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

JT left phase 3 when I was in my last week before I got my current dispatcher. I had JT and Marge. Hated JT at first and Marge was awesome as usual. I was told by my trainer she drove for 17 years. By the time me and JT saw eye to eye we were getting along, I was doing better as a driver, he left. He never let me sit, handled my problems and was a cool once we got to know each other. Marge would be awesome dispatcher to have I agree as well. This was on the company driver side of course.

 

I don't really break things down on a per hour basis. OTR is a little difficult and somewhat misleading since there is so much down time throughout the day. When I was a company driver and drove local I would often break things down on a per hour basis and that is what drove me back onto the road. I figured I was making minimum wage and working 60 hours a week. I look at things over a monthly, weekly, and daily basis. Since Roehl is a mileage based company I look for a minimum average of 400 miles a day.

 

I had JT when he first start in as a dispatcher. I'm back with him and Kristen. He and I worked things out the first time I had him and he seems to understand the way I operate. I agree that Kristen has some to learn about working with O/Os. She is young and it takes time to hone a good dispatcher. I do miss Scott. He had driven and understood our days out here. I'm not screaming yet. Trying to just do more without direction. Only contact when there is a question on the pp or a problem with a load. Seems to work much better that way.

 

That may be why I'm doing better. I prefer to just get my load and roll. The problem I always had with Scott is that I always felt he was looking to please the planners at the expense of the drivers. I'm not sure why, but I've been running more Midwest with shorter runs. The nice part is that they have been stacked back to back pretty well. I'm just as happy this way as with longer runs. The Blue Lemon isn't really built for running mountains. My loads have been lighter also.

I had JT back when he started also. Kristen could go either way. She could become more entrenched in her attitude of "keep 'em in line" or she could learn to be a negotiator between her company and the mini companies she's dealing with.

 

Hello everyone, i have been looking through the threads, on the lease or 0/0 side of things at Roehl. How does there fuel surcharge work little confused. Also if you lease one do they unrestrict the truck. IE full engine potential and a faster speed. Last one for now can you turn the truck in with no penalty, and what do you get to pick from as far as trucks go.

 

I'll start with the last first. I was just through the mother-ship last week and saw a newer KW and Prostar up for lease. There may have been other trucks available as well. They don't turn up the truck, but they do remove the idle restriction and raise the truck to 75 mph. The fuel surcharge is $.01 for every six cents in doe price above $1.25, empty miles are paid at a rate of 80% of the loaded rate. There is a penalty for turning the truck in early, as long as you do it the right way you will lose your security deposit and they will charge your maintenance account for any work necessary to bring the truck back to spec. They are very specific in the lease about the condition the truck must be in if you turn it in early so there shouldn't be any surprises. I have only one complaint about the truck lease and that is, I can't take it to another company until I own it. I understand Roehl's reasoning, I just wish I could leave and take the truck.

If you do this you sign two agreements. The first is with Roehl's leasing company and it is the agreement to lease the truck. The second agreement is your business agreeing to haul freight for Roehl Transport. I could go out, buy a new truck, turn in my lease truck and continue to haul freight for Roehl. I could also add additional trucks under my lease agreement if I chose to. This is a critical issue that many miss in the whole concept of the lease purchase and something that Roehl does the right way. Keeping these two agreements separate is good business for Roehl and the owner/operator.

 

The fuel surcharge seems pretty low and with fuel being the biggest cost with all other expenses how are u suppose to make any real money then. Seems as company driver you will make almost the same amount of money or am i wrong

 

Roehls fuel surcharge is pretty normal. More important is the fuel discount the carrier you sign onto receives and how much they pass on to you. Roehl is horrible when it comes to the fuel discount you get, Many have left because of it. Also there are many factors that are important when it comes to fuel. MPG is as impoortant as fuel discount and surcharge. Just as important is type of load and location of load. Heavy loads in the mountains or traffic are a bad combination. Roehls freight base is horrible alot of paper loads which equals heavy whioch equals lousy MPG.

 

The other issue is that this is a business you are starting from scratch. In the beginning of any new business it is common to work long hours with little to show for it. You start making money in future years. If you are looking for a get rich quick scheme try the lottery. I am still on pace with my original business plan and that calls for paying off my current truck, then keeping it for at least an additional 7 to 10 years. In the meantime switch carriers to one that pays percentage and allows me to choose my own loads. My plan isn't the only way, or even necessarily the best way, It does work for me and it is definitely better than those who go into this with no plan.

I have found that most fuel surcharge formulae are designed to stabilize your cost of fuel at $.18 a mile based on 6.0 mpg. If you increase your mpg you lower your cost of fuel per mile and thus increase your profit. I actually do quite well with high fuel prices. Keep in mind that as fuel prices rise so does your fuel surcharge.

 

So, you think you want to get your own truck? A month ago I had almost $4,000 in my maintenance account, but not anymore. First a PM and front end alignment took just over $500, no problem just part of maintenance. Then I took the truck to Appleton for its' 90 inspection and they found all the things Freightliner missed. So, 2 new steer tires and three sets of brake shoes set me back $1200. They also found a crack in the front flex pipe, but couldn't replace it, so back to Freightliner when I returned home- $675. Then my apu and air conditioner compressor decide to crap out at the same time. I was able to get the compressor from Roehl for $160, but had to take it to Boss Shop in Gary to get it installed, that was another $230. So, my maintenance account is about $1000 and the apu still isn't fixed. By the way I spent another $230 out of pocket to figure out that the apu didn't need new fuel filters and that the air conditioner was overfilled by almost twice the coolant it should have had. The air went out in PA on a night when it never seemed to get below 90 so add a motel bill also out of pocket.

I realize that none of this is out of the ordinary it's just that it all happened at the same time. My point is that you never know when you will have a month like this and if you want to get into business you need to be prepared. The simple fact is that I got 180,000 out of my steers. When I complained the mechanic informed me that Roehl's standard is 125,000.

The issues just keep coming, after all this I woke up this morning to find the Thermo-king inverter has gone out.