Site is misleading

jmlloar

Active Member
Mavericks site is misleading. It says student program, but really its flatbed training for experienced drivers. They only hire with AT LEAST 6mos OTR experience. If you put in an app right out of school and never got contacted this is why.
 
I have to agree with the last 2 posts, you can't tell a company what you will and will NOT do. This industry is NOT for you. I started in 1969 and I still get raped sometimes but that is the nature of the beast. Live with it or be the wally world greeter. And I am not trying to **** you off but there it is.
 
I have no problem putting up with the BS. Basically what I said was I'm not taking a company right off the bat that says they will get you home every 21 days or so. If I get stuck somewhere over the weekend, oh well.

I'll just stick with TMC. I know someone who works there and so far he's been very busy, but yet still gets home EVERY weekend. I would prefer not driving a flat. I dont mind the straping/chaining but dont care for the tarps.

I have also heard from a few places that flat loads are really on the up swing this month.

Anyway I'll try my luck, and if I like it I'll stay if not I'll still do the this sucks thing for at least 6 months to get my OTR experiance in. I have no problem "sticking it out" no matter how bad it is once I make the commitment. I have also got alot of good info from here. All I ask for is dont treat me like a child and dont be a smart a##. Change one word in a sentence and it can make the diff between "advice" and "hey stupid why are you so dumb".

Best of luck to you at TMC. And really try to stay a year if you can, it looks better to other companies if you do decide to take another opportunity.

your a dummy


dont even bother this guy just like to ruffle everybody's feathers.


Your such a loser douchebag. I am so into your head that you run around this site commenting on everything i say. I win , you lose .

And if you got an issue with me, stop being such a punk BITCH, pick up your placenta, roll your fat ass out of the walmart plastic chair, quit hiding behind that monitor and say your shit to my face. I'll hit you so hard , your momma will fall down.
 
I am just out of CDL class and I have been accepted by Maverick. Their site was not at all misleading. They were the most thorough of any of the companies that I applied to. They do their background checks, employment verification upfront before they tell you that you are accepted.
Their web site is automated so that you know exactly where you are in the process. Other companies glance over your application then tell you it is a go. But when you ask them questions they tell you that they have not really vetted you, but everything looked ok. I think that is why you hear of people being sent home after they are at orientation. I know alot of times it is because they tried to hide something.
I have been really impressed with what I have read and my discussions with Maverick drivers. I am excited about going to work for them.
 
i can t speak for everyone but alot of us unfortunatly started out with less than reputable companies untill u get the experience the better companies are looking for.(it s paying your dues) and it sthe nature of the beast
 
Until a few months ago, Mav did take drivers right out of school. But they, like lots of other companies, have cut back on expenses, including driver training. Schneider has closed their schools, and no require 6 months. So Mav's site isn't really misleading, just not updated. There are too many experienced drivers out their right now, so companies can be choosier, and save some money.

Most flatbed companies have a better weekend home time policy (Nobody has a guarantee) because lots of places where they pick up and deliver are closed on weekends. If that ever changed, where all these shippers and receivers worked all weekend, that policy would most likely change, and it's be more like most van companies, 1 day off for every 6 or 7 days out, and staying out 2 to 3 weeks at a time.

If the original poster wants to try and determine what he will and won't put up with, more power to him. If he finds what he can live with, great. If not, he'll find out the hard way, and have to decide whether to stay or go. Don't get on his case just because he won't take your advice, no matter how well intentioned.
 
Maverick and TMC both must have one hell of a tarping school. Them guys can tarp coils and have them looking great. All I ever manage is to have it look like a pile of puke with a round top on my trailer. Maybe they use special coil tarps or something?

It's not a big deal to me, since I got into pulling deck trailers to get into specialized, but having a good looking tarp on a load is always a plus.

Let us know some of the secrets they teach you.
 
Some of these drivers have their lds tarped so pretty looks just like a chrismas gift.Looks like an awful lot of work especially in the freezing cold.All the binders,straps and that heavy tarp.I did the flat bed thing once and for this little lady it just was'nt my cup a tea.I'll stick to reefer and van.
 
Can't speak for TMC, but Mav definitely teaches you how to tarp, as well as secure. And once you know the tricks for getting it neat looking, it's not that difficult. Back when I got my CDL in '96, I hadn't given flatbed a single though. My feeling was "Why did I want to work that hard?". But when I got to the point that I thought I wanted to drive for a local outsit, the only place hiring was a flatbed/heavy hail outfit. I learned a lot, and some of it was difficult and dirty. Then I went to covered wagon, and that was my fav. It actually was dirtier, but a bit easier.

At Mav, they showed me the things I had been doing harder, those years ago. I don't think I could ever be happy driving van, and as for reefer, I'd probably end up jail for assault, if I had to deliver to a food/produce warehouse :))
 
Was there 5 Years

This post is a little old, but I'll add my .02 I worked there for 5 yrs, left in '98. I don't know how they are now, but this was how they were then. If your only interest is making money you'll do good, but you'll earn it. You could make a triangle on a map from Ft Smith Ark, to Chicago, to Atlanta, then back to FS. This was where I spent 90% of my time running. They basically run you from terminal area to terminal area, with each terminal working its area customers for freight, based on the number of trucks headed there way. Thats where the Qualcom is nice. 99% of the time when you punched in empty you were already preplanned on a load based on your ETA. At the time, they had an $800.00 wk garrentee, weither you turned a wheel or not, or freight was slow. I know they weren't afraid to bounce trucks around if freight WAS slow, as I've loaded out of Ft Smith going to Michigan, and went back to Ft Smith empty. This happened in other area's also ( got'a love milage pay, and fuel bonus's here ). I came here from SMX so had flatbed experience hauling the same freight. Didn't matter, they teach you the " Maverick " way. Example- DOT says 1 tiedown per 10,000lbs, Mav says 8,000. At first you wonder why, after awhile it just becomes natural. You WILL learn to tarp, and there tarps are well designed for what they haul. Thats why they look good going down the road, even in a tornado. Get used to double tarping steel, canvas one first, then vinyl, saves the vinyl tarps from sharp edges. I could go on, but you get the idea. I liked SMX better in reguards to operating area, freedom to do your own thing, but Maverick in reguards to equip, money and home time ( in 5 yrs only missed 3 wkends ). HTH, Al
 
I always ran into Mav drivers in Pittsburgh, I lost a lot of respect for this company, one time I was loading up beside a Mav truck, the crane operator did not pick up the coil high enough and it hit the side of the flatbed caving in part of the rub rail, the driver freaked because he thought he was going to get fired for it. the poor guy was near tears, he had been with them for some time and said they fire their drivers for thing like that, I told him don't worry, it was not his fault, just tell them what happened and if he needed a witness to talk to his dispatch to back him up, let me know, Never heard back on what happened to him, but for any company that would fire a driver over something like that and to make him so scared of losing his job that he was almost crying, well, I would never work for them, that is for sure
 
First off, seems silly to "lose a lot of respect' for a company based on a single incident and not knowing any other facts. I doubt he got fired, unless he already was on probation for other incidents. For something major, and preventable, yes they will can you. So would most other decent, safety conscious company. For a incident like that, from what I remember them telling us, is that he might get some remedial loading training.

Technically, he was responsible. A flatbedder is the one to direct the crane operator as to loading his truck. He should have been aware that the coil was to low.
 
Yiu can call it silly, but I base my opinions on what I see, it was not the drivers fault at all, this was a place where the drive was not allowed on his trailer during loading, the crane operator was 2 feet away from the side of the trailer, he was just going to fast with the coil, what the driver's record was I have no idea but for him to fear being fired over something like that because of his companies policies is what I would call silly
 

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