Is Roehl the 'promised land' of trucking??

Is Roehl the 'promised land' of trucking as seems to be the inference from a lot of posters on here? Going from my experiences so far I would have to say pretty much NO.

Now before the knives are getting sharpened and people yell 'whiner' I will state my case.

First off, I am not going to say that Roehl is completely and 100% bad, far from it. I suspect that at its core the owner and managers are trying their hardest.

First I will address the good.....so far they have kept me moving on a pretty consistent basis, which is a large part of the battle as I am sure all are aware in this industry. Second, the home time policies are very good....with certain caveats to that (which I will address later). My DSR himself is OK...a new guy and very nice so far. By the way I hope spelling and grammar are acceptable to the Word Police....

Now the bad....I have now been with Roehl close to 6 weeks, I was first on the 7/4-7/3 program but the need for a more consistent paycheck at the present time has driven me to switch to national. I had consistent problems when on 7/4-7/3 getting launched without problems....but I told myself these things happen. I also had a truck breakdown, again, I took this in my stride. However, when I switched to National was when things really started to break down, metaphorically and literally.

The truck I was assigned was almost literally a POS. I was told to be in Gary at a certain date and time to find the truck still wasn't ready (needed a bunk heater fitted) and probably wouldn't be so until later in the day. My wife needed to get home so I asked what I should do with my stuff and was told 'most guys just leave it in the hall.....' lovely, leaving all my nice clean stuff, bedclothes and all sitting inside the shop touching lovely nice greasy walls. Eventually got to look into the truck and wow...lovely...encrusted pieces of food on the table that looked like they had been there so long that they had developed rudimentary intelligence and formed a progressive folk duo....but i digress...the seats were nothing short of disgusting, the dash was a lovely dark shade and the mattress looked like the previous person had often leaked some kind of bodily fluids on them.

Eventually after much complaining the Terminal Manager (a VERY nice guy who actually seems willing to help out and get things done for you) took a look at it and said he agreed with me and had maintenance clean it for me. They did their best but there is only so much you can do with truck that probably had not been cleaned for a couple of years. New mattress installed and ready to go...

Got my pplan and a literally impossible delivery and after much discussion with DSR and FM was eventually relieved of it and dispatched out west. Everything went great there.....until returning from West to AL and a huge bang that left the rear drive shaft hanging and having ripped out. Two and a half days later and things are 'kind of' repaired, or at least enough to get me moving again and the tempting offer of getting me to Gary and having my wife come get me and take me home for maybe 1.5 days if lucky then take truck to Marshfield after that....or take truck to Marshfield and stay out extra week and get one more day off....with a heavy heart I take the second option. And no chance of being routed through the house to pick up extra supplies or clean clothes as I had only planned to be out the 11 days.

Then eventually to Marshfield and swapped to a 'loaner' truck which is CONSIDERABLY better than the other (which I am told they are 'working' to get me a better truck) and dispatched to MA via Canada of course...stop up by Lansing and hold a couple of extra hours due to the weather (keep this statement in mind for later) head through Canada and stop in NY state the following day. Head for the drop and arrive at 10.12 for a 10.00 appointment. Promptly given pretty much a dressing down by FM and slapped with a service failure. Was basically told that it was completely my fault (which I accepted) and that if I hadn't have taken 2 extended breaks then it wouldn't be a problem. Hmmmmm....

Next run from NJ to just outside Toronto with diminishing time on my 70 and a VERY VERY tight window. Was told to 'do the best you can' (can anybody say CODE FOR.....) which I did, with the weather and everything took nearly 7 hours to get from border to truck stop (drop was eventually closed) resulted in me running out of my 11,14 and 70 all in one hit! I know, I know, the old adage....if you planned your day better....but I felt under pressure and stressed right from the word GO!!

Anyway, with that done and dusted eventually headed out for a p/u in NY state, poor directions, got stuck, eventually picked up and dropped and hopefully headed home was 1st told to head for Gary, told them that I didnt have my personal vehicle there and yes was then asked if I wanted to stay out longer (????)...and eventually told to head for Gary and i would 'be planned home' from there.

Please forgive the length of this post, I had a lot to get off my chest (my poor wife has borne the brunt of this in recent days....what a wonderful lady I married!!!)

Finally a few words of warning when joining Roehl....
1. Don't expect it to be the 'promised land' of trucking, you will be sorely disappointed.
2. Expect that what you hear in orientation wont come even close to what you experience on the road.
3. The DRG seems to be a one way street, you have to follow it, they do not.
4. Expect to pay out of your own pocket for everything and then be reimbursed for it 2-3 weeks later.
5. Insurance is sucky and expensive.

There, we have finally got to the end. Hopefully things will improve, but we will see.

Take care all and be safe.

 

The 7-4/7-3 is actually a great option and what happens is that basically 3 drivers share 2 trucks...incidentally the trucks I drive were better than the single truck I was assigned for National. As for 'a more consistent paycheck' on 7-4/7-3 there are going to be weeks when you only work a couple of days and when you get back at work (the rotations start on Saturday and Tuesday) you may have a run that takes you past the cut off date of Friday to go on your next check. As for going back to the 7-4/7-3 then that is most surely my intention as soon as finances allow on my end.

I dont in any shape or form HATE Roehl, I am kind of disappointed in them especially having read all the posts on here about them. I guess one OTR company is pretty much the same as the next in reality!

Take care all and be safe!

 

I am not going anywhere currently.....afford to!! After all you can give it a day and realize that the FM is not someone you would particularly like. As for the experience I have almost 2 years under my belt and the main reason I switched from JB was home time.

Also I am in no way saying that Roehl is a completely bad company, far from. As OTR companies go they are REASONABLY good.....just not the saviors of the trucking job that some on here like to make them out to be.

And there are a lot of surprises with this company too....As far as orientation goes. Expect that any reimbursements will a long drawn out and hard fought battle to get them back...especially motels when broken down and brake down pay.

And the insurance is not good at all.....nearest hospital 'in-network' to me (and I live in a 65000+ city with a 5000+ city VERY close by before people start yelling I live in the middle of nowhere) is a small rural hospital 25 miles away. The nearest 'urgent' care facility 95 miles away....as is things like x-ray and pretty much anything else other than Primary Care Physicians.

But like I said it is not even close to being all bad. My DSR is good and still the home time on national is good too. And safety obviously goes without saying!!

Anyway, enough of me again, take care all and stay safe!!