Roehl Transport, Inc. - Marshfield, Wi.

After much research and soul searching I decided to start trucking, but I couldn't figure out what company...Central Ref look enticing along with
Swift..but after all the reviews I went with Roehl. I already have my Class A thanks to the army, but the closest thing I came to a semi when I got it was an old ### 5 ton with a flatbed semi trailer (yeah 5 whole gears LOL). but passed my tests to get a class A but have ZERO otr experiance driving commercial trucks...So off to Roehls school on the 18th of July for me!! and I am coming all the way from Jacksonville Florida!!

 

You made a good choice IMO, RDTC is a great school. I also assume you are attending tuition free through the honor program?

I went through the school and still drive for roehl, so if you have any questions about the school or the company itself, feel free to PM me.

Good Luck

 

There are lots of trucks in the fleet with stickers on them (military affiliation, no lot lizzard, etc...), including mine! My truck has been in the shop in marshfield, gary, and ellenwood. I have never had anyone say anything to me about it.

 

When the right guy sees it you bet that you'll be instructed to remove them.

 

Just for my own interest, I decided to go on Roehl's website and look over O/O compensation and such. Man, they are really not good on the O/O side. They pay less on regional than national, yet anyone who has looked at rates knows most under 600 mile runs pay considerably higher than longer runs. The site shows paying regional at .85 a mile. My lowest regional pay is over a dime a mile higher with some runs just shy of .30 a mile higher. And I didn't even factor in the .46 a mile fuel surcharge on top of my current rates. They show paying $10 each half hour after the first 2 hours detention. My detention compensation is over 3 times that.

To be fair, they may be competitve on the company driver side of things, but they are trying to get a gig at a comedy club when it comes to the O/O side.

 

I think that they gear the o/o side more toward a l/o with out penalties for leaving a lease and things. But you're right is much lower then most o/o figures.

 

Huh that's funny because I've had LargeCar Mag, and Lefthander on my side box doors since March and been up through Marshfield and Appleton many a times and haven't heard a peep other than a tip of the hat for keeping the truck polished up....

 

I would just like to tell you to stay away from Roehl. I worked for them a few years ago, and still stay in touch with some of the other drivers. And none of us have ever regretted leaving. They were a good company till about 2007, then things changed for the worst.

 

I'm leased to em and I do pretty well myself, my operating cost is about 25% less than a true o/o so I say we are about even. Thats awesome that you are doing that much better than us (pats on the back) lol

 

I worked for Roehl last summer. My experience working for this company wasn't as great as some of you have posted.

I was told that this was one of the best if not the best company to work for in the industry. After considering eight different companies I decided to apply and was accepted at Roehl. I arrived the Monday before Memorial Day and quickly saw how quick they are to weed out drivers. We started with 12 and by lunch we only had 7 drivers left in the room. One was asked to leave because he had gotten a ticket driving up that weekend. Another failed her physical and the other three failed the driving test. I ACTUALLY failed mine but was allowed to stay because I quickly realized what my big mistake was and told the instructor immediately. I stopped right over a set of rail road tracks at a Red Light. I explained to the instructor that it didn't occur to me to stop before the rail road tracks because in driving school they never took us over rail road tracks. After discussing this issue he went to bat for me and he convinced the head trainer to let me stay on at Roehl since it was obvious to them that I was "thinking and correcting myself on the spot" as they put it to me.
I was very thankful for the second opportunity.

Then on Thursday of that week the first little white lie happened. I, like other student drivers, had been told by our recruiters that we would be reimbursed for the expenses we had from our own pockets on the drive up to Marshfield the previous weekend. When the money was given back to the "drivers" leaving in their own truck, we asked about our money. The head trainer told us that we wouldn't get reimbursed until we completed evolution two and that if we didn't finish, we wouldn't get reimbursed. Talk about some mad individuals.

During week two I expected to get paid on Wednesday because that is what our trainer explained to us over and over in the training room when we went over the "pay" part of the training manuel. So when my pay check wasn't in the bank, I called the pay roll department. Found out it was really on Thursday that we got paid and not Wednesday. Ok, no big deal but then I also asked the pay roll lady about the reimbursment issue from the previous week. The pay roll lady informed me that YES I should have received any reimbursements that I should have had coming to me before I left with my trainer in his truck on that Thursday afternoon. She took care of me and I had my reimbursement money the very next day.

Things seemed to go fine until I had to exchange trainers right at the end of evolution one. I was supposed to go home but instead was routed off in another direction. The fleet manager who screwed this up refused to correct the issue until my new trainer went over his head and spoke to his boss. I was then taken home and was allowed to spend the next three days with my family. Then the next issue happened. My training fleet manager told me I would receive a phone call 24 hours in advance on where my new trainer would pick me up and at what time. I was called 30 minutes prior to me being picked up. I wasn't ready say the least and couldn't arrive at the pick up spot as required. I had to wait another five days before I was called. I was told to be ready the next day. Next day turned into two and then three. On the third day I called the new trainer who was supposed to pick me up and he said they had changed course on him amd some one new was supposed to pick me up. No one could cal me to tell me this? I sat at my house for two hours that morning after I was supposed to be picked up to find out no one had the courtesy to call me. I made a phone call and was picked up the next day. It was 8 days total of me being at home due to a lack of professional courtesy on at least one person's part at Roehl.

Now I'm back in the truck for evolution two. Things went fine for the most part except that I had a trainer that was anal about going 55 on the major highways as well as seeing things that did not happen. Like the flat tire that never occured. At the end of evolution two they wanted me to stay out another week. I explained to the trainer's fleet manager everything that had happened to me leading up to this point and I basically said to her, "test me Monday or I want to go home." They sent me to Marshfield to test and I passed.

Now I have my own truck. Boy was I nervous. Using the word nervous to describe the emotions I was feeling here is probably an understatement. In my inspection of the truck I noticed that I did not have an APU unit. So I asked my new fleet manager how would I stay cool at night with out an APU when it was hot outside? I was told to run the truck. I asked are you sure? He said yes and that he would take the "heat" if any came my way on the issue. I asked when would I get a truck with an APU unit? He said after I was down with training because they put all students in trucks like this one that he was giving me. Right there I caught him in a lie. Two trucks down they were putting another driver, also in evolution three now in a truck with an APU unit. They also gave my room mate during the week of Orientation a truck with an APU unit. I just laughed and shook my head and told him I'll hold him to what he said.

Now on my own it was time to live up to what I knew I could do, but obviously had to prove to Roehl, which was drive a truck and be on time. Right from the start my first load assignment tested my patience. I was told to hook up to the only trailer they had sitting on the Marshfield lot. I took it 30 miles away to pick up a load. What should have taken 20 minutes to load turned into 60 minutes just sitting onthe parking lot trying to figure out how to slide the trailer wheels back. In my two weeks of training I was showed only once how slide the trailer back on a different kind of trailer. This was the kind that you had to pull a lever and it was stuck big time. Eventually the company manager came out and over road the loader and told me to just back the trailer into the dock. Then in mid-route they changed my job assignment and told me to find a Roehl yard in Southern Wisconsin to drop the trailer off. Already frustrated, this really annoyed me even more because as it turned out, the directions where not very good at all. I had to call my wife, the first of a few different times by the way, to get better directions because the fleet manager on the other end wouldn't help. The Roehl yard as it turns out was a quarter mile off the road in the dark with a small light, lighting the sign. If I hadn't pulled into the Wisconsin Transportation Department's parking lot located right next door, I never would have found the place. What a first day!

The next day was another adventure. I was told to go to Rockford, ILL. to find a trailer to hook up to so that I could go to Iowa for my next load assignment. This took me an extra two hours because again, the directions given to me was wrong. Guess who got chewed out for showing up late in Iowa to pick up his load? I admit, I hung up on the fleet manager and no he did not call back because I'm pretty sure he knew I was ticked. This though wasn't where the excitement ended. I got to where I was supposed to go for the first drop off on this assignment. However, there was no place to park unlike the directions said and so I called the fleet manager on duty to ask him what to do after explaining to him my situation. (I was out of hours) He was rude, told me figure it out on my own and hung up on me. Oh I was mad. So I parked right across the street. Three cops passed by in the next thirty minutes and none of them stopped so I guess I was ok parking there for the night. The next day I unloaded and then went to the second drop and unloaded that frieght. Then I went home to spend three days with my family.

Now back in the truck I had to take a load to Paul's Valley in Oklahoma. Found it and unloaded. It was a success and I was happy. I then got my next assignment and took it to Atlanta. Again, another success. Hey, things are looking up right? Well then on my third assignment of this trip, that is where it all started to fall a part again. All my directions said was, Go to exit 16 and listed the address. So I called the company and it went straight to voice mail. Called the fleet manager on duty since it was a Saturday. The guy told me he would find another phone if "HE FELT LIKE IT" and would call me back if he wanted to give me the number. What? So I waited 10 minutes and called him back myself. The guy said he never looked, not surprising based on his previous comment, and then he proceeded to talk down to me as if I was a kid. I hung up. Called me wife and she had to talk me out of quitting. With her help, I found the place 90 minutes late.

A total of five different times I found myself sitting some where with directions that I had to either call my wife and have her help me find where I was supposed to go. The Fleet managers never helped me once.

At the end of evolution three I was assigned to Gary. Right off the bat they asked me to switch to being a Regional driver. I said Yes but only after the regional manager assured me that I would not have to travel any further east than Pittsburgh and no further west than the Rockies. That I would be out five days and home two days and still keep my own truck. I would drop 2 cents in pay but to counter that he would make sure I was given 2400 to 2500 hundred miles a week.

Later that afternoon, enter the new fleet manager. Never said who he wass and wasn't friendly at all. He sits down and starts in on me about my fuel that I wasted letting the truck run during my evolution three training. I explained to him that the temp's were up to and over 100 degrees in certain parts of the country that I drove in and that since I didn't have an APU and I had permission from my training fleet manager for permission to run the truck. He called me a lair. I told him I wasn't a lair and that I was now going to push the issue of wanting a truck with an APU unit since he was all over me about the fuel usage. "NO" was his reply. We continued to argue until he said, "lets move on." Fine I said. So then he starts in by telling me I would be out 7 to 9 days and home only 24 hours. I informed him that his boss, the regional manager, told me different. I explained to him what his boss said and again, he calls me a lair. Now I'm really mad to the point I am watching my words because I know an "F" bomb is about to drop at any minute. The final straw, he teels me while I am out those 7 to 9 days I'll onl get 1500 to 1800 miles. That was it, I told him it was time to bring in the Regional manager. So the Regional Manager comes in with all three of us now standing. The fleet manager starts to talk and the regional manager cuts him off and tells me to sit down in that chair I was standing next to as they spoke and told me to keep my mouth shut. He also used a couple of curse words. That was it, I was so ticked I told them I quit and that they were going to get me home.

No they said. Get off the property was the response. Absolutely not I said. I know enough to know that if I make a call to Marshfield someone up there will not be happy. 10 minutes later I was handed information on how I was getting home.

I called the next day and spoke with the main boss at the Gary terminal. I told him what happened and my side and view. He called back the next morning and we spoke some more. Basically he wanted to let me know that he wasn't happy with how events turned out and that he felt the Supervisors could of handle things a little different. However, he wanted to let me know that I was at fault more than them and that I could have my job back if I was willing to sign a disciplinary form. I told the guy he was "nuts" if he thought he was dealing with an idiot. I told him he could accept my terms. Which was all parties acknowledged the incident happened, they would give me a new truck that had an apu unit, (which he had agreed to) and that I would arrive in Gary, get a load assignment and be on my way as long as no one said any thing else. So we went around and around on the phone for 10 more minutes about this until I finally said, "I dont think this will work out." We are apparently to far a part on what each other thinks about what should be done. I told the guy I wasn't a little kid and that respect was earned and given two ways not just one way.

Now, I will admit, I wasn't completely innocent in the events on that last day. I admit, I was bull head about somethings that we talked about in that office. In my view, I was trying to look out for my best interest in a situation that I believe I was fully being bullied in by my new fleet manager. I do my best to not disrespect fleet managers but based on previous experiences leading up to that last day, I was tired of the bull I had gone through with several different fleet managers.

Also, not all fleet managers I feel deserve a bad rap. Some I dealt with were very nice and helpful and they deserve the recognition. The Maintenance department deserves a lot of recognition. They helped me every time I had an issue. Very professional and very courteous when ever I dealt with them.

Due to my experiences at Roehl, I left trucking. I felt if they were supposed to be the best, then based on the experiences I had, it didn't say much for the rest of the trucking industry.

Now, a year later, I'm considering once again giving trucking a chance. We shall see.

Happy Trucking All!!