Roehl Transport, Inc. - Marshfield, Wi.

What did the road test consist of?

 

The test at orientation consists of driving a couple of miles on the road and backing into a parking space when you get back to the terminal.

 

Thanks! Has to be easier than the horseshoe back in's I was doing the other day!

 

Hello everybody:

I have been working with Roehl four months now and check this board on my home time. I see a lot of discussion here with questions of what to expect, but I do not see all that many reports from recent hires. Perhaps what I have to say will be helpful to those of you preparing to start with Roehl.

This is my first job driving. I practiced law for a time and I decided that my life would not be complete until I had done some OTR. I believed when I shopped for an employer and I believe now that Roehl was the best choice for me. I am going to categorize some areas of discussion:

Trainers - During my training on the job with Roehl, I had three different trainers. The first one was for evolution 1, the second one was simply to get me home from Indiana to North Carolina and get some training along the way, the third one was for evolution 2. All three of these trainers were fair minded, helpful, and eager to share their knowledge of trucking. Not all of the people with whom I went through orientation felt that way about their trainers, and it may be that I just hit the right ones, but most of the drivers I know who train are committed to developing their students into professionals. When you are training, keep your mouth shut (except to ask questions) and your eyes and ears open, and you will do fine. Driver as much as your trainer will let you drive, and do ALL the backing (you won't have your trainer there when you get on your own and the time to learn your set-ups is NOW!). If you get burned out, tell your trainer; they will work with you on that. Also, when you get in one of those many "fixes" that truck drivers find themselves in, tell your trainer how you are thinking to solve the problem. (Example: If I pull up over to my right, it will create some space over there, and then maybe I can set up a straight line back, etc.).

Evolution 3 - The evolution 3 dispatcher I had is a good man. I remember one particular night when I got a stomach virus from a pizza buffet in Indiana. I did not feel much like driving the next morning but I drove and I dealt with it the best I could. That next night I casually mentioned getting sick and being tired from it and he was all over me about I should have told him that I did not feel well, and we could have worked something out with the load. There was another time I was at the Bensalem yard in Philadelphia and was dispatched to go over to New Jersey to pick up. I was on the day's 12th hour of duty, and did not feel I could get over there, pick up the load, and then find a place to park all within two hours. Simply explaining that situation to him enabled me to park the truck for ten hours with absolutely no problem from the dispatcher. This brings to a very important point....

Safety - This company will tell you that safety is its cornerstone value. To the extent that a company (non-human entity) can have values, they mean this and they live this. If you expect to last with Roehl, you WILL log properly and you WILL NOT get by with hours of service violations. This may be inconvenient at times (I know first hand; I just finished being parked for 18 hours to avoid a very minor hours of service violation but Roehl backed me on that call even though it caused problems on the load) but it is not nearly as inconvenient as getting on the road after that 14th hour, having some yahoo run under your trailer, decapitate himself, and have a PI lawyer and the DOT barbecue you for having a truck illegally on the road. If you don't want to play by the rules, you will probably not work out too well at Roehl. If you are the type that wants to operate legally and safely (even at inconvenient times when there is a price to pay for that), then Roehl will not pressure you to push envelopes and you may fit in fine there. There was a time I simply did not feel capable of going up a Vermont mountain in a snowstorm to get a load. The after hours dispatcher immediately took me off the load with no guilt trip or reprimand. As soon as the roads cleared, I had a good load and contrary to the prophecies of some of my peers I did NOT get "punished" with a bad load as a result of making that phone call.

Dispatchers: When I finished evolution 3 and got my regular dispatcher, I was put on a load to Ellenwood to meet him before getting my first load from him. That made a very good impression on me to have had a friendly conversation about trucking with "the boss" before taking a load from him. Many of Roehl's dispatchers have driven and they know what you are out there up against.

Details - I find this company's culture to be very detail oriented. There are ways they want things done involving safety (like get out and look when backing and very specific steps when coupling and uncoupling) and involving professionalism (weighing loads even though you know they're legal; sweeping out empty trailers; neatness in personal appearance within very reasonable lines). If you break down (which I have), their first question is going to be "did you pretrip your truck?" This company is led by nice people, but they do not want you to be slack. If you can function in that type of environment, you will probably do fine at Roehl.

Breaking down - Since it's been mentioned, I'm sure people are wondering. When I broke down they put me in a decent clean Super 8 and paid breakdown pay like they said they would. It took time to get moving again, but they got me moving again as quickly as they could. (But I sure am glad I pretripped my truck that morning!)

Home time - They are absolutely fair about home time. I am a single man without wife or children so I don't worry much about specific days. I try to stay out 11-14 and be home 3. A couple of times I have had to adjust some home time but they have always found a way to say "thank you" that has made it worth the trouble.

Company culture- In four months not one Roehl employee in any capacity has shown me any mentionable amount of disrespect. This company actually seems in large part fueled by a spirit of cooperation and getting the jobs done. It is very common for two Roehl drivers to see eachother at a truck stop or rest area or loading dock parking lot and trot over to shake hands or say hello or even help eachother get backed in. I cannot help to think that inter-driver relations in this company are probably better than what is found in other companies.

I have painted a very positive picture of Roehl which at this point I think they deserve. I must also add that I ran into a corporate officer of Roehl's insurer at a Flying J not too long ago and he told me that it was a pleasure for his company to deal with Roehl because they believed in doing it right.

This is not to say that I haven't had days with Roehl where I wanted to get the load done and then pick up the phone and quit, face it - trucking is trucking no matter how nice a company you work for. I realize also that not everybody is a good fit with every company. However, if you are looking for that first trucking job and you want a company that will make a noticable effort to turn you into a professional, I would encourage you to look at Roehl and try it.

 

You have stated exactly what our (or should I say my husband's) experiences with Roehl have been. In I am in the process of applying for the cdl schooling. Right now my husband is a trainer.

How much driving time did you receiver while with a trainer?

 

The Goal is for the student to get 4 hours of on-duty time, every day, so they qualify for their pay.

I averaged 6 hours a day, of driving, all-tolled. But, I was a flatbed student, and their runs seem a bit shorter, 6 was generally half the time. I didn't really get along with my trainers. But, I expected that, I'm pretty much a computer-geek, and one trainer thought Computers were the devil's work, and the other wasn't positive that the whole "computer-thing" would ever catch on.

I tried to point out to everyone that would listen, that I never, had anything to do with lumber-tarps, during my training. Sure enough, first week out, I get 3 lumber-tarp loads, and I'm getting my nose smacked with a newspaper cause it takes me 5 hours to finish.

I don't yet have the confidence to try to back into a single parking space in a truck stop if I can't make it a straight-back, with a split-tandem trailer. But, if there are two or more spaces together that I can play with, I'll do that, rather than a pull-through spot, since I know I need the practice.

worst part of Evo II, was, since I can't sleep in a moving truck, I was getting up at 3 and 4 in the morning, He wouldn't let me come on duty till 8, and I'd be driving at 8 or 9 that night. to get up at 3 or 4 the next morning again.

 

You drivers at Roehl have proved my case,nice to see you all come together for a good company. Hopefully some of the bad ones' will take heed. Best of luck to you all there,I have talked to some of you for sure. Life of a trucker is only as dull and boring as you make it, but,what a nice life if you really live it.'''

 

When I get apprehensive about starting my new job, the posts I read here make me feel much better about my decision to go with Roehl. Thanks for the info and I look forward to working with a great bunch of drivers in a couple of weeks!

 

Hi All.......Last week I graduated from the Roehl training center in Marshfield,Wi.......Im now waiting for my Evo I trainer to pick me up withing a day or two. I just wanted to throw in my two cents on the company as I see it so far. I have never driven a truck in my life......and now after going through the school.....I have a new found respect for all of you !!!! What a great amount of responsibility to drive safley!!! As far as Reohl on saftey.well,it is what they call their "cornerstone value" ! thats what they train us new guys/gals to do while on the road. Im going to be a 7/7 ( 7days on 7 off) driver after my training. Im looking forward to safe driving.........it looks as though I will be able to operate safley with Reohl.......thats a great feeling as an extra $100? a month for driving illegal over hours and fudging log books to drive tired and maybe someday kill somebodys loved one is not worth it and I have heard that other companies will let there drivers do whatever it takes to get the load there............NOT at Reohl!!!!...You Reohl drivers can be proud of the way the company is valued. Good luck to you all !

Thanks WAYUPNORTH

 

Wayupnorth,Keep up that attitiude on safe driving and you are gonna do just fine on the road.The 7 on 7 off program is pretty good.They kept me rolling pretty good on it.My average for 7 days out was 3000 to 3200 miles.Good luck.