Roehl Transport, Inc. - Marshfield, Wi.

Hello everyone it's been awhile I've been busy with school. Passed all written tests and have all endorsements. I go to Gary,In 2/11/08 for orientation. I would like to here from people who is on the Military 2yr apprenticeship is it a good/bad thing to be on. What are the pros/cons about this program? And if possible hear from people that know from experience. Thanks for the help and be safe out there!!

 

HI,
I went to Roehl's school in Marshfield, liked it very much , good guys up there. I thought Roehl was fair and honest in their dealings with me. Trainers
(2) were good, nice guys and seemed to be genuine even though the extra money and miles they get are a factor in why they do it. I do have respect for their courage (smile). I worked for them for about 4mos. I drove an International (didn,t care for it, doesn't turn very well). I am from the northeast (New Jersey) and I had to leave my tractor in Bensalem Pa and drive home approx 80mi. I worked 7/4 7/3, and I must say Roehl management
treated me OK, however I was always going through Gary Ind and I must say
most Roehl drivers were not at all friendly and after while I just avoided all of them especially at truck stops. A bunch of know it all losers in my book. I found a local job and although I drive into NYC and throughout the northeast
I love my daycab. So if your planning on working for Roehl I think there a good choice and will treat you fair.
Good Luck to all.
If I upset any Roehl drivers who are not losers I,m sorry for that.

 

Well, I finished up Evo 2 and I'm home with my own truck now (which I had to leave running last night). I must say, my experience so far has been very good, but I know others had their shortcomings. The one thing that bothered me the most was going through Canada. Actually, I like driving through Canada; I don't like staying the night there, though. My dispatchers were good and kept us pretty busy. My new Evo 3 dispatcher seems really good so far, but come Monday I'll be calling him up to discuss my little mess-up with the Qualcomm and my bad directions I got from another Roehl driver. There's nothing like being told to turn left at the T when you really need to go right. I ended up going past all the huge yards, down some narrow dirt road, to a lane by some railroad tracks before I could get turned around. When I was turning around, a few deer came out of the woods, if that might help you understand how frustrated I might have been. I got to the shipper late, but it was just a drop-n-hook, anyway. I still have nothing bad to say. I kind of wish they had a checklist telling you who to go to for each step so I wasn't wandering all over and calling the wrong people at the wrong time, but I've got my truck home now so I'm happy.

 

It's not a question of miles so much as it is time. Normally after six to eight months, ROEHL figures you "might" be able to handle those long sweeping vistas of unbroken road and manuvering around the hairpin curves in Salt Creek Canyon (AZ) with a 7% grade in a blinding snowstorn in the middle of April... Can you say "AW ****!!!!"?

 

congrats cmoore i,ve enjoyed reading your updates sence you started. if you feel like posting as you go through evo 3 that would be cool.

what didnt you like about staying overnight in canada? do you have your passport and what did you have to do to get it.

also i see you live east of coldwater, do you know anything about ( american truck driving school ) in coldwater? if i have the money i was thinking of trying there or west mich cdl, just to get the cdl in mich.

then either going to roehl or maybe tmc. on the roehl website-- when i put my zipcode in i,m only eligable for hometime plus. ( muskegon,mi ) if the money was as good as they say the 7/3/4 would be ok, but i think would have to drive to the gary terminal each week. i,m not to sure i,d like to slip-seat though. anyway thanks for keeping us informed.

 

i have been working for roehl for 8 months now and i must give my report of roehl so far. at first roehl seemed like a great company. but now my feelings have changed. First let me say the miles seems to keep going down. also let me say that roehl has refused to pay for detention time that they approved to me. I have found that disptatchers that work for roehl will tell you one thing and do another. I worked during thanksgiving and christmas and i gave advance notice to dispatch about the days i needed off during new years. when i gave the the days i need off i was told it was ok. then the day before i was going home they told me i couldnt be off that long. I told them it was already okayed and also explained that i had a very important thing to take care of and they said i cant stay home that long. the amount of time i needed was 4 days all i was asking for was 1 extra day. i had to threaten to quit for them to approve it. I was in jepardy of loosing my house and i needed to sit down with mortgage company to work something out so i wouldnt loose my house. roehl's attitude was like they didn't care. It is so slow right now with many drivers waiting for long amounts of time for a dispatch. what is the big deal in letting a driver have a extra day off to take care of inportant matters. I am just letting you all know this. Roehl is not the company i thought it was. i am just holding on till i have enough experience to find something better.

 

Ok, garspete, here goes... The main thing I didn't like about staying in Canada was not being able to use my cell phone and Internet (on my cell phone). I left my laptop at home because I didn't want to take too much and get my trainers upset with me. Yes, I do know something about ATDS. My dad used to be an instructor there. When I asked him about it, he said he thought they went out of business. I couldn't find anything about them online and never really investigated any further.

You're right about the 7/4-3 program. They usually get more miles because they're not so tight on the hours, getting the resets all the time. The only reason I'm not in 7/4-3 is because I won't slipseat. My truck's parked on my land and plugged in and I don't have to drive to Gary to get it for that simple reason. Now I'm working on getting my CB up and going, since it seems that neither antenna on my truck actually works. Just went and got another and my own cable, so I get to freeze my ### off tomorrow.

I didn't post much through Evo 1 and Evo 2, but I really had a good experience compared to some I keep in touch with. Actually, I didn't post at all. I was assigned my truck on the 18th of January and finally got a load going through the house. My DSR said he was going to cancel it because it'd interrupt my hometime, but I said I'd just deliver it Monday because it's only a few hours away.

My ride home was HELL. I, in all my brilliance, didn't check the weather. Once I got near Michigan, I-94 traffic slowed right down to about 10-15 MPH. When I lightly tapped the accelerator and started spinning the tires, I quickly realized it was all a sheet of ice. I probably saw about 30 cars and 10 semis that went off the road, and to be honest I'm just lucky I'm not one of them. There were spots where my entire truck would just start sliding to the right. I don't think it was windy, I think it was simply so slick and the road was sloped enough that it did it on its own. I locked my inter-axle differential in pretty early on and still had trouble climbing the hills, spinning the tires a little here and there. I came across a flying J, but I saw the ramp was uphill with a light at the top--I knew I couldn't make it. I came across a rest area, parked it, and slept in the truck, starting it every few hours to make sure it kept charged with the bunk heater running. Finished the ride home Saturday morning, promptly checking my shorts when I got home. Lesson learned the hard way, I guess. Delivered my load yesterday pretty early. It was a simple drop-and-hook with me taking an empty home. My dispatcher's very nice and helpful and actually drove truck for quite a few years, so he knows what it's like out there on the road. Seeing as I'm a flatbed driver, my DSR also went through the cargo securement class so he knows what to expect out there on the road and to be able to help us when we're unsure of exactly what we need to do. Overall, my only problem was my mistake of not checking the weather. My experience with Roehl has been great from day 1 and I'd recommend them, but others have had worse experiences. Perhaps they're treating me so good because they know I have no wife, girlfriend, children, etc and I'll probably stick around for a few years, versus the husbands and fathers that come and don't really know what to expect and can't handle the stress of being on the road and the problems back home. There could be a million reasons--or it could just be luck.

 

I am happy to see you are doing well craig.

respects,
you know who.

 

I can tell you only what I know.
Evo 1 is $60/day
Evo 2 is $65/day
Evo 3 is regular pay

Evo 1 and Evo 2 pay 2 weeks behind.

 

Hey jrs,
I dont think anyone out there pays a ton during training. Be prepared no matter who you go with not to get a decent check for about 2 months. Thats if he is going thru the school.