The Good, The Bad, The Honest Truth of a New Roehl Lease Operator

Can't agree with much of this. My Bus Partner asks me on every PP whether I like it or not. I've rejected a few already, no questions asked. Usually end up with something much better.

 

I can't speak for the other 0/0's having problems, but I've never been told "It's all we have." That being said I run my ### off, have never been late, and get along well with everybody. Not sure if that's the secret or not, but it's working for me.

 

Don't know who you FM is but 3 times during the last 3 weeks that is what I was told by Marg that "that is all we have." I was also told to take the load. No discussion. Was sent the load assign and all associated message for a load. Never got a preplan or able to discuss it. Felt like a company driver on that one. Glad you think you have secret figured out. For those of us that either own our own trucks, lease from outside the company or about ready to finish paying off the lease the writing on the wall seems the message being given that it is time to start looking and find some place else to go. Preacher Man said it best a few messages back.

 

Here is the secret. Be cool take all loads except for the worst of the worst.Pay of truck in 3 yrs or less.Yes this means staying out for extreme periods of time.Then lease onto Landstar or get your own authority.

 

I agree. My FM is Adam S. and he has been great. He has helped me with good loads plenty of times, and very seldom do I get a bad one.
There are times when freight is just not there, for example over a 4 day holiday weekend, and I may get a bad load, but that is not the fault of the FM.
As a company driver, I would often get local loads such as drop a relay in Gary and the next load was to go to downtown Gary to chain/tarp a coil and bring back to Gary terminal and drop as a relay. Zero total miles,3-4hrs of work and all I got was tarp pay and short haul pay. That has never even been sent to me since becoming an O/O.
I have only been an O/O for about 22 months, but so far, I have absolutely no regrets and ROEHL has upheld their end of our contract perfectly.

 

Id like to hear the other side of the story.
Was it a situation in which there simply was not any loads available and that load was "literally" the only one available short of deadheading you 500 miles?
I seriously doubt a FM would have plenty of good loads, and send you a bad one and then tell you that it was all they had and you had to take it.
If the FM said that was all she had, then it was most likely the only load available, which is not uncommon.

 

That's an FM that isn't asking for more, and not asking early enough. If you sit and wait you'll get leftovers, if you communicate on the front side and go back until you have the answers you want, 9 times out of 10 you'll get better loads, or stacked loads. The FM needs to be on their game and be looking for loads, I used to dig through the system and and see what loads were available and how they'd work for my drivers coming into those areas and ask specifically for those loads.

 

TexasPhoenix and I have been stuck on a board with the greenest and least competent dispatchers they have. Currently our board is a mixture of hometime company drivers and o/o drivers. Marj has also told me the same as Texas, in fact they flat out lied to me to try to get me to take a lousy load and then go into an area of the country I don't go to. The simple fact is that she is trying to run the contract drivers like they are company trucks and that isn't going to happen. I am Midwest Regional with the understanding I will leave the area if I like the load. I will not then continue to run that area, rather I expect to get back to the Midwest. I have a set of parameters that a load must meet. If it fits I'll take it, otherwise I turn it back. There are also many times that I take loads that cannot be done as dispatched, but I do so with the proviso that they understand the situation and I am doing what I can with the load. You have to understand that Roehl does not match the loads to the truck, they match the truck to the load. What that means is that they are looking to put you in a particular area for particular loads. That is a poor system for contract drivers.

 

I believe that some of these FM's haven't got a clue, they were trained on the systems and are now just button pushers! Many of them have the attitude that they are the "Manager" and "You will do as I tell you!"

I am lucky that my FM is an EX-Driver and knows what were are going through out here. There is some compassion for our efforts and they do their best to give us our just rewards.

Sounds like this "Marg" fits the description above.

 

Psstt, she's an ex driver.