considering going with Roehl

Tomorrow I am flying up to Gary, IN to start my three orientation with Roehl. They gave me a couple of options for getting to their facility, car rental, flying, or bus. I opted for flying as it is close to a thousand miles to get to Gary from my hometown. The part I found surprising is that they will not pay the baggage fee which seems a bit odd. In my former business life the company always paid for all my travel expenses except alcohol.

Roehl also requires a TWIC card and does not pay for that either and I do not know if that is typical for the trucking industry. So I spent the money and now have a TWIC card.

I am a bit nervous about my having made the correct choice. That said, I'll start and do the best I can and then decide if my choice was correct. Wish me luck.

 

Generally, they start a new 3-week class every Monday. That is, they have 3 classes going at once, each in a different week stage. They might be fully booked for December's classes already...there is a maximum of 6 students per class.

Edit: I should have been clearer; they start a new 3-week class of RDTC (their CDL school in Marshfield, WI) every Monday, and those classes have a max of 6 students.

If you already have a CDL, you go to Orientation instead rather than the CDL school; that's run separately from the school. The number of students in each Orientation group varies -- when I was at RDTC last January there were about 12-15 people in Orientation at the time, and it runs for less than 3 weeks; I think it was like 8 days or something.

 

At the time I joined, they did not absolutely require a TWIC, although it was encouraged by the time you were with the company six months (if you're on the flatbed fleet). Their reason for not paying for it is that it's yours; you take it with you if were to leave, just like your CDL. I ended up getting one.

It's normal to be a little nervous when starting something big and new like this. Roehl is a good company though and they've always treated me fairly, though there are of course other stories out there, like any large company. Odds are you'll be treated well.

 

Actually if I remember right from last year, they don't do much in December. With the holidays and stuff, it's hard enough trying to get all the drivers home etc... Never mind students and trying to get them a trainer.

 

Yeah, dunno about orientation, but according to the company website there was an RDTC class graduating every week in December and two graduating classes in January. (I started on January 28 and thus graduated in February.)

 

Look forward to it. I'll have to start a thread for our class also.

 

There are classes through December. I chose January so that the holiday season was over with. I know there would have been dead days on the actual holidays and I just assumed that the instructors would be in a better mood afterwards rather than possibly being preoccupied with family stuff at that time.

 

The TWIC card is around 140, unless you have your Hazmat then its 80-100 I don't remember exactly. You have to get fingerprinted and have a background check for both, but if you have one you bypass those on the other. My Hazmat will be done by the time I ship out so the twic will just be a stop at the TSA near the port. You have to pay for them because they go with you wherever you go if you leave the company.

 

Yeah I already have my CDL so I should bypass most of that and go thru to load securement and out with a trainer.

 

Not quite sure how it will work for you. I was hired on experienced over a year ago, but vans. Did 4 day orientation got a truck and on the road. I recently switched to flats. That was a weekend in Gary, classroom stuff, then out with a local guy for 3 days, then turned loose on my own. I imagine you will do the orientation, then securement training, then out with a trainer, maybe just a local guy since you already have experience. Recruiter should be able to tell you.