Good companies

There are hundreds of pages on this forum about Maverick.

 

In my opinion, one of the best flatbed companies in USA. Check the Maverick thread; put Maverick in the "Search."

Melton Truck Lines and System Transport are 2 other top notch flatbed companies.

 

Rook,

I'm in the same position. It's tough for a newbie to find the initial "fit" with such a limited amount of knowledge at hand. Maverick also came to our school and I agree they are "Wired Tight" and are very sound. Like others have mentioned there is a plethora of information about Maverick on this site and they are a very good company.

I was really giving them heavy consideration, but decided not to "enlist" because all their trucks are automatic transmissions. Since I am new to trucking and this will be my initial company, I wanted my first truck to be manual so I could hone my skills. (Yes, this seems like a small and petty reason as my paycheck will not know the difference; however, it was important to me)

I will say that one of our instructors is a Flatbedder and he said that Maverick's trucks are set up incredibley well for comfort and functionality. If you go Maverick, you will not be making a regrettable decision.

Lastly, as Chinatown mentioned, I have done some research in regards to Melton. I believe I will be heading there. I already have an orientation date set with them. For "ME" some of the deciding factors have been,

Well setup truck - Manual transmission - INVERTER installed so I can add a Fridge and Micro.
Smaller Company
The driver's I've spoken to at truck stops have all been great ambassadors for the company, friendly, informative, liked the company and their loads (to a newb) looked professionally secured.
I have a few other reasons but these are the basics

Good Luck with your decision.

 

TRUST... "Finding the right fit" never goes away

 

There's a LOT more to trucking than grabbing gears, no matter what the "real truckers" say. If you're out playing in the rush hour traffic, I would rather you had been able to concentrate all your attention on honing
your manoeuvring skills. If you drag your trailer over my hood, you can bet I wont be running over to shake your hand and praise your shifting skills. Driving school can't duplicate every situation you'll run into, and the automatic takes one piece of stress out of every already stressful new situation. There's no law saying you have to stay there, once you've spent a few years there honing all the really important skills, go hire on at the other place.

 

DieselWrangler,

Yes, your are EXACTLY right, safety is always paramount and I can definitely see your point about how Automatic transmissions will take away one more stresser, especially for a new driver. Neither your pocketbook or other motorists on the highway care if you are driving a Automatic or Manual transmission. In addition to the safety benefit many companies are migrating to Automatic transmissions because they are seeing a cost savings too. Good points and I am glad you mentioned them.

 

Melton also has APU's & so does Maverick. Both excellent choices.

Willie, since you live in Chattanooga, if you're interested, Prime Inc. has a tanker division there. It's food grade, not hazmat.