ace lease and the wife was a company driver for the benefits. The husband said they were clearing $5000/week after all expenses. Looking for advice. Thank you.
Sure. Show me the pay settlements.
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Wow. I thought my 150 mile deadhead was long, LOL.
The entire reason I got into trucking was that I no longer wanted to be a business owner. I was tired of all the extra taxes, the paperwork, the regulations, and everything else involved. Much easier to just collect a check. Let someone else incur all the cost and risk, just keep me moving.
And if you aren’t good at running a business, you will probably fail at being a lease op.
Deadhead:
To drive with an empty trailer. After delivering your load you will deadhead to a shipper to pick up your next load.