Comments By Ruminator

Oops, I just realized you did mean to say Schneider in both instances, sorry. Anyway, my answer is still the same...Hope it helps..

One of those choices I assume should have been listed as Roehl. You have Schneider listed twice. Anyway, makes no difference in my reply. I have researched both companies but only for Northeast Regional (got job offers for both) and not the dedicated jobs. Both Regional and Dedicated assignments say weekly home time; so I believe its the same criteria. You will basically be Home on weekends. Now Don't quote me on this as I'm not 100% sure. It's home on Saturday morning and back to work for Monday morning. Sometimes; it could be Late Friday night til Monday Morning. However, If you go home with a load then depending on where you have to deliver you may have leave late Sunday night or real early Monday. It will be hard to say exactly, a lot of variables at play. But you should be home 90% of the time in the range of: by Noon on Saturday till like 9 pm Sunday. They give you a minimum 34 reset period for the most part: especially when HOS rules mandate it. If you need a Friday or Monday off or a Tuesday/Wednesday off once in a while, they will work with you , especially if you need go to appointments or do certain things that can only be done on weekdays but don't count on that on a regular basis. Maybe once every other month in the beginning, and then more forgiving after you've been there for awhile and have proven yourself a good driver.

Umm.. Yes, there is no"legal" buffer. I never said there was 5 mph buffer "law" We are just talking about the wildly popular "5 mph" leeway that is understood...but rarely enforced. If you do get a ticket for going 1 mph over speed limit, chances are you were also pulled over for other reasons beside the 1 mph over speed. So, unless it was, perhaps, in a construction zone, then I would fight that ticket. You have a good chance to have it dismissed when that officer doesn't show up in court to fight it, at 1 mph over, it will rarely be worth his time unless there were other offenses you received when you got pulled over or you were disrespectful to the officer.

Just my opinion only

I have a friend that is a state trooper. He says his rule of thumb is simple: "9 you're fine... 10 you're mine"

Lol I like that rhyme. Nice One.... Which confirms my thinking. Anyway, I just want to add that I mostly obey the exact speed limit but if I feel the speed limit is a bit unfair, too low, at say 50/55 with nothing but trees and farmland around than I will go to 5 mph over and stay about there because I don't feel like having my eyes glued to every nook and cranny a cop might be hiding in(especially when most of my attention is being used texting on my cellphone) haha

If I go over 10 or more it's because the consequences of not getting somewhere in time is worth the risk of a ticket and I'm making damn sure that I'm looking at every nook and cranny.

My thinking about the speed limit is that I have the understanding that there is a 5 mph buffer. Since trying to keep exactly perfectly steady on an accelerator isn't humanly possible....even on cruise control there are variances when you encounter uphills and downhills. So any reasonable person or (cop) shouldn't fault you if they clock you doing say 63 in a 60...because were only human and we need time to be aware of the subtle increase in speed and make the proper adjustments. However a more than 5 mph difference should be detected easily by a driver.

Anyway, my experience also tells me that there is alot of people who drive 10 mph or more on a regular basis because police scanning the highways are for the most part not often. If you say traveled say 10-15 miles back and forth from your (old non trucking) job on a major highway you would maybe encounter a cop once every 20 times and more than half the time you saw them they already have someone else pulled over for whatever reason. So to get to my point is that as a cop I would not waste my time with a 5-7 mph law breaker because there will always be someone coming along doing 10 mph or faster in addition to a higher dollar amount fine that comes with it. Plus it allows the cop to on occasion to act like a good guy and say "I clocked you doing 72 in a 60 but I'm ONLY going to ticket you for going 65. That way you really can't complain about the 65 because you know you were going faster than that, maybe not 72 you think but certainly at least 65. So you don't complain or "fight" the ticket and the cop appears to be the "nice" guy. In order to do this you have to be going more than 10 mph. Do people get tickets for doing exactly 5 mph over speed limit and ticket for that exact speed, im sure they do but I think its very very rare and usually happens by those ego-driven small town cops that are desperate for money for their borough.

However, You have to be careful, with a tractor trailer, if you staying with the flow of traffic and everyone around you at the moment is going around 5-10 mph over. Any reasonable person(cop) if given the choice would pick out the tractor trailer to pull over rather than a "4 wheeler" due to being more dangerous at that higher speed.

Ok I see what happens you ran to 2000 in 4th and did not realize it. So you shifted to 5th and then to 6th. Trying to correct the high rpms am I right? What I would have done is skiped 5th and gone to 6th at that point. You are progressively shifting up and acclerating at the same time your rpms will be high intell you get your speed down for there gear you are in or get into a higher gear for the speed. Dose that make sense?

Ah I see. I think you hit the nail on head with my problem. Thank you. The way I was shifting I'm guessing since I let the rpms get to high in 4th to begin with that made me constantly "behind" I'm guessing. So when I went to 5th I made the engine want to be in 6th and when I went to 6th then my engine wanted to be in 7th etc etc. So I should have skipped a gear at some point to "catch up" or let off the throttle a little or tapped the brake to allow my rpms to fall to 1500 and then I could go through my upshifts(in numerical order). And since I was trying to get up to 45 mph quickly, the best choice should have been to just skip a gear then. I don't remember this happening in school where the instructor told me to skip a gear when this happens and I'm sure it happened. But when it did happen I must of either had to come to stop right after due to a turn coming up or a stop sign or light, etc. so I never really saw what I would have had to do if I kept upshifting in numerical order while trying to also accelerate quickly. Never really was taught about skipping gears but I know I have accidently skipped a gear before and the truck didn't respond very well to that because I was naturally set up for the next numerical gear. So I guess I thought skipping a gear while upshifting was a no-no. But it alright to do given the circumstance but I shouldn't make habit of it I guess, Right?

I know that I should be upshifting at 1500-1600 rpms but at the time I was watching my tandem clear the turn and I believe I was also on the throttle a little when it did make the turn and I was moving straight . That's when I saw the tach at about 2000 and climbing... So I thought a shift to 5th would put me back into 1100-1500 range but it didn't...and when the same thing happened and I went to 6th it also didn't "correct" ....it didn't drop in gear smooth at 2000 but it didn't grind either ...

Here the situation. I'm driving a 2009 freightliner with 10 speed manual. First time driving this truck. I'm hauling like 20,000 lbs max load weight, I believe, it's a "training" tractor trailer. Ok, I just turned onto a road from a stop in 4th gear at 10 mph. (Actually started off in 2nd and shifted to 3rd then 4th before I turned) This is the speed and gear I'm being told to make turns in. I'm also told that 5th equals 15mph and 6th equals 20mph, etc.. After I straighten out I need to eventually get the truck to the the speed limit of 45 and I'm on a level road.. With my foot on the throttle in 4th I look down and my Speed is 15mph which is the speed I need to be in to go to 5th but I see that my rpms are at 2000 and climbing...not understanding why that is; I decide to quickly shift to 5th and immediately hit the throttle again so I can quickly get to 20mph and my next shift point (6th)..However my Rpms only fell to like 1700 I think because they're back above 2000 almost instantly and I'm not even at 20mph yet....I'm at like 17...so I just go ahead and shift to 6th. Foot quickly back on the throttle. Same problem, my rpms instantly rise above 2000 again but now my speed has only crept up to like 19/20...

What do I do?

My next shift point is 7th/25mph.... But I'm not close to 25mph because I'm still at 20 but yet my rpms are really high at 2000 and climbing? If I let off the throttle to let my rpms fall then my speed also falls and I don't want to do that Right? Because I need to get with the flow of traffic because 20 in a 45 isn't really safe and I have no reason to be traveling that slow...

It doesn't seem like I can get the engine to normal and can barely get the truck going in a timely manner..

What was I doing wrong?

Or is this truck flawed? Or is this carrier wrong that 5th = 15, 6th=20, I was taught in school that it's 5th = 10, 6th = 15.

Hey all, I know I picked on Roehl a lot in this thread and I'm gone go off topic a little here, (not gonna talk about the contract thing from which I started talking about. So I just want to end this thread with a few positives that I liked about Roehl and the reasons they were in the running as my first company to start with. This mostly from talking with a recruiter and personal research. I did not go to their training or anything.

1. Their CPM rate is a little on the low side at .32, however you do jump to .36 in 6 months. but then they do quarterly raises instead of Bonuses. With Bonuses you get it one monthor quarter then not get it the next. but with the raises which average 1-2 cents cpm they dont go away really. They're permanent. You have at least 2 consecutive poor performance quarters to possibly get your CPM downgraded. Which you probably have to basically do a complete "180" performance wise for that to happen.

2. They have newer equipment. average age 2 yrs. and they seem to maintain them well. Nice Red sharp color. They have Epu's which is almost the same as APU's which a lot of new drivers are looking to have in their trucks. and I liked the idea of them, too.

3. They have a decent retirement plan. where as they do have 401k's (but with a zero match) and reason that is, is they also have a stock ownership type retirement plan, I forget what they call it exactly. but basically for the last 25 years they contribute approx 2k-3k (4% of your pay I think) in your account every single year and that adds up over time. It's nice if you are living paycheck to paycheck to a degree and cannot really put much of anything into a 401k no matter how much a company might match you. Roof over your head and food on the table is the naturally , the main priority. So with the stock plan at least some kind of nest egg is being built for you and the company is still relatively small where as I don't consider them a Mega-Carrier like Schneider, Swift etc. so there's room for growth and expansion in leaps and bounds there and that will help to increase stock value. 4. Their Home time mantra seems to be the real deal. their 7/7 14/7 and 7/3*7/4 are nice, but their 5/2 jobs i was told my 2 days off didn't always have to be Sat/Sun. If I wanted to do a Fri/ Sat or Sun/Mon or even a Tues/Wed on occasion I could easily do that so one can make appointments or do business that can only be made on a weekday for example. Im sure other companies will work with you in the same regard but to a degree, however, I got the impression that Roehl will be much more accommodating.

So Thats it. Like I said I want to put this contract issue thread to rest which I kinda did in previous posts already. and say something positive about the company. I dont want to be like many people who rip a company apart about something but fail to mention what they didn't have issues with...The more positive side.. And if things don't work out with Schneider in the beginning, then I'm not against working for Roehl...

Ruminator signing off :)

They do have business to know, that's why they need a copy of your medical card. It's their business to know the physical condition of their drivers. That includes drugs prescribed and some of your basic physical condition. Why do they need to know this? The FMCSA requires it. It's not privileged by HIPAA.

Well, I found you're kinda right about needing to know about medications. At Schneider, I knew my info was being given to a Doctor/Nurse for evaluation and not, God knows who, at Roehl when I faxed that info into them. It was the same Fax number for non-medical info that I needed to fax into them. However, with Schneider, I just need to have my physician fax a letter(medical fax #) that my condition is "stable" . One question, One Answer. Done.

Also, I found that Roehl wanted to do their Drug testing when you arrived at Orientation. Therefore, you would be there for a couple of days before everything checked out and you're were good to go. But Schneider had my drug test done locally where I live a week before orientation so I knew the results before the trip. Roehl had me signed up for orientation in Atlanta, Ga Terminal via Airplane from Pennsylvania. And if for some reason something came up in my drug test and I couldn't continue, I would have to find my own way home.......From Atlanta..!!! It's kind of strange, in my opinion, that they hire, specifically, Northeast Regional.. but the 2 closest Terminals are Chicago area and Atlanta. So there's this huge land mass area where they don't have a "presence" .

Anyway, Schneider is my choice now. I've chosen my Fate wither it was based on mis-information or not or my misconception of the trucking industry in general. Don't know if I'll regret it or not. I don't think I will. Schneider....Roehl....Kind of a toss-up..... I'm just gonna do my best to learn what I can learn and work hard and after awhile I will know a hell of a lot more than I do now. And then I can make informed decisions about my trucking career. It's the my 2nd company(hopefully last) that I choose that will define my career and what I want to do for the rest of my life......