Rum's Rants

And don't forget about the lint that gets everywhere. We got free laundry out of the deal too....when the washers and dryers work...and if you have your own soap and stuff. The stuff in the pail they give you wash your laundry is crap...but will work in a pinch to wash the truck, since they always seem to be out of soap in the wash bay.

 

You wash your truck???

 

I'm going to say yes because I read a study done on it, but it will take me a bit to find it again. You can check safe stat for info on accidents, but I don't think it will tell you if it's a new driver or experienced. Give me awhile....I'll find something.

 

That's just funny...bet Roehl never thought that would happen. The night we had to turn our truck into the Freightliner dealer in Gary, we ended up having to go get our stuff out of the truck because they found out the turbo was on it's last legs. We ended up having to get a ride with one of the mechanics (in his personal car) to get our stuff because the car had been out for a few hours and they didn't know when it was coming back.

I asked about the car in Marshfield once....I was told that when the drivers that used it, started taking care of it when it was in their possesion, they would get more/nicer cars.

 

Absolutely.....At least once a week, wax every other month and polish the shiny stuff 3 times a year. I've complained on more than one occasion to the mechanic if it comes back out of the shop dirty inside.

If we have to live in it, it's going to be clean inside and out.

 

We don't run team the way you are thinking....I don't even have a CDL. You still want my answer or am I not qualified now?

 

Rum

I've been out here long enough and had enough experience to know what to do, yet my stomach still gets in knots when I don't know about where I'm going. The job where I was a trainer was a local frameless dump company. We had a limited number of places where we picked up loads and only a few places we delivered our loads. One driver who came to the company said it was the easiest driving he had ever done. It was much easier than over the road, and I did everything I could to be encouraging and supportive. Trainees slept in their own bed every night and had from Friday early evening until Monday morning off. There was no bumping docks and there were always other drivers around ready to help. Inspite of all this very few trainees ever got into their own trucks and they quit because they couldn't handle the job. This was not Roehl that I am talking about.

I used to drive school bus in another life and their experience was just what you said about accidents. The most likely driver to have an accident was in his second year and driving an empty bus. The theory was overconfidence combined with paying less attention due to no children in the bus.

You are absolutely right about the overwhelming amount of information and tasks a new driver has to process, combine that with the loneliness of being on the road alone. Try parking your truck in Birmingham, AL at 9:00 at night in the dark with questionable backing skills. I use my atlas, a Garmin GPS, Microsoft Streets & Trips and Roehl's routing system, yet after all this I still get nervous going into a new place worrying (sp) about low clearances and light roads (restricted). I might get called on it someday, but I treat their routing as a preferred suggested route. I don't call and ask permission I just drive. My goal is the same as Roehl, drive the shortest, quickest practical route possible. By the way when in Illinois, stop by a weigh station and pickup the appoved truck route map (it's free.) You'll wish every state was so detailed.

As I have told my dsr when he questioned my ability to scale a relay load that was 2000# overweight, I have done this job a few times. I have had to plan a few trips, when I saw they were sending me from Ellenwood to Miami via the turnpike the first question out of my mouth was, "Does the Florida Turnpike use Prepass and if not how do I pay for it?" Knowing that I was going to have a problem with a particular exit I talked to the state police, and the Sunpass system. I found out that they sell a one time use transponder for $5.00 that you can load what you need with a credit card, or debit card. The $5.00 is also given back as a credit. I did my homework on this, but I would hate to be a new driver dealing with these problems especially since there was no way the load was going to be on time since I was sitting in the shop when I needed to be driving.

I don't know how long you've been with Roehl, or who you worked for before. I have been with Roehl for about four months after working for another company, I'll call The Mistake for four months. They were proud that they had just gotten their dot satisfactory rating back, yet they still pressured drivers to drive illegally. After four months of a really bad company Roehl has been a breath of fresh air. I'm not saying they are perfect, in fact I agree with what your saying. I guess my perspective is that they aren't going to change because they see us as just a bunch of complainers. After all, they have the brown nosers who tell them everything is just fine while they sweat in the summer and freeze in the winter so that their idle time is within what the company says it should be.

Sorry, I guess the long winded preacher in me came out a bit here.