Prime Or CFI?

Well, after hours & hours of research I think it has come down to Prime vs. CFI for me. Major shout outs to Kearsey and Dave (riding with) for their superb videos. Kearsey's from a rest stop the other day zeroed in on a question I have been asking myself: "could you live with yourself knowing that you never gave it a try"? That would haunt me forever. There's a song "celui qui n'essaie pas, ne se trompe q'une seule fois", which translates to: "those who don't try, don't fail a single time"!

Prime: I really like the concept of getting right out there hands-on and one on one training. All the trucks have APU's and they operate in Canada (important to me, my Mom worries that she will not see me trucking - she lives within a mile of one of the busiest freight corridors in North America, the 401). I do wonder if reefer schedules might be tighter than dry van. Those of us 55+ might not want to run quite as hard as the younger crowd, at least not all the time. Kearsey touched on something else regarding packages - evidently Prime allows one to have personal packages sent to the terminal so they're not sitting at the house? A nice perk if so.

CFI: Training is shorter and one gets the benefit of multiple instructor input. Not sure on the APU question and they also operate in Canada. Interesting that CFI allows one to take more than four consecutive home days over Prime? Both companies have automatics it appears? Yes, I can drive a stick (the little red car is) but it's a nuisance in traffic and I feel like there are enough other things to concentrate on driving a big rig?

Anything I am missing folks?

Brad

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.

Dry Van:

A trailer or truck that that requires no special attention, such as refrigeration, that hauls regular palletted, boxed, or floor-loaded freight. The most common type of trailer in trucking.

Reefer:

A refrigerated trailer.

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

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.

APU's:

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.

Existence of an APU should have no bearing on your decision. Optimized-idle feature and thermostatically controlled bunk heaters reduce the need for an APU.

Experience shifting a car is also irrelevant when learning how-to efficiently shift an unsynchronized, multi-range heavy truck transmission. It's likely you learn in an auto-shift truck, manuals are becoming more and more rare in the TL aspect of the industry.

My suggestion?

Apply to both and see if both invite you to orientation, then make your decision accordingly. Both are solid options. In the interim, there is a new Prime diary started by a driver named Etch. Kearsey is his assigned trainer.

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.

I agree with G-Town, driving a manual car has little to do with driving a manual rig. Pretty much anything used in the training programs now are autos. As far as what to consider, take a look at the type of freight each company hauls. It’s no secret that the freight market is getting pretty tight right now. Prime has a large reefer division. People gotta eat, right?

Another thing to look at is what kind of training you’ll be getting. Having just completed the PSD program with Prime, I can only speak to that. I was very happy with the quality and quantity of training I got here. I also like how they treat their drivers. Sure, it’s easy to find any YouTube video from someone complaining about whatever company they work for- but I also know there are SEVERAL videos of people praising Prime for how they operate and treat their drivers.

Talk to drivers and trainers at both places. That’s what I did. It really gives you a better sense of how the company really is.

If you have any specific questions about the companies, Scott and I are more than happy to answer

Thanks G-town, Etch & Kearsey.

Yes, opti-idle seems like a good alternative. So far I only recall seeing that on the Swift section of here? Heard horror stories from that Canadian guy about drivers having to sleep in the driver lounge or freeze! He is the one that gets me in trouble with G-town though ;)

Also did not mean to trivialize the gearbox differences between cars & big rigs. Knew about the synchro thing, my background is auto parts. One has to go quite far back to find a non synchro car! Also read that the power band for a big diesel is way narrower than a petrol engine so that sounds like a lot of extra shifting! Many car companies have ditched manual, good to see the truck companies following suit.

I think G's suggestion about applying to both is good. The biggest issue for me I think is going to be BP numbers, the high side especially, right around 140. My DOT card which I got on my own to check things out is good until Aug/20 2023 but I bet they re-check at orientation! Keeping in touch with my doctor on this.

Brad

Big Scott's truck doesn't have the opti idle feature.... He just runs the truck all night. CFI doesn't give a fuel bonus like Prime so it doesn't matter to him to use the fuel. We at Prime get a weekly fuel bonus of 2 to 8cpm (as long as you run 2000+ miles per week) depending on how much money we save on fuel. So the APU comes in handy. We don't have opti idle set on our trucks. However, in extreme heat and cold, the trucks will idle without intermission.

When I started, all I cared about was if I got free school and if they let me bring my cat. 😂

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

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.

To me, if a person wants OTR , Prime would b at the top of the list. The owner clearly is growing the company which is a tremendous opportunity. They just acquired LW Miller, Logan UT. In the past year, or so, the Lease guys were taking home $3900/ wk; and that was the avg, so many guys were making much more. Of course with the Byden Recession, things have slowed. Watch the company meeting 8am on Fridays. QUESTION- Does anyone else have the beautiful HQs/ terminals like Prime, Springfield Mo does?

Heard horror stories from that Canadian guy about drivers having to sleep in the driver lounge or freeze! He is the one that gets me in trouble with G-town though ;)

Once the temp drops below freezing; you can idle all night long. So… unless the bunk heater doesn’t work and/or the motor won’t stay lit, no one is going to freeze in their truck.

the Lease guys were taking home $3900/ wk; and that was the avg, so many guys were making much more.

Hey Scott M, can you define "taking home?" Otherwise you are telling us the lease operators at Prime are making over $200,000 per year. Do you really want to stand by that statement?

All lease operators make mad money! Everyone knows that!