Maverick and my DAC

I am not saying maverick is perfect. I am saying I have worked for companies that are a lot worse. Last year I talked with a mav driver that had been involved in a fatality accident. He is still with them. The point is they don't just get rid of someone who has been involved in a incident, but when the incidents keep repeating themselves all co's that I know will let someone go. There comes a point when companies will say this person is too much of a liability.
I myself do not think very much of DAC. Trying to remember how it works, but if I remember right DAC pays a company 2 or 3 bucks for every prescribed co that submits a report on a driver. Then DAC used to charge the driver 8 or 9 bucks to get the report. Now you can get a free report once a year or more often if you qualify.

I am sorry you lost your job. I hate to hear that anyone loses a job that has a family to support. What I am saying is if it were a differnt co, say TMC. If you had 5 incidents with them and damaged one of those shiny pete's how many times are they going to let you bang it up? That does not make them a bad co. I have heard drivers say with them they had a $50 item per incident. If you hit a curb and damaged a wheel and damaged a tire they would hit you for 50 bucks for the tire and 50 bucks for the wheel. I am not sure about this as I was told that, but the point is companies will not let repeated incidents keep piling up.
Now since you like my analogies if you were a new doctor and you had 5 patients that died on the table by something you did. Would the clinic say well; he is new, he will get better or say we need to fix this problem before it gets out of hand?

I have tried to call that guy I was telling you about that lives in your state. His cell has been dis-connected. That is why I have not got the name of the company he went to for you. I do hear from a former mav driver that had hit a few items. The last one was a pick up truck. He also blew his tire from hitting a curb and had some other damage. I think his record is worse that yours. He got hired by SMX. He said they are better than western x who owns them. You might try there. He has to stay out 2 weeks at a time, but he likes them. Said they dead headed him 600 miles to go home last week and they do not complain about OOR miles on a run. I wish you well and hope things work out for you. The only thing I am saying is mav has been the best co out of the half a dozen that I have worked for.

 

There comes a point when companies will say this person is too much of a liability.

Yep, which in my case was after my first accident. From 1990 to 2004 I had 0 accidents 0 incidents 0 log book violations 2 minor moving violations. IDC estimated a 10k payout which was actually when all said and done $4200 and their was no damage to the tractor (The other vehicle hit the tire carrier on the trailer).

All I am saying is that NO driver should think that they will get a second chance after a accident of any kind. And no one will convince me that Marten, a carrier which doesn't even let their trucks chain is going to keep someone on who caused a fatality in a CMV.


Have a plan B.

 

In this case I have to go with Mav. You Had the accidents that in the end cost that company money. So there for they are not out of line for posting the things they did.

I will say this. The DAC is a very powerful weapon that is "unfairly used" What I mean by that is its a weapon thats one sided! In some companies it is up to the DM what is put onto your DAC. In many many many cases DM are using this to settle there "personal agendas" Its not fair that something so powerfull (as this single report controls most of our careers) Is a one sided story.

Here is how DAC should work! A company files negative and potentialy career ending information with USIS (DAC) USIS should send notice to that driver and give him 30 days to reply and appeal. If the driver Disagrees with the information and states that it is "untrue" or not the "complete" story then there should be a scheduled hearing. Have a confrence call with all the parties involved. USIS should have the responsibility to hear both sides of the story before posting any negative information. I can not for the life of me figure why something so important is one sided!!

As for our original poster on this topic, If I was you I would start contacting other companies that also hire rookies and ask to be hired as a Trainie. I know your thinking that you have experience and you do but getting a company to hire you as a newB and going through what would probably only be a few weeks of training with a trainer would be much better then sitting at home with no real chance for a good company to pick you up.

Happy Holidays!!
Gator

 

if you hit my truck 5 times . first two on you. last 3 on me four keeping you .just my two cents.


I AM A FLATBEDDER, I TRAVEL WITH ALL EQUIPMENT NECCESSARY. CHAINS (FOR THE UNRULEY ONES), STRAPS (FOR THE SEMI-UNRULEY ONES),...

 

Faber, I think the problem you are having with getting your point across is the title of the thread. There are some people on this board that refuse to let anyone make a negative statement about Maverick. If the title had been something like “Newbie beware of DAC”, the people who have responded wouldn’t have felt it necessary to point out your shortcomings.

The long and short of it is: Federal Regulations require that ALL employees of a motor carrier be knowledgeable of the HOS rules, but most dispatchers and FMs do not understand the importance of them. It is the Driver’s career that is on the line, and it is up to him/her to inform the dispatcher or FM if a delivery time is impossible. As a rookie, I nearly fell into the trap of assuming they knew what they were doing when I was given impossible delivery schedules. I was fortunate. I have a wife that has made a career of reading and understanding federal regulations, so she learned the HOS rules inside out, and helped me with trip planning in the beginning.

Dispatchers and FMs are simply trying to move freight from point A to point B as quickly as possible, with income being the bottom line. The Driver is not a walking, talking, breathing human being. He/she is simply a means to an end. They will frown, argue and push when the Driver states a delivery time is impossible. But in the end, it is not their career that will be affected by the careless mistakes made when trying to do the impossible.

So, Newbie beware of your dispatchers and FMs, as well. They do not know the HOS rules, so don’t let them push you into something that you know you can’t legally do. When you are tired or racing against an impossible deadline, you can make mistakes. Those mistakes can cost you your job, as well as your future career. Carriers can and will report all to DAC. Some of the mistakes that will reported to DAC are: accidents/incidents, violation of the 11/14/70 hour rules, log violations, driving while ill or fatigued, and moving violations.

When you are researching a company, make it a point to check their SafeStat scores:

http://ai.fmcsa.dot.gov/SafeStat/SafeStatMain.asp?PageN=results​

On the Driver tab, check the Driver SEA score. For example:

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Then run the OOS Violation Summary report:

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(Click to Enlarge)​

If you see a lot of HOS violations, chances are the dispatchers are pushing drivers to make impossible delivery times.

If the dispatchers and FMs understand the HOS rules, it is possible to keep the HOS violations at a minimum. Here is an example of a different carrier. This carrier has almost 5,000 more drivers than the carrier in the above example, yet has fewer HOS violations:

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(Click to Enlarge)​

While Driver violations do affect the carrier’s SafeStat score, it rarely causes a carrier to loose their Authority. However, the same violations can cause a Driver to loose his/her job and become unemployable as a Driver again.

So, Newbies, learn the HOS rules. Don’t be pushed into violating them for the sake of making an impossible delivery time. I think that is the lesson Faber wants you to learn.

I am a former Maverick Driver. I left on my own after one year. Maverick didn’t report any HOS violations or accidents to DAC. I am NOT making negative statements about Maverick – simply carriers in general.