Profile For UberHammer

Just got back from the ear, nose and throat doctor. He said he needs to monitor me for a few more months before giving me the official diagnosis for the problems I'm having, but he said it's likely going to be a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease.

In my google searching on it, it appears that a diagnosis of Meniere's Disease any time in a person's life is a automatic fail for a DOT physical. I've read they are considering possibly allowing certain treatments that show a sustained stop of the symptoms to be acceptable in the future, but for now there is no possible way for someone diagnosed with this to ever pass a DOT physical for the rest of their life.

So my career is over before it even started.

Thanks for such a great site. But I think I won't ever visit again now that this is a dream that is a dead to me.

They still do CDL training in their Phoenix location for student drivers in the southwest states. Unfortunately they don't accept people from Ohio at this time. They used to have a school in Indianapolis where people in Ohio were sent to train, but they closed it this summer.

I am going to double check this right now. If I don't need my CDL to train with them, I'm going to go for it. This is my favorite company so far.

Here are details on Roehl's website on their new pay you to get your CDL program.

You may want to check with J&R Schugel to see if they will hire you with your OWI. They are Wisconsin based and hire student drivers. They don't have an in house CDL school, but they will reimburse you at $300 per month for 12 months for a school on their list of approved schools.

When you add up the upfront costs and the first year of pay, I'd be over $8000 better off spending my first year with Roehl than I would starting at Schugel.... so it's not just a "few hundred bucks" as you put it

When I said "a few hundred bucks" I was referring to the difference in what you would make during training, not during the whole year.

Well, what Roehl is doing isn't just providing free CDL school and paying during trainer phase (like all companies do). Roehl is also paying the student $2000 to attend their CDL school (four weeks at $500 per week). I don't know of any other company that is also paying the student during CDL school. They all start paying after the school when the student gets in the truck with a trainer. I could be wrong though.

Half of the $8000 hole I'd be in with Schugle after a year is from the CDL costs (Schugle only reimburses $3600 of the $5500 tuition I'd spend up front and Roehl pays $2000 during school.... that's a $3900 difference). The other half comes from Schugle only paying $0.27 per mile for 6 months. So yeah, the difference made during training can results in thousands.

Thanks Brett.

I've been doing a TON of research on companies (thanks to your site), and I've narrowed it down to three: 1) Roehl; 2) Schneider; and 3) J&R Schugel.

Both Roehl and Schugel appeal to me because they run a lot through Ohio. Schneider appeals to me because they work with the Honda plant where I live in Marysville.

Knight and Swift have terminals close to me in Columbus, which is appealing, but I don't really want to run all over the country. Roehl services the entire country, but from what I've researched most of their freight is Midwest to East coast.

JR Schugel has a terminal about 25 miles from me, which is really appealing, especially since it is only one of three terminals they have. And the research i've done says drivers stay with the company a very long time. It's their $0.27 per mile for the first six months that I'm not liking about them. When you add up the upfront costs and the first year of pay, I'd be over $8000 better off spending my first year with Roehl than I would starting at Schugel.... so it's not just a "few hundred bucks" as you put it. But you're right, maybe that $8000 loss would be the better option if I've got one year under my belt with the company I would like to stay with.

I actually have not even started. I won't be able to until after January. I just don't want to go to a "starter" company with the expectation that I will be leaving in a year. I want to have a career not a job that is why I am asking now. I love what Roehl has to offer as far as work/hometime but the upfront costs is what is making me hit a snag as far as choosing between the two

What upfront costs of Roehl are you referring to?

I'm burn out on my IT career and thinking a new career in trucking would be great for me (I enjoy being alone and can drive 925 miles from my home to my parents house in Florida in 15 hours with only two stops for gas). I've been researching in depth of what route to take (company or private CDL school), and some big positives of Roehl is its no upfront costs AND they pay you $500 a week during their four weeks of CDL training. The biggest negative with Roehl is they only give 10 days to 3 weeks of training on the road. I call that a negative because I think most drivers should get more than that, but for myself I consider that a positive as I typically learn better doing my own research and trial by fire, and considering I prefer being alone I hope I test out after 10 days as I can't imagine living with someone other than my wife for a month or two. I can do 10 days, but more than that would be really difficult for me. If I had to make a decision today, I would be calling up Roehl. If Roehl weren't an option I'd be spending $5500 to go to Clark State for CDL training, and applying to Schneider. They also have a short training on the road, which I prefer. But cost wise it would take me over four years to get my school costs back with Schnieders $100 per month tuition reimbursement, and I wouldn't get paid during CDL school like at Roehl. I like Schneider a lot, but "upfront" costs is a lot more for Schneider than it is Roehl. There are some parts of the country where a driver can get Schneider to pay for a CDL school, but I'm not in one of those areas. If you are, that would make the upfront costs better, but I don't believe Schneider pays you during CDL school like Roehl does.

The answer to this is not black or white. It's not yes or not. It's not win or lose.

It's not impossible to make more as an O/O.... but it does require a well executed business plan. It doesn't just happen, especially for many people who just do it without a plan at all to even execute. In fact, the number of drivers who can create such a plan AND execute it profitably is probably well below 1% of all truck drivers.

Well... that was a Schneid remark.

Just went to an Ear, Nose and Throat doctor today about problems hearing in my left ear. He had his staff give me a hearing test to see if i was just experiencing outer ear or middle ear problems, which are typically temporary, or if it was an inner ear problem.

The test reveal my problem is inner ear, which probably means nerve damage. Doctor gave me a prescription for steroid pills and is going to check me again in three weeks. If the steroid pills don't result in helping the body repair the problem, he wants to inject the steroids directly into the inner ear. If both steroid attempts fail then we're talking hearing aid, and tests to make sure it's not a tumor, as well as on going tests to make sure it's not getting worse.

My question is, could this affect my chances of becoming a truck driver? The tests showed my hearing in my right ear is "perfect". Is one good ear enough, or is it possible my one bad ear could keep me from doing truck driving?

Thanks!