Roehl Transport's New Training Contract Is It Fair?

Right on brotha! Glad things are working out and you took all the constructive criticism to heart (without getting defensive)!!!

There were was one other kind of, unethical thing(IMO) that was done besides the Contract thing.

Just out of curiosity, what was this other thing?

Well, the other thing was they said since i got my dot medical card fairly recently (before CDL School) that I wouldn't have to get one again at orientation. Just Fax a copy of card and the long form that was filled out with it. Well, I did that and really shouldn't have and I don't think I needed to. There were things on there, that they had no business knowing. There's info that just between you and the doctor doing the medical evaluation. As long as Doc doesn't see a problem then youre good to go. Well, there were medications i had listed that Roehl is now privy to. So, now, they wanted a ton of questions answered about those meds from my physician. Not just the can I "operate machinery" on them questions but why were they prescribed to me, How long have I been on them, etc. Really invasive. They don't need to know those things. When I got my medical card the first time, the physician didn't need to know those things at all. Had I known this, I would have just had them do another medical on me. I don't think anything was Job canceling, but I don't know if they can discriminate against me if the medicine doesn't interfere with driving a truck, but perhaps they don't like people being on it and will find something else to back out of their offer.

Ruminator gains wisdom:

Really, you almost just have to pick one randomly out of a hat to choose. Swift, Werner, Schneider, Roehl, U.S. Xpress, Prime., etc You'll find equal amount of positives and negatives. One will have something you like above the rest, only to also have something you dislike more than the rest.

This is where whole thing in a nutshell. Competition is so tight you could nearly draw names out if a hat. It really comes down to what's important to you: Team/no team? Pets & riders? Home time or miles? Apu? Stuff like that.

Then Ruminator loses it all:

There were things on [my medical card], that they had no business knowing.

They do have business to know, that's why they need a copy of your medical card. It's their business to know the physical condition of their drivers. That includes drugs prescribed and some of your basic physical condition. Why do they need to know this? The FMCSA requires it. It's not privileged by HIPAA.

CSA:

Compliance, Safety, Accountability (CSA)

The CSA is a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) initiative to improve large truck and bus safety and ultimately reduce crashes, injuries, and fatalities that are related to commercial motor vehicle

FMCSA:

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration

The FMCSA was established within the Department of Transportation on January 1, 2000. Their primary mission is to prevent commercial motor vehicle-related fatalities and injuries.

What Does The FMCSA Do?

• Commercial Drivers' Licenses
• Data and Analysis
• Regulatory Compliance and Enforcement
• Research and Technology
• Safety Assistance
• Support and Information Sharing

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Hey man, I was feeling this way a couple months ago when I signed my Roehl contract. Let me tell you though, I have had nothing but good experiences with Roehl so far. I also came to the company with my cdl already. They will teach you much much more. The 7 days orientation goes by real quick and like I said they will teach you some key maneuvers and how to be a safe driver. This is my 4th week solo, I'm on track for 10,000 miles this month. I'm on a dedicated regional account in the Midwest. They show great respect to their drivers and never ask you to drive in a condition your not comfortable with. As far as the major carriers go they are your best bet. Feel free to message me with any questions.

Thanks for this info. I am graduating Feb 24th from CDL School. I was looking at Roehl and the contract held me up. I'm filling out applications all over. Hope to have something lined up right out of school. So I can hit the road running. Any advice??? Thanks again, June Bug.

They do have business to know, that's why they need a copy of your medical card. It's their business to know the physical condition of their drivers. That includes drugs prescribed and some of your basic physical condition. Why do they need to know this? The FMCSA requires it. It's not privileged by HIPAA.

Well, I found you're kinda right about needing to know about medications. At Schneider, I knew my info was being given to a Doctor/Nurse for evaluation and not, God knows who, at Roehl when I faxed that info into them. It was the same Fax number for non-medical info that I needed to fax into them. However, with Schneider, I just need to have my physician fax a letter(medical fax #) that my condition is "stable" . One question, One Answer. Done.

Also, I found that Roehl wanted to do their Drug testing when you arrived at Orientation. Therefore, you would be there for a couple of days before everything checked out and you're were good to go. But Schneider had my drug test done locally where I live a week before orientation so I knew the results before the trip. Roehl had me signed up for orientation in Atlanta, Ga Terminal via Airplane from Pennsylvania. And if for some reason something came up in my drug test and I couldn't continue, I would have to find my own way home.......From Atlanta..!!! It's kind of strange, in my opinion, that they hire, specifically, Northeast Regional.. but the 2 closest Terminals are Chicago area and Atlanta. So there's this huge land mass area where they don't have a "presence" .

Anyway, Schneider is my choice now. I've chosen my Fate wither it was based on mis-information or not or my misconception of the trucking industry in general. Don't know if I'll regret it or not. I don't think I will. Schneider....Roehl....Kind of a toss-up..... I'm just gonna do my best to learn what I can learn and work hard and after awhile I will know a hell of a lot more than I do now. And then I can make informed decisions about my trucking career. It's the my 2nd company(hopefully last) that I choose that will define my career and what I want to do for the rest of my life......

Ruminator, you have posted 10 comments and questions here at Trucking Truth. This forum is one of the few places you can discuss things without judgement. What I want to tell you here is stuff that may make you feel uncomfortable, but it's what I feel is the truth. If I'm off base, well I'm sorry but it's all good intentions.

In your first post you painted the picture that you were the victim of some "slick work" by Roehl and their contract. No large company wants to rip off students, drivers or their customers. It is up to you to watch out for yourself.

You may misunderstand something (easy to do!) and lose out on that deal, but it's up to you to ask questions until you understand what's going on. Hold the horses, keep your shirt on, get your understanding until you know the choices you have and the consequences of your decision.

I hope you've read some of the training diaries. You will fill out several forms, people will explain stuff, and you'll be sent to different offices for this or that. It's all part of the process to get you signed up for school. But even then make sure/ask questions.

If you've notice, if you've read many of the topics here, TT takes nearly everything at face value and we'll do our best to answer any question. (If you start messing with us then we may fire back. That's happened here, too!)

Best of luck at Schneider! Keep us posted on how it goes!

And if the bar-b-que sauce sucks we know :) lol

Hey all, I know I picked on Roehl a lot in this thread and I'm gone go off topic a little here, (not gonna talk about the contract thing from which I started talking about. So I just want to end this thread with a few positives that I liked about Roehl and the reasons they were in the running as my first company to start with. This mostly from talking with a recruiter and personal research. I did not go to their training or anything.

1. Their CPM rate is a little on the low side at .32, however you do jump to .36 in 6 months. but then they do quarterly raises instead of Bonuses. With Bonuses you get it one monthor quarter then not get it the next. but with the raises which average 1-2 cents cpm they dont go away really. They're permanent. You have at least 2 consecutive poor performance quarters to possibly get your CPM downgraded. Which you probably have to basically do a complete "180" performance wise for that to happen.

2. They have newer equipment. average age 2 yrs. and they seem to maintain them well. Nice Red sharp color. They have Epu's which is almost the same as APU's which a lot of new drivers are looking to have in their trucks. and I liked the idea of them, too.

3. They have a decent retirement plan. where as they do have 401k's (but with a zero match) and reason that is, is they also have a stock ownership type retirement plan, I forget what they call it exactly. but basically for the last 25 years they contribute approx 2k-3k (4% of your pay I think) in your account every single year and that adds up over time. It's nice if you are living paycheck to paycheck to a degree and cannot really put much of anything into a 401k no matter how much a company might match you. Roof over your head and food on the table is the naturally , the main priority. So with the stock plan at least some kind of nest egg is being built for you and the company is still relatively small where as I don't consider them a Mega-Carrier like Schneider, Swift etc. so there's room for growth and expansion in leaps and bounds there and that will help to increase stock value. 4. Their Home time mantra seems to be the real deal. their 7/7 14/7 and 7/3*7/4 are nice, but their 5/2 jobs i was told my 2 days off didn't always have to be Sat/Sun. If I wanted to do a Fri/ Sat or Sun/Mon or even a Tues/Wed on occasion I could easily do that so one can make appointments or do business that can only be made on a weekday for example. Im sure other companies will work with you in the same regard but to a degree, however, I got the impression that Roehl will be much more accommodating.

So Thats it. Like I said I want to put this contract issue thread to rest which I kinda did in previous posts already. and say something positive about the company. I dont want to be like many people who rip a company apart about something but fail to mention what they didn't have issues with...The more positive side.. And if things don't work out with Schneider in the beginning, then I'm not against working for Roehl...

Ruminator signing off :)

CPM:

Cents Per Mile

Drivers are often paid by the mile and it's given in cents per mile, or cpm.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APU's:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

EPU:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

Epu's:

Electric Auxiliary Power Units

Electric APUs have started gaining acceptance. These electric APUs use battery packs instead of the diesel engine on traditional APUs as a source of power. The APU's battery pack is charged when the truck is in motion. When the truck is idle, the stored energy in the battery pack is then used to power an air conditioner, heater, and other devices

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but it seems to have run its course, and Ruminator has signed off. :-)

Since this has been all about Roehl, I have another Roehl question that my recruiter was unable to answer for me: I plan to start OTR with Roehl. I want to cover 48 states and Canada, but I especially want to run in the western US. Do they carry much freight in the west? Or are they mostly mid-west and eastern US?

Thanks, Seldon

I don't mean to highjack this thread, but it seems to have run its course, and Ruminator has signed off. :-)

Since this has been all about Roehl, I have another Roehl question that my recruiter was unable to answer for me: I plan to start OTR with Roehl. I want to cover 48 states and Canada, but I especially want to run in the western US. Do they carry much freight in the west? Or are they mostly mid-west and eastern US?

Thanks, Seldon

If your just a new driver you won't see the West until you have at least 1 years experience. Unless you live out West then you'll see it when you go home. Most of their reefer freight is upper Midwest and east. Van has a little bit bigger of an area they go farther south with van freight. In really not sure about flatbed since I've never done that one.