Roehl the inside scoop from orientation to training to driver

Ok, phase 2 was awesome, they kaput me real busy and I had a great trainer that taught me a lot.. We first got together and hauled a relayed curtain side from the Gary terminal to the del monte plant in Wisconsin with a load of two coils for their can manufacture. After that we went to the main terminal in Marshfield, Wisconsin to drop that trailer and get a load conformation for a permitted overweight load coming from Princeton, WI to the Talledega AL area. It was a Cat log loader that was a experimental prototype. That was great experience, having to run a permit route was different than running a non permit route. We had to have flags, oversized banners, beacon lights and we couldn't run through AL on Sundays.

After that we ran up to SC to pick up some communication reals headed for Des Moine IA with a stop just outside of Chicago. We stopped at the Iowa 80 truck stop to rest for the night and man what a huge truck stop. They have all shorts of stuff in there from a dentist to a barbor. Let me tell you don't go there to get a fancy hair cut cause they don't know how to give one... My hair is all jacked up now. Lol

I only had to tarp one load Coming out of Iowa headed back for WI. We got back and I was able to get off the truck on Friday to test out on Monday. I only had to stay on the truck for eight days, the trainer said I was the best student he had sence he's been training.. I didn't have any hick ups and I felt comfortable to test out.

When Monday came around I had to do a 50 question test, per-trip which it wasn't a full pre-trip, road test and confined quarters test with a alley dock back maneuver. The confined quarters really was just a truck stop pull through. All of the testing wasn't that bad and the examiner was really cool. There was a few things I didn't know or study for cause I Ron flats like trailer A,B,C,D tandem positions. I really should learn all about it but the examiner pointed that out to me and explained a little on it.

I was issued my truck Monday after I passed and now I'm officially a company driver for Roehl. They gave me a brand new, with only 47,000 miles, 2012 International Prostar. Most other if not all will give their new drivers an old piece of junk. I worked hard and proved my self rite off the bat and I think I deserve it. The only problem with the new Prostars is they come with EPU's (electric power units) instead of the APU's (aux power units). The difference in them are the EPU'S run off of batteries and the truck has to start to charge the bats after a few hours. The APU'S run off the diesel in the fuel tanks and sound really quit. Just think about the truck starting when your sleeping and you would think that someone's in the truck trying to high jack you, lol. The other problem with the EPU'S is they don't come with power inverters and you have to buy them and have Roehl install them for you which cost $150 just for the mechanic work or you can buy their's for $350 installed and they will deduct it from your check, but they only allow them to run for 2 hrs and break for 10 hrs. So really it's a waist of time and money to get them. For your truck.

Rite now I'm hooked up to a step deck waiting for my load in the morning headed back home. It's been a fun learning experience that I couldn't ask for anything better. My fleet manager is real kool that has a lot of experience and I already been told by another driver he's a great guy to work with... Everyone be safe out there and hope everyone gets on with Roehl cause their ethics and safety record shows their here for the drivers not just for the money.

P.S. sorry for the long late reply, I just had a lot going on with trying to get past this learning curve...

 

Ty,
i was wandering why van is the only side you are able to go into? There were a lot of students straight out of school that went into flats.

 

I'm sorry you had a bad time at Roehl... After the three weeks I been there, I only heard of a total of two people that had a bad time... I think I just got lucky with the truck though cause th there's a few other students in my class that got a older truck and then again there are a few experienced drivers got a new truck. I really think its where you go to test out or even what's available.

 

Ty, and you really have to pick ur first company wisely... There's another thread I have on here called my experiance with the big blue screw... You should check it out, its about me and Werner..