leaving roehl

anytime you head home you should always have a firm agreement on the date and time that you'll be returning to work. If you are home under a load you have an ETA to meet that you confirmed before you went home. It should really be that simple. If you there are issues with that there has been a failure to communicate between you and dispatch. Oh, and understand the policies, your FM may tell you one thing but in the era of utilization per driver per week there are other forces telling them to keep trucks moving. you should always expect your home time to be in hours instead of days, and no you cant tack home time onto your vacation. There are going to be a lot of policies that you may not agree with, but it's not likely that you'll get a policy changed. If they have another driver survey, go crazy and speak your mind. Good luck.

 

Just my .02 cents when i was in the marines 96 hour pass meant just that a 96 hour pass and that included time spent traveling to and from. Wheres the diffence?

 

There is no difference, it's just about everyone wanting a little bit more than they have. Bottom line is that if you every now and then need more time ask for it. Be upfront and honest about it, work it out with your DM ahead of time and you'll usually get it. If the two of you can agree on a away to produce increased utilization before the bonus home time, or after it than your DM will be able to tell his managers what you worked out. If you don't do that and just expect extra home time because you worked really hard, there is going to some friction.

 

Personally I think the biggest complaint is they don't list it as hrs its days and some FM'S will do it as days and others don't. Also, is the fact that most of them now days have no problem keeping you out 2 or 3 days past ur hometime. They see it as a "buffer" you can make a delivery in ur hometown 2 days b4 u are due time off and they will route you away and have u getting home two days after ur set hometime even though u were just there and will use the pharse " it justifiys your home time running this one more load" somehow the 11 or 18 days u just worked isnt justifacation for your earned time off. If you question or "buck" the system u will never hear the end of it. Been there done that...

I know FM's have bosses to answer to but show some compassion if you want the driver to not "buck" the system any chance he gets.. its give and take.. but most in the office forget that soon as they butter u up to do them a favor.... just my 2 cents from what has happened to me personally. Don't exspect favors in return for favors... bottomline is don't do "favors" the office forgets it 10 minutes later and it just makes it worse on u the driver when u need one and get mad cause they forgot all the ones you did for them.

 

Lastrebel, if you screw up your hometime now, it's your fault as well. That is why I became an o/o. I may stay out an extra week now, but it's my decision. If I want to measure my hometime in days instead of hours, it's my choice. Before everyone rushes out to get there own truck, you better think about the stress and headaches as well. I just spent the morning in Freightliner shop after spending yesterday limping along with a sick engine, actually the junk the epa requires was acting up. I'm homesick as can be, but I need to be home the weekend of the 26 so it means staying out three weeks instead of two.

The point is that the trucking industry is huge. Figure out what you want most, find a path that gets you there and then have the discipline to stay the course. You'll never get everything you want when you want it, but this is a career field that you can make your own path.

 

Hey preacher. Sorry to hear all that.. I wasn't referring to "now" for me I agree with u 110% I was making a observation and my 2 cents on why things are what they are and what I felt as a company driver. Now its different but its a whole new set of worries and problems for sure

 

I just happen to have a day off and the internet, back to the grindstone tomorrow with a fresh set of hours. Turns out my issue was the fuel filter was clogged and restricting fuel flow. That caused the DPF to clog. A new filter and a parked regen and everything is good. Spent $90 to have Freightliner to tell me what I already knew. If anyone wants to get rid of the EPA, count me in.

 

Man what a pain huh.. I know all to well about the fuel filters kicking my butt. Remember I fought mine half the night and getting it re primed in -20 degree weather and then about 2 days after that it lost prime out of the blue turning into a TS lol

 

That minus -25 weather made my truck complain like crazy. It doesn't like anything under +20, but I'm using a 15 micron filter. I have now had two mechanics tell me to use diesel conditioner all the time. The last one was the head mechanic at Thermo-King when I did a pm on my apu. That is one of the things I did yesterday. I double treated the fuel, changed the filter and did a parked regen on the dpf. Evidently the biodiesel blends can get something like fat deposits and the conditioner thins it out so it doesn't clog fuel lines, especially the thinner lines that go to the apu and under bunk heater.

 

Does anyone know what Roehl's policies are on having a passenger in the truck or having a pet? Also, I live in Utah and I noticed that they do have a terminal in California. Would they even consider hiring me living here? Do they have their own trucking school or do you need to have a CDL license before they will hire you?

Thanks in advance!