Roehl Transport 2/15/10 blog

Alright, I've gotten all the preliminary things done and I've written a good deal about what I've wanted and what I've found. Roehl has offered me conditional employment (pending me getting my CDL through them and not screwing up) and I'm leaving tomorrow morning to hike my butt up to Wisconsin for three weeks. I'll update on the school as best as I can during my time there to give potential followers the chance to see what Roehl's all about. I think the only thing I'm really intimidated about is taking the walkaround portion of the CDL test... there was a lot to learn in just getting the permit. I'll update again tomorrow once I'm settled down in the hotel!

 

Okay, things have been super-fast-paced but I've finally got a chance to write about what's happened so far. Got to the hotel around 7pm and it's not bad, really. Definitely bare-bones but that's to be expected for how little we're paying for three weeks' rent, a whopping $375. Free would have been better, but this is business, not freebie street. Monday morning there were five of us in class, got the tests out of the way, and one guy was knocked out shortly after. We weren't told why. So there's only 4 of us now, making this rather personal and tight. Apparently their max per week is 6 new students. We went through 6 chapters in the huge CDL driver's book they gave us and then sent us on our way.
Our daily hours are 7 am to 5 pm with a 1 hour lunch. It's #### cold up here right now... Today was the presentation for "The Roehl Way", a three hour meeting with all new hires and all new trainees about how Roehl approaches safety. Very informative, somewhat tedious. Worthwhile though. After lunch, we hopped into two tractors with empty training trailers attached and each of us got around an hour to swing left turns around their yard and practice our shifting. Once the initial panic subsided with sitting in the drivers' seat before going, things went very smoothly. Dale is my trainer and he believed I was lying about never being behind the wheel of a tractor before, which thrilled me. It feels natural and it's rather smooth for being a trainer truck. over 600k and it still shifts nicely and there doesn't seem to be a bunch of crap missing or broken on it. After the driving came the pre-trip inspection section, which is where everyone froze. I'm used to cold weather, but when there's no good wind block, things get nasty real quick out there. We got some training in tight truckstop drive-ins and uncoupling the trailer before we were done for the day.

With the homework they're giving us and the amount of focus we're using while in class or driving, there's only around 2 hours a day of free time, assuming you want 8 hours of sleep. However, I haven't found one person in Roehl's employ yet that's proven to be rude or careless. Safety is being drilled in our heads at every turn. I came here with the impression that I'd be way beyond what was required in regards to attentiveness to detail and caution, but I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to be anal enough. When people say that Roehl isn't for everyone because of how regimented and rigorous they are with safety and protocol, they mean it. I am developing an extremely healthy dose of respect for this company. I think they may beat me into a ###### driver yet. Time will tell, though... I'll keep posting when I get a second to breathe.

 

Thanks for letting me know, King. Not that I feel I really have anything to hide. Honest opinions should be respected and if they're not, I don't really want to work for that company. I just plan on putting it out like it is for me and keeping it as real and true as possible. It's been a good enough experience so far anyways, so if it keeps up there's really nothing to be concerned about.
And honestly, it makes me a bit more satisfied that the execs would check this thing. It tells me they're concerned of their image and (gods willing) actually concerned about what their employees have to say about their time with Roehl.
Hitting the road tomorrow! (today, I guess... I hate being restless)

 

mycorky, exactly what happened to grc? I just went through 66 pages of his threads and found nothing that I would consider extreme or out of the ordinary for the trucking industry. I mean, I know he got told to watch what he said, but other than that he seems to be one that's got others making a big fuss and I can't see why.

Other than that, today was decent. Kinda frustrating, but decent. We went through backing and coupling/uncoupling in the classroom, which was only 2 hours and then we were out in the trucks. We practiced right turns and shifting until lunch, and I'm finding myself cutting too early still. Also having some issues with downshifting still, but it's not the timing or the revving but rather me finding the sneaky gears on the shifter. I drive a 2002 VW Golf as my own car and the gears on that thing are SOLID. It's a real pleasure to drive. So I hop in this 2003 Freightliner with 640k and a shifter that gives almost no indication of gear placement and suddenly I'm going "Oh #####!"
Our afternoon was spent doing some left turn block runs around the place, probably a 3 mile loop. I got three goes at it because I was having serious trouble getting my downshifts. Kept forgetting the pre-selector and had some issues with feeling like I should be driving like I would in my car, controlled but with a tolerable sense of urgency. Wasn't giving myself enough time to downshift properly in my approaches on the intersections and ended up missing gears several times. For a first road trip, not horrible, but I'm not happy with it.
Finished the day with some straight line backing and one shot at alley backing. I got the alley with only one pull up, but my trainer said that if I was in a 70' box I would have hit the wall twice. I think he's off his rocker, but time will tell. He said I'd still pass the test with my performance there though. I kind of feel that if I were given the truck with the alley back cones set up and not told to do anything specific I could safely get it in there in one try. I may be nuts. But I really felt that their system (which I acknowledge works wonderfully) was a bit too much on my head and got me screwing up more than anything. Perhaps more practice with it... I don't want to go taking quality information they're giving me and throwing it out the window in a fit of arrogance. The whole day just got me kind of flustered though. C'est la vi.