EVO 2 is almost over. I drove alot of miles, drove in NYC, drove in PA mountains, drove, tarped, drove, drove, tarped, and drove more. I might be taking the tests at Gary because I'll have to get back south.

I like it alot so far, and I haven't found Roehl to be cheapo, but that's just me. I think I am really lucky to have gotten into this company (I like everyone I've met here), instead of Werner or Cypress or Swift, the other companies I applied to out of school, and that recruited at our school. I dunno. Everyone has different experiences.

For the important issues, I think I'll be getting XM radio for the sports, and I think I'll invest in a laptop with copilot truck 9 (if I can find it at a truckstop on the cheap) so I won't have to spend the extra hour a day route planning. Dell laptops are looking good and cheapo!

Cold Frosty Mug, as far as getting a local driving job, I haven't seen any companies in my area hiring CDL A holders right out of school for more than $40,000, and most companies are looking for a year or more experience. I am looking to make more than 40,000 in my first year driving OTR, not because of excellent pay, but because the work is there that will allow me to make that kind of money.

 

Fried Foods...Congrats on making it through your Evols (evils..lol). I too was very excited about Roehl after good training in the Evols. Give yourself about a year and you will understand why those of us with a few more years with the company say they are a bit on the cheep side. Just remember what you have been taught and use your "Safe 7." Safe 7 will make you a smart and a safe driver.

I know that you are super charged at this point in time. A bit of advice on mapping programs. Don't go out and buy an expensive program like Co Pilot right away. I used MS Street and Trips with GPS ($130) for 2 years and did just fine finding places even with poor directions from Roehl's data base and often no directions from Roehl at all. Threw in the internet at times using the arial view in Maps/Directions/Live Search off MSN main web page which gave me a really good idea of where I was going and how to get into a place. Regardless what computer program you use you need to spend a bit of time in the evenings to look over your trip plan for the next day. Proper planning at the beginning of your load and through out the life of the load is time well spent and the mark of a good driver (prepare to drive).

An XM or Sirus is money well spent for the long days of driving. Still have my XM even off the road. If you can afford it get a year or 2 year contract with XM.

 

Congratulations

 

hello all, I probably have a typical story for this message board. I am due to retire after 20 long years of playing army and would like to get back into trucking. I called roehl and the recruiter told me about the honors program which really offsets the low CPM, which I know thats expected for a new driver.

question... is there anybody on here that has used the honors program? and if so what documentation do I need to use my GI bill?

from what the recruiter told me was I would get an extra 8500 a year on top of the 30 CPM which would be decent combined with my military retirement.

also is there any other companies that have this same type of program? (roehl will assist retired military to use GI bill for a period of two years)

I still maintain my CDL however lack the recent OTR experience.

just looking for some feedback or in other words a reality check...

thanks andy

 

I just got my CDL and am looking at Roehl as well. What are the chances of a newbie after training getting into their hometime plus program?

 

Can't talk about the Honors program. However the hometime fleet is not offered in all parts of Roehl's run area. Need to check out the map on their website where it is available. Usually offered around areas of terminals (WI, IN, GA) or drop yards. Must be within a certain mile radius of these spots.

 

Look like the closest to me is Cleveland. I'm in Buffalo. That's about 190 miles away.

I see they offer paid holidays after a year. Should I assume that I'll be working holidays prior to this, or is it that I just won't get paid?

 

You just don't get paid for holidays till after one year of employment. After your first year you would get your run pay for being out on the road on a holiday plus $60 for the holiday. If you are home then you would get the holiday pay. If you want to be home for a holiday then you have to work it out with your DSR. I worked every holiday since holidays serve no purpose in my life. My choice. For the most part I was kept running. Shuttling lots of freight around. Christmas was the worse. Both Xmas I work there was something screwed up and I got no Xmas dinner. This last Christmas it was the shipper forgot to tell trucking companies that they were closing Xmas eve a 17:00 and not reopen till 21:00 Xmas night. Drop/hook situation. The sign was not hung on the gate but on the side of the guard shack where it could not be read from the gate. I think that every major carrier was represented in that mess. The town of Neelys Landing, MO had only a very small truck stop (15 trucks max). It had a C-store and was not open 24 hours. No resturant in town open either :evil: That's why you always carry some food in the truck.

 

ok, I'm going to throw the bulls**t flag on cfm.
Roehl bought my company out and I drove for them for 2, very rocky years then quit.
1) $100 for kingpin/padlocks/straps/fuel cards refundable. However, it took me 3 months and a threatened court case to get it back
2) They changed from HHM to Practical miles while I was there and my out-of-route miles dropped from about 12% to around 4-5% = more money.
3) I started at .40/mile. Not bad in this industry
4) They do route you down goat paths and will ask you why you deviate from that route if you do. I did quite often and never had much of a problem as long as I had a good reason and wasnt just sight-seeing.
5) They most certainly will stop you for fuel 26 gal here, 47 gal there. That really sucked and ate up the day.
6) As the fuel prices went up they nickled and dimed you to death. The promised bonuses always seemed to not show up for some reason or another. Example: I was scheduled for a 0900 delivery on Long Island. I told them 3 times when I picked up the load that I couldnt make it. I managed to get there 8min late, sat there for 6hrs and was refused detention pay because I was late. This was not the only time that happened to me.
7) Dispatch for me in New England was in Marshfield, WI. I didnt really care about that except the chicky who was my dispatcher never sat in a truck in her life and had the gall to call me and "council" me on my driveing.
8) If you had a problem it was almost impossible to talk to anyone in charge. Intentionally so.
9) I ran every fleet they had and finally settled on 7/7. I averaged 3,000 miles per week so it wasnt bad, however, it was fight to get home on time. I left on fridays and sometimes I got stuck out till sat or sun. Guess what the other guy did? He sat home without getting paid through no fault of his own.
10) I had many other problems with them. These all may have been a function of my location a little outside of the freightlanes but I spoke to every Roehl driver I ran across and alot of them echoed my problems.
I would be very careful about joining this company. I dont think that their problems are specific to their company, they seemed like a large company growing to fast and forgetting that the drivers got them there.

 

You are being a bit overly optimistic about making over $40K your first year. Basically looking at over 130K miles.

XM is good for baseball and college sports. Sirius has the NFL. XM has better music. Sirius has a stronger signal - I have never lost a signal (outside of tunnel) with Sirius. With XM, everytime I am on the wrong side of a mountain I lose the signal.

You won't find a good deal on ANYTHING at a truck stop - well maybe out in the parking lot - but definitely not inside the doors :lol:

GPS can lead you down some paths you don't really want to take :wink: The co-pilot is like $300+, another $500 for a laptop, then mounting hardware. A bunch of money. You can get a Garmin for a couple hundred bucks. I basically use the GPS to double check against the crap directions that come across the qualcomm. Also there isn't much trip planning at ROEHL, they send you detailed routing with every trip. They like to do things like route you through National Parks.

Make no mistake they are a tight company. But on the whole they aren't bad.