Another avenue I've been looking at is flatbed. Maverick offers starting pay at .39 a mile and says in their long haul division you can get up to 2900 miles a week. I was wondering if anyone knew if that is a good company to work for? Everything I've heard about them has been good so far. They are also out of my home town which is nice. Is it fairly easy to make the switch from reefer to flatbed? It seems it would be nice not to have to worry about backing in to congested docks or waiting for hours to be loaded or unloaded. They have automatics, one of my Prime trainers had one and they are really nice. How physically demanding is the job? I'm not weak by any means but I'm no athlete either. Please I want to hear from those of you who do this. Thanks,

Ryan

 

There is tons of info here on Maverick. I believe Arky who posts here is very close to Little Rock also.

Great company, as good as any flatbed outfit out there. For the switch from reefer to flatbed, you would be trained on the securement and learning to handle the spread axle trailer would be a little different for you, but you can manage that just fine.

2900 miles per week is probably fairly accurate for Longhaul division, may be more than that. I personally only met a couple of LNG drivers. You can get 2500-2800 miles pretty consistently with the US division and be home every weekend so I would think that LNG would probably offer around 3000 miles/wk.

The work is harder than opening van doors, but you don't need to be overly athletic to handle it. If your used to much manual labor at all you'll be just fine. You probably won't spend as much time loading and unloading as a reefer driver, but I can tell you that you will back into some tight spots with flatbed also. Of course, one trip to Bennettsville, SC will be enough waiting to last you a lifetime...

Good luck.

 

They said they can train me in 6 days how to tarp and secure a load. Is that really enough time?

And what's in Bennetsville, SC?

 

Look for posts here and at truck.net by "Skills". I believe he went thru their training and is pulling for them. BOL

 

Once you spend 6 days securing and tarping no stop over and over again from 7 or 8 in the morning till 5 in the evening, you'll have a pretty good grasp on the concept. You won't have every single scenario down pat, but you will be amazed at how true to form the training actually is. If/when you run into a load that you are a little unsure of, there will other drivers around, you can use your phone to call with questions or you have a book in the truck with digrams for different loads. You're never totally alone.

Bennettsville, SC is home to Weyerhauser and you will eventually pick up out of there heading probably to Waverly, OH. They are notorious for making you wait because they are extremely slow. That's the only place where I had to use detention pay while with Maverick.

Good luck.

 

Can't be worse than sitting at IBP in bloody cold Iowa for 2 days waiting for your trailer to be loaded. I got there thursday, drop the trailer. It's ready Friday night two hours past the DDT. So I pull out of there at 2300 last night. To my surprise it's the same trailer I dropped the day before. I don't get detention pay for my extra time there but I do get it because it will cause me to be late to the 02.

 

As a person fresh out of the "Barn" believe me you learn a lot. You'll be tired, dirty, but feel comfortable enough in what you are doing to do your job. If you get into orientation and make it, you can do the job.


Good luck

 

Ok I definately think I'm going to go flatbed. Because IBP was late shipping, and the reciever won't take anything past 11am, I can't make the appointment in the morning and I have to sit until Monday. That really bites. Also means the 2nd stop which was supposed to deliver Monday, won't deliver until Tuesday. With flatbed the way I understand it is usually they want what you have when you get there and usually you are unloaded pretty quickly. Seems like a lot less headache.

 

Redsfan is giving solid advice as to what you can expect with Maverick. I can't tell you that you won't ever wait at a shipper/reciever but normally it's fairly quick, especially at the reciever. I've had several loads where I just had to pull the tarps to the side and throw the chains or straps to the side and get out of the way they were wanting the material so bad. I've also spent 3-4 hours waiting to get unloaded before. I'm guessing that I average 3 hours total at the shippers and probably 1-1/2 at the recievers if you averaged out all of my loads.

If your from L.R., you'll have it made. You'll have a good place to park your POV while your out and a place to park the truck when your home (at the terminal). The securement training is very good. It's just hard to remember every little detail once you get on the road. That's where the diagram book comes in handy. They also give you some phone numbers that you call to get in touch with one of the securement trainers to ask questions if you have 'em. I've called 'em a few times already. They are there to help. All of those guys are former Maverick drivers. If you tell 'em where your loading at, they pretty much know what your loading and how you need to secure before you even explain it.

Good Luck!

Arky

 

Arky I guess I should clarify something I said. I no longer live in Little Rock, but it will always be home to me. I don't have a place right now, and I won't while I'm on the road. No sense in it. Nearest "home" for me is Monticello (parents), about 2 hours from Little Rock. I hope they can get me there on my time off. There is a good place to park the truck there. I also know they haul a lot of Lumber out of Warren, AR, which is about 30 min away, so I shoudln't have any problem getting a load out of there. Did you ever go there? It's a Potlatch facility.