Roehl Van or refrerated Divisions Pa.?

We are about an hour or so south of Erie, and park the truck at a local grocery store.

 

Sounds like Mercer area in between Meadville and Mercer. I'm from Meadville area originally. Grew up there.
How long has he been with Roehl? What does he do or plan to do in the winter when the truck needs to be plugged in?

 

He's been there for 6 and a half years and up until he got his APU when it was really cold, he'd go start the truck every 4 hours since we don't plug it in.

 

Hello everyone...Happy Holidays. I'm not even a 'newbie' yet, I'm just thinking about truck driving and I will admit the biggest hurdle for me is reading forums and deciphering what is 'real' and what is 'static'. I am a college educated 50+ yr. old 'victim' of the collapsing American Dream...lol...well the last thing anyone needs is another drama in the kleenex box story, so I will spare you. Let's just say after 30+ very successful years in Mechanical Design I'm left with a small apartment a second hand Ford and bad credit due to a divorce and several lay-offs in succession (and it could be worse, so I count my blessings). Impossible for me at my age to find a designer job even out of the country in this economic climate even at one fourth the normal paying rates!!...I've had the opportunity to work in some fast food restaurants or sandwich shops (which I have no problem doing at all) but at 7.25 per hour with 25 hours per week max. that will not pay for my obligations (which are not much, rent, utilities, car insurance, food). I was very lucky 6 or 7 months after my layoff to find a local courier company to hire me as a contract driver using my car. I was on call and handled mostly pharmaceuticals and blood to hospitals and nursing homes, aircraft parts to the airport and At&T parts from the warehouse to out of town in 500 mile radius...let's just say that, as the company grew its business, my good paying runs diminished and became more and more bulked or piggy backed with other runs that tied me down all day and drove my fuel expenses through the roof without adequate compensation...long story short, could not afford to run for them any more, I was clearing $100 to $120 per week, after eating out every day, fuel, regular maintenance, high vehicle and cargo insurance and radio fees). However this driving job opened up a new possibility in my mind : Trucking (I had a lot of local runs, but I also had a lot of out of town runs, some as far as 500 miles which kept me on the Highways and Interstates where I saw a lot of 18-wheelers).
So, now that you know a little about me, here are my questions and quest for wisdom, which I hope I will be able to get answers to from some of you good folks. My first and foremost dislike of driving a truck is being away from home for more than a week at a time. The second is being home only 2 or 3 days after 3 or 4 weeks out. I know for a fact I could not handle that. So I started researching the possibility of which companies, if any, that would offer different drive/home time options. What I found was that almost all companies (within the areas where I live, Mobile Alabama) offered Regional and Dedicated runs which would be more in line, with what I would like, but all require you to have 1 to 2 years experience OTR.
Back to square one...then I found this forum by accident and read the 'Judas' conversation and posted threads with other drivers, talking about Roehl and how this Company offers 14/7, 7/3 7/4, or even 7/7. I did get from the thread that if you are not out you cannot make a lot of money, but for me 'a lot of money' is not a priority. If I can make around 25K per year I will be 'happy', as long as I can have time at home. I also got that this would entail slip seating. I went on the Roehl's site and sure enough (if I understood correctly) they offer those very flexible drive/home times. Unfortunately though, the Mobile Alabama area where I live is out of the map shaded area shown on their site, which states that the areas outside of shaded could not guarantee you home time per their plans.
So here are my questions.
Is there anyone that knows, how far off their scheduled home time can Roehl realistically give me living in this area?
Is slip seating really as bad as I understand it to be?
If I choose the 7/7 schedule, how close can I realistically expect to get to it?
Would it be more realistic to think about 14/7 ?

For these next questions, they are just thoughts I had while driving, please don't laugh at me too much, consider my ignorance and naive mindset as one who can only speculate about driving and what it is like...
Why aren't companies like Roehl coming up with driving teams for certain regions, like tag teams, where two or three people share one truck and they rotate in and out, that way their truck turns 24-7 (well almost) and teams can work out their own schedules and take turns driving more or less as they like?
Why haven't companies like Roehl come up with smaller fleets of Cargo Vans with sleepers to carry refrigerated and smaller, not quite as heavy, items. This would free up the big boys for the really big stuff (or maybe all of it is big, I don't know) and make driving more accessible to the average person and cut their fuel and operating costs at the same time?

Anyhow, now that I have opened my mouth and inserted the proverbial foot, I will bid everyone good day and safe driving and great home time soon. I hope someone will have some answers for me, so I can move forward with my attempt at making this very scary jump. Thank you so much for listening and God Bless & Godspeed to all of you out there on the road and maybe I will be joining you soon.

 

Hey TWB. I was (am) in very similar situation to you. Layoff with 30 years in the airline industry. College grad but really don't want to go back to office work. Actually was glad I got laid-off from the airilne because I was getting really bored. I started researching trucking over 2 years ago, and finally made the plunge 2 weeks ago. Since layoff, I too did the courier thing with results similar to yours. I do some consulting/training for a major airline based here in DFW, but do not get enough consistent work.

My wife has a great job, kids are grown, so that will make it easier. I have a pension from the airline, but If I start collecting before age 65, I really take a hit on the amount I receive. So I have to do something for the next 10 years. Like you, hometime is more important to me than making a lot of money (I'd be happy if I make $2,000.00/month).

Through my research, Roehl was the leading company because they offered the 7on/7off. But that was 2 years ago. Now they only do 14/7 here in DFW area. Well, 2 weeks ago I sent in my application. Everything is all set for me to start RDTC training on 27DEC. All I have left to do is take the CDL permit test (which I will do next week).

re.........

-7on/7off....my research has shown that most times they can stick to your 7 days off depending on where you live. You may be late a day or 2 to get to your 7 days off, but oh well.
-slip-seating.......Like you, I don't know what the big deal about slip-seating is. Most people here say it is a pain in the ###. I'm sure I will find out because I will move into 14/7 once done with evo3.

I only read good things about Roehl training. So I'm going for it. Who knows where I'll be 6months/1year/5years down the road, but you gotta start somewhere.

Good luck!

 

They are very good at getting you home for the home time fleets, because there is someone else that needs the truck to make his or her money. As for living in Mobile you do need to live close to a terminal or drop yard to take advantage of one of the home time fleets, or be willing to drive to one of these places. The only down side to slipseating is just having to move all of your stuff in and out of the truck every week. You get real good at packing and un-packing. Good luck.

 

slip seating is not bad as long as all parties are respectful of the others needing things to be clean and in good condition. just a lot to trust a stranger on...