Going to Roehl, have questions and need advice. I'm going flatbed.

Well I should tell you that I am the guy I know at orientation. We aren't in the same group as you guys but I'm here with experienced drivers. You probably saw me I'm the guy with the red beard.

 

You silly man. Red beards are for kids.


Sorry, saw that darn rabbit commercial.

 

You need an scary looking pumpkin picture for this message board. Then you could be Treefork's evil sidekick!

 

Hey guys good thread you have going on here. I'm looking at coming to roehl on the flatbed fleet. I am an experienced driver do I would only be doing the 3 day orientation and the a couple days securment training. How is this company to work with? Do they hold your hand or do they just give you your load and talk to you when you get it there? Do they have 24 hr dispatch? How about the shop for breakdowns, are they quick to respond if your stuck somewhere? On the flatbed side do you pretty much have an assigned trailer? Once they have you in a truck do you stay with that truck for a long time?
I'm hoping to hear from someone who has gone through their 3 day orientation and has come in as an experienced driver.

Overall they seem pretty good as far as what I am hearing and I am really looking at switching from w/s because I can't make any money here from all my breakdowns and bad equipment. I've had 8 days in the shop over the past week.

 

You should only have a few days of orientation. You asked alot of questions, but I'll try to answer as much as I can.

Roehl is a good company to work with. If you are a responsible experienced driver, they will treat you well. Some driver here seem to think Roehl holds your hand a little too much, I haven't had that experience. They do have 24 hour dispatch, but there is a running discontent for the "extended operations" crew. I usually don't have much problems with anyone in operations, but there are some days I get a little steamed, but that's truck driving. I can say that the good far outweighs the bad in regards to dispatch. (Right now I'm working to get west to Denver for the weekend and they are trying to get me to TN to get a load to CO. I deliver near Philadelphia in the morning. My fingers are crossed.) I have a new truck now and haven't had any breakdown issues. When I had an older truck, they were VERY interested in getting it fixed and rolling. I can't answer your flatbed questions, I'm a door slammer. Once you get your truck, if you aren't running a "Hometime" fleet, you keep the same truck. From what I can see, it looks like most drivers are switching to the new trucks. I see less and less of the 07 Freightliners. Most trucks are now 2013 Cascadias or Prostars. I think the flatbed fleet is getting the Prostars. I'm sure others on here will have some better info for you, but that's my input. Oh, I see you are in UT. That might be a problem. You will have to call a recruiter and see if they are hiring now in your area.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, I talked to the recruiter a few hours ago and she said Utah wouldn't be a problem for flatbed. I don't care much about home time anyways, I'm not married, no kids so I pretty much live in the truck.
i always like to hear from actual drivers instead of just recruiters so all the info on here helps out a lot

 

No problem. There are several good flatbedders on here that will probably have some more info for you. Lantern and DirtyDiesel are good contacts.