Hey BobMack

Driving into grassy fields like that can be real risky with a chance of getting stuck, however, it was dry and very firm. If a Maverick driver gets his rig stuck he gets the honor of paying a wrecker to get him out. We could of have refused to drive in there and the loader would have had to drive quite a distance to stack this pipe. It was a pretty light load and not like we were grossing 80,000 lb. I used to drive an old cab over Pete hauling sod and managed to get it stuck one time in this kind of situation. Needless to say, that was rotten day for me. 18-wheelers don’t make very good 4x4 off road vehicles in the mud when they have highway tires.

Thanks for answering my question. And 1 more question cruzncoyote, what was the purpose of having a tarp on top and across the front on the sewage pipes? :? I'm looking at driving for Maverick next year and I'm just curious. Thanks again.

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Yeah, I know. We were scratching our head trying to figure out why they wanted us to do a smoke tarp on sewer pipe also. The smoke tarp keeps smoke and exhaust residue from getting inside the pipe. It is always required on water pipe for sure (which makes since, especially if it was for drinking water), but the instructions we received said to tarp it, so we did.

I talked to one driver that hauls out of here all the time and he rerouted his exhaust stack on his truck to go down and under the frame so he would not have to tarp all the time.

Good luck in hiring on with Maverick next year. As far as my experience has gone, this is a great company.

The 2nd week in the truck with a trainer was as good as the 1st week. We stayed south of the Mason-Dixon line all week and hauled 4 different loads which included particle board, shiny bar, 2-6 inch sewer pipe, and rough sawn 5/4 inch lumber boards. The fall colors in the tree leaves were spectacular all through the hills of Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina (sorry no photo’s this time, I did not have time to get them reduced in size and posted).

I got a taste of rolling down hills (with run away truck ramps on the side of the road) using our Freightliners auto shift tranny. It’s a piece of cake. Just put it in manual, use the jake on high, and keep the rpm’s from getting too high.

It has only been 2 weeks with my trainer and since I had OTR 10 years ago he is cutting me loose. I am going to Little Rock today to test out and if successful, I will be issued my own truck. I can’t say enough good about my trainer. He was a very easygoing, non-excitable professional that imparted outstanding knowledge to me in the ways of flatbed trucking. Maverick rocks!

Congratz making it through training. Please keep us posted on your further adventures. It helps those of us who are looking to work for Maverick an idea what to expect.

I drive for Maverick.You mentioned being out 2-3 weeks at a time.I am in their southwest region.I live northwest of Austin Texas.Very rarely am I out two weeks at a time.Their hometime depends on where you live.Living in Oklahoma you will be in the LNG Division and they do stay out 2-3 weeks.That still isn't bad considering alot of companies keep you out alot longer than that.I would give it some time and see how it works out.Maverick is a great company, I have been here a little over a year.

I got home last night after my 1st week with my own truck. It was a great week and my attitude about all this is holding strong. Here is how my week went:

November 12, 2007, Monday
I reported in for my “test out” in order for Maverick to give me a truck. There was 3 of us drivers doing this and we took 3 written tests on securement, qualcomm, and hours-of-service. We also had to do a trip planning exercise. All of us passed and we were issued trucks. Mine was in Mangum, Oklahoma and another driver on light duty has to drive me out there tomorrow. The other 2 guys have to fly out tomorrow to get their trucks in Laurinburg, North Carolina.

November 13, 2007, Tuesday

We dropped off the other two drivers at the airport and drove to Mangum, OK. My truck is a 2007 with less than 100,000 miles on it. It was fairly cleaned up and thank god, its previous driver was a nonsmoker and it was well taken care of. It was too late to get a load today so I spent the 1st night in my truck.

November 14, 2007, Wednesday

I got my 1st work assignment this morning. I dead headed to Fort Smith and picked up a load of gray bar headed for Columbus, Indiana. I drove until I was sleepy and stopped on a get on ramp on the interstate and went to sleep.

November 15, 2007, Thursday

I drove to Columbus and got there about 8:00pm. I was not unloaded until almost midnight and when I sent in my “empty” macro I got a preassigned load to drop and hook a trailer in Ghent, Kentucky. I was too tired to drive the 66 miles there so I found a truck stop and slept.

November 16, 2007, Friday

It was a good thing I did not drive to Ghent, KY last night. The road was super narrow and several of the small towns I went through had almost impossible tight turns. The bridge going over the Ohio River was also extremely narrow. This would have been a very difficult drive at night. When I arrived at the stainless steel shipper, I saw an assortment of stainless steel sheets stacked on 4x4's with 3 different height levels. I spent about an hour talking to my trainer and other Maverick drivers about securing this load. I had no previous training with this type of set up before and all told it took me hours to secure and double tarp this steel. I used every single chain and binder on my truck and a hand full of 4-inch straps to boot! It was quite the work out and I felt great about the securement of this load when I was done, not to mention all that exercise was invigorating. I drove for a while and slept on an off ramp.

November 17, 2007, Saturday

I went to the Little Rock yard and took care of paper work, got a shower, picked up some missing equipment for my truck, and washed my truck. I drove to Dallas for a few days off and parked the truck in an old closed Eckerd's parking lot near my house (local police suggested this spot). Thank god it fit in this parking lot. I was a little worried about getting it in there but had no problem all.

Well that’s all for now. If I ever get my wireless set up on my laptop I will be posting from the road. I just haven’t had time to get it taken care of. Stay safe and I will shout at you all later.

I am guessing you are talking about the bridge at madison in to milford ky and then ky 36 to ky 42 through carrollton and then on to ghent, I have run this route numerous times and I think you did a smart thing by waiting till light especially since it was an unknown to you. That bridge received a rating of 31 out of 100 on inspection so I was told by a local. The bridge to the east of ghent is a much better bridge to cross.Good luck to ya

Yep, that’s the one NailGunner. Who Wee! If I ever go back that way again I will take the other bridge to the east.

monica was my fleet manager when i worked for maverick. I am glad she is recruiting because as a fm all she ever did was lie to me. She was one of the biggest reasons i quit....wonderman

Hey Wonderman,

You don’t have to, but if you can, tell me about your experience with Maverick. I am on my third solo load (dimensioned lumber) and everything so far with Maverick has been good for me.

Monica, as a recruiter, went above and beyond the call of duty in my opinion in getting me into orientation.

Do you still drive?

hey cruzncoyote,

So things still going well at Maverick? Thanks for posting about about the company, very informative. I'm graduating from a driving school in about three weeks and will definitely be sending in an application based on what I've read on this site.

Lslaw

Sorry to take so long to answer you. I still don’t have Internet out on the road yet. At least I have been getting home every weekend (so far) even though I am long haul.

Things are going terrific for me. I still do not have any serious complaints about Maverick. They are truly doing me righteous as an employee.

I am glad you like reading about my Maverick experiences. I will get busy and do another daily blow-by-blow. This maybe the last one, because life out on the road is well documented here on these forums and it seems to get repetitive to me. I will chime in once and awhile and mention the unusual things.

Good luck with your application to Maverick. Let me know if you need any help along the way.

The continuing saga of Cruzncoyote:

Week #2

November 18, 2007, Sunday

I got in my truck and went to Houston and stayed at the Love's truck stop.

November 19, 2007, Monday

I got to North American Stainless before it opened. It was an easy unload.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...Houston160.jpg

Maverick did not send me a work assignment right away. They did send a message saying they were trying to get me a load home for Thanksgiving. I went back to the Love's Truck stop and fueled up, ate, and washed my truck over at the Blue Beacon truck wash (we can do this every 2 weeks). At 4:30pm, I finally got a load. I had to go to Pineland, Texas to pick up lumber. I drove there and slept at a picnic area off the road.

November 20, 2007, Tuesday

Inland Lumber Company (shipper) opened at 7:00am. I was there at 6:15am and there were at least 20 trucks in line to get in! It took a while but once I was loaded and scaled, I pulled outside the plant and tarpped my first lumber tarp load by myself. It looked pretty good when I was done. I drove home to Dallas for Thanksgiving.

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November 21, 2007, Wednesday

Line 1 :Off duty.

November 22, 2007, Thursday

Line 1 :Off duty.

November 23, 2007, Friday

Line 1 :Off duty.

Week #3

November 24, 2007, Saturday

I took off for Albert Lea, Minnesota with my load of 10 & 14-foot 2x6's. I slept in Joplin, Missouri at the Love's Truckstop.

November 25, 2007, Sunday

I made it to another Love's in Albert Lea, Minnesota and stayed for the night.

November 26, 2007, Monday

I delivered the lumber this morning and headed north to Harris, Minnesota north of Minneapolis/Saint Paul and picked up a load of cultured stone. This was a tough load. The stone was in boxes and it was stacked on 3 different levels. It was very difficult to secure because the straps could not be tightened down too much without crushing the boxes. I used all 12-4” straps and 2-2” straps. My trailer was a 96” wide and the wooden pallets hung over the trailer sides 1-2” so the straps had to be hooked on the outside of the rub rail. The shipper kicked me out because they were closing and I had to tarp with a flashlight on the side of a busy road in the dark. It was freezing and the tarps were a bear to work with. I used all 100+ bungee cords that I had on the truck and could have used another 50. The tarps ballooned and flapped as I drove down the road. It was not a pretty sight. I slept at a rest area off the interstate in Iowa.

November 27, 2007, Tuesday

Whoa, was it cold this morning. Temperature was 3 degree's and the wind chill was -11 degree's. Good thing I didn't have to load and tarp in this kind of weather. Made last night seem like a vacation. I headed on down the road and made it to Mullinville, Kansas for the night.

November 28, 2007, Wednesday

I drove on into El Paso, Texas for the night after stopping several times to try and redo my bungee's. The tarps were looking like crap by the time I got there.

November 29, 2007, Thursday

The cultured stone went to a big construction job going on at Fort Bliss. I was sure glad to get this load off the trailer.

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My next load came a few hours later and it was a load of steel T-posts for fencing. This was an easy load to secure and I did not have to tarp it. I headed for the house (Dallas) for the weekend.

November 30, 2007, Friday

I got into Dallas after lunch and enjoyed the evening with my wife.



One good thing, in my opinion about flat bedding. You get to do physical work (keeps the gut down). When I trailer trucked reefers 10 years ago, I always wanted to lump my own loads in order to get paid for it and get some exercise. Most of the time I was not allowed to do it by the consignee’s dumb rules, i.e. no drivers allowed on the warehouse floor, etc. (probably he got a kick back from the lumpers). Now, ha ha, I get to do physical work to secure loads and get paid $20 bucks to tarp. This is so right up my ally. I love it.

Oh, yea. One other awesome fact. These flat beds don’t go into nasty (read: nostril burning) meat packing plants to sit for hours and hours to get a load of beef. I pray I never have to do that again. I might stop eating steaks if I did (and I like my steak bloody red rare in the center).

Ok, that’s enough. I need to go pay attention to Momma. See ya later. Drive safe.

How many miles have you been getting your first couple of weeks?

Here is my totals: *empty or loaded pays the same at Maverick*

November 14, 2007
1st load: empty-325, loaded-650

November 16, 2007
2nd load: empty-066, loaded-984

November 20, 2007 (Thanksgiving Holiday)
3rd load: empty-158, loaded-955

November 26, 2007
4th load: empty-144, loaded-1386

November 29, 2007
5th load: empty-20, loaded-832


Total in 15 days = 5520 miles x $.35=$1932 (realize it is Thanksgiving…..”i.e. days off and home time” gotta love Maverick for getting us home)

Note: It is late fall/winter.
Freight is slow (historically). Just wait until spring (get ready to roll a lot; because freight picks up….and it is an election year….that makes a difference, usually!) [again historical data]

Maverick
$.35/mile= new/fresh cdl (you are a noob)
$.40/mile= after 6 months (you are still a noob but you get your truck turned up to 70 mph)
$.41/mile= you have been here a year (you are not a noob anymore…..congrates)

I appreciate the reply Cruzn. My app has gone to the hiring committee, so hopefully I hear something soon.
How long did it take from the time your app went to hiring committee till they notified you that you were approved?

mx302dad

From the time I sent in the online application (and Monica called me the same day….within an hour actually) until I got the call that I was approved and hirable, was 10 days. I waited almost 6 weeks from online application to getting the call to go to orientation though. Good luck with your app.

Got news today that I have been approved. It will probably be after the first of the year before I get THE call.

Congrates mx302dad.

Enjoy your wait time through the holidays and then get ready for the time of your life after the New Year. Keep us posted. Good luck.

Wow, what an interesting week it was. The rain never stopped (and especially when it was time to tarp or untarp). I did not put on my sunglasses even once after leaving the house last Monday morning. At least I stayed down south all week and did not have to deal with all the ice up in the Midwest and up north.

On Thursday I did have a trailer tire blow out. Wow, was it loud when it blew. I thought somebody smashed into my trailer only to look back in the right mirror and see rubber pieces flying everywhere. I pulled off and went back to inspect and saw that when the largest piece of tread came off it grabbed hold of the mud flap and ripped the mud flap bracket off the trailer. Actually it was all twisted upwards under the trailer hanging there by a ¼ inch piece of aluminum. I reached up and wiggled it off without much effort and the flap and bracket came off in my hands.

It seems funny that the tire gave way. It had good tread and I never saw any visible cuts or damage. Our trailers have automatic airing systems to the trailer tires so the pressure should have been ok. I do thump the tires with a hammer when I pretrip also.

A tire service truck pulled up within 1 ½ hours after sending in a qualcomm breakdown message and I was off and rolling to my drop 20 minutes later.

Coyote, I just finished my first solo week in a maroon freightliner too. I didn't get the miles last week that you got, but I do have a 1200 mile load in the driveway now to deliver Monday so next week is starting out good. I had a flat tire at the Ft Smith yard the other day and it only took the tire guy 15 minutes to get there. It turned out to be the automatic tire inflation tube came loose.
You got a 2007? Does it have a bunk heater in it? I have been freezing my butt off and am going to give up trying for fuel bonus until spring. The company should issue 12 volt blankets or ceramic heaters if they don't want the trucks idling all night. Oh well, my truck is a '06 with 300k miles on it so it only has another year to go.

You may have your '06 for awhile.Unless Steve comes up with another solution he isn't buying any '08.They have Mercedes engines in them and he isn't happy with the two he has purchased.The Mercedes doesn't pull worth a dang and they have had alot of issues with them.I had an '05 with 450,000 miles on it and no sign of getting rid of it.I had to leave Maverick but get used to your truck.

Jay B

Glad to here you made it through your first week. How did you like it? Did you get any weird loads? I have been getting freight that seems to always have to be pyramid loaded on multiple levels making tarping a beotch.

My truck is 27322. I am not sure what a “bunk heater” is but the bunk area in my truck has its own climate controls (temperature and fan speed) as long as the “bunk override” switch is turned on. It works great. I had Maverick put an 1500 watt inverter in my truck and I intended to use an electric blanket at night, but my batteries are so weak the truck shuts everything down after 2 hours if the only thing left on is the marker lights and dome light. I doubt it would last an hour with an electric blanket plugged into the inverter (or a small ceramic heater). So I to had to say to hell with the fuel bonus until probably the 2nd quarter of next year when I won’t have to idle the truck every night.

steelhauler2007

That is interesting about the Mercedes engines. Is Freightliner not offering Detroit engines anymore?

Oh, and sorry to here you left Maverick or/ trucking. Hope everything is all right.

The bunk heater is a battery powered auxilliary heater. They work great. The trainer trucks have them and I think some of the other 07's. I am going to skip the inverter and go with a 12 volt blanket. When I got the truck issued I told them the batteries drain down overnight without anything turned on so I got new batteries.

I haven't gotten any really wierd loads. I did get six coils loaded at once eye to front butted up against each other.

Sorry to see you go too Steelhauler. There are a lot of people leaving now because things are so slow. It will also be interesting to see how many flatbed companies are still in business in 6 months if freight stays bad and fuel stays high.

Wow, freight is indeed very slow. Another Maverick driver and I unloaded early this morning in Fort Worth and we both went over and parked near by in Cabela’s parking lot. Both of us did not get a work assignment load until 4:00pm. They don’t even load until in the morning. I went back to the house for the night which was nice.

second week is now over. Starting off the week with 1200 miles worked out great, I got over 2700 this week. Drove my ass off and felt like I was behind all the time. The flat that I had fixed in Ft Smith went bad again because the tire guy didnt hook up the inflater right.

I delivered some steel to a place in Hanover, PA. 90 degree back into a not so wide gate off a busy 2 way street during morning ruch hour.

2 days later I clipped a utility pole guy wire making a hard right turn. Got cited for "failing to look before driving forward" or something like that. What the hey, I hit a stationary I guess I deserve a ticket.

You will also get a preventable accident and safety points from Maverick.

Jay B you sure did good on miles. I started the week with a 305-mile run and ended the week with only 1958 miles. I did get to go to Colorado though and coming back to Texas I picked up my first load of slinky’s at that steel mill in Pueblo, CO. It sure took a while to secure them and then they had to be tarped also.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...bloCOsmall.jpg

I currently have a load of steel pipe that will start me out on Wednesday with 423 miles. At least I am home for a nice Saturday-Tuesday Christmas break.

I had tire trouble also after getting the steel pipe. A machine screw made its home in one of my super single drive tires and it made its presents known once I was loaded with that pipe (46,000 lbs.). The tire tech decided a patch might not hold air since the screw was into the curved part of the tire on the inside. It can be fixed but will require something called “vulcanizing” or something like that. He put on a new tire. I asked him how much for one of these supper singles. He said $1200 a pop! Needless to say, the old tire is going back to Little Rock and is strapped to the back of my trailer right now.

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...eloadsmall.jpg

Coyote, next week will probably suck for miles, but I have a 580 mile load in the driveway now and it is only a 2.5 hour drive from the house with a 0700 appointment. Hopefully they can find me a prefab metal building going to Florida after I drop on Wednesday and then a pick up at GP in Ocala. :D .

You must be LNG or US if you run Colorado. I am in RAT. Regional Atlantic my ass, anything East of I-35 and no north south limits. But it's all good, a true regional Atlantic division would make most of my trips too short.

Have a good holiday Coyote.

Thanks Jay B,

Merry Christmas.

Bump

Hows it going guys

It is going well. I had a few bad weeks due to breakdowns and weather and some other issues, but then 3 weeks ago some things clicked and I figured out some time management stuff and things fell into place.

The last 2 weeks I was at almost 3000 per week and not completely exhausted by the end of the week. My securing and tarping is much faster and I am figuring out the best times to run certain routes.

Can't wait for winter to be over. The weather can really ruin a week for me because I will not drive on ice or in blinding snow. I also am not a big fan of night driving (but I do it) so as the days get longer I will be happier.

Thats great J, you're still working. I wonder what happened to coyote.
Ron

Hey guys.

I just got off the road after being out 2 weeks (w/ a run to LA, yippee, no ice or snow, lol). I have been reading the boards but I have just not posted a thing. Maverick is still a great company but I do have huge problem with them that is gnawing away at me and making my attitude and life just miserable.

It has to do with this smart chip they placed in our trucks. When I hired on, Maverick had a policy of making you run 6 months with the truck governed at 65 mph. After 6 months they would turn the truck up to 70 mph. Not anymore.

Now, the trucks speed is based on the fuel mileage. If you want to go 70 mph, you have to achieve something like 6.7 mpg (not sure of the actual number). If you are below 6.5 mpg, you can only go 65 mph. My truck, since day one, has never been able to achieve over 6.5 mpg no matter how slow I go or how careful I drive. I have not tried driving 55 mph and I never will. Any truck doing 55 on a road with say a 70 mph speed limit just impedes the flow of traffic too much.

The frustration of trying to pass other trucks that are governed just below my max-governed speed is truly infuriating. I usually just back off and drive slower, but then the other truck does the same (or bogs down on a hill) and so this goes on for an hour and leaves me wanting to jump ship. I don’t mind setting the cruise at 62-63 mph, but I wish I could kick it up to 70 just to pass the slower traffic and then once passed them, back it back down to 62-63.

So, I have no hope at the present time of ever getting out of this situation as long as I drive with Maverick. I am going to stay put for now, but I will weigh my options in the near future.


On another note:
Jay B, I hear you. The tarping is getting a lot faster for me for sure and I too am ready for less ice and snow. And oh yeah, I am not a big fan of night driving either and yes I still do it when I have too.

The whole 6.7 thing is a bunch of crap. I ran 61 mph for 2 solid days and it was warm enough to not idle the truck at night. I used the cruise control almost all the time and did every thing else we are supposed to to get good mileage. I had close to 45k on the deck and ran through the mountains going west and then back east through PA and WV.
I got 6.1 mpg. I am not even going to try any more. If they really cared about it the trucks would have tri-packs and the torque curves would be set back to factory settings.

I don't want to sound down on Maverick, I just think they have taken some bad advice about setting up their trucks. Then again, they are smart enough to own a 1600 truck company and I am only smart enough to drive one of their units so my opinion might not be the best.

I have a question for you Maverick drivers. Have they quit their cdl training ? Are is it just the flatbed side that has stopped. Just curious, I'm interested in either division wondering if I would have to go get cdl on my own before pursuing any further. Any info would be great.

Kilowatt

Call this number and talk to Monica or one of the other recruiters and ask them that question about cdl training. I think it is still an active program unless something changed and they did not inform us drivers. Monica’s number is 1-800-289-1100.

Cruzncoyote
Talked with Paul yesterday from Maverick, he was looking at my flat bed app. . He said flatbed quit doing training several months ago. I failed to ask him if Specialized did the same . I noticed that on the web site the brochure for specialized had different number to call and it still showed cdl training on it also.