Any Questions about Roehl??

At least you can override the idle shutdown...I've heard that's not possible on some of these trucks, i.e. the one they wanted to give me as a loaner a couple weeks ago. Mechanic said you actually had to drive the truck around to keep it running. I said that's insane, you can't drive while on your 10-hour break; he replied well that's what the drivers have to do. I worked out another arrangement where I wouldn't have to take the loaner.

 

Quite honestly, if any of that junk happened to me, I would just tell them I cannot drive due to not getting proper rest because of these ridiculous issues. I'm too tired and would be a hazard on the road.

 

Exactly right, my FM couldn't believe it either. Had I not been able to work out another arrangement I think he would have gotten involved.

 

I have put my foot down a few times at both companies that I drove for and it almost always resulted in lost pay/miles, so make sure your battles are worth the cost.

Had an APU fail and engine AC was broken as well, while my wife was riding along. I held out for repairs and lost a whole day.

I also refused to drive with a cracked windshield and lost the load I was hauling and another whole day lost, plus the new windshield leaked and I lost more pay on that repair.

Those were worth it though. I've had a few others that varied in whether they were worth it or not. I'm glad I don't take my truck home any more, as repairs can now be done on my days off most of the time.

 

Did the cracked windshield thing. Wasn't oos but eventually got routed through Marshfield and got it replaced. Yeah I pick em. But having to drive a truck around to keep warm? Or even to have to get up several times a night, or sit there with foot on throttle to keep it idling. That is ridiculous.

 

Agree.

Unfortunately for me, my windshield got taken out by an ice storm in Maine and I was at the mercy of a repair shop and then getting another load was also a challenge. I could have taken my chances I suppose and drove to a company terminal, but Marten didn't have pre-pass and I was afraid of getting dinged at the scales.

At least at Roehl I have never felt pressured to do anything unsafe. Sometimes you might have to push back, but they will generally bow to safety issues.

 

So what was the "other arrangement"?

 

I can override if the ambient temp falls outside the range, which I think is 20-80 or something around there. Otherwise she shuts down whether I try to override or not.

 

My wife drove from our home in MN and picked me up in Marshfield for my hometime. We have a vacation home a bit southeast of Marshfield, so spent some time there as part of the trip. The other issue was that I would have had to move all my flatbed securement equipment and tarps from my normal truck into the loaner truck, then back again. That's about a 3-hour job each time. It was overall better just to drive from MN and back. (I normally park the truck at the St. Paul yard anyway, so end up driving some in any case.)

 

This is the best arrangement, unless they can put you on Vans and stack your preplans so you're guaranteed to get back in 3-5 days.