Maverick Transportation

When you trip plan you look for the best route. You need to take the starting point. Calculate the miles with your atlas. Figure about how far it is. Know when you will need to fuel. What roads you want to take. About how long it will take you to get there. A trucking school should teach you all of this. This is just basic truck planning.

 

$600-$800 a week take home pay...thats after taxes, med insurance and all that crap come out.

I first came to Maverick when they bought Schneider Specialized in 2006 (I think that was 2006 anyway...can't remember now).

I left and tried my hand at "cowboy truckin" for a while...it was fun having a fast truck, but fast trucks get you in trouble (especially in Ohio). After that I quit driving for 10 months and had a factory job...Maverick called me one day while I was on break wanting me to come back...been back a little over a year now. Add it all up and I've been with Maverick about 2 years I guess.

I'd call a recruiter and give them the driver code I PM'ed you...that way they'll be expecting the application.

or you could email me your info...that I think I mentioned in that PM and I can send a macro on the QuallComm that will tag your name to me....then I'd get the bonus no matter if they hired you tomorrow or next year.

If you want email me your name, address, email, and phone number to LLW350 at gmail.com if you wanna do it that way.

 

Ridgerunner
I will email you my info that way you can get the credit. I can't PM yet dont have enough posts!! But I will email info today to you! Appreciate info so I can let my wife see. How many deductions? Family insurance? Home most weekends? Thanks and talk to ya later.

 

Answers in red...

 

Email received...thank you.

 

Ridgerunner,
Cool glad to hear you got email. I would only have 1 deduction with only myself for now on insurance. I'm married but like to have a little extra taken out. Of course from what I have heard I will be able to claim a lot more at the end of the year. Next year more so than this year.

 

Maybe this will help out to some of you looking to the possibility of getting on with Maverick:

Yes, I was accepted, & yes I passed the initial orientation. Alls Great, Right?

NOT!!

I get down to their Lauinburg Term for their glass orientation, and, as expected, the first day was sitting in class going over some of the material about load securement of the glass. NO problem.

2nd day: Went over a little more in the classroom & then headed over to the pinkerton glass facility for a few HRs & began getting our hands dirty, which was great!! I was actually beginning to learn something, by actually getting in there & getting my hands on the stuff.

Now I'm no book worm, and I have a very hard time remembering various terminologies, especially when it comes to things that you just don't use in every day language, so keep this in mind with what I'm about to tell you. --- By the end of the day, IT WAS HOT!!! whth a heat index of 105*.

3rd day - Wensday - Again We began doing some classroom stuff, going over the Homework assignment from the night before. By this time, they expect you to KNOW without question, as to HOW & WHERE one needs to load & place each stoce of glass, not to mention, what kind of trailer to put it on. They have well over several different types of trailers, each with it's own set up & loading configurations. Each trailer, they give you about 8 - 10 pages of info that they EXPECT YOU TO REMEMBER, that tells you how they wanted it all loaded & secured.

The "instructor" Rick, if he had any kind of human common sence, should have known as well as "Remembered" that I had told him on the very first day, While I may not be able to remember terminologies and jargon, if you get me out there and allow me to get my hands on the stuff at least one time, from beginning to end, It would not be forgotten. Anyway's we're going over the quiz, & he decides to ask us as to what trailer would we load an order of varying mixed set of stoce. Acting like he was in a hurry, he kept pressuring us as to the info while we were scrambling through our books to try & come up with the answer. It got to the point, you could tell he was getting pissed off because none of us had a definate answer as quickly as he wanted us to. And because of this sort of presure, My initial selection was wrong. But by the time he called me up to the front of the class, with the pressure gleeming down on me, I was able to slowely able to reveal to him that I had chosen the wrong trailer & as to why it was wrong, (Heigth, weight,length ability, etc) Looking at me with discust, he told me to just go & sit down.

We finally went over to the plant, where the outside temp with the heat indext of 106*. We are out there just inside the loading doors, heat blowing down our necks from both directions, and begin loading & tarping a load. With the heat trying to work its way tear you down, sweat gushing out as if you had a faucet turned on, I began to feel the effects but not to bad. Just enough for it to begin playing around with my thinking process. (We've been in the heat for about 3hrs at this point) So as he's walking around, I just made the comment to him that I now understood what he was explaining to us in the classroom about the heat. ---With that comment, he begins to try & make it a huge drama ordeal, stating that if I can't continue, he needed to know Right then, and he would send me back etc. --I told him that I was fine, & that all I was trying to convey to him was that I could actually see what he was saying about the heat, nothing more.

We continue to finish the load & then head back about an hr later, walking back to the term "In The HEAT"

4th day - Thursday

Right from the beginnning, everyone could tell Rick was in an ill mood, right fromt he start, as he was normally a bit chipper first thing in the mornings.

We had stated & asked him if he had seen the weather for the day (Just trying ot strike up a conversation with the guy) and that we couldn't believe that they had Stron heat advisories for our area calling for a heat index of 108* -110* for the day. His rapid responce without missing a beat, was, "Well you better get use to it as we will be out there ALL DAY", --- Has this guy lost his flipping mind. Even a dog knows better to get out of the heat if it gets to hot. ---

We get over to the plant, and begin setting up a trailer that requires a wooden Header board in order to secure the front portion of the load. This was the first one like this, we had actually been able to get our hands on to set up, as the other 3 were (If I can remember correctly) a DCL "transformer" and a DC7, both of which takes steel header arms that attach to the frame & is secured by 2" straps.

So, I'm getting out all of the stuff for securement & getting it layed out on the front of the trailer so that we will have it all ready by the time the loaders are finished. Since this was the first one like this that we had done, I got confused for a little bit trying to figure out as to why we didn't have an extra strap for the header board. So, like any time before, I went to ask him about it, (he was speaking to one of his buddies) (as well as Rick knew from when we spoke before, that I'm a real stickler when it comes to safety & will question everything that I do several times until I am 100% sure that it can be done safely)

So, when I had asked him about it, he gave me this go to hell type of look, and without even answering me or acknowlaging the question, he goes right back to his conversation with his buddie. -- OK -- So I go off around the trailer thrashing my brain around trying to recall any info that I could remember about this trailer. --Then it dawned on me, that because this one was a straight flatbed, it would take a chain & ratchet to secure the header board & that would come into play when the driver came to pick up the load, as these were things that stay with the truck, NOT THE TRAILER!!

So, I go on getting my measurements from the stoce so that I could cut & prepare my V-Board, and here he comes telling me to go with him out side, that we needed to talk.... This quy was flipping pissed stating that he felt that I just wasn't getting it. (It's already 100* at 10am) & for the life of him, he couldn't understand as to why in the heck would I insist on using a strap since we had gone over this in class?

When I explained to him the factors, 1 day of class lectures / book reading, watching videos, 2 day of mixed class of videos, textbook going over the various procedures, logbooks, us dot regs & Cananda regs & actual hands on of 2 entirely different trailers in 100*+ heat, staying up till very late at night trying to cram for an exam trying to remember everything in a large notebook 5" thick, plus 10+ pages of notes, then being tossed to the wolves sort of thing on a trailer that we hadn't even begun to lay our hands on to actully set it up, Makes room for things to get very confusing, add to that, being ignored when one has questions.

He kept on about he just couldn't understand why I would choose a strap, and I again, told him that I had realized the error of what I had thought & explained to him as to what I had realized "ON MY OWN". He couldn't have cared less. He then tells me that we are goingback over to the term to call Bruce (his boss) and I can explain it to him. While we were walking back (now about (104*) he stated to me that these kinds of mistakes were unacceptable an that more than likely I was going to be sent home, and that he didn't want to hear another word from me and that I could take it up with Bruce.

So when I had asked him for his oppinion, just between him & I, he cuts in and very rudely explains to me that I just don't get it, There is nothing that stays between him & I & that he tells his boss everything that is said & done. This guy, in my oppinion, just doesn't have the neccessity of people skills required to be able to actually understand that everyone out there learns & translates things differently and one trying to educate another, should have that ability to compensate for such things. As I know I had to learn that when I was teaching classes of 50 or more in Fiber optics and communications. - You are going to have those that pick up on stuff without blinking an eye, & you will have those that you will need to be able to adjust to their way of learning if you are going to help them to be successfull.

So needless to say, they sent me home on the very next bus.

While yes, I was really looking forward to actually learning an entirely new way of truck driving, I've come to the conculsion that if you really want to learn, one might want to look at another company, as these folks just seem to only want to cram info into your head & fill those seats with warm bodies. You either are in their click or you are not. And if you are not, you don't stand a chance.

 

I trust Bruce's opinion...I've known him for quite some time (he was a class room teacher when it was still Schneider Specialized)

He's a no BS guy with a lot of experience...

You just didn't make the cut THD...and with all those references to the heat in your post, its probably a good thing for both you and Maverick.

We work when its hot, we work when its cold, we work when its raining, we work when everything is covered in a layer of ice, and sometimes, we even go para sailing. If the weather bothers you, don't get into flat bed trucking...(you ever heard the old saying..."Flatbedding ain't for sissies"?)

Flat bedders by nature are people who get things done...on their own. Because nobody is there to hold their hand...

Forgive me if thats blunt...but its true. Learn fast, learn well, and use what you learn...

 

Don't get me wrong here, as I've nenver met bruce, but I do not think that he was told everything in the way it was taking place, and "ANYONE" with a bit of common sence & knowlege when it comes to training, would truely understand and accomodate to different learning abilities.

I agree, Flatbedding is not for the weak of heart. IT IS HARD WORK, of which I'm no stranger to, nor mind, as it's good for the soul. HOW EVER, I don't know of ANY Flatbeder out there that is going to stay out in that kind of extream heat for hours on end, like Rick had us doing. JUst drinking water doesn't cut it.

Every flatbedder I know, when it gets to hot or to cold, will crawl back into the truck or go where they can get a bit of reliefe for a few minutes or so & then go back out into the elements & continue, repeating the process until the job is complete. Shoot, even the Chinese in southern China know when to get out of the heat, (Daily Average Temp of over 120* & I know as I've worked over there for 2+ years right along side them), cool down a bit & then get right back at it.

And IF what you are saying about bruce is true, had he had been there, I think he may have been able to assess the situation, and adjusted the training meathod acordingly.. But, since he wasn't there, he had nothing else to go on than this ex-driver who is on a power trip was willing to give him.

It could / should have been handled a better way.

 

My answers in red...and I'm not condemning you THD. I just wish people would admit that they are not cut out to be flatbedders...its not that its a glorious job or anything, just that its a demanding job that requires good health, stamina, common sense, motivation, and most of all....toughness (of the mind, body, and soul).