Roehl Transport--Get Your Cdl Program

Thanks Anne, PackRat, and Old School.

Ryker, (1) your cpm will depend upon which fleet you are driving with and your experience level, so your recruiter will know that better than me. The cpm varies a lot.

(2) As for personal conveyance, I have not heard much about that, but I believe that personal conveyance would be quite limited because I never heard the trainers talk about that as a way of solving a problem. Every foot that the truck moves is recorded and requires some explanation. If you live within 50 miles of a Roehl terminal or drop lot, I know that you are required to leave your truck there, not at home, during your home time.

(3) After Phase 1, Roehl provides transportation, except for short distances near your home. You might have to find your own way to a truck stop or terminal in order to meet your Phase 2 trainer.

(4) Yes, Roehl has three different groups: the GYCDL group (no license), the inexperienced group (license, but no experience), and the experienced group. Roehl provides a different level of orientation and training for each of those three groups. Those groups are separated at the beginning of the first day.

(5) The trainers will help you find someone to give you a ride if you ask for help. No one is going to stop you from using Uber, but that would be an expensive option. When I looked into using Uber in Conley, a one-way trip from the hotel to the terminal was $25 and up. The drive from the hotel to the terminal takes about 20 minutes, and a lot of that is down a highway.

(6) The orientation information sheet explains that trainees will share a room with another person, but you can get your own room for about $30 extra per night. When I was there in Conley, everyone had their own room without having to pay extra, but that may not happen if the training slots are full when you get there.

Hope that helps.

David, thanks this is a big help and I greatly appreciate it! And dang, in that case Uber definitely won’t be an option

I hope all is going well for you, and that your trainer is a person you get along with and feel comfortable with. I’m looking forward to getting started at Roehl and to what awaits

July 2, 2021 Today, I finally received a start date, July 6th, for Phase 2 of the GYCDL training. In Phase 2, I will be driving with a driver trainer, and the trainer will not be team driving with me, as occurs at some companies. Instead, the trainer will be teaching me the basics of driving in the Roehl van fleet while we deliver 19 loads. For the last 5 loads, I must be able to complete pick up and delivery on my own. After that, I must be able to pass Roehl's driving test.

Although I had to wait more than two weeks after Phase 1 to start with Phase 2, I will have an excellent trainer who has more than 2 million safe driving miles of driving experience. Waiting for a trainer of that caliber should be well worth the wait.

July 16--In Phase 2, the trainee's progress depends, for one, upon the trainer's methods of training. Fortunately, I have been with the same trainer during the entire time, and I am progressing through the program quickly. Other trainees end up driving with two or more trainers in Phase 2, which can slow down completion.

My typical day starts off at about 4:00 a.m. and finishes at about 9:30 p.m., but I am only driving about seven hours per day. My trainer is driving about the same amount. We spend more time than I expected waiting at shippers and receivers. In the next day or two, I will start the solo driving part of Phase 2. That means that the trainer will still be in the truck, but not providing as much instruction as in the early part of Phase 2. I will be expected to complete all the tasks of a company driver without help.

My understanding is that 30 days is the maximum amount of time that a driver can spend in Phase 2. After that, the driver either progresses on to Phase 3, which is solo driving, or the driver is dismissed from the company.

Other trainees end up driving with two or more trainers in Phase 2, which can slow down completion.

I had two trainers, the second was a local driver, and I am very glad to have been placed in his truck, even for a few days, because I learned a different way of driving.

Hello guys.

I am a driver for Roehl Transport. I went through their GYCDL program back in December of 2019. I've done about everything with them from reefer , dry van , flatbed, stepdeck , and curtainside. I've been a lease operator with them since October 2020 and I would say overall it's a decent company.

Congrats on completing your training phase. The over the road training phase can be quite tough for a lot of students. I was lucky to have the same trainer throughout my entire phase with somebody that has been with Roehl for over 9 years and we came just shy of him reaching his 1 million miles before I went solo. But, I've heard the stories from other drivers that didn't have quite the same experience. Lots of trainers now a days here have very minimal experience, most even less than I have. And a lot just want the money and put the student in the driver seat for 11 hours a day but don't really go over much of anything else with them. Once they go solo, they realize how ill-prepared they are and end up quitting sadly.

My best piece of advice is to get to know other drivers and make friends with people here and communicate regularly with them. There's quite a few Roehl Facebook groups you can join that are full of active members as well. And just don't give up. Take your time and worry about improving your skill sets. Driving and backing has almost nothing to do with your success. Proper trip planning and time management matters more than how many times you have to pull up to back into a spot.

Do your due diligence before you start turning those wheels. Your trainer may go over this briefly but they don' really train you properly because it's time consuming and they only care about the money.

Determine what your ETA is and send it in ASAP. Don't accept a load and drive your day out then realize at 6PM you aren't going to make the 8AM appointment in the morning you confirmed before. 9/10 times they are still going to send you anyways knowing that you are late, but if you confirmed beforehand that you would make it, they can't get you detention pay. And if you're late in dry van or reefer, be prepared to sit for hours in a dock if you're late. Please advice that most FMs don't communicate with you very well on these things either. But just so you know, the ETAs sent through the workflow are computer generated. They only factor in driving time and may seem impossible to make. But if it states anything such as "Can arrive as early as:" it's typically a window. Picking up a pre-loaded at a shipper with a "Can arrive as early as 10:00" for example means the shipper agreed to have the load ready by 10:00. Sometimes it's ready way before that and there's no problem arriving earlier than that, other times you'll arrive and it's not ready and you're stuck waiting. Other times they may have no empty trailers to start with and it turns into a live load. Either way, try to get there as soon as you can. For cons, basically the same thing. "Can arrive as early as" typically means it's a window to drop, or first come first serve for live unloads. Most of our drop and hooks at big distribution centers such as Walmart, Lowes, Target, etc. are 24/7 on that date. Determine your ETA and send in a message for your shipper and cons ETA before you start that workflow. Or in the confirmation at least, select "No, I cannot make this load as scheduled." and enter your own ETA. They'll get an alert and correct the ETA. But if you don't do this, skim through it to get rolling, then realize later you aren't making it on time, you're likely not going to get any detention pay and they may take points off your scorecard for being late as well.

The ETT (estimated travel time) on the co-pilot is usually a lot longer than it actually takes to get there if you run at 65mph on interstates most of the route, but I typically add an hour or two just to be safe and calculate my ETA that way. Or taking the miles and dividing by 50 then adding in your 10 hour break generally works as well. I usually assume 10 hours of driving instead of 11 though to give me adequate time to find parking. I typically break my day into 150-200 mile segments. Find a place to stop for my safety checks, bathroom break, and get back on the road. Don't burn yourself out trying to drive 8 hours straight to make a computer generated ETA.

Also read the workflow information. In some instances, they have no location for the cons, especially in flatbed, and will send you routing to the city center of the destination. Don't be like most drivers and not read this and just follow the GPS to the city center of somewhere then realize you're lost and SOL.

Just some advice I thought I'd share with you as it's something that's very important but not gone over with in training. I struggled my first couple months solo and wanted to quit so bad. But then I got the hand of how dispatching works and it's not so bad now. Once you get issued a truck, you will able to join "The Original Roehl Driver's Club" on Facebook if you'd like and introduce yourself. Lots of good people there including quite a few million milers here at Roehl.

July 28 -- Starting Phase 3.

Thanks, Christopher P. That's very helpful. Yesterday, I finished Phase 2 and passed the Driver Safety Exam (DSE). The DSE was no joke. I was under the impression that the driving test was simply a formality, but in my experience, the exam included several potential fail points, including a king pin hookup that looked OK, but was not completely closed, even though it looked closed. Some of the turns were tricky. My DSE test did allow for the use of a GPS navigation device, which I otherwise would rely upon heavily, so I was not comfortable relying solely upon street signs. I came into the test thinking that backing into a parking space would be the most difficult part of the test, but I managed to do that with only one pullup. The driving and pre-trip inspection were actually more difficult than the backing because they were designed to test drivers with unusual conditions.

The 19 days of driving in Phase 2 was an intensive learning experience, not only as to the fundamentals of driving and parking a truck and trailer, but also the details of entering and receiving information in the digital tracking system. Interacting with people at shipping and receiving was a little intimidating, at times, because some people are simply rude, or angry, or tired, or otherwise not eager to interact with drivers.

But I got through it, and now I am waiting on my truck so that I can begin Phase 3.

Hello guys.

I am a driver for Roehl Transport. I went through their GYCDL program back in December of 2019. I've done about everything with them from reefer , dry van , flatbed, stepdeck , and curtainside. I've been a lease operator with them since October 2020 and I would say overall it's a decent company.

. . .

Just some advice I thought I'd share with you as it's something that's very important but not gone over with in training. I struggled my first couple months solo and wanted to quit so bad. But then I got the hand of how dispatching works and it's not so bad now. Once you get issued a truck, you will able to join "The Original Roehl Driver's Club" on Facebook if you'd like and introduce yourself. Lots of good people there including quite a few million milers here at Roehl.

Great info, Christopher. Thank you for sharing.

July 28 -- Starting Phase 3.

Thanks, Christopher P. That's very helpful. Yesterday, I finished Phase 2 and passed the Driver Safety Exam (DSE). The DSE was no joke. I was under the impression that the driving test was simply a formality, but in my experience, the exam included several potential fail points, including a king pin hookup that looked OK, but was not completely closed, even though it looked closed. Some of the turns were tricky. My DSE test did allow for the use of a GPS navigation device, which I otherwise would rely upon heavily, so I was not comfortable relying solely upon street signs. I came into the test thinking that backing into a parking space would be the most difficult part of the test, but I managed to do that with only one pullup. The driving and pre-trip inspection were actually more difficult than the backing because they were designed to test drivers with unusual conditions.

The 19 days of driving in Phase 2 was an intensive learning experience, not only as to the fundamentals of driving and parking a truck and trailer, but also the details of entering and receiving information in the digital tracking system. Interacting with people at shipping and receiving was a little intimidating, at times, because some people are simply rude, or angry, or tired, or otherwise not eager to interact with drivers.

But I got through it, and now I am waiting on my truck so that I can begin Phase 3.

Also great info, David. And also... thank you for sharing.

I am now starting Phase 2 with Roehl... I am excited to get going tomorrow... but was not fully aware of what you described regarding DSE. Good stuff to know!!

August 19, 2021 I'm about three weeks and 13 solo trips into Phase 3. On the second trip, I bent the fender on another truck at a truck stop. No police or tow truck was needed, and the other driver drove off after we exchanged information. Neither the truck nor trailer that I was driving suffered any damage. It's a long story as to how I could hit a parked truck while I was driving 3 mph, but basically, I was moving, and the other truck was parked. It was at a Love's truck stop late in the evening. I was running out of drive time, and I could not find a place to park. Lots of trucks were coming and going, and the truck stop was a complete cluster. I was watching other hazards and did not notice the truck on my blind side.

That accident put me in a bad situation with Roehl. They immediately cut my pay by about 10%, and I must go through some further training, without pay. Apparently, however, no training slots are available anywhere, right now, so I have been continuing to run. The accident occurred during trip #2, and I finished trip #13 yesterday.

I can appreciate what Christopher P. has said that he "wanted to quit so bad" during Phase 3. I have felt that way, a lot, lately. Maybe driving gets better with experience, but right now, I struggle to convince myself that all the risk and headache is worth the low pay and personal sacrifice.

August 26, 2021

My fleet manager decided to schedule me to take the final test for Phase 3 and the Roehl GYCDL training program. He will route me to a Roehl terminal next week for the test. If I test out successfully, I will exit the training and enter the Roehl national van fleet.