My Experience with Maverick (so far)!

I thought I would post some info on the experience I have had with Maverick since I arrived to orientation. I realize there are some other threads on here but they are a little older so I figured I would give anyone considering coming here some info.

I chose to fly to Little Rock as opposed to taking the bus. My recruiter assured me that I would be reimbursed what the bus ticket would have cost (which I was), which ended up being $13 dollars less than the plane...no brainer there! I landed about 8:00 pm Saturday night and after dealing with the screwed up cab service finally arrived at the terminal around 9:30pm. This place is huge! I checked in at the guard shack, got my packet of info and went to my room at the Maverick Hilton. We started orientation with about 20 people at 7:00am Sunday, and all the other days we started at 6:30am. We were usually out by 5:30pm or so. Monday was the drug test (urine and hair follicle) as well as the physical and physical agility test. The agility test was pretty easy! Everyone in my group passed. The rest of orientation was probably similar to what you would expect...company policies, map reading, a lot of safety stuff ect....no driving test unless you are an experienced driver. One thing I noticed is how structured and professional everything was handled and how knowledgeable everyone was! Orientation went good! My advice to anyone is from the time you arrive in Little Rock till you leave is be professional, follow their rules, be early for everything and take good noted for all the quizzes. They are easy and they practically give you the answers if you write them down. And fyi, early is on time!! After orientation, they moved some of us down to the Galloway Inn right down the street. I was glad!!!

We received our job offers on Thursday and headed out to the barn for securement training. You will love the barn!!! Again, take really good notes....you will need them. I think we took around 17 quizzes during securement training. Again, all notes are allowed so if you fail it is pretty much your own fault. They are very no nonsense in the barn for a reason...this is a very dangerous job and it must be taken seriously at all times or very bad things can and will happen! For each different item they go over, you get a slide show, a demonstration, a video plus you go out to the barn and actually do the build then take the quiz. If anyone struggles, they will do whatever they can to help you. They don't just want you to pass, they want you to understand what you are doing. They give you alot of information in a short time! We did our final build on Tuesday and took the final quiz on Wednesday. If you have troubles and are putting in the effort I believe they will let you stay another week in the barn. The only thing better than 1 week in the barn would be 2 weeks in the barn!!!

Everyone found out who there trainers were on Wednesday afternoon. Mine actually called me on Tuesday. Several people actually got one near their home. Mine was about 900 miles away! I don't really mind though. I think we are going to get along good so it will fly by. One thing they tell you is don't get out of the trainer truck until you are ready...weather it is the 3 week minimum or 5 or 6 weeks. Just make sure! My trainer picked me up Friday morning and we went to Ft Smith to unload and don't have to reload till Monday morning so I get the weekend to relax at the hotel and watch some football!

My impressions so far are great! I really think I am going to enjoy this. This is my first driving job also. I have numbers for most of my class so I will be sure to stay in contact with them and I hope they are all successful also! We lost 4 people from the beginning of orientation to the end of securement training for various reasons. They ask alot of you out here but it is nothing at all unreasonable...they figure if you can't follow the little rules you won't follow the big ones. They expect you to do the right thing all the time and be safe doing it. All in all I am glad I chose Maverick and I can't wait to get out of the trainer truck and test out so I can get my butt home!!

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask and I will do my best to answer!

Steve

 

I got mine a Trans Tech in Conover NC. It is a CDL school. I don't think Maverick cares if you go to school or not as long as you a a CDL class a. That is what I was told. Had I known, I would have just took the written test at DMV and rented a truck and trailer for the driving test. A guy in orientation with me did that.

 

I hope this all helps!

 

Well, my first week with my trainer is in the books! I am back at the hotel near his house for the weekend. It was a pretty good first week I thought. I drove about 90% of it. We started out last Monday empty so we had zero miles carrying over. We got a w/a to go to West Memphis and pick up at Nucor. After that, we headed up to South Bend to unload. After spending Monday night at a rest area, we headed on up on Tuesday and go unloaded. After that, we received a w/a to go to Burns Harbor to pick up. We got there with a couple hours left and when I went across the scale and gave the pick up number, we were informed that another Maverick was picking that up at that time! That sucked! It was an IC! My trainer called and the csr sent us an apology over the qualcom as well as a w/a picking up near there on Wednesday morning heading to Ft Worth delivering Friday am. We went to the Gary yard got cleaned up, ate and called it a night.

We got up the next morning and headed over to get loaded. After that, we started south. We stopped by the Madison yard and took a shower and I got the tour then we headed further down the road. We stayed at a truck stop Wednesday night. got up Thursday morning and headed on into Ft Worth. We arrived down there at the receiver with about an hour left on the clock and they went ahead and unloaded us. We parked on the side of the road next to their shop for the evening. We thought we would get hung out for the weekend, but actually had a w/a first thing Friday morning picking up a dropped trailer at the Home Depot warehouse in Dallas headed back to Ft Smith and delivering on Monday morning. We went over, swapped everything over, strapped it down and tarped it and headed on up the road. It was loaded heavy on the back, killing the fuel mileage!

We got to Ft Smith Friday evening and I got dropped off at the hotel till Monday morning. I actually get to watch some football two weekends in a row!!! We will head over to the receiver early Monday morning to get the week started!