Maverick Transportation

So, you discovered a new way to increase home time. Ship stuff to yourself!

 

I just got a prehire from maverick but she says there is a waiting list for covered wagon but not flatbed in Ohio. Why is this? Flatbed is'nt the specialized div. i've heard so much bad about is it?

 

No flatbed is the US Div. We run a lot in the buckeye. You are in a good location for FLat.

 

I see a whole lot of Maverick running up here in IN.

Trucks always look good too..... even tho they are Marooooon.

 

Covered Wagon side has higher pay,ect. per whatever, than not so US-Us flatbed side. Not so special/specialized is sniderers old glass hauin joke outfit.

Thats Why

 

I'm back home, not working for Maverick at the moment. More on that in a bit.

Some observations, based on questions here...

Appearance - Neatness, primarily. That's the prime issue. You don't have to look military, just neat and presentable. Someone mentioned long hair had to be in a ponytail, that's no longer true. Hair can now be no longer than collar length.

Waiting for trainer can vary... As one poster stated, his trainer picked him up at Ft. Smith, which would be on the Friday of week 2. I waited another week, the Friday of week 3, before my trainer made it to NLR (however, he's from eastern NC and they told me getting him to NLR was like pulling teeth )

Regarding the Specialized Div., I talked to 3 of those drivers during my 3 week at NLR. All three said there are still problems, but Maverick is getting things turned around. One was a ex Schnider driver, for him it has been a vast improvement the way things are being done. He's now getting home just about every other weekend, which didn't happen with SN. So maybe there is hope.

Ok, my update... My trainer and I left out that afternoon around 4:30 with a load going to Sanford NC. I drove a bit, then he did, to about mid way between Memphis and Nashville. We hit it off real good right from the get go.

Got up and on the road the next AM around 4. Shared the driving and pretty much ran non stop till we got to the motel I was to stay in out on I-95 in NC around 6 PM.

He picked me up around 7:30 Sunday night and we ran down to Sanford. He drove. We were able to unload when we got there, so were camped out at a older truck stop on US 1 by 10 PM. Got our next load right after 8:30 eastern time the next morning, a load of slinkys (wire coils) out of Georgetown SC going to Pine Bluff AR. I did all the Qualcomming and did the driving to G-town. Did most of the load securement (when it started to downpour, he jumped in and helped finish) and I drove the rest of the day, into Georgia. During the day, he told me it was lucky that we got this load, as that way we could get through NLR. When I asked him why, he said he couldn't see any reason to keep me out with him. He said my prior experience showed in my driving, my working the load and my questions and comments during our conversations. So I was psyched!

Called my wife that evening to tell her, and noticed she sounded strange. After much coaxing, she admitted she wasn't dealing with me being away as well as she thought she would. Earlier on, when we discussed my going back to driving, we promised each other that we'd be honest about any issues we had with it.

I talked it over with my trainer, and said I thought it might be best if I went home. He agreed, saying home situations need to be stable for a driver to be able to concentrate on the job, both from safety and performance standpoints.

So, when we got back to NLR on Tuesday, I talked to a couple of the instructors, who agreed with my trainer. So they put me up in the Mav housing for the night and put me on a bus the next AM. I'm eligible for re-hire, and my trainer said I could use him as a reference for a local job, if I needed.

Break...

 

I'm back...

Anyway, it turned out the situation with wife is mis-communication, or mis-understanding...

When I 1st brought up going back to driving, my plan was to get a year experience with someone (hadn't decided on Mav at that point) and then look for something local. Her condition, with me giving up steady employment (at that time, anyway) was to definitely commit to that year.

Well, during one of my phone conversations with her, while I was in NLR waiting for my trainer, I was feeling sort of down and said a couple of things that she took the wrong way. Basically thinking I was very depressed. She said she thought about it and that I might not be actually telling her I was since I had promised to stick with it for a year. So when we talked that Monday, she told me she was depressed and not dealing well with me driving again and being away during the week.

When I got home, we talked about it and discovered the mis-understanding. So, why aren't I back at Maverick???

Wellllll... One word...tarping! During my whole short time with Mav, I had one nagging doubt about being there. On my 24 hr bus ride home, I did a lot of thinking about what it was, and it was tarping. I had forgotten how much I hate it. Especially lumber tarping. And my trainer told me I'll probably see a lot of lumber loads here in the SE. I love the load securement part of flatbedding, but hate the tarping. That's why I liked running a covered wagon years ago.So that's really got me hesitant about contacting Maverick about coming back. If I could get into their covered wagon division, I'd go in a heartbeat, but I'm outside that area.

So right now I'm waiting on a call back about a tanker job, and I talked yesterday to a small expedited truck fleet owner, who's looking for a driver.

We'll see.

I heard once that TMC stands for Tarp More Cargo but I talked to a TMC ex Mav driver yesterday who said he only tarps about half as many loads as he did with Mav, and doesn't have to double tarp them. Go figure!!

 

JimF - Thanks for sharing all that detail, especially the personal experience pointing out how important good communication is with home. Sounds like it was all an important learning experience. Hope you find your right niche.

 

I start orientation with Maverick on sunday anyone else starting sunday?

 

I've been waiting on a call from Beth my recruiter. I am in the final phase of the process, whatever that means. I was waiting on my last employer to verify my employment(they had "let me go" after getting calls from Maverick). I am very anxious as well as being unemployed at the moment! If i get the call I will be heading for Laurinburg for spec. orientation possibly on sunday also,good luck and keep us posted, i will do likewise! bug-out