Roehl divisions

None of them have absolutely stopped while the others are going. They're all legitimate options. I guess it depends on your location and what you prefer to do. We also do curtainside.

 

Van- probably the most sitting around as it is the largest fleet. Half of your loads are drop and hooks and you probably will go to more places because van freight goes everywhere. This is what I drive.
Reefer- Decent miles but you have mostly live loads and grocery warehouse drops. Grocery warehouses suck, they are the worst drops and you can sit for several hours. I sat at one for 10 hours while being unloaded.Frieght lanes are alot smaller than van, no where near the customer base
Flat- A little higher pay but also alot less freight options and freight lanes, deliver to alot of places such as work sites. The most physical of all the fleets. You will be outside climbing on your load in 100' degree weather and freezing snow. The tarps can be very heavy and frozen in the winter. You will get dirty doing this.
Curtain- might as well be a flat, you will have to go to load securement just as a flatbedder does. You do only strap your loads no chains involved. Freight lanes are very narrow and most require mutilple stops in the city.

 

So what are the miles looking like for Van and how much Haz-mat do they pull?

 

I was doing between 2300 - 2700 a week pulling a van. Flats are running about the same right now but will probably slow down come November. As I always say, the best part about flats is we can pull anything if our freight gets slower but it can be extremely physical and frustrating at times. I think making it through your first Winter is the hardest part. Also, I have only seen one or two HazMats, but I hear rumor we are trying to get into the business more which is why new hires are required to have the endorsement.

 

I think it depends on how you define best.
If your talking which fleet is busy, the reefer fleet seems to be going well right now. Roehl recently purchased a reefer company to add to their fleet and customer base. I'm in the van fleet and freight is still spotty at times. I also see a lot of reefer/van trailers being pulled by tractors with those large toy boxes on the sides which makes me think that flats are spotty also.
If your talking which fleet is the best for drivers you will get a variety of opinions, here's mine.

Reefer trailers have the reefer unit about two feet from the bunk where you are supposed to sleep. Some of the older units shake rattle and roar so loudly they rattle the side window in my truck if I am parked next to them. The reefer units cycle on and off all night so just when you get to sleep the sound level changes, also if you park at a grocery wharehouse you will fall asleep with an entire parking lot of reefers hammering away. I think that is where the term reefer madness was coined. Speaking of grocery wharehouses, many have delivery times in the 22:00 to 04:00 area, and can be very slow at unloading. This may be a worst case but it is part of the business.

Flats require you to secure everything that is loaded onto your trailer with chains, binders, and straps, and in many cases the load must be tarped. This process not only requires extra time at both ends of a load, it can take a lot of effort on your part and can be dirty work. Also you will do all this in weather ranging from bitter cold and windy in winter to hot and sunny or rainy in summer. Many in the flatbed fleet say they have the most options as they can pull any other fleets trailers, I say ask those drivers in reefer or van if they ever want to pull flats.

And then there is the van fleet, "its as if the sun just came out from behind a dark cloud spreading light, and warmth over the trucking world". The van fleet where smiling, happy well rested drivers motor down the roads directed by equally smiling, happy F.M.s to shippers and receivers with huge open docks and onsite parking waiting patiently to load or unload you as soon as you arrive. Where trailer tandems slide almost on ther own and loads are hardy ever more than 10,000 lbs., where drop and hooks are done only under fair weather and there is always an empty trailer nearby.

O.K. I may have exaggerated the van part a little but hey thats my fleet.

At Roehl you can change from one fleet to another if there are openings in your area, so your fleet decision is not set in stone. If you decide to go from van/reefer to flats you will need to do a three day load securment class at the Gary terminal and have a complete phychiatric examination.

Best of luck with your decision.

 

It's not that flatbed freight is spotty, but there seems to be a lack of reefer/van drivers at times. That or the planners can't properly utilize their drivers. I've sat in a yard looking at loaded flat after load flat and been given a box because I'm "the only one available to cover it".

 

Well where I live the only thing they are haring for is Van or flats. Well that is what the website tells me anyway. I would like to run reefer's aging I did that for 4.5 yr's as an O\O. I do miss it.

 

Dr. Venture, I was at a "J" on I280 in Ohio on Thursday evening and tried to knock the mirrors of a Roehl I.C. as I backed in. Slow thinker that I am it finally occured to me that the very clean condo setup for flats but pulling a van next to me just might be your new ride. The curtains were pulled by the time I thought to ask. I did leave a few bungies between trucks in case it was you and your manual GPS needed recharging. The next morning the Roehl truck and the bungees were gone.