Complaint Review: New Prime Inc. - Springfield Missouri

Prime Inc. is ripping drivers off EVERY DAY. Jim for you to try and do damage control is saddening. I've had nothing but problems out of this company, since day one. One week in my truck and it breaks down, not once but 3 times, and I was left holding the bag. Explain to my how drivers can run 7 days a week and make $400.00. Explain to me how I must pay for annual task for the upkeep on my truck, several months in to driving. Can you explain to me, how a driver that run every load sent to them, and walk away with $1000.00 or less. You people sit there and put on this front, and anyone that calls you on your CRIMES, you start to back track. People if you want to get what's owed to you, your best bet will be to SUE them. They say it's the way you run your business is your not making money. No Jim, it's the way Prime runs it's business, and you know this. So please, try getting Prime to tell the truth and you won't need to explain why Prime is riping drivers off. The truth can stand all by itself and need no explanation. If what Prime is doing is right then there wouldn't be no questions asked. The first place you need to start cleaning house is your recruiters. They say you will make AT LEAST $1800.00 TAKE HOME. Drivers take their word for it and sign on. Then they wait, and wait, and wait for that next $1800.00 payout. Yeah you'll get it in the begining, but after four months you get squat. So save your lies for those who believe you, this driver knows the score, and it won't be long before Prime Inc. gets dragged back into court. And for those off you thats been wronged by Prime, don't quit, hang in there, gather all the information that comes to your truck. Keep logs of everything that happens with this VILE company, then you sock them in the wallet. They're not called NEW Prime, for no reason, OLD Prime was caught playing these same cards. Take them to the court and don't let Jim, Fred, and all the other Prime goons, convince you that theres nothing wrong. Let a judge decide, Lord knows they wouldn't stand a chance with a JURY. So continue to ask question, and watch how many lies you have to go through just to get the truth. Prime is a sad, sad, greedy company that preys on it lease drivers, just to show a profit.

So many say they can prove their wealth they have achieved with Prime.....take a pic of the stubs and post them here. I will be waiting....and waiting...and waiting.

The proof of my income with Prime is availible to any who would like to see. That is as a solo and as a Team Driver with my wife. I was solo 2001-2003 and have been driving team since. As for the end of lease bonus', those too are availible. At least the deposit slips are. Bonus have allowed us to pay off one home and this year will pay off the second as well as it's attached 2500 Sq Ft shop. I have been an owner/operator, a company driver, a lease operator for another company and am currently a lease operator with Prime. I have never been treated more fairly. I have never had as good a relationship with Fleet Management, Road Assist, Safety or any other department in Prime's organization. I have run into many drivers less successful. Many drivers with a multitude of problems with Prime. From all I've seen it comes down to a level of maturity and what one is willing to do to achieve their personal level of success. Yes, I pay for repairs, I pay for lumpers, I pay for downtime. or at home time. It's part of the cost of doing business. In this drivers opinion, Prime is the finest trucking company running today and I wouldn't trade my time there for anything.

I am here to offer solution to the bickering in the afore mentioned complaint. As a Professional driver for many years, and 2,367,877 miles to date, I have experienced many of the troubles you speak of. Though i feel you all have faults in your statements, such as the possible claimant for the company to actually not be a driver at all, perhaps nothing more than a soothsayer to perspective employers, and rightly so. To many drivers fail to read and understand contracts fully. It is imparative that you FULLY understand all conditions and notes in any contract being trucking, or other. it is also perfectly common of buissiness ventures to include a "return contract" which protects his own intrests within reasonable terms. You as a driver are responsable for the inspection, hours of service, and the decision to drive equipment deamed "safe" by You. It is however the company's legal duty, to fully inform, in writing any dedutions from payroll, or adjacent accounts. Perhaps the Companies may want to better inform the driver of the life they are trying to persue. And perhaps, not slander ,unduely, the drivers they rely on for thier living. And as pillars of the community, diciplin wrong-doers, yet reward those who obey federal rules, and company rules. Rules have played to much a part in many aspects of trucking. Lax the nitpicky things, not the safety . Happy drivers, are safer drivers. Drivers who are angry at the company or treated unfairly, will reflect in the state of mind on the road. This is bad for All. You lose trucks, drivers, and millions of $ due to rage, or distraction, due to treatment from employers. And Drivers, You should take note of ALL aplicable laws befor driving, and be sure to understand them. It is Your duty to know/mesure all dimensions of your vehicle, and drive it according to ALL rules and regs, federal, or company. Then, and only then, If you have been truely cheated, by laws of the state you reside in, and have solid evidence,{logbooks, pay records, expense sheets, copies of all bills of lading..ect} you should ensue private solutions to the matter. And place only facts upon a refrence sight such as this . Thank you in advance to all who take this advice in an effort to better trucking for all. signed, Long gone trucker"

O.K. I've read the "I HATE PRIME" and The "Prime IS GREAT" responses. First off I am a Prime driver I started in April 05 and am still with them, I have had no problem in makeing a paycheck here. I won't go into the numbers due to the face that whatever I say will be concidered bull%$&#. As to anyone that isn't makeing money at Prime it is not Prime's fault. it is the DRIVER. Not knowing how to run as a lease driver is the prob. Prime has classes in "how to' but they only work if you pay attn. Our trucks top out at 76MPH. If you are running at that speed you are burning fule, and we know that fule=$$$, Idleing the truck all the time burns fule. this is why prime has a program for adding a generator to your truck(that is saveing me 200$+ a week) Breakdowns are a part of the bussiness so stop whineing about I had to pay for a wiper blade boo h*o. As for ppl being charged for lumpers, damaged freight and other charges. Read the company manual it explanes how not to be charged with these. Every shipper and reciver has different requirements to how they want the bills signed and Prime has their way so do all of them. With any company if you do not do your job right YOU pay for the screwup why should Prime pay for the fact that you didn't read the Qualcomm and didn't have the reciver sign the bill lumper unload or didn't send in the right macro or better yet CALL THE DISPATCHER with a question.hmmm like they won't sign for the seal what do i do. instead of breaking it youreself and removing any chance of Prime telling the shipper that the damage or shortage wasn't due to the driver. I know this is sounding like a I am a holyer than thou driver and I never mess up wrong I've had the truck as fast as i can go i've had the claims and the weird charges on my settelment the only difference is that i fixed my mastakes and asked everyone untill it was explaned to me. Leasing a truck is not like company driveing YOU have to do the work to make the money. You have to pay attn to every aspect of YOURE bussiness. Nowhere in my contract does it say that Prime is going to hold my hand but they are there to help if I ask for it. One last thing we are truck drivers we haul freight that is our job with everthing that is included in that. So every time you say I wont go there or I won't run that load GREAT more for me. So speed up and Idle get those advances every week and don't pay attn to running your bussiness. More freight for the drivers out there that are willing to do there jobs and not blame the company that there are working for for every little thing.

To the person who wants proof of my income at prime,NO PROBLEm... (( email redacted by ROR )) I will send you whatever date you want,I am talking my full settlement. You name the date. You people need to stop your crying. Trucking is not easy and especially going at it as a lease operator. And for the goof that says the lower court decision was over turned,think again.It was overturned,and the reversed again.Prime has collected nearly $600,000 in fees from OOIDA. OOIDA is sue happy. Look at all the companies they are sueing... Landstar (oh no no the all mighty landstar), CR England, JB Hunt, Schneider, Arctic and the list goes on and on. My gues is you have absolutly no clue what OOIDA was even sueing Prime over.Its nothing to do with lease operators einstein. As for the muslim thing, if thats true it sucks. But personally I have not seen very many drivers here at Prime that would make me think they are muslims. From what I can see Primes training is the longest by far in the industry. Does Prime have its downfalls? You bet they do.But they also have the highest retention rate for drivers in the industry.Thats a fact and you can check it out for yourself at the FMCSA website. As for you trainees, you have no business starting out in trucking by leasing a truck. None at all.

okay, okay, okay! I have run out of tissues for all of your Prime Inc. whiners. And stuck my big toe up the violonists butt and kicked him out the door. If you think what you are doing is bad, try expediting. I deadhead probably almost as many miles as you run loaded. All of it unpaid. I drive for a fleet owner who is leased to Panther II Transportation. I actually just went to work for this owner, who so far is paying me like he said he would, what he said he would, and promptly as he said he would. I make 60% of what the truck makes ($1.20 per mile), I pay for all the fuel, and get all the deadhead pay (when panther actually pays me to deadhead which doesnt happen to often), all of the empty move pay (which they sometimes give to offset the cost of the fuel). I am a solo driver, so I am lucky to even get a 500 mile run that picks up Friday and delivers Monday. The only thing the owner takes out of what the truck makes at all is 40% of the loaded miles, which again are $1.20 per mile. I get all accessorials, bridge pay, etc. And still do not see that I am making more money than I was working for a construction company driving locally at $9.50 an hour, averaging about 50-60 hours per week. I took a load from Houston Texas to Gramercy Louisiana the other day, Saturday as a matter of fact. And here I am Monday night (waiting for a load) after deadheading back to Houston, which was 260 sum miles or so. All because they do not have good expedite freight customers there. It was deadhead to Shreveport or come back to Houston. And they do a very bunch more out of Houston than what they do for Shreveport. I was paid nothing for that. As for the person who said something about putting in 100 hours a week. If you are doing that, then you are stopping playing games at truck stops and logging it as on duty not driving. There is no way in hell you are doing line haul (reefer or van) and logging 100 hours of actual work between driving and on duty not driving time. I know what all of you are thinking. "Well you dumb idiot why are you still doing expediting"? Well, because, I have already lost d**n near everything I have and want to try to manage to somehow put something back until November. At which point I will decide whether or not I want to go back to work where I was working here in Houston locally, or go to Swift or Prime and do their training. With my over the road experience already covered. To shorten the length of time I have to ride with a trainer. However, at the time now I only have a Class B CDL and drive a little straight truck. So all of you who think that you have it hard. Try doing expediting sometime. You people probably have another load lined up before you get to the drop with your load you have now. I could be sitting for minutes, hours, or even days waiting for my next load. So put that in your little kleenex box and think about that before you go crying like a little whino. I would give just about anything at this point to trade places with anyone of you who are driving a tractor trailer actually getting 2500-3500 miles per week. I average about that much yes. But more than 50% of it is usually deadhead. So if you think your pay sucks. Do the math on mine. Although fuel surcharge is higher typically 25-60 cents per mile. But like I said, on a 200-400 miles run, thats not much. Especially not when you have to deadhead 200 sum miles to get to a "hotspot" for another expedite load. So wipe your tears off your cheeks, and be happy that you aren't me!

okay, okay, okay! I have run out of tissues for all of your Prime Inc. whiners. And stuck my big toe up the violonists butt and kicked him out the door. If you think what you are doing is bad, try expediting. I deadhead probably almost as many miles as you run loaded. All of it unpaid. I drive for a fleet owner who is leased to Panther II Transportation. I actually just went to work for this owner, who so far is paying me like he said he would, what he said he would, and promptly as he said he would. I make 60% of what the truck makes ($1.20 per mile), I pay for all the fuel, and get all the deadhead pay (when panther actually pays me to deadhead which doesnt happen to often), all of the empty move pay (which they sometimes give to offset the cost of the fuel). I am a solo driver, so I am lucky to even get a 500 mile run that picks up Friday and delivers Monday. The only thing the owner takes out of what the truck makes at all is 40% of the loaded miles, which again are $1.20 per mile. I get all accessorials, bridge pay, etc. And still do not see that I am making more money than I was working for a construction company driving locally at $9.50 an hour, averaging about 50-60 hours per week. I took a load from Houston Texas to Gramercy Louisiana the other day, Saturday as a matter of fact. And here I am Monday night (waiting for a load) after deadheading back to Houston, which was 260 sum miles or so. All because they do not have good expedite freight customers there. It was deadhead to Shreveport or come back to Houston. And they do a very bunch more out of Houston than what they do for Shreveport. I was paid nothing for that. As for the person who said something about putting in 100 hours a week. If you are doing that, then you are stopping playing games at truck stops and logging it as on duty not driving. There is no way in hell you are doing line haul (reefer or van) and logging 100 hours of actual work between driving and on duty not driving time. I know what all of you are thinking. "Well you dumb idiot why are you still doing expediting"? Well, because, I have already lost d**n near everything I have and want to try to manage to somehow put something back until November. At which point I will decide whether or not I want to go back to work where I was working here in Houston locally, or go to Swift or Prime and do their training. With my over the road experience already covered. To shorten the length of time I have to ride with a trainer. However, at the time now I only have a Class B CDL and drive a little straight truck. So all of you who think that you have it hard. Try doing expediting sometime. You people probably have another load lined up before you get to the drop with your load you have now. I could be sitting for minutes, hours, or even days waiting for my next load. So put that in your little kleenex box and think about that before you go crying like a little whino. I would give just about anything at this point to trade places with anyone of you who are driving a tractor trailer actually getting 2500-3500 miles per week. I average about that much yes. But more than 50% of it is usually deadhead. So if you think your pay sucks. Do the math on mine. Although fuel surcharge is higher typically 25-60 cents per mile. But like I said, on a 200-400 miles run, thats not much. Especially not when you have to deadhead 200 sum miles to get to a "hotspot" for another expedite load. So wipe your tears off your cheeks, and be happy that you aren't me!

okay, okay, okay! I have run out of tissues for all of your Prime Inc. whiners. And stuck my big toe up the violonists butt and kicked him out the door. If you think what you are doing is bad, try expediting. I deadhead probably almost as many miles as you run loaded. All of it unpaid. I drive for a fleet owner who is leased to Panther II Transportation. I actually just went to work for this owner, who so far is paying me like he said he would, what he said he would, and promptly as he said he would. I make 60% of what the truck makes ($1.20 per mile), I pay for all the fuel, and get all the deadhead pay (when panther actually pays me to deadhead which doesnt happen to often), all of the empty move pay (which they sometimes give to offset the cost of the fuel). I am a solo driver, so I am lucky to even get a 500 mile run that picks up Friday and delivers Monday. The only thing the owner takes out of what the truck makes at all is 40% of the loaded miles, which again are $1.20 per mile. I get all accessorials, bridge pay, etc. And still do not see that I am making more money than I was working for a construction company driving locally at $9.50 an hour, averaging about 50-60 hours per week. I took a load from Houston Texas to Gramercy Louisiana the other day, Saturday as a matter of fact. And here I am Monday night (waiting for a load) after deadheading back to Houston, which was 260 sum miles or so. All because they do not have good expedite freight customers there. It was deadhead to Shreveport or come back to Houston. And they do a very bunch more out of Houston than what they do for Shreveport. I was paid nothing for that. As for the person who said something about putting in 100 hours a week. If you are doing that, then you are stopping playing games at truck stops and logging it as on duty not driving. There is no way in hell you are doing line haul (reefer or van) and logging 100 hours of actual work between driving and on duty not driving time. I know what all of you are thinking. "Well you dumb idiot why are you still doing expediting"? Well, because, I have already lost d**n near everything I have and want to try to manage to somehow put something back until November. At which point I will decide whether or not I want to go back to work where I was working here in Houston locally, or go to Swift or Prime and do their training. With my over the road experience already covered. To shorten the length of time I have to ride with a trainer. However, at the time now I only have a Class B CDL and drive a little straight truck. So all of you who think that you have it hard. Try doing expediting sometime. You people probably have another load lined up before you get to the drop with your load you have now. I could be sitting for minutes, hours, or even days waiting for my next load. So put that in your little kleenex box and think about that before you go crying like a little whino. I would give just about anything at this point to trade places with anyone of you who are driving a tractor trailer actually getting 2500-3500 miles per week. I average about that much yes. But more than 50% of it is usually deadhead. So if you think your pay sucks. Do the math on mine. Although fuel surcharge is higher typically 25-60 cents per mile. But like I said, on a 200-400 miles run, thats not much. Especially not when you have to deadhead 200 sum miles to get to a "hotspot" for another expedite load. So wipe your tears off your cheeks, and be happy that you aren't me!

okay, okay, okay! I have run out of tissues for all of your Prime Inc. whiners. And stuck my big toe up the violonists butt and kicked him out the door. If you think what you are doing is bad, try expediting. I deadhead probably almost as many miles as you run loaded. All of it unpaid. I drive for a fleet owner who is leased to Panther II Transportation. I actually just went to work for this owner, who so far is paying me like he said he would, what he said he would, and promptly as he said he would. I make 60% of what the truck makes ($1.20 per mile), I pay for all the fuel, and get all the deadhead pay (when panther actually pays me to deadhead which doesnt happen to often), all of the empty move pay (which they sometimes give to offset the cost of the fuel). I am a solo driver, so I am lucky to even get a 500 mile run that picks up Friday and delivers Monday. The only thing the owner takes out of what the truck makes at all is 40% of the loaded miles, which again are $1.20 per mile. I get all accessorials, bridge pay, etc. And still do not see that I am making more money than I was working for a construction company driving locally at $9.50 an hour, averaging about 50-60 hours per week. I took a load from Houston Texas to Gramercy Louisiana the other day, Saturday as a matter of fact. And here I am Monday night (waiting for a load) after deadheading back to Houston, which was 260 sum miles or so. All because they do not have good expedite freight customers there. It was deadhead to Shreveport or come back to Houston. And they do a very bunch more out of Houston than what they do for Shreveport. I was paid nothing for that. As for the person who said something about putting in 100 hours a week. If you are doing that, then you are stopping playing games at truck stops and logging it as on duty not driving. There is no way in hell you are doing line haul (reefer or van) and logging 100 hours of actual work between driving and on duty not driving time. I know what all of you are thinking. "Well you dumb idiot why are you still doing expediting"? Well, because, I have already lost d**n near everything I have and want to try to manage to somehow put something back until November. At which point I will decide whether or not I want to go back to work where I was working here in Houston locally, or go to Swift or Prime and do their training. With my over the road experience already covered. To shorten the length of time I have to ride with a trainer. However, at the time now I only have a Class B CDL and drive a little straight truck. So all of you who think that you have it hard. Try doing expediting sometime. You people probably have another load lined up before you get to the drop with your load you have now. I could be sitting for minutes, hours, or even days waiting for my next load. So put that in your little kleenex box and think about that before you go crying like a little whino. I would give just about anything at this point to trade places with anyone of you who are driving a tractor trailer actually getting 2500-3500 miles per week. I average about that much yes. But more than 50% of it is usually deadhead. So if you think your pay sucks. Do the math on mine. Although fuel surcharge is higher typically 25-60 cents per mile. But like I said, on a 200-400 miles run, thats not much. Especially not when you have to deadhead 200 sum miles to get to a "hotspot" for another expedite load. So wipe your tears off your cheeks, and be happy that you aren't me!

me and my husband also ran a team at prime and the first 6 months was fine,but the last 6 months was a bad dream,and no we did not take cash advances and that is a lot of crap 1.24 a mile you can feed that to someone who hasn't worked there.i forget the man who kept saying he would email his pay stubs to prove he was making money sure send me 3 straight weeks of statements.i had a truck that broke down every other week and noone could find the problem,but i was charged anyway.and if prime does give you a good fuel surcharge they just cut what the load pays.we now work for crete and i will bet any prime drivers our pay check is bigger each week after taxes than there's is before taxes.i worked there and we were ripped off and so is every driver there,but most are to dumb to no it and that is what prime thrives on.

I've been over here at Prime for 2yrs and haven't had any of the above problems. My first full year I made $230,000 gross, my take home was $79,000 my self employment tax(social security) was $12,000. But then again I'm a flatbedder so I'm not afraid to get off my fat a*s and do some labor intensive work. I guess the "secret" prime mechanics must be changing the O 2 sensors in everybody elses trucks because I don't know anyone getting over 6.2 mpg in a new truck. This company is a big company with thousands of employees. Some of those employees are decent and some are dicks. You can make good money here if you arn't afraid to work hard or you can starve(I've seen it happen) if your lazy,stupid, or careless. My first lease was up last September my completion bonus was $4200 after everything was said and done on a 15 month lease. I average $2200 a week as a husband/wife team. We get home every five weeks on average. Its not all bubble gum and sunshine. I've had some minor issues with the insurance but it was handled. Good luck finding a trucking job that treats you how you want to be treated.

Here is one for you, Mr. Prime Mouthpiece. The higher court overturned the decision about the attorney fees....before you posted this, in February of 2006. Get your facts. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report.

This is in response to the other rebuttals.I have already responded to the original complaint. First,understand that the class action lawsuit filed against Prime by OOIDA was dismissed in federal court.OOIDA was ordered to pay Prime over $500,000 in attornys fees.Hmmm and Prime was the one being sued.The suit was dropped due to,and I am quoting the judge,"a serious lack of any substantial evidence." As for Prime being fruadulant? Show me the proof. My wife and I have done great here,and yes I have also done solo at Prime. The key is your dispatcher. Primes freight rates are at an all time high. I would be more than happy to email anyone who wants,copies of my settlements. You name the dates and I will email them to you. The lease completionpayouts are more than real. Our last truck we receieved over $13,000. The truck we just turned in 4 weeks ago we got back over $18,000. Again I would be more than happy to email you the proof. Prime easily has the highest surcharges in the industry. This I can also prove.We have had trips where we have actually MADE MONEY off of our surcharge. This means our fuel was free and we made a little profit just off of the surcharge, never mind the linehaul revenue. Primes customers are the same as any other refrigerated companies customers. This was just an ignorant statment.Yes some treat you like crap.I agree but you will find that with any trucking company. We also have many customers who treat you great. xxxxxx and I could go on all night if I wanted to. As for the guy complaining about the DAC report. You have no one to blame but yourself. You make your own bed and you must lay in it. Dont play by the rules and your going to get burned. Smple as that. As for the trainee, Primes training is by far the longest and most intense in trucking.While 99.9% of trucking companies provide a maximum of 3 weeks of training, this includes classroom and behind the wheel. Primes is wither 1 to 2 weeks of classroom,and almost 6 MONTHS of behind the wheel training. You guys are rookies, you know nothing obviously.Primes turnover rates is a mere 30%! While the industry average is over 60%.This info is available on the FMSCA website. Is Prime hard to make money with?No,not really.But there are a few tricks to it.You need to learn the system, you need to have lots of dicipline, and you need to have a mind for business. Compare Primes lease program to ANY other company. JB Hunt - used trucks....$.85 CPM (laughable) CR Egland - used trucks...$.85 CPM Central Refrigerated - new & used....$.85 CPM and it goes on and on.Primes lease operators average over $1.20 a mile.This is a fact and easily provable. As for the guy that says he is done with trucking.I am sorry to hear that.But if your so upset with the industry why choose Prime to shred with your harsh words? I can think of many companies far far worse. Again I will offer the proof of my income to anyone who wants it. Before you open your mouths you should know the facts.

First of all, Prime is a Fraudulent Outfit, that is why, they were under a lawsuit by OOIDA, for cheating Owner Operators out of money, willfully and intentionally, as described in the lawsuit, and which was up held by the "Courts", in favor of OOIDA !!!!!!! Hence, the new name change from Prime,, to "New Prime" !!!! Remember also, there are a lot of Truck Drivers and Owner Operators , who, are hard working dedicated individuals, but,, have very little Business sense when reading contracts and throughly understanding them and the legal terms that accompany them as well. a Big Rig, doesn't mean, money is going to be falling from the sky, to pay for that expensive rig, and all other costs associated with it, or being able to maintain your home and family !! With Fraudulent, Corrupt outfits like this in the Industry, they thrive on taking advantage of "Naive" individuals who they know, aren't that business savy or educated about the transportation laws that govern them as a Lease Contractor. I must add, any time you sign on with a Carrier, always have "your" attorney that you choose, carefully read over the contract, so you throughly understand it before signing it and anxiously put your truck on, with hopes of making money. Any Carrier that refuses to let you take that Contract to "your" attorney of your choosing before signing on, should be a clear signal, that something is a miss and not right, and immediately send up "Red-Flags" !!!!!! With that being said, outfits like this, are whats hurting this Industry and the professionals in the Industry as well !!!!

My first week as a solo my net was $1,400 my second was $1,200. That all looks really good BUT I killed myself!!!!! I have to pay TAXEs$$ on that money. You do not always make that. The NEW company division is taking more and more of the good loads. I know when I was company I would have made a ton of money if I was a lease o/p. You can do allright at prime if you want to kill yourself and NEVER go home! Bottom line you should be making better money for all the work you put into it. I was working about 90 hours a week to make that. The week I made $1,400 I had to go to Long Island Ne York and it was HELL! After I was in New York city all day My dispatch tried to turn around and pass a load on me loading in New Jersey. I told him I can not get to it. He kept on and on about it. I finally turned the quailcom down and shoved it under the bed in the sleeper. I thought there was no forced dispatch Prime? I was about out of hours anyway for the day. They do not care!! Then if you do not play their game they will give you a few shitty runs or you will sit. The last grocery warehouse the lumper fee was $300 dollars and I had to pay for half of it. My appointment time was 23:00 I did not get unloaded till 3:00 am the next morning and they TOLD me to leave the property. I wasted my fuel driving around Hartford looking for a place to park. There is no place on the east coast at a truckstop after 6:oopm in the evening. I was always dealing with RUDE customers at prime!!! It is not worth $1,100 a week! The funny thing is I did better than most of the other drivers. I will not be DIRESPECTED by their customers or Prime so I quit. Prime is making a killing off their drivers and all they do is give you a (CHANCE) at making a little more money than a company guy .with GREAT risk. You take the resposibillty off of Prime. What a deal for them. The trainers the best they will do killing themselves will net $65,000 a year and that is running hard. They should NET at least $90,000. I would hear trainers saying they make more but bottom line they do not understand gross vs. NET. They like to blow things up the bigger fish story you know.

And, I'd really like to see those big lease completion bonuses you see in the magazines. Can you lease owners show me any of those? All I can see is those lawsuits prime, I'm sorry new prime, has to deal with. It seems they can't keep OOIDA off their asses. Every time they turn around, somebody is suing them for cheating their lease operators. You know, even $1000 a week isn't that good. Consider that you still owe taxes out of that. Federal, state, local. And double for the social security. That's all a big chunk out of your money. And then, consider how many hours it took you to make that money. You're doing 3000 to 4000 a week, solo. You're talking about 100 hours a week. Week in and week out. I'm telling you, I drove these d**n trucks as company. I ran as hard as is humanly possible. Like 750 every day, in a 68 mile truck. A lot of it was reefer. You grocery warehouse guys know what that means. Plus, I sold every drop of fuel that I could get away with. Fuel deal, anyone? Buck a gallon, hundred minimum. I swapped truck parts with so many d**n landstars and W9's that the only thing that was original was my hood with the unit number on it. We have a Bridgestone account, so why do my steers have some name from China? You guys know how to sell the freight, right? Dry and frozen? You people all did that too, right? Even the hi-value stuff. They hand you the bolt seal. Sometimes the guard will check it. Many times, you're out the gate without it on. Come to papa, mr LCD TV. Oh yeah, me and best buy, we're like this (crossed fingers). I used a headlight or a tail light on every load. There isn't a week that went by that I didn't need at least one new load lock. Coolant leaks, better top that up before I run through Nevada. After a while, it got to be a joke. Car-type brake fluid. Where the hell do you add brake fluid to a diesel semi? That's what I'd like to know. And, why is it that I could never go more than 800 miles before I got a drive axle blowout? And, the funny thing is, I had the exact same mechanical problems at every company. Fuel leaks. Tires, one right after another. Dead batteries. They really need to improve the quality of these long-haul trucks! About the only company that got an accurate count and condition was KLLM. I can honestly say, they never cheated me out of one dime. So, I showed them the same respect in return. But, the rest? Hell, it simply became a contest. And, since I had the truck, who do you think is gonna win? They were all idiots for cheating their drivers. US Xpress? You mean idiot xpress! They were the brake fluid buyers. Hell, I could have billed them to change the air filters for the tires if I could have found a service place willing to write me up an invoice for it with a straight face. Since I quit, I changed my oil in my car every three months, and I still have them d**n delo 400 blue bottles stacked up to the ceiling. I got everything from cases of bubble gum to enough hair shampoo to make the ocean here foamy. You gotta understand, those cheapo load locks don't do much. A lotta stuff falls off these trucks. Especially the vans. You just can't help it. And, I still couldn't make enough to call it a decent job. So, what's that tell you? You run as hard as you can and sell everything that either falls off or gets unbolted by accident from the truck. And, you still can't make a decent living. That tells me it's time to drop the trailer, set the yellow air valve and go on home time for good! You know, I'm thinking about that KBR job in Iraq. I'm not sure about the freight though. I want good freight. Valuable freight. Freight that you can make some money haulin', you know? Hey, you drivers don't need any towels, do you? I got the nice ones from the Flying J. Hell, one extra towel each shower. Out for years. Well, lets just say there is no way in hell I'll ever need all of them. Hey, Prime has a company division now, don't they? You know, I think I should give them a call. I mean after all you lease ops come here and tell me what a good company they are and all! Nothing like adding a little prime beef to the mix, don't you think?

I do not understand you guys. You will be defending Prime with your e-mails and, up stairs in the drivers lounge you will be cussing out Prime. I know; I here you guys all the time. Of course that would make you look really dumb working for a low ball company. Well, I quit Prime and would not go back even If I made twice the money. You have to be honest with yourself sooner or later. I know you put up with with bullshit everyday. The majority of Primes customers treat you like cowshit! Prime says they care but they care more about their money driver, wake up! I have been to the saftey meetings and listen very closely. I have never in my life been so direspected than driving for Prime. I have tried (many times) to talk to dispatch and others up the ladder that was a total joke. The trucking industry is all the same and I will not drive anymore. I will not be part of the problem. The only way this will change if the drivers get the courage to stand up and unite. Of course that will never happen so I am tired of talking about it you work way to hard and way underpaid! Do the math it makes me sick! You are out there busting your a*s and the inhouse staff are enjoying that new multimillion dollar building that was built for the driver. SURE! Wake up!

Ive been with Prime since 2001. I dont know where Albert come up with this stuff. If he was getting .72 a mile then he is not makeing an effort to work. I enjoy working at prime and yes I do earn a good living. Seems that many of these guys that complain about this company don't take the time to read their lease contract in full.

first and foremost let me state that i have been with Prime for 7 years now.They are a wonderful company. i am truly sorry this driver claims to have had such a bad experience,BUT lets set the record straight here... 1ST-he claimed he was only getting .72 cents per mile on his loads.but he is leaving something out.Prime offers 2 different pay scales,that in the end actually pay the same.you can choose to run at .80 cpm,or choose to run on a % basis,which is 72% of the total linehaul for that specific load.if the 72% doesnt equal up to .80 per mile prime will make up the difference to bring it up to .80 cpm.this was done on a quarterly schedule.currently Prime has done away with the .80 a mile and we now all run on 72%,and trust me the money is better. also if this driver was only making .72 cpm please explpain to me how he grossed $5185 and ran 4200 miles.if you do the math thats $1.24 cpm.thats realy good money.as for taking home$312 on that much revanue.its either A -a flat out lie.or this person had a bad habit of taking cash advances,which i noticed he failed to mention. 2nd-trainees,what he claims is a buch of bull.he pays the trainee nothing.i trained for 4 years.Prime pays the trainee $450 for the duration of the training period.flat and simple.sounds like this guy didnt know how to read his settlement. 3rd-truck repairs and payment.let me say that big trucks are very complex,with thousands of hi tech moving parts.with that said,what he is saying may be true.but remember this,youo are leasing your truck and you and only you are responsible for all repairs and payments.all of our trucks come fully warrantied,truck itself for 450,000 miles and the motor for 650,000 mile.i highly doubt this person hit either milage level.but on the other hand,yes i have had my truck in the shop and what i requested to get repaired wasnt.this isnt a prime issue,its a frieightliner issue.has nothing what so ever do with Prime.. 4th-this deal with making our fuel milage decrease by messing with the o2 sensors,just non sense.another fat this driver failed to mention is the followingl.the EPA instituted new emissions standards on all truck enginemanufacturers.by 2004 emissions had to be cut,not sure of the % but it was sizable.only way for the builders to do thi was to install EGR systems on all motors after 2004.this has cut our fuel milage,by about %4.again nothing to do with Prime,blame your federal govt.Prime is constantly harping on us about our milage and always trying new ways to help us improve it.his statement about this was assinine.this guy in no way burned $2000 in fuel a week running the kinda miles heclaimed he did.its just flat out impossible.i run team with my wife and have been for 3 years now.we burn an avg of $2000 a wk and thats running twice as many miles as he claimed he did.so go figure that oneoh and we run 75 mph whenever possible. 5th-Primes saftey record,hes 1/2 right on this one.prime has had a shaby saftey record up until the past couple of years(we have greatly improved).BUT this past january of 05 we had a federal DOT audit.Prime passed with one of the best scores DOT has had in years,this is all public record.we did lose our pre pass for a year.we now have it back and it works in every state that offers pre pass.if you go to Primes website you will see all the stuff Prime does as far as saftey is concerned.we have ALL the latest technology concerning saftey. 6th-logbooks,buch of bull again.we have a very very strict log dept.our log records are recorded based on a point system.its all computerized and no way around it.our logs are scanned its not possible to alter them.the 1 hour leway thing.well thats dot rules not Primes. 7th-cargo claims..this one is funny.it states in your contract that you are required to be on the dock for all unloading and loading when permitted.reason for this?? of course its to count your frieght and make sure everything is accurate.if your not allowed on a dock then you must notify your dispatcher.sounds like this guy just wanted to sit in his truck and watch tv while he was being loaded or unloaded,typical lazy truck driver. and finally taking your truck where you want.i dont know where he is getting his info from on this one.BUT hes really blowing smoke here.we have several different lease programs with varying payment options. i am currently in the second year of the program he is referring to.being able to take your truck where you want is very true...IF you are purchasing the truck,which i am.our payments are less than half of what his are/were.you do not pay 2 payments a month.we pay $417.42 a month for our truck.thats with a $6,000 down payment. he was paying $800 a week because he put no money down and there was no credit check done on him. in closing let me say that this guy simply sounds like a digruntled employee,of which every company has.like i said we have been here for seven years and have a positive cash flow of over $120,000 a year. this guy sounds like he took way to many cash advances,hung out at the truck stops instead of driving or was a casino buff...while his beef may be legite,he brought it on himself if so. Prime is a great company who treats us like family!