Roehl Refridgerated,Info from current drivers

I've been driving Roehl reefers since December of last year. When I go to Georgia (common) I almost always take 24 through Chattanooga -- it's a nice drive. Monteagle isn't nearly as hairy as some would like to make out -- watch your gears and your speed and you'll be fine.

I've run to Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin (base), Arkansas, Oklahoma...might be forgetting a few. We run everywhere in the midwest and east as it stands right now, with west coast opening up in the near to immediate future.

We run both temp-controlled and dry van loads in the reefers, depending upon available freight. Some reefer loads are non-food items, such as adhesives, which nevertheless need climate control. It's also very common for us to haul packaging materials from White Bear Lake MN to Little Chute WI for Kraft (Jack's Pizza).

Kraft is a huge customer. We haul all manner of freight for them. Mostly cheese and pizzas, or related items, but the one constant in reefer freight (much like the global climate) is change. Tyson is also a biggie. You'll haul chicken from fresh to frozen to breaded and fried.

Miles are on and off right now. I had a good four weeks, then a slow week. I'm averaging about 2200 right now, I guess. Would like more, for sure. But it's a good gig. I like it, anyway.

 

My truck is a Century Classic, relatively roomy but no bells, no whistles. It runs reliably -- can't expect too much more than that.

They will allow you to apply for a training position after 6 months. It's been offered to me when I have the time in, but I'm not sure if I want to do it or not. I enjoy teaching, but I also like my space, and I don't know that I want to give that up. IMO, a trainer has to WANT to train drivers. Those who are in it just for the extra bucks (too many of them, apparently) do a poor job of actually training drivers. I was lucky and had of of the greats.

 

My runs so far have taken me from Wisconsin to Georgia, Tennessee, Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnessota, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Nebraska... might be forgetting a few. I'm in the national Reefer fleet, so technically I might be sent anywhere, but so far I've been kept east of the Rockies, mostly through the midwest corridor and east.

I usually have a preplan on me before I sent in my MT call, but not always. Depends upon freight near where I unload, or prospects for freight close by. In addition to temp-control freight, we can also haul dry-van loads if no reefer freight is available. This gives flexibility to us that dry-van drivers don't have. So I've hauled dead car batteries, paper, and machinery as well as our normal grocery loads. We routinely haul packaging materials for frozen pizza -- it's a natural part of that supply chain that just works well. We usually drop the packaging-loaded reefer, they unload it and fill it with pizza for outbound. Very efficient.

Loading/unloading can be fast or slow whether it's reefer or dry-van, but dry-van drivers do have more drop and hooks than we do. I've had reefer loads that take less than half an hour to load or unload, and others where I've sat for hours. But exactly the same has been true with dry-van. "Hurry up and wait" is just a part of the job you have to come to terms with.

 

Momma, how'd you manage to get a Classic? I only saw one that came from Blume and it sat on the back row at Marshfield for over 6 months before it disappeared. I asked about it but they said it was going to get sold and not issued.

I can't gripe about mine now. They just put the Tri Pac on it and my idle time went from about 25% to 1.3%! Big change!