NEW student sign in - If you are going to Roehl Driving Training Center "RDTC"

When you shop for a GPS, look for one that makes it easy for you to edit and tailor the route that the GPS picks. For every load, Roehl gives you the route that they want you to take and you need a fairly good reason if you want to take a different route (i.e. you must talk it over with your fleet manager beforehand). I use DeLorme Street Atlas USA on my laptop, which is not a truck GPS, but I always program in the route that Roehl gives me and then use the GPS to only talk me through that route as I take it, and to give me the estimated time left until my next stop. As Bayle mentioned, Rand McNally makes some nice truck GPS units (if I ever buy one that's probably what I'd get) and Cobra makes some also. They're fairly pricey compared to car GPS units so you want to shop carefully.

 

Oh ok great its still alot im learning in the trucking world but as far as i know im doing dry and im otr or national. i have to get my hazmat and passport and i go take my compcare physical next week. im very excited about getting things in order so i can start orientation august 19th in ellenwood. I have heard nothing but great things about roehl so i feel i chose the right company

 

I have been driving solo for Roehl (new to the industry) about 4 1/2 months and have been happy with them so far. Best of luck to you.

 

Thanks so much for the info u been very kind hopefully i will run into out there....hopefully not with the truck

 

So how many miles does a flatbed driver average per week?? For the tarp pay, do you get paid once to put it on and once to take it off or is the listed pay of $23 for both? How many times a week do u get paid to tarp, on average...I'm looking for average numbers. And I know it all depends but still any information would be appreciated.

 

Sure, no problem. You get paid both to tarp and untarp. This makes sense because there are times you pick up or drop off a tarped load as a relay, where you might tarp the load but not be the one who untarps it and vice-versa. There are actually two pay rates, one for small (steel) tarps and another for large (lumber) tarps.

I prefer not to post how many miles I get in a week because that seems like company-proprietary info at least to me. Suffice it to say that I hardly ever sit around waiting for loads; when I finish one there is another one that comes dispatched to me pretty shortly, usually within a half-hour or less. So when I'm not on my daily 10-hour break, I'm either driving, loading/unloading, or tarping/securing. I get enough miles, combined with the other paid activities a flatbedder does, to where I feel that the company delivers on their claims.

The run I'm currently out on is pretty typical; I've tarped 8 out of 11 loads this time out. One of the loads was coils of steel rod (aka "slinkies") that are tarped from November through April only, otherwise it would have been 9 out of 11. The loads have been been about evenly-spread between one small tarp, two small tarps, one large tarp and two large tarps. Steel and aluminum coils and fabricated steel pipe and tubing, along with water-sensitive materials like lumber, drywall, insulation, etc. are nearly always tarped; ag machinery and painted steel beams, pipes, etc. typically are not, but it all depends on what the shipper and/or consignee has ordered up.

 

I'm just hoping to hit over 2500 miles a week on average. I know some will be less but some will be more but for yearly budgets I want to run around that 2500 a week. Do you think this is a realistic goal or should I lower my expectations??

 

That is the question I think every new driver wants to know. I was told I should expect at least 2500 on average and I an going into the reefer fleet 7/7. I have heard many drivers are happy and busy. Also that Roehl delivers for the most part what the website says and the recruiters. Roehl is the first company to treat me as a person and not just a number or quota. My recruiter is the best I could have hoped for. She is very thorough, polite, informative and has done everything she said she would so far. I start August 12th and know I made the right choice. The drivers here are a main part of my decision.

 

On flatbed I do not drive quite that many per week at this point. That could be because I'm still a relatively new flatbedder and there are still lots of load types I encounter that I haven't secured before. The first couple times you secure a given load type it takes longer, sometimes a lot longer, to ensure you've done it correctly for safety and according to DOT and other requirements. Since securement and tarping happens against your 14-hour and 70-hour clocks, as well as all the live loads and live unloads rather than no-touch drop-and-hooks, it can eat into your drive time ability and thus your miles.

The experienced flatbedders maybe can crank out that many miles a week, but I'm not quite at those numbers yet.

 

I have my official pre-hire letter for the RDTC. I don't have my start date yet, as I have a few things to do, such as finish my current seasonal job, as well as a couple other details. I'm curious about getting from the motel to the terminal and back during RDTC. I thought I read on here somewhere that they provide a shuttle for that, but this packet of info I just received in the mail states that I'm on my own for all transportation. I don't mind walking a few miles, but I'll be there in October, which is probably when weather is going to start to get colder and rainy. I don't like walking in cold rain, so I think I may need a vehicle...which maybe means I'll have to work one more seasonal job this winter to afford a reliable vehicle...as much as I don't want to put off starting RDTC, the idea of walking back to the motel in the cold rain after a ten hour school day is far from an attractive idea.