Comforts of home with Roehl?

Flatbedding is a fine job for older drivers. My carrier has plenty of drivers in the 40-70 age range. I myself am 42 and have been dragging a deck for the last 6 years.

That said, I HAVE been pulling a conestoga (sliding tarp) trailer for almost a year now.

The downside to Roehl flatbed, even for some younger drivers, is the incredible WEIGHT of their tarps. Some of those buggers are close to 250 lbs! Even their newer tarps are ridiculously heavy (150+ lbs.)

And before all the Roehl Flatbedder's jump on me, I drove for a few other flatbed outfits. My HEAVIEST tarp was around 60 lbs. dry. There is NO reason to have tarps as heavy as Roehls, other than being cheap.

 

Chump change to a mega. I'm glad to see you, like them, feel saving a few dollars is more important than the increased safety factor involved from a driver with a restful night's sleep.

 

I sleep just fine with the opti-idle. It is far better sleep than parking with a reefer unit that cranks up every couple hours, and those drivers dont complain.

 

I do not see opti idle as a safety issue or unreasonable solution. It is much better than no climate control at all when parked like some large carriers create with 5 minute idle shut downs. In my opinion that is unreasonable.

And It is not "a few dollars " saved as the math in my earlier post shows using your $30 bucks a night figure. Not to mention extra wear and tear on the idling motor.

Thing I find funny is that many drivers who demand or expect the company they work for to p_ss away money wastefully are the same ones who would never do the same thing if it was their own money and are some of the cheapest people I know. It only matters when it is their money. I try to look at the big picture and don't waste anyone else's money just like I would not waste mine.

Case in point a buddy of mine who worked at the same company as me would idle is truck non stop for no reason. The company had a very liberal idle policy and he literally would leave his truck running for days on end. He said that "it's not my fuel" and could care less. Then he went OO and was joking that he now turns his truck off as he coasts into the fuel island and any other chance he has to save fuel.

You disagree with me, I disagree with you. I'm done with this tit for tat.

 

When a driver does not get proper rest it's a safety issue. Brush that fact off all you want but it's a fact nonetheless.

 

I can never fall asleep if a truck idle next to me all night long, each truck has its own personality (pattern), some make an loud air releasing noise every 2 minutes, while some do it every 20 minutes, it varies greatly, some truck has the fan kicking in every 10 minutes or so, making a high pitch noise in addition to the engine idling noise, the cycles are consistent, I just can't sleep with any noise.
The way I go to sleep well is not by usinh ear plugs, but rather my smartphone, I plug in my earphone and I use an app that generates white noise that runs continually and onsistently until I wake up feeling refreshed and turn it off, the white noise block out all other noise around me so that I can fall asleep.

 

Yes white noise machine is how I do it too. The constant steady noise ends up blocking out other other intermittent noise that might wake me up. I rarely if ever hear anything that wakes me up.

 

awesome, we have something in common lol
white noise is my life saver, I used to use earplugs and then switches to those industrial ear muffs that I bought from home depot, they are all useless because I can still hear noise from the idling trucks, whereas white noise blocks out all other noise while providing a non interruptive steady stream of consistent noise that is easy to fall asleep to.

 

All those natural sounds of a truck stop will become White Noise if you allow yourself to a just to it. Yes even the truck with the bad air governor that's spitting every 30 seconds. Or the guy doing a trlr swap next to you.