Priority Transportation - Chesterton, IN

[SemperFi]

I have this offer from Priority Transportation in their OTR reefer division based out of Chesterton, IN. Not much on this board about Priority. Please, if you have first hand knowledge of Priority and/or the Chesterton terminal, weigh in with the good, the bad, and the ugly. Thank you in advance for your insight.

Chesterton IN Reefer Division:

*2800-3200 miles per week

*Starting Pay: .30-.36cpm (1 cent raise per year upon performance review. Scale goes up to .38cpm)

*Long Haul

*Refrigerated Freight

*Runs East-West Coast, I70 & I80 Corridor. Also runs North-South along I-95

*99% No Touch Freight

*Home Time is 7-10 days out or 10-14 days out (depends on where you live)(one day off for every week out)

*Guaranteed Day Off After 7th Day

*Have to have a secure place to park truck with trailer


Add Pays:

*Stop off - $20.00 for each extra p/u or delivery per trip

*Detention - $10.00/hr for periods exceeding 2 hours after set appointment time if you are on time and detained by shipper or receiver

*Layover - $80/day (breakdown)

*Short Haul - $25/trip + miles for trips under 100 miles

*NYC (5 boroughs by zip) - $25

*DOT (no violations) - $25

*Load/Unload - $75

*Weekend Pay - For any load delivering in the window of 5pm Friday & 1am Monday, the driver will be entitled to a $20 weekend delivery pay

Benefits: (90 day waiting period)

*Holiday Pay $80/day (Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, July 4th, Labor Day, Memorial Day)

*Vacation: $100/day 1 year/1 week, 2 years/2 weeks, 6 years/3 weeks

*Medical: United Healthcare WWW.myuhc.Com (for physician lookup)

*Medical Employee Weekly Deductions: 30/single, 50/two person, 80/family

*Dental: Ameritas WWW.ameritasgroup.Com

*Dental Weekly Deductions: 2.96/single, 5.57/two person, 8.96/family

*401k available after 1 year of employment


Trucks:

*2004 - 2006 International 9400's

475 Cummings Engines & 500 KAT's (c-13's)

*Straight 10 speed

*Ezpass, Prepass and Qualcomm

*Governed at 70 mph


Hiring Area:

CO, DE, IL, IA, KS, KY, MD, MI, MN, MO, NE, NE, NJ, NY, NC, OH, PA, TN, VA, WV, WI


Orientation:

*Chesterton, IN (Outside Of Gary, IN)

*Two day orientation includes drug test, road test and physical

*$75 a day-paid on your first check

*We will provide your transportation here and hotel

*Lunch will be on us and you will be responsible for your dinner

*You'll sit down with your dispatcher before you leave as part of the orientation

*You'll leave orientation in your assigned Truck

More information about our company can be found at WWW.prioritytrucking.Com

[Maximum Destruction]

:arrow:

[Scout]

I'm a little late to this party, but here's what I can tell you.

I drove OTR for their van division for about 8 months. I recall my best week being 1600 miles. Now and then I ran into another driver and I';d ask them how they were doing. Most of them were relatively new hires and unhappy with the miles. I think 2 or 3 of the dozen or so guys I talked to were happy with their mileage. After 8 months I left OTR and drove for a local account. It paid $11/hour, 50 hours a week, and no overtime. I did that for about 6 months before I was let go without warning or reason. I asked my dispatcher about it and he said there was a problem with the customer. No one had even hinted at a problem, not even the customer. Well my last payday comes and no paycheck. I give it another week, still nothing. I had to call and talk to them about it. When I got it there was no vacation pay. ??? I had to call and ask for my vacation pay.


I don't know much about the reefer fleet, but I had heard that those drivers had more miles than they could handle. Also heard sometimes they'd sit for two or three days while dispatch waited on a meat load.


About guys quitting left and right, I spent a week recovering abandoned trucks with another guy. I found out 21 people quit in 2 days.

[kreeper01]

i must agree with Max's and Scout's comments, DO NOT WALK AWAY FROM PRIORITY....RUN!!!!!!!!!

I worked for them 3 times in a 12 month period and i was REALLY unhappy with the way they did business. Without complaining about anything, i sat at any givin shipper (perferably Tyson) for the maximum of 4 days (no BS) :!: :!: :!: :!:

After that, they WANT you to drive 1500 miles IN 9 hours IN a gouverned 70 mile an hour truck. Any Former Priority driver (especially me) can tell you the WHOLE truth about this company.

Drivers quitting left AND right, office personel getting fired and new people getting hired. Those office people do not have a clue what they are doing, dispatchers just sit in front of there computers doing nothing to help the current drivers out. If you wish for me to tell you more about Priority, I WILL :!: :!: :!: :!:

Getting back to why i worked for Priority 3 times in 12 months, i will give you 2 reason why:

1) Experience behind the wheel

and

2) A Paycheck

Beyond that, do not bother going with Priority :!: :!: :!: :!:

[bluegrassdeb]

When ever I've talked to their drivers they were unhappy about low miles. Thats why I didn't go with them. When ever I was fueling and saw a Priority driver I would go up to them and ask them how they liked the company. It pays to talk to other drivers. If they are unhappy they will let you know the truth. I liked their recruiter lady Mary. She made me feel real wanted and was as friendly as could be but if they can't back up their company with the truth like Sheepdancer from J.B. Hunt just don't bother with them.

[Maximum Destruction]

if there are any priority drivers here send me a message. i got something to ask

[Scout]

Feel free to pm me. I don't have enough posts to be able to pm anyone. (spam control)