Roehl Transport's New Training Contract Is It Fair?

Ok Well I appear to see a general consensus, here. That this "Contract" thing is not as unfair as make it out to be. Or rather it's not seen as unethical or even borderline wrong. The world I live in is changing and I better get used to it, I guess. I just hate to see employers resort back to the stone age where they cut off your right arm and you smile and thank them graciously for leaving you your other arm so you can wipe your arse. If this is ok and is met with little resistance than what's next. Okay I'll sign a contract that if I utter anything negative about the company on social media, I owe you $1,000 dollars per remark. Oh ok sure. Did I mention how wonderful a company you are for hiring me.

I believe there is one very important point you are missing. Several times, thou have made the distinction that this is not cdl school, but on the job training. While you are correct, the part you are missing is that the on the job training is more valuable than what you learn in cdl school. CDL school is just that, it teaches you just enough to get that CDL. That does not make you a trucker. It makes you eligible to learn how to be a trucker.

However, Miracle said the above and got me thinking. It appears that I will learn 20 times more stuff about trucking in 1 week in training than I have learned at my entire time in CDL school. The School Sucked in my opinion. I don't know how I passed with the minimal training that was given. They really didn't care all that much about teaching. Just enough to info to pass that test. So, perhaps, just having my CDL isn't worth as much as I thought it was worth as regards to the educational aspect of it. So, perhaps, I do have a little more gratitude for these starter companies that hire new grads. But I still think the "contract" isn't right and the company made a poor choice to implement it and I believe it will someday come back to bite them and they will eventually withdraw it.

And Just one more gripe I like to add....I read in so many posts about how companies put so much trust in you by putting you in a $100,000 to a 150,000 dollar truck as if it's the biggest responsibility that one could receive. oh wee! Unless I run the thing into a lake or river or I light a match and explode the whole thing, there is very little I can do to completely destroy the value of it. There are millions of people who are in jobs that make them responsible for that kind of money every single day. A restaurant manager(or any property manager), for example, can single-handedly send a way more expensive restaurant/business to its knees by his or her actions or non-actions. But even if I; on the 1 in a million chance; plunge my truck to the bottom of the Hudson river, I seriously doubt I will ruin the company. Besides isn't that what insurance is for...

Okay, I'm done carrying on. I really don't want to be negative. Truly I don't. I'm sorry if I rained on anyone's parade. I just don't know enough about trucking yet to carry any weight, anyhow. I didn't realize that companies made like $50 on a 500 mile load. That shocks me. I don't know what to say about that....Just WOW......So if i do speak negatively about something in the future, I truly hope to be positive in the same breadth. I believe I will. Its just the person I am. I have to remember to be that person.

Just remember one thing, Ruminator. The 75,000 miles is a drop in the bucket, compared to a long, and successful career. I look forward to hearing good things about your new career.

Stay safe

Unless I run the thing into a lake or river or I light a match and explode the whole thing, there is very little I can do to completely destroy the value of it.

I beg to differ. Please read this story of how I totalled a truck to see just how easy it can be.

And it's not just the value of the truck that's on the line. Being out on the road, there are literally thousands of other vehicles you will come dangerously close to every day, and a single momentary mistake can end the lives of those around you, resulting in a multimillion dollar lawsuit. There are lawyers whose entire practice is devoted to suing trucking companies after accidents. I've seen their billboards everywhere.

It would be so easy to end the lives of some innocent soccer mom and her minivan full of kids. I'd say the risk of that happening is much higher than a restaurant manager giving some customers salmonella or something (unless, of course, if he works for Chipotle... Ba-ZING!!!).

Okay, I'm done carrying on. I really don't want to be negative. Truly I don't.

I hope so. Because you barged onto this forum with absolutely nothing but negativity, and I haven't really seen a single shred of "positivity" from you at all. This was what I was talking about in my first response when I said you had the wrong attitude. Negative thinking breeds negative results. If you keep that up, your entire experience in this industry will be one big self-fulfilling prophecy. So like you said, remember to be that positive person. Good luck and let us know what happens!

So like you said, remember to be that positive person. Good luck and let us know what happens!

Well said PC... Yesterday I came across a youtube trucker that I thought would be good to check out. The first 3 videos I clicked on were all negative rants about other youtube truckers, flying J's bad food, and how crooked youtube is. Who wants to listen to that? He complained at length on how he got food poisoning twice from flying J's, yet he continues to go back and get bad food.

Some people are just not happy unless they are telling others how miserable they are.

Well Yes, A Tractor Trailer is a big responsibility as it relates to DRIVING it. Yes Absolutely Important. I thought about posting a correction to that comment afterwards but I wasn't home when I thought about it. But, anyway, so many people relate to it as a monetary value that you receive as part of the company's trust in you. When they really should be saying that they are trusting you with a potential killing machine if not operated safely. To hell with actual value$ of it. It could be worth 10 million dollars, it doesn't really the matter how much it costs, if you hurt someone with it.

Ruminator sees potential:

they are trusting you with a potential killing machine if not operated safely.

That "potential" is exactly why there's so much safety pounded into students. Everything from "Get Out And Look" to 8 seconds following distance, to 10 hour breaks and even some of the 62 mph speed governing is all about safe driving.

And true, some drivers skip these things trying to make more money.

Ya know, if I went to any recruiting manager and asked, "What is your nightmare hiring scenario?" She would say:

If I work for a month or two and find this career isnt right for me or the Job isn't a good fit for me, I would like to be able to quit and be done with it.

If I went down the hall to the safety manager and asked, "What kind of driver attitude is your worst nightmare?" he would say:

Unless I run the thing into a lake or river or I light a match and explode the whole thing, there is very little I can do to completely destroy the value of it. Besides isn't that what insurance is for...

And if I went down the hall to the operations manager and asked, "What type of misconceptions either prevent drivers from being productive or create problems when it comes to retaining drivers" he would say:

....the average company revenue per truck per month is like 16k so if you subtract salary, fuel, equipment costs, etc then lets say conservatively that's 11k a month, then that leaves 4k. That's 4k a month easy that they make off you. Do they really need their training costs back?

So as you can see, you have quite a long list of very serious misconceptions about the trucking industry. In fact, you really are the ultimate hiring nightmare as of this moment but I'm certain that is changing already. But to this point you've had nothing but a long list of wrong assumptions and poorly thought out approaches that would almost certainly lead to a very bad ending for you, your career, and possibly others caught up in the collateral damage if you were to show up today for day one of your trucking career.

Fortunately, we're the ones to come to when you want to learn how the trucking industry works and prepare to get your career off to a great start. Go through our Truck Driver's Career Guide from beginning to end and follow all of the links you come across. Also read My Book which is free right here on the website. Those two resources will give you a ton of insights into how this industry operates and help you prepare for the start of your career.

You seem very open to our explanations and you're not offended when we explain that something is quite different than you thought it was. Those are both incredibly good signs. That gives me tremendous confidence that things will work out well for you. Like everyone, you just need to learn a lot in the beginning and I think you will. Someone with a great attitude who is teachable can do great in this industry. There are a ton of people who could have gone on to be great drivers but only lasted a very short time out there because their attitude is so poor. They get in wrecks, they get in arguments everywhere they go, they're late all the time; they're basically a neverending nightmare.

Keep your mind open, keep asking questions, and keep working through the materials we have. We'll certainly do all we can to help out at the same time.

OK x company paid for your training and you find out that this just ain't for you you are going to look at company abcdefg to see which ones better and not quit trucking all together... So your taking the cost if training from x and moving to abcdefg that is why company x has that contract... Would you pay for training a employee and he/she jumps ship with the knowledge to go to a competitor no you would be mad...

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

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.