Official Starting With Prime
Topic 29293 | Page 1
Congratulations Joseph!
Keep us posted if you can. We love hearing how you guys are progressing.
Great news! Congratulations! Plenty of friendly Prime folks here to help you out with any Prime-specific questions you might have.
Where are you going for orientation?
Great news! Congratulations! Plenty of friendly Prime folks here to help you out with any Prime-specific questions you might have.
Where are you going for orientation?
I've been lurking around since September as I had to wait for a few things before getting started. So between the people hear, and my recruiters I got most questions answered. I guess the big one is how good are they at getting you home, everything I seen says they manage to do pretty good and recruiter said every 4 to 6 weeks for 3 days.
Orientation will be Pittsford.
My experience with my fleet manager has been he makes my home time very much a priority. In fact, to a certain extent that it gets aggravating. When I get close to home, he and the load planners tend to hover me around my home which means that I'm just circling around doing short runs.
Fleet Manager:
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.
They have "home counters" and yes they are a priority. In 5 years I was late twice due to my decision for weather shutdown.
Home time in training and solo are different.
Once solo you can stay out 3 or 4 weeks and go home 3 or 4 days. Over time you get more leeway. If you run Northeast regional you might get home more often.. But not guaranteed
Regional:
Regional Route
Usually refers to a driver hauling freight within one particular region of the country. You might be in the "Southeast Regional Division" or "Midwest Regional". Regional route drivers often get home on the weekends which is one of the main appeals for this type of route.
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.
Good to know. Pretty much same thing the recruiter said. Hardest thing will be missing the kids and them me. Trying to get them ready for the big change, knowing I'll get home on time helps.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Interesting, Joseph...If I get into/decide to go with Prime this week, that's about when I'd start too. But not in "Pittsford"... Hmm, the only Pittsford I know is near where I grew up in NY; doesn't seem to be one in PA. Guess I'll have to look up all the terminal locations. Ok, so you must mean Pittston, PA. I'd be going to Salt Lake...either place, brrrr, this time o year...
Nothing against Prime, they're just going with the industry flow, but what's up with this standard of accruing only one day home time a week? Partly cuz you end up with another unproductive average day or so per week just getting home and back into action? You'd think SOME company would want to be known as not just saying they care about home time, but actually allowing for more of it, if not encouraging it. I get it about the incentive to get as much road time as they can out of their trucks and drivers, but jeez, what about the burnout factor? I'd hope if it were me behind that owner-of-the-company wheel I'd want to incentivize my drivers to stay with the company by being a rare exception.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
Interesting, Joseph...If I get into/decide to go with Prime this week, that's about when I'd start too. But not in "Pittsford"... Hmm, the only Pittsford I know is near where I grew up in NY; doesn't seem to be one in PA. Guess I'll have to look up all the terminal locations. Ok, so you must mean Pittston, PA. I'd be going to Salt Lake...either place, brrrr, this time o year...
Nothing against Prime, they're just going with the industry flow, but what's up with this standard of accruing only one day home time a week? Partly cuz you end up with another unproductive average day or so per week just getting home and back into action? You'd think SOME company would want to be known as not just saying they care about home time, but actually allowing for more of it, if not encouraging it. I get it about the incentive to get as much road time as they can out of their trucks and drivers, but jeez, what about the burnout factor? I'd hope if it were me behind that owner-of-the-company wheel I'd want to incentivize my drivers to stay with the company by being a rare exception.
Unfortunately one day off for every week out is pretty much standard for all OTR drivers no matter what carrier you work for. From what I've seen Roehl has the most flexible home time options. I dont know all the specifics but, I know they have many different options. You can call a recruiter and ask them about it.
Terminal:
A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.
OTR:
Over The Road
OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.
OWI:
Operating While Intoxicated
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Prime Inc Advice For New Truck Drivers Becoming A Truck Driver Home Time
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As of January 4th, I will officially be starting orientation with Prime Inc. placed my two weeks at my current job and getting the last few personal affairs in order.