4 More Questions

1 - Whats the longest you have waited for a assignment?
Years ago when I drove for another company (larger than Maverick even) I would wait 2-3 days between delivery to getting my next assignment. This was for just about every single load. I know there was one time I was at a drop yard for 7 days straight. Not kidding. Cant make money like that but from the way you guys are talking here, it seems they keep you moving pretty well. WOW! 7 days?!!! No wonder you no longer drive for them LOL! They do keep us moving quite well, a lot of times we have "pre-plans" for our next load before we deliver the current one.

2 - APU and Inverter
Ive never been in a truck with an APU so I am sorry for my ignorance. They keep your truck cool / warm at night and they provide electricity right? Yes Do I still need inverters for AC equipment like a TV No or does the APU provide both 12v DC connections and AC connections? Yes, both connections and several 12v connections and 2 AC connections in truck.

3 - Planned Route
When you get dispatched. Do they give you a specified route to follow to the letter? No, you may go your own route- just try to always keep it with in less than 10% OOR out of route. I know with my past company, they sent the route over the qual-comm and if you went off track by even a fraction, you would get phone calls, alerts, and the planet pretty much shut down to see if you were stealing the truck or something. That's crazy. Not at Maverick Just didn't know if they give you a route you can ask for a route, and they will provide you with a "suggested" route, or if you need to plan one yourself. Personally, I like to plan my route. I think thats fun to do but maybe I'm weird. Im the type that will pull the atlas out, look at the whole route, write turns down, get reference points to when those turns are coming, plan stops for fuel, food, and sleep. I like doing that and I dont know why. Do a good job of your trip-planning and you will do great. I dont mind pre-planed routes though.

4 - Route Deviation
This is mainly to get home for a bit. Does maverick let you go "off route" so you can swing by your house if it is not too far out of the way? Just try to keep your OOR miles under 10% and you will not have an issue. I have stopped by home-base for a 10hour break several times (I am on a dedicated acct tho, so its a lot easier for me than most probably) My last company did let you but I think it had to be under a 50 mile difference and you had to let your dispatcher know ahead of time.

 

1. I think the longest I have ever waited for an actual assignment was about 8 hours, but there have been times when the assignment didn't pick up until the next day. I recently got an assignment and then had to wait 3 days to pick it up, but that was the July 4th holiday week, and the load was getting me home, so I didn't complain. But that's the longest I ever remember sitting, not counting breakdowns.

2. Our trucks are already equipped with inverters along with the APU. The two together provide electricity and AC/heat. You are not allowed to install aftermarket inverters, I think Maverick considers the fire risk to be too great. But in the bunk area, there are a total of four 110v electrical outlets to plug things into, along with the usual cigarette lighter plugs practically all over the place.

3. There is a suggested route that you can pull off the Qualcomm, but Maverick pretty much leaves it in the drivers hands. Our goal is to keep our out of route at or below 10%, meaning if you have a 1000 mile run, you need to run no more than 1100 miles to get there if possible. Out of route percentage is one thing that we get a bonus for also. But you don't have to worry yourself over it - if you have good MPG, make your loads on time, and are working hard, then no one is going to say a word to you if you have 15% our of route, but you do lose out on the bonus points.

4. Kinda related to # 3. Keep it as close to 10% as possible. When it comes down to it, we're pretty much free to do what we want as long as the load is picked up on time, delivered on time, and you're not doing anything that is costing the company uneccesary money. Some of it also depends on where you live if you even go by the house normally. You do want to check with your fleet manager though, I've been told a couple times that if you spend a certain amount of time at your house, the system will automatically assume that you're on hometime, and you'll end up getting your time out extended automatically. So check with them and see if a 10 hour break will cause this or not. One piece of advice though... If you do spend the night at your house on the way to a delivery, DO NOT BE LATE TO THE DELIVERY, or you will be very sorry LOL.

 

One large duffle bag and one good sized carry-on bag was enough for me. You can probably geet away with a little more, just follow their directions.

 

Just keep in mind whatever you bring you will probably be stowing it on your bunk.

 

That's for sure don't bring it if u can't sleep with it