Prime Guaranteed Pay

Hoping someone can clarify. Prime guarantees me 700 a week minimum while I'm tnt but my trainer is saying I won't get that the week he goes on his home time. He is taking the weekend of Aug 7th off for a concert. He is dropping me off at home while he's on his home time. Other drivers have stated that I should still get paid because it's not considered my home time, which is scheduled later that month. But my trainer insists that I won't get paid because he's the one paying me. So which is it? Am I entitled to be paid for that weekend or no?

If you are being dropped off at home and wish to do so, you are on home time without pay. If you wish to stay on the truck while your trainer is on home time, you are entitled to your pay. You won't both go home and get paid.

Sam, are you really arguing with your trainer about getting paid for sitting at home? Really?? That's what you're ready to take a stand over as a brand new driver in this industry? You're going to confront people in positions of authority, people directly responsible for both your pay and your training, about that sort of thing?

I highly suggest as a rookie driver you learn to keep things on the down low. If you're willing to argue over being paid for sitting at home that tells me you'll pretty much argue with anyone over anything, including dispatchers, load planners, safety managers, DOT officers, and all of the people that can make your life miserable and ruin your career in a big hurry. You get what I'm saying?

I understand they say you're guaranteed $700/week for working and I don't mind that you asked how the home time would effect your situation. But you're talking around to other drivers about it, arguing with your trainer about it, and will almost certainly make some phone calls about it if you haven't already.

Chill out and go with the flow. And stop expecting ridiculous things like getting paid to sit home. Get out there and earn your money, and stop giving people a hard time when they can make your life miserable. Because trust me, that kind of attitude and approach is going to send your career straight into a brick wall in a hurry.

You're a rookie truck driver. That makes you by far the most dangerous person on the highway and you're piloting an 80,000 pound death machine to boot. Keep your head where it needs to be before you wind up distracting yourself worrying about something stupid and killing someone's family.

Hoping someone can clarify. Prime guarantees me 700 a week minimum while I'm tnt but my trainer is saying I won't get that the week he goes on his home time. He is taking the weekend of Aug 7th off for a concert. He is dropping me off at home while he's on his home time. Other drivers have stated that I should still get paid because it's not considered my home time, which is scheduled later that month. But my trainer insists that I won't get paid because he's the one paying me. So which is it? Am I entitled to be paid for that weekend or no?

I was a TNT trainer for Prime when I drove for them. YES, the trainer is paying your $700/wk.

While he is at home, and you are at home (your home not his), then you are on home time and you do not get paid....PERIOD. You are on home time, not available to work. Now, if you call his fleet manager , and explain the situation, you will probably be given 2 options, sit home without pay or get transferred to another truck and keep rolling. If you take the second option, you will be transferred permanently to the other truck. So I would think long & hard on that choice. If you are getting along well with your trainer, I personally would just sit home, take my time, enjoy the break and keep my mouth shut about it.

As Brett pointed out, you are a new driver and looking to rock the boat about this. REALLY?????? In my opinion, you need to think long and hard about this line of thinking.

You are talking about a weekend, not a full week. Yes your paycheck will be smaller, but you will still get a paycheck.

While I was doing my TNT phase, my trainer was taking 2 full weeks off for the Christmas/New Years holidays. So I did request and was transferred to another truck for the duration of my training. But I knew what I was getting into when I did that. I gave my fleet manager plenty of time to look for another truck to transfer to. It had nothing to do with not getting along with my trainer, it had everything to do with not sitting at home for 2 weeks without getting paid. So again, think long and hard about requesting a transfer to another truck for something so minor.

Ernie

Brett and Ernie, I think you guys are jumping the gun a bit and jumping to conclusions in jumping on this guy for "rocking the boat." He's not complaining, just confused and getting mixed information from other sources. I understand we get a lot of self-absorbed entitled knuckleheads through here, and it's easy to go into That Mode when a new guy makes a post dealing with driver pay, but it's not warranted here.

it's not warranted here

Are you sure? Nobody is saying he's a bad guy. Here's what I'm saying........

I'll bet you if we tested him on the finer points of the logbook rules, cargo loading and securement, bridge laws by state, and fuel burnoff calculations he's got a long way to go, just like all rookies, correct? Of course.

If we gave him a Hazmat load to carry from Los Angeles to New York would he know the laws about where to keep the paperwork, where he can park and can not park that truck, how often he must do tire checks, and how to route himself around cities, bridges, and tunnels? If it was a heavy load could he calculate what percentage of his fuel weight goes on the steers versus the drives so he knows how much fuel he can put in and then calculate how far he can go to the next fuel stop?

It scares me when someone is supposed to be learning about how not to kill someone's family driving that 80,000 pound death machine but their conversations with other drivers, arguments with their trainer, and discussions in forums are centered around whether or not they're going to get paid for sitting at home two weeks from now.

Maybe I'm crazy, but when I was learning to drive the last thing I had on my mind was whether or not I'd be getting paid to sit at home in a few weeks. My mind was full of worries like sliding on ice, getting hit by a tornado, navigating Downtown Chicago during rush hour, and easing 80,000 pounds down a mountain without burning up my brakes and going off a cliff.

I'm sure he's a nice guy and all but his head is clearly not in the game. To me it's like someone having a 1,000 pound grizzly bear charging them at full speed from 50 yards away and all they're worried about is making a sandwich. Seems there are a lot bigger concerns right now, don't ya think???

Seems there are a lot bigger concerns right now, don't ya think???

BUT, he's not getting conflicting information about those concerns (or if he is, he hasn't shared that with us yet). Whatever questions he has about load securement, weights, hazmat , hills, and the eleventy billion and six other aspects of safe driving there are, those questions are being adequately addressed by his trainer and by Prime. In this case, he's getting multiple different answers from multiple people, and was seeking clarification. What he got instead was a lecture about priorities from people leaping wildly to the assumption that he's only focused on that one issue that he brought to the forum. Just because he didn't ask us about all those other things doesn't mean he isn't thinking about them and asking questions about them. It just means that the answers he's getting elsewhere are satisfactory and he isn't troubled by them.

Some of it is how Prime sells that point to people. I remember I as well as people in my class were somewhat unclear about exactly what that 700 guaranteed meant. I never brought home 700 after taxes but I got through it in about 6 weeks. We ran hard. I can speak for myself but let's just say money was very tight a

Tight when I made the decision to come to prime and get into trucking. Weren't any other options either that pays what trucking pays. It took me about 3 weeks to get a trainer and you don't make anything during psd. 200 dollars that has to be paid back. So for about 6 weeks 7 days a week I didn't make one dollar. I was kind of expecting that 700 no matter what. Money is a definitely a big reason but for sure not the only reason I'm doing this 7 days a week away from home weeks at a time. But now getting closer to a year experience , I have lots of options where I'm home much more. Anyway that is my 2 cents since I did my training and work for prime. Enjoy those days off because I have never and I mean never not once complained about not getting miles working for and with prime

I should clarify that I was given 200 dollars weekly during psd that you pay back after you get your cdl