Comments By ATXJEHU

Roehl is a great choice. You will learn to do trucking right. Good luck to ya!

I feel your pain, man! Nothing in my experience matches yours. However, once I was sent to a paper mill, a 24/7 operation, to pick up a pre-loaded trailer on a Wednesday. It turned out to be the one day a year when the mill shut down their computer system for 12 hours or so for maintenance. They could not/would not check in any trucks/trailers for inspections and could not release any loaded trailers. Once the system was running, the pre-loaded trailer was not loaded yet. It took several more hours for them to clear the back-log of trucks (must have been over 50 trucks waiting). It was a bit over 24 hours waiting before getting the drop/hook completed. The plant claimed that all the trucking companies were notified about the pending shut down and should not have sent in the drivers for loads. My company claimed they never got the notice. I did collect layover pay, but it was not nearly enough to compensate for the time lost or for the frustration of sitting in a dirt lot of a stinky paper mill with 50 other frustrated drivers and one nasty porta-potty. Good luck to ya!

Good luck to ya!

I would have been on the phone a long time ago to the Fleet Operations Manager or what ever the title is for the Dispatcher's Supervisor. This situation is beyond the pale IMHO.

Per Diem is not included on your W-2 as taxable income. It reduces your gross income by the amount of Per Diem pay received. This is a good thing if you do not have enough deductions to benefit from itemizing your deductions on your tax return. If you do itemize, it might be beneficial to not take Per Diem and rather take the deduction allowed by law on your return.

Each driver has to consider their own situation and act accordingly (if your company offers you the choice). In my case, excluding Per Diem from my taxable income is preferable, but that's just me. Another consideration, however, is that by lowering your gross taxable income, it also decreases the amount paid on your behalf into social security which will eventually result in a lower social security payout to you upon retirement. That's one of the main reasons why companies like to offer the Per Diem arrangement; it lowers the amount of payroll taxes they must pay for drivers.

My situation in life is such that I welcome all of the tax-free income that can be had. These thoughts are my amateur opinions. It is always wise to seek the advice of a professional who is competent to give advice specific to your own situation.

They do sound like a good home time company with all kinds of home time options, but my question if your 7 days on 7 days off, that sounds more like a part time kind of job, I was interested in that particular home time option with roehl. Best of luck with your career! Make it a safe day out there! T

You are correct in that understanding; it is not considered full-time and does not accrue vacation credits. It does include other group benefits, however. The 7/7 schedule figures out to slightly more than 180 work days a year compared to 260 days for a standard 5 day week. Their goal is to run out the 70 hour clock during the 7 days and get the driver about 3,000 miles. It is also slip-seat with another driver out with the truck while you are enjoying your 7 days of leisure. For this reason, the truck must be left at one of Roehl's terminals to enable the slip-seat schedule to work. This is not for everybody, obviously, but it works fine for those who can afford it and who want lots of time away from driving.

Roehl is a good company, both to start with (since they are a training company), and to stay with, for that matter. An often repeated complaint is that they micro-manage their drivers, which is pretty much true. But, with so many new drivers under their wing, who can blame them? They plan your route, tell you where to fuel, and their dispatches are non-refusal, assuming you have the hours available. A big plus is the home-time choices available to you. I don't regret my time with Roehl. Certainly, you should give them serious consideration, in my opinion.

***UPDATE*** I've decided to go with Millis. Just couldn't pass up an opportunity like this. They have more that appeals to me then Swift or KLLM. Thanks again everyone...

That should be a great choice, from what I hear, and they probably haul lotsa beer (close to a brewery anyway, lol)

Yes, but, but, does the new title include a pay raise??? lol

Re-fueled there once and stayed the night too with a trainee helping him get probably the last parking spot. It was tight there, to say the least! Right at the entrance to the parking area, a tractor had its entire driver-side front fender and hood torn away. We were told that it had happened about two hours earlier when a new driver, on his second day as a solo, failed to square off his turn to the right and hooked the truck with his trailer as he passed rolled past. Not a happy day for either of those drivers!