Roehl's says it has the best home time policy and prides itself on driver staisfaction but this is as usual just a marketing gimmic. Roehl has several schedules you can choose from, 7/3-7/4,7/7,11/3,18/4 etc. For the most part these are a guideline, which is understandable given load logistics.
What they don't tell you is with this policy loads are difficult to coordinate, you won't be home on time and basically you are at the whim of the company without proper compensation or appriciation and you will always be out late never come home early. They dont have enough good planners to properly distribute loads and the dont have enough mechanics to keep trucks and trailers in proper service.
Here is what I have seen and heard personally within the company. I am a 7/3-7/4 driver. I go out and about 4-5 days in they START trying to get me home heading. From WI to the east/south normally 2-3 days out 2-3 days back. Loads are NEVER preplanned in advance out and back, which they should be IF possible. If it doesnt matter when you get home this should be fine. BUT dont make plans cause it will usually never work out.
Trying to GET home is usually the issue. Many drivers sit waiting for loads going in the direction of their respective homes. You often sit for hours or days waiting for your next load. Sitting and waiting is a fact of life in this company. This is usually the biggest complaint in the drivers lounges at terminals. Waiting for loads to go home. Remember you only get paid for miles so here you sit, not at home, not getting paid.
Often if you are sitting waiting to go home you will be met by an 11/3 or more driver who was told to relay a long haul load to you so you could get home, then leaving them left to sit and wait for a load. I've been told by drivers that stay out longer that long haul loads are hard to come by and they usually wind up relaying the load to a driver that needs to get home only to now be running short haul loads. So now these guys that have committed to working longer and be out more for the company are being penalized for helping us guys. I feel bad when this happens but I also want to get home. It doesnt make a lot of sense.
Why arent 7/3-7/4,7/7 drivers doing dedicated, short haul or local runs and the longer scheduled guys doing the longer runs? Of course that would make sense, be logical and most corporations dont operate in logicical terms. It would also make sense to seperate out the two groups so the loads are not always in conflict which each other. Again this would make it difficult for the comapny but they'd have less complaints about getting drivers home and on time.
If you are out late, here is the kicker, which you may or may not have gotten paid for based on whether you sat waiting for a load or were driving, you earn no extra time off.in the case of an 11/3 driver say, if you are out 11 days 3 days off. If you are out 17 days 3 days off. So it benefits the company to purposfully keep you out late as they have a driver on-call, ready to drive at a moments notice. If they dont need him they dont have to pay him. But then when he gets home he is expected to be ready to go after 72 hours off.
Lastly, many times you may be called in early to do a short haul, hot load run and then wind up sitting waiting for your next load several hours or days. If they call you in early they should have your next load planned as an incentive for, or just to show they appriciate you coming in early and loosing home time. Again logical but not practiced.
What all this shows to ME is that this policy is only a gimic and the company REALLY doesnt care about the driver at all only making a buck.
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