Anyone have any questions for a ROEHL trainer?

I posted in a different thread, but not getting many responses. I'm coming in with about a year of experience to do the 14/7 flatbed fleet out of Gary. Do you know what the typical freight lanes are for that terminal? Do you know what kind of runs the 14/7 drivers usually have?

 

You'll run a lot of freight east of the Mississippi. Being out two weeks will give the load planners more options on where they can run you.

 

thanks. Sounds like a good way to run, avoid having to deal with tire chains in the winter.

 

Again thanks for the feedback.
I'm definitely not looking to ruffle any feathers at all. It's easy to freak-out when you hear "2 hours on inverter" when you have no idea what it's like out there.
I re read my comments and I totally understand where your coming from and appreciate your response. (and WITrucker29 as well).

 

I hooked an inverter up in my truck while I was with Roehl. I wasn't crucified the next day, either.

 

But why fight the policy when you don't need to. All you have to do to make at this company is follow the rules, bust your butt, be friendly to your FM. Then you will make it far. Take me for example. I did those things and averaged 2000 miles in a division that had an average of 1700-1800 miles and then had my FM throw his weight around and got me a nice cushy local job that pays per day.

 

I personally had the exact opposite experience. Busted my ### made every load on time only to be getting right around 2,000 miles a week. And I was OTR stayed out 3-4 weeks a time. I was hardly able to cover my bills working for Roehl. As far as the inverter, the last truck I had the driver left his very nice inverter underneath the bed, hooking it up was no big deal and I figured if Roehl would fire me over that then they weren't worth it anyways. It's a buyers market, if I'm not making the money I feel is worth being out a month at a time away from friends and family, while living in a 5X8 living area I will leave. My fm understood that, and even on my good weeks 600-700 wasn't nearly worth it.

 

I know where your coming from. Talked to a few that had similar situation. The one thing I noticed that was common about all them was the FM said they were low in the performance part. Not saying you were but they all said their FM's told them that and that is why they don't get the miles. I got lucky and was near the top if not at the top. Don't ask me how I got there though. Maybe it was because I was always moving and if I didn't get an assignment right away I was calling. There is always going to be a better job out there, just have to find one you like.

 

Yeah you reminded me of what one of FM's said, he told me my peformence was 79%. I was shocked, and if I honestly had that low score because of my peformence not being up to par then shame on me. When he told me that I was ###### off, there was never a time that I was late on a load due to it being "my fault" I would get loads that had very tight limit and before I took it, I would notify my fm. And I would get the "do the best you can" now, this would be mainly weekend dispatch then I'd get a call Monday morning from my fm asking why I had a service failure, I told him "look over my Qualcomm messages, it's all there!" And he told me that it "was all good" so I was very shocked that they gave me a low rating because of THERE fm or planners lack of experience or knowledge on how big trucks work. And the thing called our logs and HOS. They never pushed me to run illegal but point is, if I got a load that I did not have enough time for, I'd always tell me fm before I sent in macro #59.

This is a on going problem with these large company's, they have people managing us, the TRUCK DRIVER, and they know little to NOTHING about truck driving, so what happens when you mix the 2 is a complete lack of understanding. It's out of our hands at some point with the HOS, and it seems that more times then not I found myself having to explain that to my fm, for his response to just be another question that proved his complete and total ignorance about trucking. In a perfect world company's should REQUIRE "fleet managers" to have ATLEAST 6-12 months experience so they can have the slightest clue on how it really is, other than there view of a desk and a computer screen. It would never happen, but wouldn't it be something if company drivers had a sort of "load board" to pick loads for themselves? Ofcourse the driver would at the very least be able to manage his time and actually PRE PLAN his trip. I know that would never happen, but the company I'm with now is very small, the owner knows me by name, and used to drive trucks, my dispatcher has 20+years experience driving trucks, that's how it SHOULD BE. And guess what, every load I've gotten haven't been late once, because now my dispatcher already knows the time I have before I get a trip, it's so much more smooth. Roehl was a great place for me to start, the training was great! I just think about how poorly these large company's are run.

 

I have read this thread, and there is some information, but it's splotchy: for flatbed, what is the fitness test that you have to undergo (ie. what does it intail...like weights, distances, etc)?

Thanks!