The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

That meens he will again have enough money in a check to buy a McDonalds dinner in about 4 months! I guess he will loose a few pounds by then. (DAN) I think his name was Bob last month?

 

The point about the fuel surcharge is a good one, fuel is a huge expense, so what do they do about that? I think you do get their price for fuel, if you use their routing and fuel recommendations. I am a company driver, that trains, I was also an O/O for almost 8 years before Roehl. I know from my experience it cost me about .72 cpm with fuel to go down the road. I hung it up when my profit was around .35cpm. I know that with used truck prices going up, the current lease is looking alittle better. Do all the trucks that they lease out have an APU? Good luck, I hope you do well, miles do seem to be comming back, I just hope that continues.

 

You dont have to wizz on any ones plans. the rates quoted are in line with most of the major companies providing L/O including Schnieders mileage pay plan. Roehl provides a stable and for the most part honest company. if you bring in the feul surcharge its not to bad and as long as you keep the left door closed one can make it even with these bad rates.
I know there are better paying companies out there but at what trade off. higher pay/no feul card or only receiving 10-20% gross for feul/repairs/meals, maint that wont help you/ trailer fees,dispatch that doesnt care, you name it

 

how long are roehl's leases? or does it depend on the truck?

 

Your wrong about in line with Schnieder. SNI doesn't have a sliding pay scale. Empty and loaded recieve the same rate of pay and the fuel surcharge isn't less for empty miles at SNI. SNI doesn't charge a $5 a week quallcom charge also. Fuel is about 3-5% less at SNI. I run the Choice program at SNI an I average 1.30 to 1.60 a mile and Roehl can't touch that.

 

I'll post some actual numbers later but the guy who replaced an apu starter and a radiator within weeks of each other sounds suspiciously like me or else someone else has had the same bad luck that I've had. Something any driver with Roehl needs to understad is that they go by the letter of the law, but not the spirit of the law. An example is the right of an o/o to refuse loads. You have the legal right, but if you try too hard to establish your independence you will find out that dispatch considers you the same as a company driver. They can't legally force you to take a load, but they will use coercian and threats to get you to do what they want, even if it will cost you in the long run. Just remember as an o/o you can't afford to take the same short runs you accepted in the past as a company driver. Sometimes you may look at your hours and realize it would be a good idea to do a reset even though you still have hours left. Watch out, they will give you grief because they want what is best for Roehl, but as an o/o you need to put your business first. I realize I'm rambling just a bit and doing a bit of a rant, I just need to get it out of my system. I promise I will give a more thoughtful and balanced post tomorrow.

The more I look at other choices that I could have made, I realize I made the right decision for me. If you have the down payment and credit to get a truck on your own I would recommend going that direction. If at all possible have at least $2000 set aside for repairs and emergencies until you can build up a maintenance fund. If not you will be in my spot, staying out weeks at a time and watching over $.13 a mile being taken out of each week's settlement to repay a promisary note, a security deposit and trailer/cargo deductible. Just a warning, not a boo hoo for sympathy. I knew the risk, took the chance, danced with the Devil and got burned.