Roehl Trainers Check- in/ New Roehl Drivers Check-in

You probley will have to go national for a time, its just that they try to pare you up with your fm right away for good for flatbed.

 

You'll have to find out for sure. My current student says he's doing 7/7 and never mentioned the extra time.


Joe

 

I finally get my trainer tomorrow. I came home from Roehl school on Sunday. It was kind of tough getting a trainer. Not to many Roehl training trucks come though Rhode Island. Tomorrow morning I will be driving about 100 miles to meet him. The wife will pick up the car on Saturday. It could be worse. The first trainer they had me lined up with, I would have have to driven about 4 hours to New Jersey.


Dave

 

The training seems to change constantly, when I went through flatbed training, it was 4 or 5 days class/hands on, then I did 3 days with a couple local guys, then I was off on my own, talk about a steep learning curve. When I came back to Roehl after being gone three months I had to go through 3 more days of securement class with the rest of the group, talk about boring.

 

When you do your test at the end of phase 2 is it a one shot only at the test, or if you mess up do they put you back into phase 2 for a bit and then let you test again? Hubby gets nervous when it comes to tests, and they are talking about sending him over to Gary IN, with only seven days so far with his trainer. If its one shot only at the test and failure equals pack your bags and go home then I'll have him ask them to put him out for a little longer on phase 2 with another trainer - not worth the risk.

 

If its the written part you or he is worried about its open book. The questions that you miss, or the ones i missed on my test, as well as the other guy that was testing out with me, missed, we went over with an instructor on the right answer etc. the driving was a breeze and have to do something incrediably stupid to fail. At the point of testing out after the class time orientation, going out with the trainer, meals, lodging and pay. Too much is already invested in the new hire to just let them go on something basic. Plus the friday of the wkend b4 he gets assigned trainer and fm hes already part of the team. I would not worry relax and know what your taught and he'll be fine.

 

I was told a couple reasons for this. One reason was that 7/7 drivers have a pretty tight schedule and run hard to maximize the 70 hours in 7 days. They were concerned that new guys couldn't handle that schedule. Another reason was they were concerned about new guys having a full week off then getting back in the truck. I guess they thought a guy would forget how to drive in a week. I think it used to be six months so 4-6 isn't too bad.

 

Also if the trainer doesn't feel he's ready he's supposed to keep him longer until he does.


Joe

 

I was going to add to this but wrote a novel and decided againest. But heres my tid bit. Even though when i first started for van 14/7 my phase 3 fm told me this which might add to why or not idk. After my hometime coming off the truck with my trainer i was out of j-ville yard. The first 2-3 times out the truck i used i dont think anyone but me was using. Both different trucks. Why was she told me that roehl wanted me to get used to driving for long periods and getting loads under my belt and getting used to the system of things that roehl does as bucksnducks was saying. I still did 14/7 schedule but wasnt in a set rotation with other drivers yet. If 7/7 or 14/7 the schedules are tight, someone is on hometime waiting for the truck to be back to go out in. As a newbie as i was to go right into a rotation, maybe have problems, make simple mistakes, could mess up the flow of the rotation. So to do OTR and grt used to things, get loads under your belt, then get into a rotation with other drivers would be better. Not saying you will be experienced at that point but better than being super fresh into it. I could be wrong that was my understanding.

 

Thanks, that's exactly what my instructor Kevin (who has driven flatbed) told me when I asked him on Friday. You're assigned your permanent FM in the flatbed division right away but that FM helps you tune up your trip planning etc. by running you on the National Fleet schedule first, to ease you into the 7/7 schedule that runs a lot of "just-in-time" loads. Also that sometimes they have to wait for a slot in 7/7 to open up before they can put you there.

He said the van division is currently unique in using different FMs for Phase 3.