Profile For Randy D.

orientation is your first week with hiring on thursday, then you go to securement and tarping class which is another week, If you do glass then you have another week to cover that area, providing you pass all the test. Some do take securement over again if they don't feel they got it yet. After this training you will then go with a driver trainer (not team driving both on duty at the same time) for at least 3 weeks for on the job training after that you will have a bit more testing and then given a truck and heading out.

I drive for maverick and before that I took the CDL test in an automatic truck no clutch at all and have no such restriction on my license in the state of Illinois about only driving an automatic equipped truck

Broke down

was rolling down the interstate and switching lanes i noticed my trailer running lights were not on. but I could see the turn signal flashing reflecting off the road. i just passed an exit and next one was close so parked on the shoulder there. Put in the break down on quallcom After checking the fuse's and plug in ect I tried to restart the truck just to find it won't start and has a bunch of fault codes so got towed in and sitting in a hotel room now with my truck sitting in a very full dealer lot awaiting to be fixed. Looks like another short check next week coming up..

Hey it's great hearing from ya Randy! Glad to hear things are going well for ya out there. Flatbedding a tough way to go. A lot of people seem to love it though.

The next few months tend to be pretty slow. Hopefully they'll be able to keep you rolling pretty good though.

still kicking here and yes the miles slowed down after Christmas, I took 2 days off after Christmas got a load on monday for thursday with not great miles but holiday's mess things up a bit. After unloading i got a load to ohio for monday which is when the ice and cold weather hit so sat at a pilot till wednesday to unload since north western Ohio was shut down till then and customer was closed do to Level 3 travel alerts. I had heard the storm was coming so drove up on sat which at least got me a parking spot at a pilot 15 miles from customer so better than just being stuck some where. this past week I got a load for fargo NC from charlotte NC, again snow was called for in my route which would have worked my way up I-65 toward Gary and then toward I94 to fargo so i went west and worked my way to I-40 I-24 up middle of Illinois I-39? to hook up with I-94 much safer route weather wise as gary had 18" snow..

I hit 35 below on my way to fargo though so sure did sure felt nice to unload at 15 below inside a building ... had a load swap and today I will be heading to north easter ohio for some more snow and cold it seems..

I think next year I will take off the week between christmas and new years just seems to be a pain in the butt week to work anyway..

hope everyone stay's safe and keep after it there are good weeks and bad, pay attention to the weather and go out of the way if you can to avoid the real bad stuff .. i went out of route some distance to fargo, but would rather do that then deal with 18" of snow in Indiana which does not do a great job clearing their roads. i rolled 60-65 most of my route. My bonus plan does include out of route information also.

Randy

New to the industry and would definitely want to get a GPS unit. Now question is which one. I have narrowed it down to 2 of them. I know none of these are 100% accurate just looking for a nice one.

Rand McNally - intelliroute TND 720 7" GPS with Lifetime Map Updates

I can only comment on the 720 model like others said you still want to have the atlas handy but I really like the rand mcnally gps and use it every day driving. I alway do the compare routes when planning and trip and on longer trips I will rerun it as I go along to sometimes cut some miles off of my trip.

Make sure you accurately enter the address a lot of cities have many roads with same name but might be ave street or road after the same name.. you can enter the zip code instead of the city name which saves some typing. a lot of video information on rand's web sight.

But like someone else pointed out you can click for things along your route or near your destination to find stopping spots. you might have a shipper that does not allow parking ect ect so helps you plan your trips out.

Flat bedding we have to do the load checks which someone else pointed out very handy to find safe haven's to do that stuff at.

The other one you mention might do all that stuff as well I am not sure but the rand is very easy to do even going down the road. I do find roads that are not fully updated in recent construction areas but eventually they will wind up on them.

again this is a tool to go along with your atlas especially with towns that are not in the atlas. It will be very valuable in navigating the interstate system but can lead you astray now and then

If mine quit I can write the direction's on my wind shield and get by but would be buying another one quickly.. Randy

Well, things look good. I went online and filled out a job app today and got my first pre-hire letter. So, I stoked to say the least. And I have not even started class yet.

Jim, I just got into truck driving at 52, I am driving a flat bed which is more work than other types of trucking but I am sure if your mind set is right you will do fine in what ever you try.

I am sure you will get plenty of offer's don't jump at the first one's and don't jump into a quick lease program from anyone for a year. I would skip any company not starting you out above .30 per mile. I talked to some that were .25 and so glad I can kept looking around. I started out at .33 and 3 months driving I now get .36, after 6 months it is .42 and I can get a bonus then up to .06 ppm also. I am driving for Maverick but I think everyone should research the companies out they are looking at.

Talking to some at a local truck stop would not hurt just keep in mind what Brett say's you can talk to a bad apple any day of the week.

You will gain a lot of exp in year's time and have many more choices open up as time goes along.

I am still pretty new at this just going solo 8/13/2013. I worked in a factory for 31 years so this is a total change of pace for me also. I did have a 31 yr factory job, but decided to move on to something else.

The worse parts of trucking is heavy traffic (example chicago downtown, dallas, fort worth area ect) most larger cities get congested morning and evening's. Sitting at a shipper or consignee for hours to get loaded or unloaded is a pain in the butt also it happens all the time, I have sat 7 hours but that is not the rule either. E-logs the clock ticks the whole time once you start your day, just have to do the best you can when that sort of stuff happen's it sucks.

who ever you start driving for give them sometime to see how it works out for you. Home time will be important nothing better than spending the night in your own bed now and then.

Wishing you the best, keep researching and there is a lot of information on the sight your already looking at right here.. Randy

Congratulations on your first solo flat-bed load. I remember mine, and it was a little bit of both unnerving and excitement. It takes a little while to get used to doing all that tarping and securement stuff by yourself because you are accustomed to doing it with a trainer. It's surprising how much longer it takes by yourself, but your times getting it done will soon get faster, it just takes a little time to develop your own methods and style. Keep us posted if you can, there are some other new folks on here who are also considering flat-bedding and I'm sure they would love to hear about your experiences.

Still rolling the roads , sorry I have not been online much. I have tried wondering wifi from pilot which you can use points to buy so that is good but the wifi is pretty iffy at most pilots. So I am trying a portable unit from straight talk that seems to work much better.

I have hauled many different things now and my tarping it getting better and faster the lumber tarps I am not real fond of, ours have 8' side walls so plenty heavy. Some places have the tarp lift thing which I like but some drivers don't. Even with help lifting you still have to untarp.. Nice to have a hand from another driver now and then and like to help another out when I can also. Always nice to pick up a trick here or there also on doing somethings.

I still like non tarped jobs but they say 90% of what we haul is tarped and have to say that is probably pretty good guess on the percentage.

Milage, I have had good and bad weeks from 1298 miles to 2972 miles, so a pretty good spread. 15 week average is 2032 miles keep in mind my first week was just one load to get home on (671 miles) and 2nd week was only 1355 miles. which lowers my 15 week average a bit.. My weekly average is going up most weeks.

My current load which I got to go home for Thanksgiving also, is from Charlotte NC to Cedar City Utah.

I have been home at least for a little bit almost every week since going solo. I think location is a big deal on being able to get a person home often. I live in southern Illinois I-57 I-64 I-55 I-70 all within an hour drive of my house. I have had some weekends where I did not get anywhere close to my house also including labor day weekend in oklahoma.

Flatbedding does take some work and not always in the best of weather either, if someone wants to get into it I would say study the different company's out there. Do some homework and give it an honest effort. Randy

I am done with training and have delivered my first solo load a 50015# load of plywood to menards. I was very slow with the large tarps but they had a machine to lift them up over the load that none of the truckers seemed to like it was not to bad I thought just hook the hooks to the d rings and press up and over with the button's, did have to sort of move it as you let it down to make it fall correctly but not overly bad. But they did not allow drivers to get on top either.

Loaded secured and tarped I headed down the road spent the night south of Sikeston, 325 miles to go still. Finished the trip the next day with a drive home afterward's.

Felt good, I had a choice to take a week off or go back for a load monday. So calling in monday for my next load, after this time I will go home on friday loaded normally for delivery Monday morning. I won't get home each weekend though. I worked over 30 years at my factory job and retired from that to pick up truck driving. So far I like it but it is a big change from what I have done so many years. And will take me awhile to get my speed up with securement and tarping ect ect.

I know other's can do it also since I have made it this far, just keep after it :) Randy

I was tested at Maverick for this and so was the rest of my group fat or thin about half ended up with the machines including my self. It was a combo of neck size, BMI and your throat opening. Over the limit on these got you a test scheduled

The test with Maverick was some small pads and equipment that you wore (like a watch) while you slept that night and the test results said how you slept that night. My paper work was minus my results so I need to get them sent to me. You do have to take them to your own doctor within a year.

I was moderate they said and most I heard were severe in my group. The smallest guy in our group was 140lbs and said they did check his neck and throat also but he was not required to take the test. They claimed some smaller people also end up getting tested.

I don't sleep as well when I am tired and sure on a better night I would have tested better but it's not that big of a deal to use the machine either. But some quit in the next class saying they were not going to wear it at all. They also check to see if your using the machine, if your not doing it enough you won't have a job with Maverick.

After a year you will have to have your own sleep doctor do a check which might just be a download from the machine to keep your Medical current.

The clinic they use did say now and then a person can get cleared from using the machine which is a therapy for breathing like some therapy's you get better you quit the therapy.

At some point this might be an industry standard to get tested for. Randy

Sounds great man! Geez, there are some drivers that don't get home for two months or more at a time when they're in training because their trainers don't live near them and the company just wants the truck to keep rolling. That's really nice you're getting home regularly!

It is nice to sit back and relax a bit and some home cooked food does not hurt either..

Maverick does have a get home deal if your out 5 weeks with a trainer they will pay your way home and back and also it's a paid home visit also. I am not sure if the 5 weeks included the time in little rock to get to a trainer truck. I already knew I was going home often when they were explaining that item. Only 1 in my class might have that problem out of 11. Rest had semi (1 hour distance) local trainers one had a trainer 3 blocks away even.