Questions about Maverick Transportation

Darin, I'm on the waiting list for Maverick orientation. Were you in the specialized division? How long before you are in a truck with a trainer? Please give a brief run-down of what the first week of orientation entails. Where was your orientation training? Thanks.

 

Finger TN is in western TN. Thats where I thought I was moving but now Im moving to Henderson TN. Finger is below Henderson. When I get back from Kuwait Im going to try and get on with Maverick after I put myself thru school.

 

Ok, here is the run down as best as I can remember it. I will start off by saying If you can drive yourself rather than ride the bus I would do it. I drove and had freedom to go out when ever I wanted to ( they have a couple of vans and cars for your use, more on that later) I got there on Sat afternoon and walked around , checking out the place, nice facility.
They put you up in their own hotel for first few days. It is has two beds in each room , bath , no tv but there is one in the main lobby. On Sunday , starts at 7:30 as I recall, BE ON TIME , turn off phone and keep it down in the class room . Also watch out how you talk even in waiting/
cafe area ( this is at the training building, a short walk from their hotel.
Some trainers will be listening , walking around and generally sizing you up so to speak. Act professional and they will extend you all due respect.
Class on Sunday is basically an introduction , some trip planning and other paperwork. They have a couple of trainers that like to smoke so you get breaks quite often to go out and smoke. ED is one of the trainers,
he seems to lack a bit in the personality area but is a pretty decent guy .
Do not talk in his class, He jumped all over some guys that were talking a bit right after a break , also he jumped on a guy once who jokingly said he wished class was over for the day . Anyway act professional.
The other trainers are a lot more laid back but never the less let them do their job and don't act like a know it all. I had a guy sitting next to me
on the first day who kept correcting one of the trainers if he pronounced
a name wrong , he did'nt make thru the 2nd day .
monday morn starts real early, 6:30 I believe . This is the day you do your physical and abilities test. Get good rest , eat lightly in the morning
and be on time. The physical is typical , drugscreen, blood pressure, eye exam, look sideways "cough" . Nothing to it if you have no med problems.
The abilities test is somewhat tough. they check you from head to toe
first, bending, situps, stair step, , all sorts of stuff, then you go out and
lift a couple of tarps up on a trailer and on a faux lumber load . Also you have to lift a series of different weights , thay keep adding till you can't lift anymore but wont tell you what the cutoff is. Everybody pass this so don't get worried. One other thing , they check your knees for somesort of looseness, a couple of guys failed this but one guy who had an operation on his knee passed . I gotta go get my kids at school and will finish a bit later. Darin ps excuse grammer errors, I wrote in a hurry !

 

Ok, so Monday morn is over whew! , the rest of the day is some classes and presentations by safety. Almost forgot , this is probably the single most important event, on Mon they take you one at a time in a room and interview you. They ask some interesting questions . One was "what makes you mad"? Another is "what do you expect to be doing in 5 years" . I heard one guy went in there and said he planned to own his own race track and they let him go. I suspect you need to answer this by saying that you expect to be driving for Maverick in 5 years, thats what I said. Anyway we lost a few after this, one being the the guy I mentioned that was a know it all. Also you will see several videos during the week and get graded on them but they generally give you the answers so this is a piece of cake. Wednesday, is lots of classroom stuff , more trip planning ( logs, maps ). Thursday is job offer day, they officially offer you a job ( if you are still there) . They give you a hat, coffee mug and shake your hand . Friday I believe you start securement class. You will be in class all day learning different strapping, chaining and loading information. Take plenty of notes. Sat you are off all day, they move you to the Galloway hotel right down the road from the terminal. It is a decent hotel
with tv in room . I missed sitting around in the Maverick hotel lobby, talking with drivers so I went over there more than I spent time in the room. Oh I forgot to mention , they give you a very short driving test, you will drive down the interstate about 5 miles and park, then another
driver will drive back, piece of cake . These trucks are automatic( very nice) but they tend to roll back easier than a manual if you don't keep foot on brake.On sunday you will probably go into the barn , this is where you will actually secure loads and do tarping. The trainer I believe this day will be Eugene, real laid back guy , actually they are all really laidback except Ed. Monday more of the same but somewhere during this time you will do a backing test. A 45 degree, 90 degree and alley dock. These spread axel trailers are a bit tough to get turned . They will tell you to get out and look , DO THIS! After my group finished some guys were not getting out and looking and they were reprimanded . They like you to get out and look every 8 or so feet no matter how you are doing. You will continue to do
securement till Wed, then you will go to FT Smith and do actual loads.
This is where I left, never made it to Ft Smith. Also on Wed , they tell you who your trainer will be, I had been told they would find a trainer "near" my home by the recruiter but on Wed they told me he was from Texas.
I understand that you stay at Ft Smitn a couple of days then you come back to Littlerock and wait for your trainer. I said earlier I would mention
the vans and cars thay have there for you to use. You can just get the keys pretty much anytime you want them except when you go to the Galloway, then you have to call for a ride , that is why I enjoyed having my own car. Mav seemed like a great company and sometimes I could kick myself in the butt fo leaving . I am now getting ready to do what I had originally planned when I decided to get my CDL so hopefully it will work out. I have all respect for Mav and their drivers. Excuse my crappy
writing , got lots to do and cant seem to find the right keys sometimes.

 

Sorry to keep posting one after the other, but Dave, I trained in Littlerock
and was in the flatbed US div. You are looking at 12 to 13 days before you will see a trainer. You will be with trainer for 6 weeks unless you are real good . You will spend your weekends in the trainers hometown ( hotel, paid by mav) unless you live near trainer which is unlikely. There were several drivers there from Specialized and they all complained about the equipment. The trailers are crappy. I did not hear any complaints from
the reg flatbedders except their miles were lower than they wanted.

 

Right now are miles are lower, but they will run the fire out of you when freight picks up.

 

Ya think I would be safe in sayin my nagging ex-wife makes me mad

 

Darin, thanks alot for the info. Greatly appreciated.

 

maverick transportation is good to work for but DO NOT think about mav ic its ok when you're with them but when you leave because company drivers are making more than you can you will owe them your life for that truck they will find any and everything that will come a loose to fix then you will get a call like 3 grand shouldn't be a problem for you to send them so go company stay company out of 31months i only missed 2 weekends not making it home13 months was company and rest of time was mav ic