Dont have much time since I'm on my 34 hour reset but be forewarned if your on the "Honors Program" that Roehl will take advantage of you and lie about your hours and other rules if you do not make yourself completely familiar with the program. I've been driving for Roehl now for about 9 months and am on the honors program. When I selected the program I asked them if I could get the manual and rules book. They said they didn't have one available (lie #1). I wanted one so I could read how the program works, pay, hours etc... Lie #2 came when I saw that a check was shorted time and money. I called payroll and asked about my hours. They said I had worked half a day which is why my check was less. I asked them how many hours it took to make a full day. They did not know "ask your DSR." I asked my dsr, he said uh, er, I think 6 or 8 hours for half a day (big lie, major lie). I had to call the Gary Term. training and recuriting to get an honest answer (I work out of Marshfield). I told them my dsr didn't seem to know how many hours I needed to work for a full day. They said "B.S. everybody knows the work rules. We went through this with all the managers". Not good. I called my dsr and said its 4 HOURS FOR A FULL DAY! All of a sudden he was a ####### expert on the program. I said because of that you have shorted me at least 3 times. He says its payrolls bad (lie #3). I notice that Roehl managers would rather die than addmit they had made a mistake.
I'm going to take this up the ladder but I dont know who is initiating this. I know managers take advantage of our ignorance and the fact that I'm new and they colaborate on the lies. Im regional Flat. My dsr is Whalen H. (somewhat new). The manager is Greg Ch**man. All who I've spoken to agree that he is an #########. I'm sure Greg is telling Whalen to cheat me on all rules until I find out the truth on my own.
In my opinion Roehl is a great company for drivers who want long haul and will stay out for long periods of time. I chose the Honors Regional program cause I have a family and want to be home on weekends. To fullfill my obligation I must work 11 out of 14 days but regularly work 12. I drive 6 to 7 days at a time. I should get 48 hours off every other weekend but that doesn't happen unless I ask for the time as though I were asking for vacation (they don't like that). I've talked with other company drivers at shippers while tarping and for many companys I'm basically working OTR and getting paid regional.In my opinion if Roehl only wants long haul drivers then why even bother with regional programs. Answer is to draw suckers like myself into driving for them and then they basically do what they want with me (forced dispatch).
And if Roehl is such a great company then why do they blatanly lie, to a veteran no less! If you are reading this and you are not a vet your reaction will probably be so what, thats trucking. But if you are a vet and especially if your new I would like to hear your input. I have considered writting to Rick Roehl and delivering it in person. There are veterans who are now returning from service in Iraq and to lie to these veterans is about as low as you can go and should be punished by firing squad.
I have other issues with this company (using tire intertubes as securement equipment, what the hell!,and thinking that its ok for a regional driver to do a reset in a parking lot) and will rant later if I have more time. Want to hang with the family for now.

Kam, I'm 7/4-7/3 Honors program in RDTC right now. Are you in the "salaried" program or did you elect mileage pay out of the gate? I elected the salaried apprentice program because I was hoping to avoid dealing with mileage while learning the trade. Can they short your paycheck even if you're in their set payscale (i.e., $870 biweekly training pay then $1,400 biweekly flatbed 7/4-7/3)? If that's the case I need to have a talk with my recruiter. Thanks.

__________________
Fly or Drive
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." Mark Twain

Only if you do not know the rules of pay and your DSR lies to you about how the pay works (I'm salary) like mine did. I had to call Gary recruiting and training to get an honest answer. Where they got me was the "half day". I would drive for any where from 5 to 9 hours on my 6th day out and then I'd get my check and see it was short by a couple hundred dollars. When I asked them why they said because I had only worked half a day. O.K. I said now what's a half a day. There answer was (I was asking payroll) whatever my DSR "codes" the day as. When I asked my DSR what a half a day was he said he didn't know which was a complete lie. It's 4 hours. Remember that. If you work 3 hours and 59 minuits on the last day, it's a half a day. If you work 4 hours you get paid for a full day. Once they found out that I knew the truth suddenly they had me driving nine to eleven hours on my last day out usually just barely making it home before I'd run out of hours. Remember this, Roehl may be a good company but because you're salary they will want to keep you moving constantly. All these drivers sitting around waiting for a load... not us buddy. There is no such thing as a "slow season." As soon as you send your 13 you'll get another load assignment. (Make sure all your stuff is put away before you send your 13 cause in evo 3 they'll put the pressure on you to see if you can handle the pase.) Typically, when I was on evo 3, they'd put in the load comments something like "you need to get the the shipper ASAP as they will be closing in 30 min." And I'd be 45 min. away and my tarps wouldn't be folded cause I wanted to get unloaded and send my 13 to show them I was fast, blah blah... My Evo 3 DSR realy liked me cause I really hustled and I was off evo 3 in 2 and 1/2 weeks. Since then I've learned to get my my "house in order" before telling my DSR anything. I still hustle and I like the work. I also like the fact that flats go places vans typically don't go (middle of a cow pasture, down some back country dirt road thats 10 feet wide etc...).

The up side to salary is you won't have to wait unless you go to pick up steel. These places have a system and typically they put you in a waiting lot once you've gotten there and checked in. I usually get these load on Friday 6 or 7 hundred miles from my home (home, what the hell is that!).
If your a "scateboard" driver, most of the time wherever you go, your the only truck there. I really like that.
Sometimes I can be a major cry baby but I should have learned the program front and back and I didn't expect Roehl to lie so blatantly, Jerks!Fly or Drive, are you going Flat or Van. I chose flat cause I like hard work. I get filthy dirty and soaking wet in the summer and wind burnt in the winter but I'm 47 years old and I'm very fit (even for a guy in his early 30s) and since I'm old school I believe in an honest days work. Also, I'm one of these guys that wants to learn all by myself and I dont ask questions. If your in training you have all the time in the world to get all the answers before you go out. I went to another school and came to Roehl completely dirt ignorant. I think you'll like salary especially when a shipper or a con does a shift change or whatever and there you sit (your still getting paid). Just don't forget to tell you DSR they're making you sit cause they are ripping there hair out while your kicking back!
Oh ya, if your 7/4 7/3 they will try to get you moving on your last day off (on day four or day three). You'll have to remind these dishonest turds that the four and the three are actual days off and not just some arbitrary number! Good luck!

I just know over time I will see all kinds of complaints from our vet drivers. I suspect most of them will be abuse complaints.

Here is what i would suggest: Fill up your log book. There is no law that I know of that says a pretrip inspection can only be logged as 15 minutes. While waiting at a shipper/cons do an intrip inspection. End of day do a post trip inspection. Stretched out that could be 2 hours easily. Instead of flagging your in trip inspections, stop and do a nice 30 min in trip inspection and log it accordingly.


Don't bother writing Roehl, all this will do is support the truth that nobody really cares about you. I would suggest writting to the papers that support this program. I would also write a letter to veterans affairs so they can get some "HONEST" feedback on how Roehl seems to be preying on our vets.

Quote:

Remember this, Roehl may be a good company but because you're salary they will want to keep you moving constantly. All these drivers sitting around waiting for a load... not us buddy. There is no such thing as a "slow season." As soon as you send your 13 you'll get another load assignment.

Ain't it funny how the company can keep you moving without any problem when your not payed by the mile.
Regional just means you work in a smaller geographic area then a 48 state driver. It does not necessarily mean you will get home more often unless it is guaranteed somewhere as a condition of hire. Simply tell Roehl you expect to be home on weekends or you will find another company who will.

Quote:

And if Roehl is such a great company then why do they blatanly lie, to a veteran no less! If you are reading this and you are not a vet your reaction will probably be so what, thats trucking. But if you are a vet and especially if your new I would like to hear your input.

I'm a veteran (though not recently), but do not understand why you feel you would be treated different then a non-prior military driver who gets lied to all the time in trucking? and my reaction is still so what, thats trucking. You never got lied to in the military? I doubt that.

I'm not really sure what the issue is here. You will say they lied to me. It just sounds like a little miscommunication to me. The bigger Roehl gets and the more programs they adopt, the more this happens. If you were in the military you should be used to the right hand not always talking to the left hand. Its sounds like you are figuring out how to play the game better now. If you need to get four hours to get paid, so be it. Four hours isn't that much, especially on flats. The trick is learning how to work the hours. You don't want to have too many hours left at the end of the week or you won't get in early. You will want to have just enough to work your four hours on friday to get paid and get home. This is not always possible depending on freight and other things. You are regional, right? Are you home every weekend? But still have to work 11 out of 14 days? This means one of the weekends you only have time to come home sleep, harass the wife and leave again? This is why I'm not of fan of regional. I would do the 7/4 7/3 option. They really can't mess with your home time because some else is using the truck. Thats the rub though, you have to share the truck. In reality, you pretty much have it made. You are getting a salary when you are brand new, in a industry that pays most people by the mile. I wish I had that option when I started. It doesn't matter if your truck breaks down, get crappy loads, stuck in traffic or bad weather, you will still get a decent paycheck. No reason to run your butt off or punch in an empty call before rolling tarps. (I hate the cut up inner tube bungees too.) Just work your day , no reason to be in a rush, and take a full ten hour break.

Unless I missed it Kam at no point ever asked to be treated differently then any other driver. I find it personnaly offensive that you have made such a remark blue.

It is clear that there will be problems with this program as with others. From what I have read from Kam's statement is that he did try to do the right thing. He had a question and was not answered properly. After he did some minor investigation he was able to prove his case. At that point it all became crystal clear to his dsr who up till that point was unsure. I wonder how many other of our vets are being robbed like this?

DSR acts clueless untill the point is verified by each driver and then and only then do they seem to become an expert on the situation. One at a time for each and any issue.

What makes me sad is the soldier that may reenlist will see Roehls ad and say why do I want to stay in when I can make $50,000.00 a year. Just to find out that the whole truth is not there. So keep makeing your statements Kam it just might persuade one of our troops to think about it a second time before they decide to leave years of loyal service to our country in the hopes of finding a company that does care about them.

Because reenlisting and going to Iraq (probably again) is such a better option?

I agree this may be more of a miscommunication and ignorance on the DSR's part for allegedly not knowing the rules of the program; he in all likeliness did. No, ignorance is NOT an excuse for screwing people out of money, but I have trouble digesting that Roehl willfully "preys" on veterans. It sounds like the problem was rectified in the end.

I was told about the four-hour rule, as well as the number of days I must be out in a pay period to receive the full amount of salary for my program. Where am I being lied to? I was also well aware of the fact I would probably have very little down time, what's wrong with that? As long as you are legal, so? I wouldn't expect to be sitting idle and get paid.

My recruiter did tell me as long as I was out the full 7 days on the 7/4-7/3 I would get paid the full salary, I just didn't get the part that the DSR might only mark you for 1/2 day if you don't drive over 4 hours. I'll have to remember this one. Thanks a bunch, Kam, for the info. I'm going flatbed and for most of the exact reasons you did. Looking forward to it. I'm in my third week at RDTC and think the instructors are doing a good job at doing what I wanted them to do--Get me a CDL! I realize this is probably only about 10% of what I'll eventually know as a trucker, but you got to take one step at a time. As they say in the mil--crawl, walk, run.

Rumandcoke, you just sound like a person looking for reasons not to like Roehl. Don't know what your full experience was with them, but I like to keep a good attitude and part of that is realizing that people are imperfect and organizations are made of people. I'm going to keep a good attitude and hope to feel that same way 2,5 or 10 years from now. Only time will tell.

__________________
Fly or Drive
"When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." Mark Twain

Well Said.......................and
Nice Post.............. Fly or Drive