Roehl Transport

I'm going to give you the advice that I wish I had known back in 2019. Unless you desperately need to get paid during training; *do not* do the GYCDL. I advocate for going to a trucking school at a community collage, or whatever else.. you don't want to take on debt with the same company you are going to be working for.
With Rohel in particular if they terminate you for any reason, (or even no reason.) before you reach 120k miles; they are going to bill you for the full $7,000 amount due a few weeks after your termination, which will dump your credit if you are unable to pay. Rohel is notorious for terminating 70% of their drivers before they reach 120k miles for various reasons... just search on the forums, there are several drivers that have been screwed by Rohel this same way.

Roehl Transport - Are times changing?
Pros and Cons Roehl
Did Roehl change their indebtedness amount for CDL training?
Roehl Warning

 

I tend to agree to a point. I always figured it was better to go with a company that has a vested interest in you. I've heard nightmare stories of people getting a CDL from an outside school and some refuse to accept that. I'm from Wisconsin, did most of my trucking in upper Midwest, and Roehl was a standard sight. Believe it or not, it was one of the premium companies to work for, especially in N.Wis. that is strapped for jobs as it is. Times change, and quite frankly, I don't think any are worth a hoot. If Roehl is bad, all the megas are bad. Roehl used to be big on prefab homes, requiring a bit more training. By now, I'm sure they morphed into a freight hauler, and who knows. Wisconsin, if that's your area, has a slew of good trucking companies, I don't think you have to "settle" for Roehl anymore.

 

Oh yeah, some advice relating to Rohel.. ( or any other company for that matter) depending on how far away from home you're going to be I would take some money and put it somewhere that you're not going to touch. If you get fired from a trucking company or they go out of business you're going to need some money to get yourself back home because a company is not going to help you. I recommend a absolute minimum of $500 perhaps more if you live further

 

OK so just as many drivers that had been fired from Roehl, there's probably every bit of that number and more that have succeeded there. There are members on here that had no issues getting their license through them and making it til the end of the contract. True enough, megas can be nitpicky. You'll be fine though. First things first....get through the school. Then when you get out with a trainer, pay attention and soak up all the knowledge possible. Then when you're out on your own, do what's asked of you, do things the way Roehl wants you to do it, be safe in everything you do, get out and look while backing, and focus on one load at a time. If you can keep your head down and turn the miles safely, you'll be alright. Focus one on thing at a time, and right now, it's getting through school.

 

I started one of the big Roehl threads on this site that was linked in an earlier post. I really liked working for that company for the most part, I mean yes there are some headaches and frustrations but overall I was pretty happy especially after moving from reefer to flatbed. I was happy with gycdl and my experience in what amounts to just short of a year working with them and I would have liked to have stayed with them if they would have allowed me to.

Allow me to stress and emphasize that if you are under contract with them they ALLOW you to either complete that contract or they terminate you and try to collect money from you, there are no other ways to view it. They dictate all terms to include how much they will allow you to earn and if they intend on allowing you to work out your contract they could stretch that thing out as long as they want by minimizing your miles. It truly is a bad faith contract on their part.

 

I drove for them a long time ago. Flat bed with experience. I still refer to them as "cheap and petty." Just my 2 cents worth.

 

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with any of the above posts. It's a big company and you are going to get a lot of different answers.

I did the GYCDL 12 years ago and worked there for a year to fulfill the contract, then left on my own terms to persue local work. I was actually slightly under the 120k miles when I left, so I had to pay a prorated balance of the tuition cost (I think it was like $70 I had to pay LOL).

The school was great, but it's a pretty fast course so that may not work for everyone. Instructors were all pretty cool and had good sense of humor.

Working for them was fine. I didn't make much money but learned a lot and met a lot of good people. I did dry van, Silgan dedicated. Roehl (as with most companies I guess) really stresses doing things their way. You might not always agree with their way, but as long as you play along, they will treat you fine and you won't have any problems.

That's just my experience. Not sure how relevant it is today, but yeah, I enjoyed it overall and have no regrets.

 

Does Roehl still have their dump truck fleet?

 

Yeah I wish rohel was still that good. As of 2019 they do not prorate the contract anymore as some members on here can attest to.

I guess in my main point for op is to try to not go to a trucking company to obtain a CDL but if they are going to go to gycdl regardless then they should be prepared for the possibility of failure, I was straight up told by a trainer at Marshfield Wisconsin that about 70% of the students fail.. so there is about a 70% chance of failure in gycdl. Although it is possible that op could end up in the other 30% that succeed.. there is also a good chance of failure and they should prepare accordingly, both to get themselves home and to deal with the $7,000 contract