Comments By Nate_K

Only you can answer that but tell you what......

I gave up my job making $36/hr to drive truck.

Not because I will make more money (I won't) but because I hated my job and love driving.

For me it wasn't about the money, it was about being happy.

Wow Nate, you really missed the whole point of this very good discussion. Ruminator isn't even a driver yet and he seems to have a teachable approach to all of this, while you, who have already started your career, are not even able to help in this discussion because you don't seem to understand how we are trying to help him be a success at this instead of just another statistic.

Maybe I am wrong but all I have heard is him go on and on about how Roehl is a poor company because they require a commitment. Obviously he has done ZERO research on Roehl or else he would know that it is very difficult to find any negative feedback on Roehl.

I think it is easier to point him in the direction of what he wants "a company with no commitment" than to try to convert him to embracing the commitment.

You convince him that the commitment isn't a big deal and then in 3 months if he quits he is on the hook and he is back complaining that you guys set him up.

Personally I was turned off by the commitment myself. Almost took Roehl off my short list of companies because of it. But then I thought of it like this. I gotta get my 1 year in with my first company regardless of who it is. So if Roehl offered me 95% of what I wanted why would I say no and take less elsewhere to avoid the contract? When I thought about it, the Army offered me nothing I wanted and I gave them 5 years so I guess 1 year for the things I want is a smart move.

In the last 10 days I have been to 2 drop yards and 3 terminals.

We get routed to terminals if they are close for fuel.

Personally I like going to terminals. Shower is clean, laundry is free, and not as crowded as truck stops.

Showers at terminals only get cleaned once or twice a day... Truckstops after every use... Think about that..

My childhood shower was in the basement on bricks with rafters exposed. When you raised your arm to clean your pit you would get a hand full of cob webs. In Iraq you had to walk down a hall of a makeshift shower tent through 3" of sand coming in and going out of the shower.

They could clean those showers once a month and they would still be cleaner than what I have experienced. ;)

I didn't say truck stop showers weren't clean, I just said the terminal had clean showers, free laundry, and are not crowded like truck stops.

Sorry if anybody missed a post last night. Will be happy to explain why.

Day 10 with trainer.

We woke up and headed down to the shipper about 30 minutes away from where we slept. Arrived to see they offered over night parking. Gee thanks for sharing that info Roehl.

At least 15 trucks in line and I head inside. Imagine my surprise when she gave us a door right away.

Got loaded fairly quickly and was off to one of our yards to drop this load and then in the morning head for home.

By day 8 I am running on recap hours and I had just enough hours to get us to the drop yard. Actually had 21 minutes to spare when we pulled in the gate.

Dropped the trailer and hooked up to an empty and then we blew another brake chamber. That's 2 in 2 days. So trainer called it in and they said bring it home. We were about 30 minutes from terminal.

Since I was out of hours trainer drove us to terminal.

Once at terminal I quickly packed up my stuff and headed for home.

So I am now done with a trainer. On Monday I will test out. Not 100% sure what that consists of but will let everyone know.

Sometime before then I will get on a computer and give a recap of my experiences with a trainer on the road.

In the last 10 days I have been to 2 drop yards and 3 terminals.

We get routed to terminals if they are close for fuel.

Personally I like going to terminals. Shower is clean, laundry is free, and not as crowded as truck stops.

Plenty of companies don't ask for a commitment. Forget Roehl or Millis (they do) and look at England, Werner, Schneider (they don't).

Day 9 with trainer.

Well today has been a very long day. Started out good but noticed air pressure kept dropping so got to the terminal for repairs.

That set us behind a few hours. I did at least get a shower so not all bad.

Dropped our load and found a place to park for the night.

Tomorrow we get loaded and drop the load at one of our drop yards. Then off days.

The $3,150 is confusing in OP post, IF, The employer decides you don't fit in anymore, and terminate you, how could THEY expect to repaid training expenses, when they"broke the contract", sending you packing?? Bonus and advance $$ I can see that being owed back

If they let you go before you go solo you owe nothing. Once you go solo your on the hook.

Roehl is not gonna send you out solo if they don't think you can handle it.

This morning we had to make a delivery and arrived at the consignee.

I went inside to get the scoop and when I came back out a guy was trying to back into the dock. It wasn't the worst dock but wasn't gravy either.

Well he was struggling really bad and the next guy in line was having a fit talking on the radio telling him to get out of the way and pulling his truck up into the space just being a jerk.

So the first guy pulls out of the way to let Mr. Impatient go and then once the hot head was situated he tried again. With a little help from another driver he was in there.

Don't be afraid to slow down and regroup. If you have to let a hothead cut in front of you so be it. When you get flustered and rush accidents happen.

At this point in the morning we didn't even have a pre-plan for after we got unloaded and I ended up letting another truck go before me just because it gave me extra room to maneuver.

I transfered my CA permit to WI with some struggle.