My personal Roehl experience!

Discussion in 'Roehl' started by Jrivas23, Jan 2, 2015.

  1. RavenHairedGemini

    RavenHairedGemini Light Load Member

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    Sep 20, 2014
    Anywhere Away From There
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    Flatbed is a lot of work so be sure to eat your Wheaties, vans good but lots of backing. Would like to try curtain side myself....
     
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  3. technoroom

    technoroom Heavy Load Member

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    Nov 8, 2012
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    As a flatbed driver you'll almost certainly get to pull a curtainside every once in awhile, for example if there aren't any flatbed loads available at that moment. Not having to tarp is nice, but the trailers are heavier than a flatbed trailer and unfortunately the shipper sometimes wants to put the same amount of load on your curtain as would go on a flatbed. That makes for some interesting times when it happens. I had to take the load back to the shippers a number of times after scaling the load and finding it overweight. Time and money wasted for me, Roehl, and the shipper.
     
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  4. ny2tn

    ny2tn Light Load Member

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    Mar 30, 2015
    Long Island, NY
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    Are you still with roehl how are you liking it?
     
  5. HaulinThruLife

    HaulinThruLife Bobtail Member

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    Apr 14, 2015
    Minnesota
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    Just a couple questions:

    (1) Does Roehl have in cab cameras?

    (2) Also, as a individual starting CDL school soon, I was wondering if you Roehl drivers feel that the 10-13 days with a trainer was enough to prepare you for solo, or is a sink or swim type of thing? I seems that a lot of companies training is 4-8 weeks vs. Roehls 2 wks.
     
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  6. TB John

    TB John Company Shill of BYOB & CBD

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    I have noticed that most "training" companies spell out the length of training
    in terms of hours behind the wheel. Most trainees describe their experience in terms of "weeks away from home". Roehl trainers may try to maximize your time behind the wheel, while other companies' trainers may try to extend your time on the truck to benefit their "trainers wage"

    I could be wrong your results may differ.:yes2557:
     
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  7. technoroom

    technoroom Heavy Load Member

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    When I was at Roehl just over a year ago, the most frequent situation where the company would put a camera in the truck was if the driver was getting lost frequently, late for pickups/deliveries, etc. and the company wanted to help him/her figure out where they were going wrong. I also heard of a case where the sensors in the truck that measure violent side-to-side or front-to-back accelerations were reporting lots of unsafe driving events. A camera was temporarily installed in the truck and it proved that during the times the sensors were reporting an issue, the truck was in fact being driven safely.

    As you might expect, very, very few of the trucks had cameras.
     
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  8. HaulinThruLife

    HaulinThruLife Bobtail Member

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    Apr 14, 2015
    Minnesota
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    Thanks for the info. Obviously the more a person performs a task, the more proficient they become. I just don't want to hurt myself (career wise that is) if the 2 weeks isn't adequate time before heading out solo. I realize there will be a lot to learn, especially that first couple years; but don't want to start my career in the "hole" so to speak, because I didn't get the proper training and adequate time behind the wheel.
     
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  9. technoroom

    technoroom Heavy Load Member

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    During the 11 days I was out with my trainer at Roehl, I drove almost the entire time. The only times the trainer drove was when I was getting low on hours and we wanted to get to someplace more convenient to stop. While I can't speak from direct experience at other companies, I read and heard about plenty where even though you were out for 4 weeks, a fair amount of that time you were in the passenger seat.

    Assuming you are driving for most/all of the training period, I found that 11 to 14 days was long enough to learn what needed to be learned. The first time you go out solo, you're likely going to be just as nervous no matter whether you had 14 days with a trainer or 30 days. It's completely different when you're driving that truck alone for the first time vs. having someone else there to point things out. (Although on the last load of my training, my trainer stayed back in the sleeper to help prepare me for what it was like to drive without someone in the passenger seat. But I still knew he was back there of course.)

    After I finished training, the company had me go on a short "final road test" drive with one of the instructors and do a couple backing tests in the yard, and after passing those I knew I at least had the basics down well-enough to make it. I don't know for sure whether the company still does that but I'd expect they would. Maybe someone else who's gone through it recently can comment.

    The only other thing that would have helped me would have been to take the truck and empty trailer on a short "around-town" drive solo (in an area I already knew), before actually getting my first dispatch to go pick up a load. The very first time I drove solo, I was also having to worry about not making a wrong turn and getting to the shipper on time, which made for a pretty stressful day. A half-hour of solo driving around the terminal area before that would have helped a lot. But I survived.
     
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  10. YoungGuns

    YoungGuns Light Load Member

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    May 27, 2010
    Murfreesboro, TN
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    Do you think you would still feel this way if you started on something like their flatbed division?
     
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  11. technoroom

    technoroom Heavy Load Member

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    I did start in their flatbed division. :)

    My very first time in the truck alone, I launched from the Gary terminal to a steel plant in one the suburbs west of Chicago. Thought I'd missed an exit on the way and had a little bit of a panic, but it turned out I'd gone the right way after all. Picked up five coils (eye-to-sky, on pallets). I observed how the other drivers there were securing their loads and double-checked with them for advice. They were glad to offer help. After getting everything secured and tarped, drove to a stamping/fabrication plant near Stevens Point, WI. Arrived around 7pm and it had started snowing. Had to back into an interior dock (in the dark, with it snowing) with a short turning radius, tighter than anything I'd encountered while out training. Got the load unloaded, but they were closing for the night and asked that I pull out as soon as they were done unloading. Had to fold and roll up a lumber tarp (first time I had done so) out in the parking lot while it was snowing on it -- the tarp wouldn't roll up right because the snow was making it slippery and snow kept accumulating between the layers. Finally got the tarp stowed around 10pm. I'd asked the consignee previously if it was OK for me to park there for the night; fortunately they said yes. Didn't get much sleep that night; around 4AM I heard activity outside the truck, someone in a pickup truck was plowing the parking lot around me (there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground by that time).

    Got a dispatch the next morning to pick up a relay load in Marshfield -- two large coils of aluminum going to a beverage can plant in St. Paul. While I was at Marshfield, I went in and spoke to my fleet manager, whom I'd only talked to on the phone a couple times before then. Told him that I wasn't sure whether this job was for me or not. We went to one of the conference rooms near his desk and he closed the door and listened to my experience the previous night. Fortunately, he convinced me to stay with it, that I was doing a good job so far for someone who was just starting out. I'll never forget that conversation.

    I don't think any more training ahead of time would have prepared me for that first couple runs. You just have to take deep breaths, remain calm, and ask others around you for help. I've found that flatbedders are kind of a special breed, they understand what the job can be like and help each other out. If they see another flatbedder having trouble with something, they will usually ask if the other person would like any help. If two flatbedders are out folding up their tarps, most oftentimes one with come over and help the other fold (it goes much quicker with two people), then the first one will go over and help the other one fold. Whether they work for the same company or not doesn't matter in the least.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2015
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