My Maverick Experience

Unfortunately OTR is not always the best option for guy like you with a family. It works well for me because I'm young, single, no kids, and no home. I pretty much live in the truck. I usually work for 4+ weeks at a time so OTR is great for me.

I'm surprised they couldn't get you onto just normal flatbed either. They say that they try to get drivers home every 3 out of 4 weekends.

Maybe some day OTR will work out better for you. For now I'd focus on being there for your kids.

 

If you call in and get the message about leaving a voicemail and they'll get back to you just stay on the line. It will play through 3-4 times and then it will either keep ringing or put on some music. If you stay on the line even through that message eventually somebody will pick up the phone. There's only 8 of them up there in recruiting so it may take a few minutes to get through. They also take calls for each other soo as long as you keep calling from the same number they can keep looking you up.

 

Maverick Flatbed Securement Training Day 4 - Monday 02/04/2013

0600 start to the day yet again. Today was the drug test and physical day for the new group or students coming in so we were restricted to the classroom and the barn until lunch time.

Today we did securing gray bar with no blocking between the bundles. It was pretty similar other than wrapping the bundles with the chains.

We also covered palletized cargo today. It is probably the easiest since there's only the 2 trip chains at the front and back and the rest is just straps over the top. It took the 5 of us about 30 minutes to get it all done.

After the Palletized securement practice we switched and did Steel Plates. Again, not very hard to do. Cross chains at the front and back to keep it from sliding forwards or backwards. Then a minimum of 1 chain every 8 feet along the length.

To speed things up we did each one in groups of 5. There was one trailer on each side of the barn set up with each type of cargo. After finishing one we tore it down and switched sides. When we were done with both sides we had to move the center trailer out of the barn to move in the box shown on the Orientation day 2 post.

After we finished the steel plates and palletized loads we went back into the classroom and took the tests for them. After everybody finished both tests we took a 45 minute lunch break. I went back to the Galloway Inn to make my lunch.

When we got back after lunch we had to reorganize our usual classroom since they were doing the hair testing and DOT physicals in there in the morning.

After we finished resetting the room we started talking about securing Coiled Rod. More commonly known as Slinkys. It's so light for each coil that it's almost always a full trailer full of coils. We only have to build a coil cradle under the first and last ones though. After building the cradle we use straps to connect them together and then secure them to the trailer. We went over the powerpoint presentation and watched the video today. When we finished we went out into the barn and tore down the Steel Plate and Palletized loads. We also put the tarp back on the box trailer. While the tarps used here had about 20 feet cut off them it doesn't seem all that difficult. Though on a 30 mph day I'm going to have one hell of a time trying to do that.

After this the student drivers all went into a classroom with the night shift guys to do a Map Reading and Trip Planning course. The other experienced guy and myself were not required to go to it. We could if we wanted to though. Since neither of us really wanted to go sit through that we stayed out in the barn and helped Gary switch the trailers back out. At this point it was getting kind of late and he had to go to a meeting with the rest of the instructors so we were free to go.

Myself and the other experienced guy left around 1545 today. I'm not quite sure what to do with all this extra time at night.

Tomorrow morning we will start out with securing slinkys. It doesn't seem all that difficult.

On a side note. I found out today that the Flatbed/Heavy Haul company I had planned on working for 3 years ago was still interested in having me come work for them. Heavy Haul and oversize is what I'm really interested in doing. We'll see what happens in the future. I can't go work for them until I turn 23 in October at the earliest but I may stay at Maverick even after that. They are a much smaller company based near my home. The owner was asking around to see if I was still interested in working for them.

Either I've done something really right to keep them interested after not talking to them for almost 2 years or they are really hard up for drivers right now. Either way puts me in the better bargaining position from my point of view.

-Ryan

 

[FONT=Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Maverick Flatbed Securement Training Day 5 - Tuesday 02/02/2013[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Yesterday before we finished for the day we watched the videos on securing coiled rod. This morning we started out right away in the barn with securing coiled rod. They set up 10 of the wooden spools on one trailer and the entire class worked together to secure everything.It wasn't hard, but it was [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]time[/FONT][FONT=Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif] consuming since all of the straps have to be thrown 3 times. Doing it alone would take awhile though. After the coiled rod practice we took the test.

Then we moved on to securing skidded aluminum coils. They are different from a normal skidded coil because the aluminum is so thin and soft that it is easier to damage than steel. We use straps only for aluminum. Even the trip securement becomes a strap here. They also require 3 straps over the top of each coil and a trip strap at the front and rear of the load. After the videos and power point presentation we went out to the barn. We all worked as a group again to practice the securement.

After we finished securing the coils they showed us how to tarp them as well. After these coils we went back in the classroom to learn about lumber securement. It's pretty simple but they have to go over it a lot because apparently people can figure out coils just fine, but for some reason an 8 ft long square just screws them all up.

After the lumber presentation we just took the test. There was no video because there's nothing to really show besides throwing some straps over the top.

After the lumber test we spent most of the day learning about tarping. It was pretty simple. Most of it is common sense. I could keep the tarp on just fine and the product dry without much help. They did teach us the right way to do it so it looks nice and neat as well. We split into teams of 2 on the 5 different trailers to practice tarping different loads. Tomorrow morning we will be doing the same.

The biggest issue for me with tarping and untarping is that I'm 5'5" and 130lbs. The 8ft drop weighs almost as much as I do so I'm fighting it the entire time. I also have issues with reaching a lot of stuff. The first thing I'm buying before I get in a truck here will be a ladder. The instructors said that the shop should put some eye bolts on my headache rack for me so I can have a place to secure it. I guess the upside will be that in Glass I should have a step deck a lot so hopefully that will make my job a little easier. The flatbed decks are at shoulder level with me at the rear and eye level near the middle/front. I'm also going to need a stick with a hook so I can reach things in the middle of the trailer.

Tomorrow will be slightly different for me and the other experienced guy because they have to get us to the point that we can tarp and untarp on our own before the end of the day since tomorrow is the last day in the barn/classroom. In the morning we'll work together on one load to tarp and then after that we'll be put on our own to give it a try. The students will be able to practice more while they are with their trainers. Since we are just going to be assigned trucks and no trainers we have to get down pretty well before we leave or we'll be stuck scratching our heads and calling to help line.

Tomorrow afternoon is also final exams. On Thursday students will start meeting up with their trainers and the other experienced guy will be turned over to operations. For me Thursday is the start of Glass training. I'll have 4 days of that before I can move on and get my own truck.

Can't wait to get up nice and early and start tarping all day tomorrow.[/FONT]

-Ryan

 

Yep, I'll still be here on Friday. I'll still be here when your orientation starts on Sunday so if you see me don't be afraid to come say hello.

Good luck with the ride here and your training.