Comments By Hawkeye

That's what I was afraid of.

Thanks Nate for the comments.

Question, do you have to live near a drop yard to make the hometime work?

I live in Centreville, Virginia which is outside of Washington, DC. How do I meet up with the truck?

Bill

Roehl tells you the route to take and where to get fuel. Now I have veered off their route a few times and have never heard a word from them about it. Roehl also will run you most direct route. I seem to get a good variety of freeway and highway routes.

As far as hometime Roehl has some good options. I run the 7/4, 7/3 which I like. I can plan things months in advance because I know when I will be home. They also offer a 14/7 that I will switch to in the future. The downside to these options is you share the truck.

As far as equipment goes Roehl has great equipment. I think 2014's are being phased out because I only see 2015-16's and all our trailers (reefer is what I pull) are in great condition. We actually just bought a bunch of new ones and heard more will be purchased soon.

Afternoon Everyone,

I've been looking at this website for months and enjoy the frank discussions and great advice.

I am 57 years old and looking forward to my driving career. After 20 years in the military and a couple of jobs in the private sector, I decided it was time for me to do something I've always wanted to do and drive a truck. This website has provided me with great information about trucking and I want to thank Brett for hosting the site.

After reading all the information about truck driving schools and reading the trucker's forum, I decided to attend a private driving school. While the company sponsored training is tempting, I decided I wanted more of an independent approach to learning how to drive. After researching several schools in my area, I decided to attend Shippers Choice. I start on the 8th of February and will try and keep you updated on my progress.

Now I do have a couple of questions. I've narrowed my choice of companies I'd like to drive for down to three. Schneider, Werner and Roehl. Now if you read the mostly negative comments about trucking companies from drivers, whether on this site or others, you would never get into the business. However, I agree with Brett, most of these drivers just have an axe to grind and these comments are not typical of the vast majority of those who drive on a daily basis.

Now my questions:

I've read a few comments from drivers who work for Schneider and Roehl about the company telling drivers which route to take. Is this a standard practice? To me, part of the appeal about driving is being able to plan your own route. Also, I would rather stay on the major freeways as apposed to taking an 80,000 pound truck on some side roads.

Now each of the companies I've researched have great attributes. From what I can tell Schneider has a great training program, Werner seems to have good equipment and Roehl has a great home policy.

My second question is about the home policy which is the most important attribute to me. While a regional route is something I want, I wouldn't mind being on the road for a couple of weeks as long as I could have at least three days off in-between jobs. Roehl's website says it offers this type of program. However, I'd like to hear from Roehl drivers on how the program is working for them.

Although home time is an important consideration, I'm leaning towards Schneider because of all the possitive comments I've read about their training program. Now, if they offered three days off in between jobs, I would work for them. Anyone know if Schneider offers this time of home time program?

Again, thank you Brett for hosting this site, I've found it very informative and an invaluable tool in helping me get my CDL learners permit.

Regards,

Bill Centreville, Virginina