Comments By David K.

Does anyone know whether Roehl is still using the CRT test on the first day of orientation? The EEOC has started bringing lawsuits against carriers that use that test to weed out new truckers. Here's a link to the story: https://www.jdsupra.com/post/contentViewerEmbed.aspx?fid=19ca6c61-33e3-4a80-a82f-e4ecaf075a8e

"According to the EEOC's lawsuit, Schuster's use of the CRT Test, a strength test developed by Cost Reduction Technologies, Inc., discriminates against women truck drivers because of their sex. Specifically, the EEOC alleges that the CRT Test disproportionately screens out women who are qualified for the truck driver position at Schuster. This includes the individual who filed the charge with the EEOC, who Schuster refused to hire as a truck driver when she failed the CRT Test. The EEOC is seeking relief for a class of women who were not hired because they failed the CRT Test and an injunction preventing Schuster from continuing to use the test."

Good information, Steve L. Thanks.

Thanks, Pete B. That's actually a more convenient place to park than the Roehl drop lot.

Thanks, Errol V. and Pete B. It's good to have such a quick response to my query, which alleviates my concerns. I live near NASA in the Clear Lake area, close to Saturn Ln.

Yeah I would call and ask. However why can't you just park at a walmart on hometime?

Well, I don't know whether that would be allowed or not, either by WalMart or by Roehl. I'm completely new to this whole trucking gig, except for the six months that I drove a straight truck for my brother's company. I suppose if worse comes to worse, I could park the truck at my brother's place, but that's still three hours from home.

I'm just hazarding a guess, but I would say that Roehl no longer uses that lot. An empty lot doesn't concern me near as much as the locked gates do.

Call the office and ask them.

Laura

Thanks, Laura. That's what I was thinking. Roehl's next nearest terminal is in the Dallas-Ft. Forth area, which is a five hour drive from my home.

When I agreed to start the Get My CDL at Roehl Transport, I explained to the recruiter that one of the most important considerations for me in choosing a company to train with is that they have a drop lot or terminal near me so that I would not have to drive for hours and hours to get home. Roehl does have a drop lot in Houston, Texas, which is where I live, and it shows up on Google maps. Today, I went there just to make sure that I could find it again later. It is a completely empty lot with a locked gate. Nothing there suggests that it has been used recently. I have no idea whether that is normal or not. Would someone here be kind enough to explain to me whether an empty lot is normal?

I am supposed to start training on June 1st.

Yes, PackRat, I am reconsidering the whole idea. Here's a Roehl training diary with a lot of detail: https://www.truckingtruth.com/truckers-forum/Topic-27143/Page-9/my-roehl-training-adventure

In that diary, Wild-Bill explains that half of his class did not finish to pass the CDL test, and Wild-Bill was only allowed to take the test after a manager decided to let Wild-Bill proceed, despite not making a passing score to proceed with CDL testing. In that same thread, Kenneth R. explained that in his class of 8, only 4 finished with a CDL license and 5th student already had his license. So about a 50% failure rate in the first few weeks would not be an unreasonable expectation. Those are not good odds, and we do not know how many of the remaining half go on to be let go, like Andrey, later in the 3-part training program. It's a very risky venture for someone who has no experience in trucking.

Again, you are right. I really need to rethink taking a risk like that.

The turnover rate in the trucking industry has me very concerned. I have been reading about how people get fired at Roehl in the first few days or months, and now, I do believe that the failure rate is very high, compared to other professions, and I doubt that Roehl is any different in that regard compared to other carriers. Even, here, on TruckingTruth, people have explained how they were fired during the training phase. Here's a recent incident at Roehl from Andrey: https://www.truckingtruth.com/truckers-forum/Topic-29806/Page-2/roehl-training-phase-3-solo Why did Andrey get fired? After reading his account and the stories from other people, I have the impression that truck driver training comes to down surviving whatever fate has in store for you. Being dedicated, committed, and hard-working can take a person only so far. There is no guarantee that those personal qualities will be enough to overcome simple bad luck.

At the moment, I will be fired at Roehl on the first day if I do not train myself to perform the crouching, duck-walk procedure in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61MrYF6_vI4 When I get under a trailer or inspect the brakes on a truck, I am on my knees, not crouching. I'm 6'2" tall and I have very long legs, so throughout my life, I have never found any use for crouching. And I am still relatively tall when I am crouching, so I would never ever check the brakes on a truck by crouching. I am on my knees to do that. But Roehl wants me to do the duck-walk, so I have to do it at least once. At the moment, I cannot do it well enough to pass. I have less than two weeks to practice that maneuver, or I will be sent home on the first day.

Big Scott, here is where I am getting the 70% failure number: https://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/threads/roehl-warning.353304/page-3 ("The instructors at marshfield told me that the company had a 70% fail rate; and I can see why. The company is making a fortunate off of terminating students with a contract like that.") Further, a couple of YouTube videos had similar claims. So, I have only those anecdotal accounts and nothing substantively reliable to support the claim.

Update: Roehl called me this morning, and I will start with them on June 1st. Roehl does not pay for transportation to training, so I had to buy a plane ticket to Atlanta. The flights were very expensive due to the Memorial Day weekend, so Roehl agreed to put me in a hotel a day early in order for me to travel on a cheaper flight on May 30th. The recruiter explained that the Phase 3 CPM rate had been increased from $0.385 to $0.405. That was good news. In addition, I asked about the alleged 70% training failure rate. The recruiter did not know the failure rate, but she thought that 70% was wrong.

I called Schneider and a couple of other carriers to withdraw my applications. The Schneider recruiter explained that my application would be on file for one year, in the event that I wanted to apply again. So, now, I will be preparing for training with Roehl Transport in Conley, Georgia.