HazMat, Passports, and FAST

Venture, how is it working for you off the honor program? I am done with it in a few month. Haven't seen you in a while, where you been?

 

I have yet to haul one in 10+ years of flatbed and curtainside at Roehl. I have seen some placards duct taped on to tarps once in a while. I did haul one van load of detergent from Oak Creek to Fon du Lac that was considered haz mat.

 

we require haz mat,tanker, pass port,twic, fass,

 

I was told we had to have a passport or passport card by June 1, they said they were thinking about requiring the hazmat but hadn't made a decision. So far I haven't heard anything from dispatch about either.

With all due respect to the brown nosers who drink the Roehl koolaid, if they start requiring hazmat and a passport they're going to have to do something to attract and retain drivers. Most companies that require hazmat pay more than Roehl and provide better miles. With the downturn in the economy and the desire to move my driving career forward I had already planned on adding these and possibly a twic card as well. The point is that Roehl never has had great miles, the pay per mile is o.k. but not great and if you don't meet the idle goal nine out of twelve months you don't get a pay raise. Lately their dispatch has been going south in a hurry to the point that I can't trust the dispatches to be accurate in address or times.

 

The passport requirment is a customs rule change to cross the border not a Roehl rule change. There is some confusion on my part about the Haz Mat requirment. I left the saftey meeting with the impression that we were encouraged to get it so we would be able to pull more varied loads in a shrinking load pool. But in talking to other drivers they have the impression that Haz Mat is mandatory. Also flat drivers like to talk about the option of pulling vans when things get slow, I have seen a lot of tractors with the large metal side boxes pulling vans and reefers lately, I guess they would need Haz Mat too. It seems the company and government rules we must follow are a moving target.

 

Oldguynewjob

You are right the passport or passport card is a government thing needed to cross the border. However, Roehl chooses to have a forced Canada both as a pass through from New England to the Midwest as well as loads into and out of Canada.

The hazmat and passport card are good things to have since they make you more employable. With the current employement situation the more you can separate yourself from everyone else the better. The better a driver you are the less you have to look for work and the more companies are willing to do to keep you.

I am also finding that communication within Roehl corporate is very poor. I don't think they ever talk to each other no matter what they claim.