TurboTrucker & Brickman: I started this thread several months ago, and actually posted it to The Inside Scoop discussion board, with the subject as: "Maverick Specialized vs. Maverick Transportation". I’m not sure how it got moved to the Report a Bad... discussion board, but that is when others started voicing their own complaints. I’m not sure what TBird’s tipping point was, but I am reaching mine. And TBird – if you are still listening, I, for one, would like to know what was the straw that prompted you to quit Specialized.

I chose Maverick because of its great reputation, and I know the Flatbed Division has many happy drivers. But drivers considering a future with Maverick really need to know that Specialized is run like an entirely separate company. Even when I have called Little Rock directly to try and resolve a problem, I am told “that is handled through…”, or “you need to call Specialized for that”. If Specialized had responded to me in the first place, it wouldn’t have been necessary to call Little Rock.

TurboTrucker, you wanted facts only. Here are some that everyone can chew on.

Let me start by saying that I have tried going to the top twice. Both times I have sent e-mails that were calmly presented, with detailed facts. One email was about being forced to exceed 70 hours in order to make a delivery to Canada – even though I advised the STL I would not have enough hours. Then, after the load was dropped and I was 2 hours over the 70, I was ordered – and I do mean ordered – to pick up two backhauls. By the time I could take the 34-hour reset, I was at 84 hours. I copied all of the macros that involved those loads, and sent them by email with my complaint. I can’t say what happened to the STL or CSR that forced the loads on me, but the result for me was a written notice of HOS violation.

Specialized Division trailers are old, broken down and faulty. To accommodate backhauls, converters are required, and to break down a converter from glass for the backhaul takes about 2 hours - if it is in good repair. 90% of the time something is wrong that can take up to 4 hours to repair - and for that we receive an additional $20. I have red-tagged every converter that I have taken back to the yard, and have picked up the same trailer later, with the same thing still wrong. I started making phone calls and sending emails to the STL, when I red-tagged a trailer, in hopes that something would actually be done to repair them, but I continue to red-tag almost every trailer I drop at the yard.

Very seldom is a day shorter than 14 hours, and typically I have reached my 70 hours in 5/6 days, with very little time to spare on Friday waiting at the Laurinburg terminal to pickup a load to get me “through” home on the weekend. I have waited in Laurinburg as long as 14 hours for a load, and have learned not to log On-Duty until the load is ready to roll. It is not unusual to arrive home in the early morning hours on Saturday, with just 34-hours, if I am to make on-time delivery Monday morning. There has only been one time I have arrived home before 10:00pm on a Friday night, even though I typically arrive in Laurinburg Thursday night.

Support is extremely lacking. One example in particular is a Friday I thought I was given a good load. Rather than Laurinburg, I picked up in Ohio, with delivery to a plant only 80 miles from home. It was looking like I would actually make it home in time for Friday happy hour - a first since starting with Maverick. Because the Shipper was late loading, I sent a macro advising STL and CSR I would be one hour late for delivery appointment, and requested they contact consignee (we are not allowed to do so). When I arrived for delivery, I was told they had never heard from CSR or STL, and since I had missed appointment, would have to wait for opening. As the night drug into the early morning hours, I sent several macros and made several phone calls to Maverick's second shift, requesting help with speeding up the unload process. When I had only 1-1/2 hours left on the 70 (just enough time to make it home), I made one final phone call requesting that I be allowed to drop trailer, head home, and pick-up trailer Monday morning. Request was denied, and I was ordered to stay at Consignee and take 10-hour break. In summary: Arrived at shipper 5:00 PM; waited until 3:00 AM for unload. Logged 5:00PM to 3:00 AM as 10-hour, and made it home in time for morning coffee.

I have been tracking my averages and here are some of the results:

• A typical work week averages 79 actual hours in five days, even though I only log an average of 62 hours on-duty. While waiting at shippers/consignees, I log off duty, so I can save hours to make it through home for my reset. Home is 7 hours from the Laurinburg terminal, and there are times I have just enough hours to make it home before the 70 runs out.
• I deliver 2 to 3 loads a week, with average hours spent actually driving at 45.5 hours. Average on-duty time is 16.5 hours (either load/unload or repairing faulty trailers), and average off-duty (waiting) time is 17 hours. That means 21.5% of my week is spent waiting at shippers/consignees. I can’t increase my drive-time, because it will mean exceeding the 14.
• With all of the waiting spent at shippers/consignees, my average miles per week are about 2100. I have seen Flatbed division drivers quote an average of 2400 miles per week, and some as high as 2800. So, even though Specialized pays 1 cent more per mile, the Flatbed division drivers actually make more, with less aggravation. (2100 x .41 = $861; 2400 x .40 = $960)

In the seven months I have been with Specialized, I have had to take the 34-hour reset at a truck stop 4 times, and have spent 9 weekends away from home – 70% home time – not the 97% Maverick has the reputation for. I’m not entirely sure if this is the result of poor scheduling, or the lack of drivers to cover loads. With all of the drivers quitting, I’m guessing it is a combination of both, and an endless cycle.

While I’m sure there are growing pains, the people at the top have responded to the problems - not by demanding better of the Specialized STL’s and CSR’s - but, rather, by writing a different Policy Manual for the Specialized Division – just released last month. Here is a quote from the new Specialized Division manual:

1. In case of family emergencies, you will get home as soon as possible.
2. An over the road driver can expect to stay out for about 12 days at a time
3. Every 12 days we will get you through home for approximately 48 hours
4. For a major event in your immediate family, such as a wedding or graduation, give us proper notice and will work to get you home.

They have even changed their website, to reflect the new policy. Now there are two separate web pages for the Flatbed vs. Specialized division. Check out their website (drivemaverick). If you choose the link for the Flatbed Division, and look at the Benefits listed on the left side, you will see: “97% of fleet home weekends”. But if you look at the Specialized Division, the Benefits read: “Great Home Time”. Another difference is the $52,500 1st year average with the Flatbed Division. The Specialized Division doesn’t make that claim - most likely because it is impossible with only 2100 miles per week.

Maverick has had seven months to resolve the problems and growing pains associated with the purchase of a new company. Rather than demand better of the people responsible for the growing number of empty trucks, they have chosen to penalize the drivers. Until they choose to fully incorporate Specialized into Transportation, and insist on STLs and CSRs with the same competence and support offered to the Flatbed Division, they will not be able to keep drivers in the Specialized Division.

And, TurboTrucker, that is the future of Maverick’s reputation.

Ollie I think you will find that myself and Turbo stated exactly what you said at the end of your post.

I hope you can work some thing out with them, move to the flat side or find some thing that works better for you. Life is too short to go thru that much aggravation all the time.

You might ask why do I care? I have no dog in this fight, I am not a Mav employee or O/O, and have no intentions of moving any time soon to an area where I would be eligble for hire. How ever the reason I care about their reputation is the fact that up until their purchase of the specialized division it seemed from all reports that there was a decent company that wasn't taking advantage of their drivers. That is if you wanted to run flat. After all the bad companies it was refreshing to know that there was at least one large carrier that had a good reputation.
However like I said before that reputation is going to go down the drain very quickly if they cannot fix the problems on the specialized side of things. That will drag down their good reputation on the flatbed side.

Best of luck in finding a workable solution to what seems pretty bad right now.

Is it possible you could move to the flat side?

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I moved it because the "Inside scoop" section is taylored to questions people have, and I tried to separate the Specialized unit from the transportation unit, to keep things less confusing.

I’m not sure what TBird’s tipping point was, but I am reaching mine. And TBird – if you are still listening, I, for one, would like to know what was the straw that prompted you to quit Specialized.

I understand and am seeing that the specialized side is having much more problems at this time. I've said so, based on some apparently credible posts.

By all means.

I won't criticize anything you state, because it happens. Personally, I wouldn't be forced to violate those rules by a soul on this planet. But I understand the circumstances that would lead others to do so. There was a time I was intimidated too. Today, it's a different thing for me, because I've got way too many credit cards in my pocket with no balances on them.

You understand that those trailers were inherited from Schneider. I'm sure in time that they will be replaced.

This is a common complaint that is being offered. I wouldn't put up with it either.

{SNIPPED}

I don't think I have defended Maverick to any great degree, other than to the extent that their safety ratings are very good. The Specialized Division is drawing some bad blood, and I've offered an acknowledgment of that fact.

They screwed the Schneider drivers when they came over, and I'm sure that many of them have moved on to biegger and better things. That's been expressed a time or two.

What you offer and what the others have offered that I wanted stopped are far different. You offered details and you do it without venom in your fingers.

For that, I thank you. Your post was excellent. It will give others who may be considering the Specialized Division enough to take pause. I hope they straighten things out, because based on your post alone, and because I find it completely credible, I wouldn't consider that division at all.

True, You don't have a horse in this race but since you wanta saddle up. Here's a spur under your saddleblanket(FACT).. The straw that broke it is as follows!! Picked up preloaded trailer, correct bills,correct trailer,seemed to be the correct glass. (ALL glass appears the same ) Drove to Minn. untarped,unsecured, unloading began. Customer realized not the right product.. Called my stl. after hours past. Finally it was discovered that the wrong glass was shipped to Minn. Same was happening in Miami.... Hours past............. Next DAY stl decided to dispatch this on to Miami (ASAP nonstop)Instructed to have it in MIAMI,FL. next morning!!! 80,000#,65mph truck, 3ft. snow and more falling, informed stl(David) not possible. Instructed me to do it or ELSE!!Atempted to try to get it done. 36 hrs later delivered Miami. Never got paid for this whole trip. Called told me they had no intentions of paying me nor will they ever pay me. Other trips have also been overlooked on payroll as well. Keep in mind that our payroll comes from Little Rock office, and they make a lot of foolish decisions regarding the Laurinburg term.Contacted L.R. they say this is the way it is deal with it or leave, in which we will DAC you, and no other company, will look at you. Made one more outing to Can. again. Had enough time in past my 6 month period to tell them to stick it!!!! Here's the kicker,, I'm now with another rather large company, that has recognized my abilities, education level, past experience, and professionalism, that Mav seemed to overlook Tbird...

I have not approached the possibility of transferring to the Flatbed Division, as the general movement in the company is to encourage Flatbed drivers to transfer to Specialized.

Tbird, thanks for sharing your experience. I started with your STL, and insisted on a transfer from his board after only one month. I have heard numerous complaints about him – yet he remains. In my 7 months with Specialized, I have been on the board of 4 different STL’s. The best week I had with the company, in terms of scheduling and support was with an STL that was let go a week after I was moved to his board. Was told the reason was cutbacks, and he was low man on the totem pole - bad business decision. Decision should have been based on competence, and your STL should be looking for a new job right now.

TurboTrucker, I checked some of your other posts, and see that your assessment of Maverick’s safety rating was taken from SafeStat and ISS-D ratings. Unfortunately, the ISS-D is only a snapshot view that changes monthly. It would be helpful if they chose to show the history of the ISS-D along with the SEA scores.

I first started tracking Maverick’s SafeStat and ISS-D rating the end of December, to compare with other companies I was considering. At that time (12/22/06) the ISS-D rating for Maverick Transportation was a 93, and Specialized a 32. The three divisions were operating under separate DOT numbers. Effective January 7, all three were merged under one DOT number, with a 30-day transition period. So, the 1/26/07 ISS-D had no score, based on insufficient information. Now the 2/23/07 score for Maverick Transportation is 36. Based on the methodology used to generate the scores (rolling off after 30 months & averaging number of power units), Maverick Transportation is able to take advantage of the fact that Specialized only had 7 months of history, and their power units aren’t included in the current average. I’m sure you will see the score start to climb each month.

Since you compared Maverick’s score of 36 to TMC’s score of 97, I have taken a look at both. If you compare the monthly History of Driver Inspection Indicator, you will see that TMC and Maverick are very close – in fact TMC is a couple of points lower, but is unquestionably higher than Maverick’s Vehicle Inspection Indicator. What is hurting TMC’s ISS-D indicator and SafeStat score is the Compliance review they had in March 06, that won’t roll off for 18 months. Maverick has not had a compliance review since 1994, and I have no doubt that were they to have a compliance review today, their score would be greatly affected.

I have downloaded the data for both companies, and run a comparison, using only the period 7/1/06 to 12/31/06, where both companies were static: Mav Spec is not included in calculations, and TMC’s compliance review is removed: Here are the comparisons:

Maverick – 1001 power units

Driver Inspections: 369.
Inspections with OSS violations: 30 – 8.13% of Drivers inspected
Moving Violations: 89 – 8.89% of drivers
Vehicle Inspections: 226
Vehicles with OSS violations: 16 – 7.08% of vehicles inspected
Non-Injury Accidents: 9 – 0.9% of total vehicles
Injury Accidents: 14 – 1.4% of total vehicles
Fatal Accidents: 3 – 0.3% of vehicles

TMC – 2751 power units

Driver Inspections: 1621.
Inspections with OSS violations: 83 – 5.12% of Drivers inspected
Moving Violations: 201 – 7.31% of drivers
Vehicle Inspections: 962
Vehicles with OSS violations: 163 – 16.94% of vehicles inspected
Non-Injury Accidents: 54 – 1.96% of total vehicles
Injury Accidents: 17 – 0.62% of total vehicles
Fatal Accidents: 2 – 0.07% of vehicles

Applying the methodology and severity weighting used to generate the ISS-D to only the six static months, the final score would be: Maverick 41.20 and TMC 42.27. So, keep watching. I’m sure you will see Maverick’s ISS-D rating start to climb.

I'm not sure why that info is so outdated, gooberment's fault I guess. I saw the same thing for my company and I know for a fact that that is not true.

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Sorry...I don't buy one word of it.

Why?

Because you could scour the web for a month and not find any complaint about Maverick Specialized that comes close to the likes of yours, unless you created an alter-ego and wrote it yourself.

But...it's your story, and you're free to stick to it all you want, and it's posted. I'm, happy that you've moved on from a situation that you found detestable.

I'm quite sure that the conditions that come with glass hauling would not be something that I would be interested in dealing with, because my eyes have been opened to a few things I was not aware of in regard to it, as has been posted by others, and there are issues with the specialized division at Maverick that apparently do need to be addressed to better satisfy the drivers, but YOUR assertions are over the top, strictly in my opinion.

What bothers me about your story is that even if that division has absorbed Schneider's management that was in place when it was owned by them, the claims are still incredible. Schneider is also a company with a better than average reputation, and between the two, they never garner the kind of complaints that you have offered. They make no sense. And some of the recent posts offered by at least one other person are suspect too, for reasons I will not state at this point and time.

It pains me to have to discount someone's word, but as most people know, I'm equally critical on those that attempt to paint perfect rembrant's of a company that is known to have problems.

I call 'em the way I see 'em.

As I stated before Tubby, you have no horse in this race!

The ISS-D score is based on no less than 18 months of recent history. Most is based on the most recent 2-2.5 years of data. The history is there, and some of the detailed data can be found for five years in some cases. It is not used though in the calculations beyond the 24-30 month timeframes though.

I have never seen Maverick's ISS score ever as high as 93. I look at these things on a regular basis. But I cannot state that what you offer in having seen it that high is totally incorrect. I'll take your word on that.

The authority history shows that they inactivated Specialized on 1/03/07, and folded it into Transportation (This I did not know - I've never seen a revoked carrier that still had a current safestat record online.). But this should not have changed any current score that Transportation would have had. The first updated MCS-150 filed in that month or in February would have shown an increase in power units, but the score would have remained as it was with data on both ends (the most recent 18, 24, and 30 month applicable data to the date of filing) affecting any change in the score.

I do not know exactly when they began the change from the ISS-2 to the ISS-D that was completed last week, but during that changeover there were periods where I'm sure that all carriers had no score available.

I'm sorry, but that is simply not the case. What are you looking at?

The March 7, 2007 review of TMC is not being used in the SMSEA calculation. It has not been closed yet. The review that is included in that calculation was closed on May 8, 2006, where 49 counts of log falsification were settled.

The driver SEA's are not even close either. Maverick's DRSEA is 57.73 and TMC's is 92.66 with 75.00 being the point where that score becomes inadequate. Vehicle SEA's are far different as well. Maverick's stands at 18.78 and TMC's stands at 47.76, but neither of those are deficient numbers. They both are below 75, so they are not used to calculate the SMSEA.

That's a distortion of the data. The fact that TMC was subjected to a compliance review is due to their HISTORY of elevated SEA's. Maverick has not triggered the need for such a review.

Accident data is not being used in calculations for either company as well.

A presumption that Maverick would suddenly rise to the unsafe level that TMC currenty is weathering may or may not be the case if they were audited. I don't see anything that suggests to me that they are in need of auditing.

You're free to hold that opinion, but that's just about the extent of it. I have a right to my own.