Working for Roehl

Il newbie.
I have been with Roehl for over a year in there national van fleet and find them to be decent to work for. Hometime is probably there best feature. I am out 11 home 3 pretty consistently. The trucking industry does not get you home exactly per your scedule as they depend on freight movement to bring you close to home and get you launched after home time. I also live in the Rockford area and have good luck getting home loads and launch loads. Many times Roehl will relay a load from another driver to get you home (and relay from you to get someone else home). The pay is probably about average for a larger carrier but while Schneider and some other companies are freezing or reducing wages Roehl has followed there pay raise schedule. I am on the per diem plan and while I have never been given a proper explaination for the .015 per mile charge I still come out ahead at tax time, (ask your tax person about your situation). Roehl is a large company with many rules, #1 is the driver is always at fault when things go wrong. That one applies at most large carriers and seems to be the way the trucking industry works. So when you see negative posts about companies including Roehl they may well be true as the driver got caught up in rule #1. So far for me the good out weighs the bad and there freight seems to be very steady after a terrible first quarter. Good luck with your school and with whichever company you choose.

 

That's a great post there oldguynewjob, I'm looking at Roehl for my first company to drive for after schooling. In my area, they are only hiring for flatbed and reefer. I'd prefer dry van but I'll pull reefer no problem. Do you or anyone have any info on the reefer division at Roehl?? I'm reading it's alot of multi-stops and clean out and temp watching for pulling reefer for any company.

 

We should just refer people back to this thread; it seems like we get a "How's Roehl these days?" question every other week and end up answering it all over again.

 

Not being a reefer driver I can only pass on second hand info I have heard from Roehls reefer drivers. They seldom have washouts because they don't do much meat, or poultry, temp setting has a green light on the front of the trailer, extra pay for multi stops. The problems I would have are sleeping next to a reefer unit cycling off and on, late night /early morning deliveries at food warehouses, less drop and hook than dry van. On the positive side Roehl just purchased a reefer trucking company to expand that division and is also buying several new reefer trailers which leads me to believe that the division is growing. As others on this forum have said "no matter what the economy people still need food". Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

Well I apologize spinpsychle if my questions seem redundant. Yes I've read about how Roehl is doing and appreciate all the info everyone gives to the questions everyone asks here. I however haven't come across any questions about reefers that I have asked. I haven't won the lottery yet so I don't have the time to go through every single thread and read every single post. I think if everyone stopped asking questions all trucking boards would be dead. So I apologize to everyone for my redundancy.
Now on a different note... thank you oldguynewjob for your post. My wife likes to sleep with a fan on at nite. And I'm used to having an a/c going off and on near my head so I don't think that type of noise from the reefer unit would annoy me. And thanks... I need all the luck I can get.

 

Thanks Dr. Venture. That's exactly was I was looking for. I think I will join the reefer fleet (if they hire me!). I live south of Pittsburgh so going to Pa with some hauls would actually work in my favor for home time.
By the way, I don't think there are too many of us who like the Venture Brothers. Then again I could be totally wrong.

 

It wans't too long ago you were asking these same questions.