Impression of Roehl so far

Perhaps now we see why there is so much good said about Roehl by trainers and recruiters. Believe me, its not good at all from a drivers standpoint when all you have is mileage pay. I'm sure that the trainers get really good miles (I didn't) because we have to keep the students moving. Oh well, if you need training and can get through a year of this garbage, you can find better work. Just don't believe anything that the recruiters tell you. Take your 1500-2300 miles per week (more 1500 than 2300 I assure you) get your year in and go.

 

I know Roehl hauls a lot of heavy paper loads out of the northeast.But a lot of the Maine & New Hampshire mills are closing up.Roehl may close their Groveton,N.H. Terminal when the plant closes soon.

 

Well I'm go'n to start Roehl on 02-25-08, anyone joining in on that date, everything looking good w/ Rob. He also had said I will need to git a Passport for Canada before summer. You will need one by then if you want to go to Canada. Good luck everyone, and drive safely.

 

I have dual citizenship and have a passport for both countries. Right now you can get into Canada with just a birth Certificate but that will change in July. You will however need a passport to get back into the country. A passport will make things much easier.

Having dual citizenship makes it a breeze going through the boarders. I don't know alot about Rohel so I wish you the best of luck.

 

Another thing you need for going to Canada is no DUI's EVER. Regardless of what Canadian law says about the ten year rule, it is up to the guard at the border as to whether or not you get in. If their whole family was killed by drunk drivers, you just might get a trip to jail for even attempting to enter Canada. Or at the very least, you'll be refused entry and told not to come back until you pay the Extortion fee.

I used to cross the border into Canada every day at Port Huron, MI--twice a day during the week. My wife and kids were over there waiting on immigration so I was staying with them in Sarnia while we waited for the BS to be done with. I got to know just about all the guards on both sides really well... except one.

One night, I was crossing back into Canada at my usual 3:00am (just getting out of work) when I got the... uh... trying to think of a nice way to describe her without cussing and getting another 'infraction'... witch... hag... cold hearted... anyhow... I'd never seen her before. Most of the guards there knew me and would just wave me through--not Hagatha. I got the full round of questions and after what seemed like hours, she finally let me through.

The next night, there was another newbie at the booth. After a few questions, he asked me how long it had been since I'd visited immigration inside. "About 6 months," I told him. So inside I went.

Lucky me--Hagatha was running the counter. Her first question when I stepped up was, "Have you ever had a DUI?"

I admitted that I had ONE... about 8 years previous. Now this was not the first time that I'd admitted this to Canadian authorities, in fact, I can't even count the number of times that I was asked that question. They would always disappear somewhere for a minute or two--I figured they were double checking to see what else I might have done. And always, the answer was, "Go ahead, have a nice day."

The minute I admitted this to the Witch, she jumped down my throat and told me that I was, "not allowed in Canada," and that she could throw me in jail just for coming to the border. I told her that I'd been crossing into Sarnia daily for almost a year and that I'd already admitted to the DUI MANY TIMES! She said the other border guards were wrong and were not following the law.

The short of it is, she refused me entry and made me sign a document saying that I would not attempt to cross again without paying the extortion fee to the Ministry of Rehabilitation and Racketeering. I guess if you pay the money, it makes you a safe driver and guarantees you won't go on a drunken rampage killing Canadian citizens.

So... they can have Canada, I really don't care to set foot over there again anyway.

 

I don't know, I was told ten yrs. was ok to go, anything under that you can not go. and mine is 9 yrs. next mth. so he put me down as I can not go untill my ten yrs. is up

 

Agreed! The safety bonus is not entirely up to the driver to achieve. If you haven't made the miles, you aren't eligible. Drivers don't dispatch themselves. And not every driver that doesn't make their miles is a "whiner" or "complainer" as some keep insinuating. Sometimes the miles, or dispatches, don't materialize, for whatever reason.

Roehl has its good points and bad like any company. Everyone seems to agree they have a great training program. They also have the same problems other companies do such as low miles (at times), waiting for loads, turn-over in DSR's, etc., etc. (speaking from national van, non-training, non-dedicated route perspective). Roehl is growing and in my experience, few companies experience rapid growth without some growing pains. As someone said in a previous post, it's something to keep in the back of your mind if something isn't right; in other words, don't keep sucking it up when problems need to be addressed. JMHO.

 

how is everything go'n out there? great I hope. been waiting for more info on your training, and what to expect

 

First off I am a long time troller and never feel the need to post however this one has got hysterical. This entire thread is the reason that newbies NEED to listen to experience, NEED to listen to the drivers that post here. I by no means am a veteran, I have 1/1/2 years driving experience however I did do my research prior to getting into trucking and this and other sites help me reach a conclusion, STAY AWAY FROM THE OTR MEGA CARRIER!!! Now if you search long enough and you search hard enough and you are good at reading between the lines and you can make something out of nothing then, maybe then ,you can convince yourself to go with a mega carrier. I believe most of you have your mind made up already and are looking for a single shread of evidence to suggest you go to the big companies. When i was looking to get into the industry I alomost made the mistake of a large OTR comapny however after much research I looked into the LTL field and with perservation I landed a job in LTL, I would have taken no other, home weekends, out 1 day at a time, stay in motels, better pay etc.Anyone can find these jobs if you put your mind to it however i,am afraid, again, that most of you want Roehl, Swift, Schneider, insert name here.... Now for Dcodd, Dennis in PA(who quit already) it is amazing how you brush off the suggestion of the veteran drivers, Dcodd are you still working for the GREAT ROEHL? Dennis in PA couldnt hack it, he couldnt get past EVOI I believe, but I regress. The point here, really, is not to pick on you guys as I have been there also however NEWBIES, for the love of god LISTEN, PLEASE LISTEN!!

 

It appears as this thread mainly pertains to those goin to the Roehl training school. Is there any info out here for experienced drivers lookin into Roehl? If your getting great training-that's awesome! I just wanna know how it is for a company to drive for--i dont really need to be informed of their training school. Just curious--if anyone can give me some info.