Driver Advisory Board Meeting
Wednesday, October 30 2019
Oasis Convention Center
Meeting Attendees
| Roger Johnson (Flatbed) | Alan Godfrey (Refrigerated) | Victor Blackburn (Refrigerated) |
| James Abell (Flatbed) | Orain Jones (Refrigerated) | Jesse Dennis (Refrigerated) |
| Frank Kumre (Flatbed) | Timothy Wylie (Refrigerated) | Joe Hancammon (Refrigerated) |
| Richard Prince (Flatbed) | Thomas Miller (Refrigerated) | Jeff Knudsen (Refrigerated) |
| Mark Snider (Intermodal) | Blake Nichols (Refrigerated) | Junior Honduras (Refrigerated) |
| Emily Plummer (Refrigerated) | Charles Smith (Refrigerated) | Ricky Oneill (Refrigerated) |
| Reba Hoffman (Refrigerated) | Sean Fitzgerald (Refrigerated) | Tobias Alexander (Refrigerated) |
| Dee Sova (Refrigerated) | Anthony Eck (Refrigerated) | John Ogren (Tanker) |
| Alan Weakley (Tanker) |
Agenda
Tuesday, October 29th:
- EcoShred & Retread Tour (Mike Jones, Accounting/EcoShred)
- Pre-DAB Meeting Review (Jack Porter, Strategic Planner)
Wednesday, October 30th: Presentations followed by Q&A
- State of the Industry, State of Prime (Darrel Hopkins, Prime Inc. Controller)
- Sales (Steve Wutke, VP of Sales & Marketing)
- Prime Training Program (Stan Kasterke, Prime Training Program Manager)
- Payroll (Shaun Ryker, Manager of Payroll)
- Driver Health & Fitness (Matt Hancock, DHF Coordinator)
- Road Assist & Maintenance (Justin Kaufman, Manager of Road Assist & Kevin Bergman, Director of Maintenance)
- Driver Operations (Jim Wilkins, Director of Flatbed & Tanker Operations and Jim Guthrie, Director of Reefer Operations)
- Safety and E-Logs (Dennis Davis, Safety Supervisor & Susan Byrne, Logs)
- Success Leasing (Drew Martin, Manager of Leasing)
- Technology (Brianne Madura, Information Technology)
Pending Key Action Items from Previous Meetings:
- Volunteer Veteran Drivers for Recruiting Trips
- Andrea Mueller/Travis Bacon
- Onsite Chiropractor one time per week
- Working with Trinity Healthcare to offer an option with Dr Popa in Springfield, MO
- Develop a Standard Layout of Prime added options for each truck model
- Andrew Martin/Andrea Mueller
- DAB Contact Info introduced during Orientation-Create a video
- Andrea Mueller
- Additional long-term parking in Springfield, MO (Prime East/motorcycle parking)
- Bill Boehning/Andrea Mueller
- Detention and Layover Pay Rules & Policies Formalized and Create a document/video on how to ensure you receive detention pay
- Stan Auman/Shaun Ryker/Rodney Rader
- Build fall protection area for Flatbed at Prime terminal
- Mark Piley
- Create division-specific training curriculum or guide for TNT Trainers and Trainees
- Develop Prime Trainer/Trainee Checklist both sides complete weekly
- Stan Auman/Stephen Tassin/Steve Larsen
- Livestream safety meetings so drivers out on the road can participate
- Steve Field/Brianne Madura/Andrea Mueller
- Offer self-defense class for drivers & provide list of approved protection options for the truck
- Bill Boehning/Andrea Mueller
- Add trip sheets to mobile app
- Brianne Madura
- Create a promotional booklet/brochure on all of the benefits Prime has to offer
- Andrea Mueller
- Road Assist keeping Fleet Manager in the loop
- Stan Auman/Jim Wilkins/Brett Vonwiller/Justin Kaufman
- Shop Campaigns in the Prime Mobile App
- Brianne Madura/Kevin Bergman
- Safety Annual Review in the Prime Mobile App
- Brianne Madura/Dennis Davis/Steve Field
- Add detention rules to stop info
- Keith McCoy
Completed Action Items from DAB to Date:
- Added Travel Update section on Prime Mobile App to reduce non-critical QC Messages
- Prior to change, Prime drivers were receiving an average of 400+ QC messages/week.
- After change, Prime drivers receive average of less than 100 QC messages/week.
- Qualcomm message signed with full name
- Pro Maintenance 1.0 Class created and launched in July 2019
- Over 170 drivers have attended PM 1.0 as of Oct 2019
- Shop will keep on APU when truck is being worked on
- Trailer Parking Solution for Pittston
- Pedigree Sale Trailers moved off of main yard down to training pad in Oct 2019
- More Training Videos for New Drivers
- Examples of new training videos created in 2019:
- How to Fix Tandem Slider Pins
- How to Fix a Trailer Chute
- How to Jump Start a Reefer Unit
- How to Fix a Mud Flap
- Homecounter viewable in Prime Mobile App
- Develop a Training Advisory Board
- Next meeting tentatively Feb 2020
- ELD Roll Out program to prepare fleet Sept – November
- Move the open gate button in Denver to Outside of the Office for food ordering/taxis
- Food Trucks brought into SLC while Amenities Building is being built
- Program for Million Mile Company Drivers to order new truck
- Military graphics on flatbed trailer skirts
- Clayton Brown/Paul Smith
- Review staffing and wait times in Springfield, MO New Plaza
- Paul Smith/Kevin Bergman
- Added Driver Advisory Board Members to proposed load feature for testing and feedback
- Currently over 300 total Prime Drivers utilizing this feature for testing
- Review orientation experience to find areas of improvement for welcome/family first impression, promote benefits of the company and career path/options to new drivers on front end
- Create restroom & facility upgrades at the Auburndale yard
- Exterior Restroom facility added to yard-Feb 2019
- Provide receipts at Auburndale yard for washouts
- Provide better/stronger inverters in the truck
- Now installing Tundra inverters into new trucks instead of previous Cobra model
- Utilize geofencing to cater road updates to drivers in those areas
- Update the My Fuel feature to let you view it on current week, 4 week, 8 week basis
- Streamline/reduce repetitive messaging to fleet (i.e. red-light tickets in Hannibal, MO)
- Add Macro 33 to app
- Work on communication of Road Assist Dept to provide confirmation that they receive messages and are working on the problem and/or ETA when they should hear back from RA Advisor
- Fix Reefer Dept Live Load Dispatch inbound call queue/waiting message to not auto hang up on callers if there was more than one person in queue holding.
- New My Fuel feature to see your personal stats and how you rank in the fleet
- Create phone line to call in to hear Prime Hold Messages
- Prime Class List on Prime Mobile App
- Standard Transmission Truck Loaning for Practice
- Hold Messages updated more frequently
- DIY fixes and Pay Information Shared and Promoted
- Enhanced communication through Mobile App
- New truck optimization program implementation
- Vacation pay for second seats
- My Truck, My Trailer, and My Contacts features in Prime Mobile App
- ACE2 Videos on Prime Mobile App
- Road Assist Vendor List on App
- Examples of new training videos created in 2019:
Driver Advisory Board Members Meeting Feedback
| DAB Member | John Ogren |
| Key Takeaway(s) | Overall, I have been very pleased with my DAB experience. I love that there is tangible evidence that things we discuss are resolved. |
| Action Item | I would like to see the Decatur tanker terminal get a pedestrian exit card reader like the Denver one just installed. This was addressed at the July meeting & implemented before the October meeting, but only in Denver. Not in Decatur. |
| DAB Member | Reba Hoffman |
| Key Takeaway(s) | My biggest takeaway was learning how much my bottom line weighs on the minds and hearts of our leadership. With the freight market the way it is, I would not want to ride through a storm with any company other than Prime. Our leaders are constantly looking for ways to improve my experience, in spite of lean times. That give me great comfort! |
| Action Item | All the action items I submitted were taken care of at the meeting. |
| DAB Member | Emily Plummer |
| Key Takeaway(s) | Loaded trailer lot issue needs to be addressed before we have more equipment damaged. |
| Action Item(s) | Making the shuttle area non smoking.
Payroll being moved to Wednesday. Giving back to the company drivers with the Million mile truck. |
| DAB Member | Sean Fitzgerald |
| Key Takeaway(s) | In my mind meeting went 10 times better than the last meeting. |
| Action Item | Review paid parking reimbursement program. |
| DAB Member | Jeff Knudsen |
| Key Takeaway(s) | My biggest takeaway was learning about increase in accidents/property damage at terminals. |
| Action Item | Review drivers causing damage at yards and dropping damaged trailers. |
| DAB Member | Mark Snider |
| Key Takeaway(s) | Progress of Prime moving forward and the continued growth of the DAB. |
| Action Item | Some topics need to be taken offline and discussed in more focused groups i.e. equipment modifications. Take items discussed from previous meetings and break into teams and present possible solutions to the group. |
| DAB Member | Timothy Wylie |
| Key Takeaway(s) | Understand load choice better. Loved the tour of tire recycling; it is great to see company expanding while helping communities and the planet at the same time. |
| Action Item | None at this time. |
| DAB Member | Thomas Miller |
| Key Takeaway(s) | The meeting this time around seemed to me to be a lot more informative with future plans coming up. Each department provided excellent information on what issues and challenges they are facing and what their plans are to address them. That was very nice to hear so that when drivers ask us questions in the future, we as DAB members can be more informed to handle that |
| Action Item | More follow up and discussion with the DAB members when it comes to ongoing and new issues or items. For example, the load choice program. The most recent changes to that program were put into place without any discussion with the drivers that is supposed to be “testing it”. I fully realize that the drivers DO NOT have the final say on this program and that it needs to be tweaked to be beneficial for all. However, I believe input from those that are “in the field” would have been beneficial. In those discussions, in house staff could have explained why they felt changes needed to be made, and drivers could have voiced their concerns on how it would affect us on the road. I’m not saying it would have changed the outcome, but having a voice up front would have been more reassuring. |
| DAB Member | Anthony Eck |
| Key Takeaway(s) | I like that we are changing the payroll cut off to Wednesday, I love that company drivers can now order a truck once they hit a million miles. |
| Action Item | I would like to see something being done about trailers leaving all three terminals with out locks on the trailers, I think if we put a decal right above where the locks go saying “did you remember your lock” or “your trailer isn’t secure until you’ve locked it.” |
| DAB Member | Orain Jones |
| Key Takeaway(s) | That Mr. Low and company are moving with a sustainable business plan that will definitely encourage retention. |
| Action Item | A focus on what and where we are going to incentivize team building. |
