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

Eric, good luck on your wife's health and the future.

 

This statement is the #1 reason people on here say NEVER lease from the company you pull for.....

Good luck to all of you, Especially Eric. Best wishes man...

 

That's good that they are on here, as of this moment I am staying here. Nothing about my plans is set in stone. But once I have everything ready their future actions will dictate the moves that I make. I hope they do know that we are pissed about the so called discount. In which they are making money off of our fuel purchases. I hope Jeff himself is on here reading how the actions they are taking is giving our decent lease purchase program a horrible name. I've said it before and ill say it again this would have never happened if Dan were still alive and in charge of our well being. Jeff just does what rick and the others want him to do. Nothing more nothing less.

 

And I have another job whenever I need it. And I would only lose on avg about $100 a week, in a company truck, and I would be home every weekend with immediate benefits needless to say I don't have to drive for roehl, I choose to do so. I'm starting to question my decision more and more on a daily basis.

 

I have 2 weeks left till my truck is paid for. every week I'm out I question whats the best route after I have it paid for, in all the people I talk to Roehl doesn't sound to bad.
I was trying to phrase a question on here something in the line of is Roehl really that bad of a company to lease to, I would like all of yours opinion (pros and cons) not sure if this would deserve a seperate thread knowing Eric will have a good selection of choice words to put in here once he's on his feet again.

 

Even though I'm looking for a way to move on I'm not going to trash Roehl. I have two issues. My experience is that they don't understand how to work with someone who has an independent bent. That is a personal matter. The second is financial. I have had a struggle to stay above 7500 miles a month. Combined with the low compensation package I'm struggling financially. In the end the financials will motivate me to move on. Roehl is a good place to get a start, but I'm not sure they are the place for someone with experience.

 

If you have a truck paid for I can not give a supporting reason to lease on here. Although I am doing well as a lease operator here. There are companys that pay reasonably and offer percentage and you control your hometime. We control hometime but to go home on a regular basis you won't run hard. E logs are a joke. And we no longer get a decent fuel discount which drives our base pay even lower. As preacher stated earlier we lost the equivalent to .05 cpm. Subtract that from our .86 avg for loaded mile and add the fuel surcharge and you have $1.28 per mile right now. There are companys similer to ours that give good discounts and over $1 per loaded mile plus fuel. And terminal to terminal drop hook freight. They treat us well as far as being human. But our compensation is kind of a joke. If you wanna be home say bi weekly be ready to avg. Less than 2500mi/wk. I'm sorry that its not exactly what you are looking for but I have always said if I had a paid for truck I would not be here. So therefore I can't tell someone else to.

 

One thing to really look at is the company you sign YOUR truck onto is thier freight base. Roehls is horrible, lots of paper and heay loads. Also much of its freight is brokered so you have alot of live loads and unloads. The larger company generally the larger the freight base. If you have more selection in the freight the better. Also Roehl uses a sliding scale to pay. That is so lame, most companies do not do that. Also Roehls pay per mile is at the lower end of the industry and they decrease the pay and fuel surcharge for empty miles. I spent a year on thier program and realized how bad it was and began really searching for a better way. I have found that if you can haul lighter loads less miles and make more per mile you can pocket more money. At the end of the day it is all about money in your pocket and quality hometime with your family. Neither of these are very good options on Roehls program. NEVER get your truck through the company. Even if you complete the lease all you will have is a older truck not worth very much. Many companies lease without a stupid ballon payment at the end. Roehl is NOT one of those. Spend 42-60 months making very high weekly payments and then owe them over $10,000 to complete the lease. Just not smart.....hope that helps.

 

http://www.run4roadrunner.com/ this is one I am considering heavily. Forward air pays decent as well but they run e logs so they are not really on my list. Mostly light ltl and air freight at both. The lowest per mile rate at rrts is 90cpm plus fuel. They pay depending on the lane you are running and the majority of them are over $1 per mile. Just my opinion, my first choice is a smaller outfit running lite auto parts. Dedicated

 

929, you are on the right track. I found I was really nervous to jump ship but I really enjoy driving and I needed to make the most out of it. Roehl's program was definetly not the answer. I have heard alot of positive about forward air. If you can find a program where you pick and choose your freight I think you would be really happy.