Maverick .... from a wife's perspective

Peanut Butter · Feb 12, 2010

RCW thank you for all your posts, and you will be missed, please dont be a stranger, take care and tell RC to have fun out there and be safe.

dollylama · Feb 18, 2010

Thank you for all your posts, they were very detailed, and I can't tell you how many times that I nodded my head in agreement at what he was going through. All the best to you both, and,.....there might be a time when we cross paths, and he will admire MY tarp job! All in a good way, as no one knows better than us that every tarped load can turn out beautiful or just satisfactory!

sarge26044 · Feb 20, 2010

Redcoat wife said: ↑

Latest update.

First of all, total damage from the frozen water in my rig was $650. Everybody says I got off lucky but my savings account doesn't feel so lucky.

I am now back in North Carolina and have finally started back to work.

Soooo... Redcoat has been busy. After he dropped off the load in San Marcos, he was dispatched to Austin to pick up a load of granite headed for Kansas City. Here are a couple pictures of the load.

Redcoat was a tad nervous because the load was really top heavy. He had to have another driver help him throw the straps over because he couldn't get enough on them with his sore shoulder.

After delivering this load, he was dispatched to Atkinson, KS to pick up a load of tubing headed to Amarillo, TX. This stuff was just one big, long 42-foot bundle of tubing and it was all rusted after sitting outside. There were a bunch of trucks there picking up this stuff and, of course, Maverick were the only ones having to tarp their loads. None of the other companies bothered with it. So, of course, since the load was so long, Redcoat had to use two canvas tarps and two lumber tarps and every single bungee he had. And it was pouring down rain. All the Maverick trucks had to reverse into an area to tarp while all the other trucks just loaded up and left.

You know, Redcoat says he wouldn't mind tarping as much if he got paid a decent wage for it. He was talking to an O/O at a truck stop and the man said he got paid $140 for a similar tarp job. It just seems that $10-$20 for busting your butt on a needless tarp job gets to be frustrating. You wouldn't mind so much having to tarp every load whether it needed it or not if you made some kind of decent money to make it worth your while. But when every other company just loads up and goes and you're out there using up your time tarping for $20, it just seems like punishment more than anything else.

So after Redcoat drops off his load of tubing, he goes to the nearby Pilot to hang out and wait for his next job. His FM tells him that it probably won't be until the next morning before he gets something and not to bother waiting by the QC. It's a simple gesture but Redcoat appreciates his FM cutting him loose like that. Redcoat says that NEVER would have happened at Covenant. The dispatcher at Covenant would have just let him sit there all night waiting for a job that wasn't coming.

The next morning Redcoat gets a dispatch to Duke, OK to pick up some sheetrock headed to Houston. I note that Duke is very near Altus where I spent several months going to C-5 engineer school.

Redcoat liked getting loaded with the sheetrock because there were about a dozen guys loading it up and strapping it down. Nice to have somebody else do the work for you for a change. All he had to do was tighten it down just a bit to make sure it didn't slip.

Redcoat had to go through Altus on his way to Houston. I asked him what he thought about the town and he wasn't too impressed with it. Neither was I at the time I was there. In my opinion, all there was to do was drink and if I'd have stayed there for any length of time, I'd have probably become an alcoholic. I was going through two fifths of liquor a week for lack of anything better to do.

So Redcoat delivered the sheetrock down in Houston this morning and only two pieces were slightly damaged. The forklift driver said not to worry about it.

Then Redcoat got dispatched to another place in Houston to pick up some coils. It's been a while since he's hauled coils. These were stamped on the side with their composition: 55% aluminum and 45% zinc. So Redcoat is thinking that he should use straps because of all the aluminum. He gets everything all strapped down (coils are eye to the sky) and was just about to put the tarps on when another Mav driver pulls in and tells him he's done it wrong.

The man tells him that he needs to use chains instead of straps. This guy used to be an instructor and he's got a shiny new truck and has been with the company for over ten years. Redcoat figures he must know what he's talking about.

So he takes off all the straps and uses chains instead. When he's almost finished, his phone rings and it's Safety calling him telling him that the other guy reported him. (!!!) Redcoat asked why the man reported him and Safety said that sometimes drivers don't want any confrontation so they'll call Safety instead of saying something directly. Redcoat told them that wasn't the case this time because after the guy told him how to do it, so he went ahead and re-secured the load. There was no good reason to call Safety in Redcoat's opinion. Redcoat DID find out from Safety that the load must be 100% aluminum in order to use straps. Also the QC will say 'aluminum' instead of 'metal.' If it says 'metal' then use chains. So that part he didn't know.

Redcoat really doesn't mind taking constructive criticism or instruction from more experienced drivers, but this guy really irked him. So before Redcoat put the tarps on, he took a picture of the load and sent it to Safety to make sure they were happy with how he'd done it. They had one correction for him. Redcoat had crossed his chains in front making an 'X' but they told him to just put a chain over the top and use trip chains. Once he fixed that, he went ahead and put on his canvas tarps and then the metal tarps.

And THEN he reported the other driver to Safety because while Redcoat was finishing up, he had his eye on the other guy. The man didn't bother to tent his load and he didn't use any canvas tarps. Redcoat said he was taught in orientation to use canvas tarps to protect the vinyl from the product, not to protect the product from the vinyl.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

All dude had to do was tell Redcoat the right way to do it and why. That's all he needed. But noooo. Dude had to go and call Safety. If you're gonna do that, then you need to make sure your own house is in order, right?

Then, to top it all off, this guy had asked Redcoat where he was headed and RC told him to Lawrenceville, GA. Dude laughed at him and was like, nya-nya I only have to go 173 miles to get home.

What a Richard-head.

Stay tuned.
Click to expand...

Long time since visiting, long story short, baby now has 6 teeth, tubes in both ears after a total of 6 ear infections since mid October, hard drive crashed, went thru orientation at Maverick with a class of new students to become Driver Trainer and hadn't been in here in so long 4got username and password...whew.

Orientation was some repeat information but got to watch all the new Maverick Videos with narration by Ed, Securement demonstrated by Tim, and music provided by a Maverick driver who is quite the musician. Thats rite folks...no more "Hey Trucker Man" song.

i cant understand what people get out of seeing someone doing something not the Maverick way and instead of politely approaching the person and offering to help them fix what is wrong they pick up the cell phone. Cmon gentlemen. And then to brag to a driver that is getting hung out that youre a couple hours away from the house?!? I thought the minimum age to hold a CDL is 23. Did they lower it to 5?

I invite any and all to visit the Maverick website and read the minutes of the Driver Council meeting for the 3rd qtr of 2009 and read what was presented on how to approach a driver that you know is doing something not the Maverick way. If you are a shy person who doesnt like to talk to people face to face honk your horn, wave your cb mic and politely tell the person how to make it right.

Am i telling everyone who reads this to never call in to Safety? NO. NO. NO (three times for the 5 yr old tattletale.) So what i'm trying to say is not misconstrued lemmie tell all what i tell others about calling in to safety everytime they see someone doing something not the Maverick way. I will call in on someone in two instances. 1. The F U attitude and 2. The I dont care attitude. If i approach a driver and let him know that what they are doing is not done the Maverick way and offer to help them fix it and am told ##....ring ring. 2. If i approach a driver and let him know that what they are doing is not done the Maverick way and offer to help them fix it and im told "i dont care......" ring ring. If you dont care then you dont care about the customers product, your safety, and anybody's safety you pass going down the road, nor do you care that perhaps what you are doing could result in the loss of a contract to haul whatever out of wherever.

People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones...EXACTLY and why be a hippocrite?

Its a lot harder to build someone up then it is to tear them down.

Redcoat is correct, students in orientation are still being told to use canvas under vinyl to protect the vinyl. Here's a new one i didn't know...You're supposed to tent finished sheet steel ie Majestic to allow for runoff just like all eye to the sky coils. Its in the new videos. Also they are using 3 to 4 blocks in an H shape as a coil block to protect the coil from trip chain damage.

musicmaker · Feb 20, 2010

I also pull flatbed ( step deck) and have been with my company for 15 years now and counting, gosh cant believe its been that long. No qualcom, no routing, just run the loads. It was one of the best moves I made. I hope the same holds true for redcoat.

sarge26044 · Feb 20, 2010

JimTheHut said: ↑

Of all the companies that I applied to, Maverick was the most efficient!
They did the background check for traffic and convictions. Then they went and did the employment background check. Then they send it to review.
All the time I could go to their web portal and see where I was in the process.
Other companies send you a pre hire and never even did any checking.
I was very impressed with how organized they were!
I am now just waiting to see if I am going to orientation the 8th or the 15th.
Click to expand...

good luck hope to see you out there soon

notarps4me · Feb 20, 2010

Deletetd by notarps

sarge26044 · Feb 20, 2010

Yep youd have to idle or choose not to idle.

Redcoat wife · Feb 21, 2010

OK so I'm going to pull this thread out of retirement because I have an interesting story. I'm guessing there's not too many flatbedders in here who haven't had a load slip on them at one time or another. Well, Redcoat had his first load slippage on his way home this time.

I'm going to go into some detail for the newbies so all you veterans try not to roll your eyes at what you consider to be plainly obvious. This is how it went down.

Redcoat drops off a load in Birmingham and is then dispatched up to Huntsville to pick up a load of cream-colored, 1-inch plastic pipe headed up to Monroe, NC. The trailer is already loaded with gut straps in place but not secured and all Redcoat has to do is finish securing the load, swap trailers and go.

The back part of the load is 20-foot lengths that were palletized, nice and orderly, such as so.

The front of the load is 12-foot lengths loaded right on the deck of the trailer. The pipe is bundled and being held together with straps through a kind of wood frame. You'll see in the picture below. The load weighed 37,000 pounds.

When Redcoat arrives, he finishes securing the load and it was a bit of a challenge. Redcoat was concerned that the tighter he ratcheted the straps, the more the pipe was bending. He was trying to get it secure without damaging the pipe. When he finished, he had the foreman check to make sure it was as they wanted it and the man said it looked fine.

So away he goes. He probably doesn't get more than a couple miles down the road and he sees that the load is starting to lean over the deck on the left side of the truck. He said his heart was in his throat. He pulled over and had a look and decided he needed to go back to the shipper to get it restacked. He said the top bundles were leaning about 2 feet past the edge of the trailer. Here is how it looked from the passenger side when he got back to the shipper:

As you can see, the top part of the stack had started to slide away from the straps.

So he called his FM to tell him he was turning around to go back. When he got there, it was at the end of the day and the forklift driver didn't want to take it off and restack it. So he just took the forklift and shoved the top bundles back to somewhat in line and said that was good enough. Redcoat torqued down the ratchets some more but the more he tightened them up, the more the load compressed and the straps holding each of the bundles started to loosen up.

Well that's a problem. So he called his FM back again and asked him to give safety a call. The guy in safety wasn't able to visualize what Redcoat was trying to explain so Redcoat took the pictures to send him. Safety told him to take the straps on each end and run them through the middle of the stack, then over the top and back down again. That way both ends of the strap were secured on the same side of the deck making like a letter "P" through the top part of the load. Then Redcoat practically laid on the ratchets to tighten everything up as much as he could.

And that was that. He made his delivery in Monroe on time and is now spending a few days at home after being out for the past three weeks.

Just thought I'd share this to say that when bad stuff starts to happen, don't panic, think it through, and be sure to ask for help.

musicmaker · Feb 21, 2010

Thats why I carry portable rachets. I cant tell you why but on loads like that they will always want to slide to the side where the strap rachets are. I ratchet one strap on one side and the next strap on the other side.

passingthru69 · Feb 21, 2010

Ok, I think I see what caused most of the problem.

All the straps holding down the top stacks is pulling on one side..
He should of staggered them..

In doing this he is causing the load to have pressure to just one side and not evening the pull down on an level pressure.

Have him ask safety about this..
I learned this the hard way once years ago.

He got lucky, it could of been worse.

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