Roehl Driver Check In

Hey Dirty Diesel, I assume you drive for Roehl, If you have any info about the first few days at orientation I'd love to hear it and where did you go to school for your CDL, I just finished today and called Cheryl and left her a message that im ready to get to Atlanta

 

I went to national training out of green cove springs, main office is in Jacksonville.

The first day of orientation in ellenwood(Atlanta) is drug tests and paperwork. Second day is physical ability test and such. Real easy stuff, they just monitor your heart rate and pulse. Then after that class begins, I believe day three was when we started backing and going out on trips. You'll love it if you have frank and George as instructors. George is a hoot and Frank, well, he has a special sense of humor.

Anyway, when you get past everything its a piece of cake. You'll be assigned a trainer and go out with them for up to two weeks, longer if you or they feel its necessary.

I believe roehl is a great company to start with, flatbed is the way to go for me just because it keeps me in shape and I love it. Also my fleet manager rocks!

Ethan

 

OK Drty Diesel sounds awesome, sorry I didn't spell your user name correctly before, but I've got it right now. As for me I'm 45 and really have no desire to tarp any thing, a van and a little lumper pay for Christmas money will do me just fine. I could use the workout but not with a frozen tarp somewhere in northern Ohio in January, That would be like folding a sheet of 3/4" plywood lol.

 

If I had to start over again I would have went somewhere else. But I'm sure you'll enjoy it here. Good luck.

 

At the Warren Travel Plaza off 69. I came out running nights, which is fine with me. I am heading out soon to deliver in St. Louis at 0600. So my FM asks me today how many hours will I have left to drive after I get unloaded. I say probably 4. I go to sleep and wake up to a pre plan that has a 0930 appt to pick up and it is delivering in Brundridge, AL on Saturday afternoon. I guess the planner forgot that I will be starting my day at 2230. I have already sent messages telling night dispatch you might want to get this off of me and find somebody else to do this load because there is no way I can get it done.

 

Truthfully pirate, Roehl is a good place to start.

Meltom, my FM is a great guy. This is the first FM I haven't had to argue with really or even have to force him into giving me what I need. He gives me good miles just alot of loads I have to get fixed. Well some weeks are bad some are good, toss up. Alot better then my van FMs though, 400% better if that makes sense.

Break down of my last two loads.

Pick up 21st in La Crosse WI preload
Run 1800 miles to Tacome WA.
Deliver on 27th. (yes long load but I've never been out west so I agreed on it) took me only 3 1/2 days and I was lazy. Got a 34 in.

From there goto Pilot rock OR 308 miles away. Pick up on the 28th. Got there on the 27th waited til morning then went in. Had a long wait and a PAIN TARPING THIS STUPID STEPDECK. After Roehl driver came after me and left couple minutes before me. After loaded run 1618 miles to St. Paul Park MN. That Roehl driver had a 70 mile lead on me and I still beat him. I relayed this load about a hour ago 12 hours ahead of schedule.

Now I am given a oversize load going to MS. Can't pick it up till tomorrow. 1000 mile load.

So I can't complain about the loads, just about the amount of time on them. I think he realized I still have problematic days with tarping so idk. My FM is a great guy I don't want to jump the gun and say its him. But what do I know.


You are the masta!

 

After getting burned a few times ~~~ yes the appointment has been made, and when you get there it's not...load time 6am, but they don't open till 8am...they receive till 5pm, but the cutoff time is 3:30pm and my personal 2 favorites..yes they are open on Monday (Labor Day) so you have to leave on Sunday, and when you get there the gate is locked (so you email weekend dispatch a picture of the locked gate because they don't believe you) and yes they load today (Christmas Eve) until 4, you're only an hour away get it picked up then head home...of course they weren't there, and that ended in an almost 400 mile deadhead home ~~~
You learn to call every shipper and receiver to verify the hours and directions, and make sure you get the name of the person you spoke to on the phone because yes, when you call in to tell your DSR that the dispatch info is wrong, there are times they will still argue with you.

 

If I had to guess on this load in particular I'd say it was they built extra time into the load in case of problems along the way. We've delivered those to a ship before, and there is an absolute date that all the freight going on that ship has to be there by, so they can check it then load it. If you hadn't made it, it wasn't going on that ship.

On a side note...be careful of that OS load going to MS..with this being a holiday weekend, I know there are a few states that have a no OS restriction from noon tomorrow until Tuesday morning at sunrise...plus with all the rain & flooding down that way you may have one heck of a headache on your hands.

 

He is in Gary tonight, safety meeting in the am and then hopefully a load headed to the house. He's feeling either a bit lonely being by himself for the first time since June 1 or he's happy for the silence. The princesses are all back in school now, so things are slowly getting back to normal..well as normal as they can be.

 

Flat dispatchers are(were) typically better. There is a closer relationship between the planners and the dispatchers. With that being said, your dispatcher could be doing more for you. I have no idea what the environment is like at the moment or how the freight is, who the CSR's are, or for that matter where my pants are.....

I'd still probably do the old sit down meeting and let them know that you feel under utilized, if nothing else it may grant you a greater understanding of why they plan so much time. It probably wont, but it might make you feel better about what goes into the thought process (or lack there of)