Maverick Driver general bs thread

I have seen very few "junk" maverick trucks. For the most part they are well taken care of. But ya I can see what your talking about with the pack rats. Although I wouldn't mind have a couple more binders.

 

Well...I for one completely agree with that.

There is nothing that makes me get ill quicker than being talked to or treated like I don't know what I'm doing. I've also been at this a while...at least long enough to have what should be considered "credible experience", even if it ain't 30 years of experience like some have...its enough to learn a thing or 2.

I have hauled:

glass (jumbo, small stoce, crated, racks)
whole loads of empty glass racks (I hate those)
aluminum (coils, billets)
copper
steel (all shapes and sizes)
plastic pipe
wood (lumber, plywood, particle board, etc,)
vehicles (utility trucks, vans, pick up trucks, big trucks)
heavy equipment (all kinds)
crane parts (boom sections, counter weights, etc.)
farm equipment (tractors, combines, implements)
industrial equipment (fork lifts, scissor lifts, etc.)
manufacturing equipment (various plant machinery such as milling machines and assembly line stuff)
trains (Thomas)
train parts (wheels, suspension assemblies)
buckets (both the 5 gallon variety and the ones like go on construction equipment)
barrels
pallets
bulk sacks
junk
pre-fab concrete
electrical fixtures
shingles
metal roofing
rolled roofing
new trailers
logs
tires
HVAC stuff
floats for a boat dock
(I'm sure I left out a few things, but you get the picture)

...And pretty much everything else that can be strapped to a flat bed, I even hauled a load of cow beds (mats) to a dairy farm, LOL...not a single claim or damage of any kind...I've never hurt myself worse than a couple of banged knuckles (#### ratchet binders...I hate em).

Now I'm not saying I know everything there is to know...I don't...and I will be the first one to ask questions to figure out the best way to do something if I'm not sure how it should be done...

I also understand that a driver can't carry 18 chains and 20 binders and 20 timbers due to the weight...but, when I pulled a flat bed I preferred to carry all lever binders...they are faster, easier and...most importantly, shorter...for those really wide eye to the side coils...I've hauled a few that were nearly 7' 6" wide...and no other way to load them besides a forklift.

The equipment list for the MSO division is all messed up anyway...for example, I carry 8 portable winches...but there is no way in the world I would ever need more than 4 of them...the only place they can be used on these RGN's is on the front deck.

Coil racks...I carry a whole set...but there is no good way to secure a coil on these trailers. If a single coil required more than 2 chains there is no way to do it (no stake pockets or barrel posts)...notice, I said no good way...You could use 3-4 chains on 1 coil, but they would be all sorts of stretched out too far.

Then there are the T-hooks...John Deere has them made for their equipment and they also fit Case combines just fine. They make it quicker, easier, and safer (no paint chipping) to chain equipment...but Maverick don't want us using them, probably because the WLL is not stamped on them...but they are forged steel...and at least 3 times stronger than the 3/8" chains we use....How do I know that? Those combines snap chains and binders quite often (trailer flexing)...but nobody has ever seen one of the T-hooks made for Deere snap (you can buy them at the Deere shipper in Evansdale, IA...about $9.00 each IIRC)

I like Maverick, I wouldn't still be here if I didn't...but the logic behind some of their policies escapes me...until I remember that Maverick is not all about experience anymore (at least not near as much as they once were)...And thats not all bad, new drivers have to come in, I get that...but don't make the old ones pay for what the new guys haven't learned yet.

Mavericks idea of everybody doing everything (tarping and securement) the same way makes sense...up to a point...The Maverick way of tarping is the best...there is no simpler, quicker way of doing it.

The way they want eye to the side and shotgun coils secured...again, I agree with the way they want the chains placed 100%, as well as the number of chains per coil and so on.

But when they start taking away piece tarps (and other useful equipment), and making somebody carry those 4 ratchet binders (2 is plenty...they are useful sometimes) and carry a bunch of crap they can't even use like MSO does...well, it stops making sense.

There is only one part of Mavericks securement that I don't agree with...thats eye to the sky coils. I feel MUCH, MUCH better crossing the chains over them (with pads on top to make sure the chains don't damage the edges of the coil)....not to mention that no matter how sloppy the Tin Mill in East Chicago is when they set them on the trailer with that swinging crane, if you could cross chain them...it wouldn't matter...but chaining them the way Maverick wants it done...you gotta have them in the right place on the trailer, and depending on the size of the coil...it may not work out just right for the rest of them coils...so you end up needing more trip chains...and when all is said and done...you've done a lot more work and wasted a lot more time and are not a darn bit safer going down the road.

If you could cross chain them...trip chains front and back...it would be better all around. Just look at the aluminum coils, I know its straps instead of chains, but if crossing straps is good enough for them...why not crossed chains on steel?

I could come up with a few more gripes...but I'll stop there, LOL.


Truck cleanliness....I'm not exactly a "neat freak" myself...not in the truck anyway. At home even, I'm still not as "neat" as my wife would like me to be...there is a difference between a dirty truck...dirt in the floor, a little trash you haven't taken out today (paper stuff, an empty Pepsi can or 2 rolling around in the passenger side floorboard, etc)...and a "nasty" truck...2 week old pizza with mold on it 2 inches tall, 25 pee bottles, and a week old 1/2 eaten can of potted meat festering in the passenger side floorboard.

My truck is often a bit dirty...but NEVER nasty. In MSO we spend quite a bit of time on dirt lots and dirt roads, that means there is a lot of dust around and some of it ends up on the dash and in the floor...I wipe down the dash and vacuum the floor when the mood hits me to do it, generally at least every week...sometimes more often, sometimes less.

These are work trucks...and mine looks the part.

 

####...that was long winded, LOL.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. Can't stand ratchet binders like you two can take care of anything. Four-inch straps far as I'm concerned you need to carry at least 15. That way you have a few spares in case something happens to one or you do the ever loveing swap and get some bad straps and then now your SOL.

Crossing chains over eye to the sky coils I agree 100%. But years ago ball asked maverick not to do it.

 

I've had times that 8 chains wern't enough, some of the silliness we get out of Coils plus or Majestic for example.

I don't understand the company's problem with piece tarps, you put EOBR's in slow trucks, if we can find other ways to save time, what's the problem?

I keep one of the cleanest trucks on the fleet, I don't really do it for anyone but myself. I live in the #### thing all week, so I treat it as I would my own home.

 

EXACTLY...

Its one of those cases where the people who make these decisions for us just can't see the forest for the trees.

If something gets the job done faster...without compromising safety of the driver, the freight, or the motoring public...its just plain bad business to not allow us to use it.

But they can't see past their own ideas...there is a word for people like that...I'm not gonna use it because I've already received one phone call over stuff I posted on here (I had it coming, and anticipated it, it was no surprise to me)...but there is a word for it.

 

I know ed in training used to check out this site.

 

Yep...I got a phone call....it wasn't so much about the post I made, but more about how pissed off I was at the time

As it happens...I was mad because one of the loaders at one of our bigger customers tried telling me...that I didn't know what I was talking about (some of you may remember the post...it has been deleted)


When I said nothing makes me get ill quicker than being talked to or treated like I don't know what I'm doing....I wasn't kidding

Maverick didn't make me delete the post...they told me (quote) "Its a free country....I can say whatever I want, wherever I want"

What they had a problem with was the fact that I was on the verge on knocking that A-hole at the shipper flat on his ###. Whether or not that is a good way to deal with a situation depends on where you're from I guess, LOL...where I come from, when somebody gets in your face...you have 2 choices...deal with it then, or deal with it the rest of your life. (there has never been more than 1 way to deal with a bully)...Maverick and I sorta agreed to disagree on that. And I agreed to watch my temper a little better...an agreement I intend to honor, I like my job, don't wanna lose it over some dumb ### that really isn't worth the trouble.

Thought I better explain that a bit...Maverick can be a little "Big Brother" at times...but they haven't graduated to "Gestapo" just yet Its was very professional phone call, with a slight tinge of psycho analysm...I wasn't and am not crazy...I was just pissed off...last I checked, thats perfectly normal human behavior...but I do understand their concern, there are some crazy people out there. (usually the ones who don't "let it out" once in a while)

That is about all I care to say about that...

 

Ed...hell, he probably would have agreed with me (even if he couldn't admit it)...doesn't mean he wouldn't do his job though. Ed is one person I do have a lot of respect for...not the only one, but he's near the top of the list.