Impression of Roehl so far

I went to a private school in my hometown! I had to work and go to truck driving school at the same time so i had no other choice in the matter. Trust me--3 yrs later and a few mistakes with the wrong company--you learn! As they say--live and learn! From my experience--the smaller company's treat you way better. I just took a couple months off due to some "teenager" issues but i am working on getting back out there--just not really sure where i am goin yet though! Good luck to you and I hope training works out for you! Whatever you do--Dont expect to get rich the first few weeks or you will set yourself up for disappointment! LOL

 

nope I never had expected it. I'v been around a lot of truckers. its just like a new job. your always # the bottom

 

Hey JasonB or should I say Dennis from SE pen.What happend to CMoore? I was in his class at Roehl.Just curious how he is doing.

 

Boy of boy I feel for the guys in class right now in marshfield
Its 1 above zero right now
Coldddddddddd

 

Jason can you please explain how in such a very short time in the industry you came to the conclusion that you dont like big business? What could you possibly have experienced in a couple weeks? What did you expect, to get your CDL and presto in your own truck alone? I dont mean this to sound negative but my god we all had to go through the same thing, you would have been done very soon and on your own. Do you think you are going to find a smaller company that will turn you loose alone...not gonna happin, do you think you are ready to go it alone...I think not. You will need to be with a trainer eventually and the longer you stay away looking for the perfect, small company the worse off you will be in the long run.

Isnt GMAC a big company, assuming you are Dennis in SE PA?

 

"What happend to CMoore?"
I have not heard from him. Do you have his cell #?
I am guessing he is busy right now.
Alot of newbies come here for awhile and then get busy and we don't heear too much from them for awhile.

 

"Jason can you please explain "
Thought I'd already done this. I did not like spending that much time in a truck with another person. I anticipated this as a potential problem. I guess I am a little crazy. I also did not like the way my trainer with 6 years was treated. If he has 6 years and they treat him as they did (asked him to run illegal and he had to "adjust the logbook" then everything I was told was BS.
I never quit my regular job.
When I find what I am looking for I will post. I am not in a hurry. I am interested in doing things right.

Dennis

 

You hit a home run with one of the biggest problems facing trucking today. Many are not cut out for it because they can't understand directions, are night blind, to scared to drive in the winter months (fair weather drivers), can't deal with separation from friends and family, can't work long boring hours sitting behind the wheel of a truck, can't maintain patience and professionalism when dealing with the company-customers or the motoring public, are willing to sacrifice their safety and the safety of others to please the carrier which could care less if you get thrown in jail or fined because of it, or just plain suck at driving a truck period.

You want to make it in OTR? Then don't just look at the possible money but take a deep look at the lifestyle that is required to be successful in OTR trucking. And remember that driving a truck OTR is not that great of a paying job considering the hours you have to put in to make the big bucks in OTR trucking and that it is at a piece rate with no overtime and many uncompensated hours left off the books so you will have hours to drive. Not to mention being on call 24/7 to work without knowing in many cases when you will work again.

All a newbie needs to do is keep a ledger of how many actual hours they put in for the carrier and divide that number by what they were payed that week and see how low paying it actually is for the time spent on the job.

I work a minimum of 20hrs less a week and have twice the time off each month and when I park the truck I am done. I now can live life instead of watching life pass me by and don't work 1 hr that is not compensated for or kept off the books.

If you are considering driving OTR you best not be doing it because of the great working conditions because they suck and are not much better then legalized slavery in my book. Life is short so why spend it sitting on a freeway or at a truck stop unless you have no other choice.

I have a choose now and choose to have work mixed in with my life, not a little life mixed in with my work.

 

This is a good post. So much more to trucking than MOST people realize - OTR is a sacrificing of your life for a paycheck. I loved it at first because I went everywhere, I don't know how it is now - sounds like from the myriad of posts I have been reading that you don't necessarily get to go to too many different states with certain companies. I loved going all over the U.S. and at the time - Mexico. Those were different days, different rules and a whole different breed of truck driver. Not to mention that the motoring public used to respect heavy trucks and give them a big, wide berth of space. SOME drivers still do, most of the city drivers I see on a daily basis couldn't care less what they do in front of trucks.

Still, there are good jobs to be had after you have paid the price, that's the biggest motivator I can give to anyone- do your time OTR, if you want to be home every day, you will eventually be able to do that. I work 44 hours a week, get 29 paid days off per year, plus a lot of other benefits including several bonuses per year, I have a life beyond trucking and that - is something that makes me very happy.

 

Dennis, if you want something, sometimes you just have to accept that things will be less than ideal for a certain period, then be a grown-up and deal with it.

I spent three weeks plus in a truck with two male trainers -- one a complete pill and the other an exceptionally good trainer. If you think it's unbearable for you to spend evo I and II in a truck with a stranger, think about it from a woman trainee's point of view. But I got through it gracefully and am now near the end of evo III.

I get great runs and I get poopy runs. The great runs have me out for three days or more getting to the customer, racking up the miles. The poopy runs have me spending 6 hours waiting to be loaded or unloaded after my appointment time, and driving perhaps 200 miles between load and unload or drop. Do I complain about the poopy runs? Nope. I'm evo III. "This, too, shall pass."

The only run I have complained about so far was when I picked-up up fresh chicken in Arkansas and delivered it to Tyson in DOWNTOWN Chicago (Ashland St.). I was NOT ready for Chicago's tight streets and unmarked low-clearance routes, and was stressed well beyond my breaking point that day. But my complaint was not about miles or hours -- it was about safety, and my ability to safely navigate those tight streets and perform a blind-side back around the corner of a building into a dock alongside that building. I did it, but it took me an hour.

Neither the DSR nor the load planner knew what that delivery entailed. Weekend dispatch then got me out of there as quickly and as safely as possible.