Start With Roehl On Monday

I finished school yesterday at Southwest Truck Driver Training in Phoenix. So I'm now the proud holder of a class A cdl. My Roehl Transport recruiter, Lindsey, called me on Tuesday to schedule my start date. I asked if I could start on Monday and she said that was when the next orientation would be at their Phoenix terminal. As it turns out, if I finished school any later, then I would have had to go to Gary, IN.

I'll be sure to let everyone know my opinions of and experiences with them.

Hey everybody. I know its been a while but I've been driving my ars off. I finished training with my trainer on Oct. 30. Tested out on the Nov 1 and got my truck that day and got to go home for some much needed family time. I drove over 3300 miles in 10 days during training. That was 5 different loads. One load was a relay to Gallup, NM and the rest were loads back and forth between AZ and CA.

Started my solo career on Tues Nov 5 with a load of flagstone going to CA. Then had a 3 stop load of stainless steel pipe to Fresno. Picked up a load of cable from Okonite in Santa Maria to bring to our yard in Fontana. Then picked up a load of sheet steel in Vernon, CA to bring to WA where I'm currently sitting for a reset. Leaving tomorrow to pick up a load of lumber and got a great run to WI for another 2200 miles. I'll probably be picking up a relay from our Marshfield terminal to bring back to Phx and then home for 3-4 days. So for my very first 2 weeks out I figured close to 6500 miles. Not bad for a rookie.

I'm a Western regional driver but told my FM if they needed anybody to run to our terminals in the Midwest that I would be willing if it'll get me miles. Turns out it paid off. I've taken every bit of advice from this forum and have worked my butt off to prove my worth to my FM. Hopefully she'll keep throwing me these great runs.

I've had some hicups. Believe me. Gashed a tire on my very first load. Got a message from myFM that it was okay with a shipper to park at there business overnight. I got there and my load was on another trailer. I just had to swap trailers and secure and tarp the load. I secured it but ran out of hours. I called my FM to ask if I could bobtail down the street to get some foid because I was too tired to make my own at this point. Yes. So I go down the street get some food eat and eat it there. Come back and the shipper is closed down and gates locked with my trailer inside. Well crap. I'm not too worried because my FM says they'll be back at 8:00 am. No big deal so I go down the street and park for the night. I go back to the shipper in the morning and wait. No one shows up. This is Sat morning now by the way. I end up calling the number that's on the window sticker for some security company. They call everybody on the list and nobody answers. After about a half hour they finally get somebody on the phone. I ended up waiting another 2 hours for someone to come let me in so I could get my load and hit the road. So now I got the load and I'm headed to WA. I have a fuel stop in OR. Get to the Pilot and the pumps telling me to see cashier. He tells me I need my OR permit before he can let me pump. OR permit?? Okay?? Nobody told me about this. Go back to truck and tear apart my permit book looking for this thing. No Oregon anything in the book. Great!!!! Call weekend dispatch and get yelled at for not having the permit. Explained that I'm a new driver and no one told me. He proceeds to tell me how its my fault and if I got pulled over it would be my fine.....blah blah blah. He said he would fax one over in 10-15 minutes. Took him an hour and a half. My FM is awesome. The after hours bunch leaves much to be desired.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this week goes by without any more issues.

And Starcar if you read this, it looks like ill be heading right by you sometime tomorrow evening if you're still there. I'm gonna be heading east on I-84 on my way to WI. Red Roehl truck # 7535 with a load of lumber. Maybe ill see you out there.

Good luck Andy! Roehl is a very popular company here at TT and I'm sure that your experiences will be valuable for the future drivers here at TT. Please keep us updated!

That's great!

You caught a nice break getting to do orientation in AZ instead of Gary Indiana

Woody

Congrats!! I've completed my CDL school and am just waiting to take my detail here in NH and as soon as I get license in hand I'm off to Roehls Appleton, WI terminal for orientation. Please keep us posted as I will do the same, I think two training experiences for same company at nearly the same time will help others who haven't decided who to go with whether or not ROEHL would be their cup of tea or not.

That's great!

You caught a nice break getting to do orientation in AZ instead of Gary Indiana

Woody

No doubt. I was told they only do orientation in Phx a few times a year. I got lucky for sure.

Congrats!! I've completed my CDL school and am just waiting to take my detail here in NH and as soon as I get license in hand I'm off to Roehls Appleton, WI terminal for orientation. Please keep us posted as I will do the same, I think two training experiences for same company at nearly the same time will help others who haven't decided who to go with whether or not ROEHL would be their cup of tea or not.

Wow. Lot of Roehlies showing up on here lately. What division are you going with? Rumor has it Roehl has started dropping reefers off at the Phx terminal. Looks like they're increasing their presence in the West.

Refrigerated I wanna do National 45out maybe 4 home if they will do that I'd go longer if I feel it's gonna be worth it but we shall see. I heard they are also looking at putting a terminal in Philly, not sure if true, just rumors.

Started with Roehl on Monday. 6 people total in the orientation. Thats all the classroom has room for which is kinda nice. Paperwork then pee and hair follicle testing followed by Roehls physical exam.

Tuesday we already had 1 guy quit. Said trucking wasnt for him. I think he was one of those people that think you just get in a truck and drive with no other responsibilities whatsoever. More drive time for me because he was in my truck. Morning was logbooks and map reading / route planning. Given homework to do throughout the week.

Wednesday was PowerPoint presentations on the Roehl Way then driving and 90 degree backing in the afternoon.

Thursday we were out driving while the other group did backing and then we switched in the afternoon. We weren't supposed to get tested on backing until Friday but everybody was nailing it so we tested out before the end of the day. Lost another guy but it was because of a death of a friend.

Friday we did our pretrip and driving test in the morning. That afternoon they tried something new. They made a box about 80ft x 70ft with an opening at the bottom left to pull into and another opening exactly 90 degrees from the pull in opening. We had to pull in the bottom and park it in the other hole without hitting any of the box. After we park we then pull out and back the trailer out of the original opening. Wow!! Cool thing is we're all getting it. We've been doing this over and over and over.

Saturday was load securement training and more backing.

Tomorrow we'll be securing metal coil and pipe.

Monday is our actual hire day and the beginning of Phase 2 So more paperwork. We get to find out who our driver trainer is and when we go otr for training, which could be as early as Tuesday.

I'm looking forward to getting out there and taking this training to a new level.

It's nice to hear all these details. I am considering Roehl as they have advertised a VA program that allows you to draw VA benefits during your first 2 years. That will be a lot of extra pay. If you hear of anyone in your class in that category, please post what you learn. I am to contact a recruiter tomorrow and so I will already have some questions pre-loaded.

AZ Scooby...you sound like you are a perfect fit for the company you chose !!! Now you know why we say..if it all looks good, and it fits you, then go for it. I'm glad you are finding the schooling challenging and educational..thats as it should be. Keep us updated...and go show em how its done !!!