Roehl Transport, Inc. - Marshfield, Wi.

"well, were do i start. have questions and concerns for experienced roehl drivers. will be with co. for allmost 7 months now and am seeing things like freight is slow, preplan mileage and load assignment mileage not matching(10 to 100 miles difference and allways happens) and why are they still continuing to bring on new drivers at a rate of 30 to 50 per week, when the rest of us are seeing slow freight qualcoms or having to reset 3 times in a 4 week period. not because i was out of hrs because i was assigned a load of 650miles on friday, that delievered on mon. afternoon."

Shad, pre-plans are put to you in HHG miles, while load assignments are in practical miles. (ask about that when sending in your driver survey)
Why orient and train new drivers? Roehl and every other trucking company loses a large % of their drivers at a predictable yet never ending rate.(last I heard Roehl was in the 60% turnover rate range. Something to brag about when you consider the industry average exceeds 100% ) We all get a short weekend run from time to time. (July was the worst I've seen) You're National, and I'm 7/7 (runnining national), so 34 hr. resets aren't common for me, and can't comment.

You ask, should I consider moving on? Guess you gotta answer that on your own. But b-4 moving on, consider a lateral move within the company. 7/4-7/3 isn't a bad gig, and you can make a living at it. I'm where I'm at, 'cause work a week, home a week works 4 me in semi-retirement.

 

I'm a hair's width from going with Roehl (the posts in this forum have been some of the best advertising for the company). My question is: how does the sign-on bonus pay out? I will be going with the 7on/7off program. Do 7/7 folks get the same 3k bonus or is it split? With the holidays approaching, do 7/7 drivers have any play regarding getting Thanksgiving or Christmas time off or is your schedule dependent on your being out that week? Thanks in advance...

 

I believe it's paid out at 60k miles. So it would just take longer to qualify for it, on the 7/7.

No play, no quarter, no mercy. But, not to the point of stupidity. If you're supposed to leave saturday morning with a 400 mile load due monday morning, don't leave on saturday, Oh sure, maybe stop by the truck.. get the paperwork filled out, and hook to the trailer.. go back home.

 

Not sure about the bonus but I guess it would probably be like Moriarti wrote. For holidays if that holiday is in the seven days you work, well you work. It kinda depends on what day the holiday falls also. When Christmas fell on a Thur or Fri I was just sent home because nothing was open anyways. Last year it was on Mon (I think) so I left Sunday(1000 mile load) and delivered Tues. Same thing with Labor day or Memorial day. Also,no holiday pay either.

 

Originally Posted by ForkInRoad
I'm a hair's width from going with Roehl (the posts in this forum have been some of the best advertising for the company). My question is: how does the sign-on bonus pay out? I will be going with the 7on/7off program. Do 7/7 folks get the same 3k bonus or is it split? With the holidays approaching, do 7/7 drivers have any play regarding getting Thanksgiving or Christmas time off or is your schedule dependent on your being out that week? Thanks in advance...

Not sure how the 3k bonus works, but I think you'll find it IS a sign-on, STAY-On bonus, which implies that it is paid out over time. ALSO, you'll find the words (up to) commonly used, which again has specific implications, generally tied to experience. Your best bet is to check on this matter with recruiting. Roehl is NO different than any other carrier in that all bonuses are earned, not given away. If you expect to get it and others, you MUST earn them. There are NO free lunches !!!!

As others have noted, your 7/7 schedule is set when you first launch.
Holidays that fall within your work week are days you work. Someone else mentioned that there is NO holiday pay for 7/7 drivers. This is true and there is no vacation pay for 7/7 drivers either. IF you need to be home for special occasions that fall during your work week, you can swap time with your driving partner. (7/7 is slip seat, so you can change it to 14/14 with prior approval from your DSR. We're coming into a time of year when this is common, lotsa drivers live for hunting season, while others are Holiday oriented).

 

You get the same sign on bonus.It is paid by the miles you run,I cant remember the exact schedule,but you are paid a percentage after your first dispatch,then another chunk at 60,000 miles,then later on you recieve the last payment. As for holidays,if you are on the 7/7 setup and its your week to run over Christmas,Thanksgiving or whatever,you will be scheduled to run. I know cause I spent last Xmas on the road,as a 7/7 driver.When you go thru orientation this will all be explained to you,and it is spelled out in your drivers manual.Things everyone here has to understand is that trucking is a whole new ballgame.Forget about 40 hr.weeks and 9 to 5 hours.Some days are easy and some days are hard.Some days your work day will start at 3 AM,and some days it will be noon before you get rolling. If you think all it involes is driving a truck 8 hrs. a day,you better look for another occupation.I have about 15 yrs. driving experience under my belt,and it aint been half bad. I always made a good living,but you aint gonna get rich driving a truck.Of course no matter what way a person makes a living at they all have their ups and downs.So if ya wanna go truckin,good luck to you,but just remember,it is a job,and not a paid vacation.

 

Thanks all - yeah, I finally looked over Roehl's sign-on bonus schedule, and it's pretty much what all of you explained. Which isn't surprising - I expected a "earn as you go" type of pay out anyway (which makes sense from the company's perspective). The recruiter I'm in touch with tells me that "we can get you home" for Christmas; this seems to be a combination of how slow/busy freight may be, and what type or rapport a driver has with the dispatcher. Anyway, thanks for the info!

 

Roehl calls it a "Sign on/Stay on" bonus. That way they don't fork everything out at once.
You can elect to get so much a day while on orientation and the rest at 60,000 or take the whole thing at 60,000.

 

Sorry to hear of your situation. That wait happened to me last November. I got tired of waiting. Drive local now. Training was very good in Marshfield.
Take care

 

Maybe Roehl has changed their sign on bonus to sign on stay on bonus. But lets be honest here. Do you really think any truckin co. is gonna hire you on and just shell out a bonus of lets say $3000,before you prove yourself and become an asset to the company?That would be pretty darn stupid on their part. Any company that pays a bonus is gonna require that you drive for them for a certain amount of time and miles.I can remember some guys thinking they were going to be handed their sign on bonus check in orientation. Course they were educated quickly.I can just picture someone recieving a sign on bonus and cutting out to the nearest bar,with money in hand.