I start the stevens training program in March. I have been reading all the negative stuff and was getting concerned. Your post made me see it in a different prespective. I was on the road OTR when I was young for over a year with my old man. I loved it! I am a very hard worker and know that I will have to work my way through training and then through my 1yr I sign up. I know this will not be easy. Can you send me your email so I can contact you directly with questions I would really appreciate it. My questions is, can I live anywhere in the U.S. once I get through training? My wife wants to move back near her family in Illinois so while I'm gone she will have people around. We don't have kids.
Thanks for your info.
Ben.

 

I don't drive fofr Stevens, but MOST companies (bigger ones) don't care where you live. It might be that sometimes it's harder to get you home if your company is located e.g. in FL and you live in WA they might not have so many loads to there. Other then that, don't always buy into what other drivers say (including me :wink: ); some are professional complainers and no company is good enough. Go in with an open mind and see for yourself is the best advice. If you don't like it, there are MANY more companies out there to chose from. Good luck to ya!

 

I'm leasing from Prime and I hear the occasional sob story from a fellow driver who's going broke. There are some common themes.

The biggest thing that I've noticed time and time and time again is that drivers who are failing (be it lease operators or true owner/operators) is that they have no clue what their costs are. If you don't have a clue as to what your business is costing you, you are in no position to control those costs.

Another theme is that these drivers don't manage their time well and force themselves into situations where they have to hammer down to make pickups and deliveries at the last minute. This is just pissing money down the drain.

Yet another is that they talk a good game about how they USED to make money hand over fist, but suddenly the gravy train dried up and they're starving. Mysteriously enough, this invariably is right around January. They pull down a lot of money when times are good but don't save a penny to make it through the tough times.

You've got to plan for these things. If you have a good savings plan and stick with it, your mind won't be worrying about how you're going to pay the bills and the income will take care of itself. Truck driving is a lot easier when you can focus on the driving and not your financial woes.

 

Yep and you'll be the next with a sob story. Give it a year. How long have you been with them? I do know 3 drivers with Prime who actually make money, I'll give you that. I know more that lost homes, storage units etc. but ALL these people are sobbers with no common sense right?

There might be some drivers who don't know what their costs are, but let me tell you, there are plenty who do. We ALWAYS were on top of what our fuel cost was and how to bring it down. Actually, our fuel cost was below company average. There are many more as you know on Prime's statement (tire fund, fixed costs etc.) Believe me, we knew what our costs were. Given is though, leasing's just not smart and we should have never done it. Prime pays you 72% of freight or so they claim and what about fuel surcharge? The sum doesn't add up my friend! You should get paid more than what you get but I'm sure you've got an answer to defend Prime for that too. :roll: But hey, I can tell you went to ACE II class cause you sure sound like you've been recently brainwashed by Prime.

Next issue you had: not knowing how to manage time and having to hammer down. Allrighty, you're the only driver who gets plenty of time on a load I'm guessing? I know they CONSISTENTLY would give us a load that was already late to begin with and they still want it on time. Don't tell me I don't know how to manage time. I can give you an example: they gave us a load 1 time from the Sprinfield terminal to L.A. and it had to be there 23 hours later. We had our truck turned up to 76 m/ph to be able to make it. We did, but that's an example of how 'WE AS DRIVERS do not know how to manage time'.

Then you say how they (drivers) spin a good story how they USED to make money etc. Well here's another one. We USED to get loads paying between $1.50/$2.00/mile. Then all of a sudden it went down to below $1.00/mile. Figure out the costs of operating your truck (but according to you ALL these drivers are too stupid/ignorant to do that; you're the only intelligent one) and see how much you put in your pocket at the end of the week. We put money aside for when it was slow in the winter time thank you very much, but don't you think it's hard to put money aside if you're not making money because the loads pay crap? Gimme the answer; I'm sure it was something stupid WE did, not Prime.
Funny thing is, we drive for another company now but we actually make good money now, even throughout January. Fact is, last week we got paid for 8100 miles, I'm happy because I don't have nowhere NEAR any of the stress Prime put on us when we were there.

I do have something positive to say about them too though. I loved my training time there, I think their training program is good. Loved the facilities. But that's it! I still have friends who run for Prime, as I mentioned those are the 3 succesful ones, but you know as well as I do they are just a really small portion of the majority.

Just to give you a little background info on me: I was a manager for Hilton hotels, did a lot of Accounting for them and budgeting, so I'm not a total ignoramus when it comes to numbers. So quit telling people it's all their fault! Prime (read: Rob Lowe) is definitely getting rich over your back, not your fault, but I can tell you're still in love with him and are having your blinkers on. Talk to you in a year and in the meantime, good luck to ya! [/quote]

 

Truer words have never been spoken. Ignorant newbies get their egos massaged with Billy Bigrig visions of fame and fortune on the open road. They have no idea how to run a business. Throw in a hormone juiced spouse who'd like some help at home and would also like it if you'd make more money and you have a recipe for disaster.

I met a guy at Swift who has built a small fleet off his original one truck "fleece". I recently met another guy driving a very new Western Star pulling a Swift trailer. He built up his credit and trucking credentials on a single 4 year lease. He bought (financed) his truck, got his own authority and continues to pull for Swift not because it's the "best deal" but because it is the most reliable deal.

It can be done but it won't be done by some mush brain with no business sense and no desire or capacity to be on the road at least 300 days a year.

 

10 months and counting. Finished one lease and just started another. I will tell you one thing: Prime doesn't cause you to lose your home or possessions. People who lose like that screwed up big somewhere along the way, and the problems run far deeper than which carrier they chose.

But hey, it's much easier to blame someone else than to blame yourself for screwing up your own life, right?

So, are you actually going to offer up evidence that Prime is paying you less than you should have been paid or are we just supposed to believe you because you said it? Remember that as the accuser, the burden of proof is upon YOU. What WAS your weekly fixed cost, anyway?

If the load was already late to begin with, then it's just going to be late. I'll work with tight timelines, but I'm still going to do it legally. If I can't, I'll let my fleet manager know and either get the appointment reset or have the load repowered by someone who has sufficient hours or a team who can move it legally. Believe it or not, this actually works.

Not communicating with the fleet manager is also a major factor in driver failure.

You take the good with the bad in this business. Yes, you're going to get periods of little freight or poorly paying freight. But you've got to plan for it and you've got to wait it out. It's frustrating, but it does come back.

You've got to remember that Prime, like any other company, is at the mercy of the marketplace. They can't just magically generate tons of freight paying $2.00/mile.

I have a question for you. What are your successful friends doing that you and the others who failed didn't do? Don't say "nothing" because we all know that's true. Different fleet manager? Drive slower?

You had the same opportunity as them, and they made it work and you didn't. Obviously it's possible to succeed at Prime. I am, and those three friends of yours are. So it stands to reason that you didn't do something right.

 

drzebra is Drinking the Rob Lowe's Kool Aid

but hey if you are doing good, thats fine. but why not be honest, lease purchase will not work everyone, but in the typical Prime driver fashion they will stick up for their job no matter what,(I think it is a recruiting issue-- if a prime driver recruits a certain number of drivers they get free lease payments) Prime is not all roses not matter what flavor of Kool aid you drink.

Been there and saw how it worked, Prime is a business equivalent to a cult

 

Here's what I will do: dig through my paper work tomorrow and type out a statement here on the forum so you can see for yourself OK?

As for the 3 succesful friends of ours: they all have the same fleet manager, we had another one (I believe it's the same one you have, initials ST). We communicated a lot with him to see where we could make changes in order to be more succesful. ST told me to get Dave Ramsey's book which I did, very useful tip. However, we can talk about this for hours and hours, but FACT is we only got 2 months of good paying loads and after that (a year and 3 months to be exact) we got crappy paying loads. We hung in there, running our butts off hoping things would get better but no. We did EVERYTHING we could influence ourselves: not taking advances or if we really needed it keep it below $300/week. Running at 63 m/ph as much as possible to keep fuel costs down. And like I said before and the statement will reflect that: our fuel cost was below company average. If a load was late or very tight, we also communicated that. Don't think you're so smart and the only one out there.

Really if you're doing good and you're happy then I'm happy for you, really. But QUIT defending Prime as if you own the damn company. I am telling everyone on this forum (which you might have seen) to go there if they're looking for a good training company, but I also tell them to become company drivers and not to lease. So it's not like I totally dislike Prime, I just dislike their lease policies.

 

But he always has that Zebra Doctoring gig to fall back on during slow times.....

 

:lol: