rumandcoke123, As far as inst, being "top notch" They are. You think they have a very easy job. I am a former instructor with diving rescue ops. What I am talking about is how they taylor the drining routs for the individual students. There were three people in my truck. Our instructor would cahllenge all three of us different. everybody has different strengths and weaknesses and a good instructor has to deal with all of them. I have seen some really horrible instructors in the diving/rescue industry. Some were in over their heads ans some thought there "wasn't much to it" and some thought their s**t did'nt stink. Some seemed like naturals, tought a LOT of stuff so the students did'nt realize how muich they were learning and retaining, and at the same time working with individuals and the group to get them all on the same page so they could save somebody/not kill somebody and do it safely. And no, Im not being paid. The Instructors I dealt with were "TOP NOTCH"

You seem clueless ridgerunner and that is ok by me.

Your instructors have 1 job and that is to make sure you pass the road test. plain and simple.

I am not saying they are any better or any worse than any other training school. Of course some individuals are better then others. Of course some drivers are better then others. That's just they way things are. But to say they are "Top Notch" lol nah.

Any question other then the curiculum, is pretty much common knowledge to any 1 or 2 year driver. Doubt me, think about the questions you might have asked and looking back do any of them sound silly now?

Now like i said before it is ok to be cluless, I was once clueless too

Rumandcoke123,
I am clueless when it comes to the trucking industry, Ill admit that. I went to school because what I read on this forum and talking to other drivers. I have never driven over the road before. This is all a learning experience for me. I do know a little bit about teaching and in my opinion the instructors are very good. I am about to start my evo's and I realize that this is when the real world will kick in. I hope to get trainers that are as good as I percieved my instructors to be. Who knows, maby you will be one of my trainers and Ill get a chance to pick your brain a little.

I am always available for a lil brain picking, but sorry to say there aint much up there.

See the trucking industry changes on a daily basis, you will find this out when you go to your first safety meeting and find that you are replaceing 1/10th of your driver ref guide.

The real world awaits you now and I do wish you the best of luck and am personally cheering you on. Beware though after your evelotions are over your friendly DSR will be standing there ready to write you up for anything to take away them there bonuses that you will choose not to accept because of your substandard preformance.

I just spoke to a recruiter at Roehl and barring any negatives (which I have no worries) I will be scheduled for classes after all the checks.

While I hear that every company has their positives and negatives, I am excited to perhaps have an opportunity to start with Roehl. I have been pre-approved at Swift and CR England, but after much research I thought Roehl, Millis, and perhaps Schneider had the best opportunites and training for inexperienced drivers.

Am I way off on my analysis?

Roehl is pretty much in the same groups that you mentioned. So leaving the hype behind. I would base my choice on who is offering you the best deal. Who offers the most money, who offers APU's on there trucks, who offers idle air at the t/a's, who offers the most of what you are looking for.

For example most trucking companies offer 401k but what is the fine print behind it. That is what you are truely seeking.

What is the 401k program at Roehl? They went into detail about Wells Fargo on the website, but it didn't mention how much the employer matched...does Roehl match a portion of your 401k?

No Roehl does not match. Instead they offer profit sharing. Which you are not fully vested for 6 years. If you are not hired during the first six months of the calender year it will take you 18 months before you see any profit sharing and an additonal 6 years to fully claim it as yours. There are some more hiden secrets in there too. Plus lets say Roehl has a bad year then you will hear something like. sorry guys but we did not make any money this year so there will be no profit sharing, better luck next year.

My opinion it looks good on the recruitment poster but when you start to dig deeper it shows another flaw of the integrity of this company.

Funny aint it, welcome to trucking

Rumandcoke, i had read alot of your posts. You have good points and some that sound like some issue due to bad treatmeant by a company. I not hear to argue or judge so please forgive me if it sound that way to you. I just want to ask you who do you drive for?

I drive for Roehl. Let me be very clear on this. I drive for Roehl but I want to be proud to drive for Roehl.

I run into you year or less drivers at Gary, Marshfield, and Ellenwood. With pretty much the same problems. They gave me bad directions, the route they gave me was a dirt road, DSR wrote me up for something minor and I lost my bonus, everybody says what a great company this is so what's wrong with me (this guy was almost in tears).

I am not the guy sitting in the drivers lounge engageing in conversation, I am the quite one sitting in the back listening and wondering why has Roehl takeing things so far?

New driver misconception: The directions placed into the system have been given by a proffesional driver. Wrong, our directions were taken out by a student who replaced them with mapquest 2 summers ago.

New driver misconception: If you see bad directions simply send the corrected directions to your dsr who will fix them. wrong, your dsr forwards the directions to cutomer service who deletes them. Doubt me send in some directions to ABC company. write down your directions or changes in your notepad. About a week later ask for directions to ABC company. LOL keep a positive attitude, this is only one of many things