Pros
Good pay. $550 per week as a student and when you are on OJT in a truck. When you start driving on your own it starts out at 36 cents per mile, 39 cents after 6 months and then you get 1 cent per mile increase on your anniversary date every year. There is a performance bonus of up to 6 cents per mile. You need to drive for a complete quarter before you qualify to receive it. Good equipment. Maverick leases new Freightliner Cascadias. All are automatic with manual override. Engines are governed at 64.5 mph. Most of the staff are a joy to work with. Most will go out of their way to help you out. Tarp pay is $25 per load. That is to put it on and take it off, roll it up and put it away, whether it is one tarp over a 10 foot load or three tarps over a 48 foot load.
Cons
While pay is good, you need to be moving to make it. Some weeks you will only get 1500 miles. Offend your fleet manager and you will barely make that and get cheap loads all the time. You could get a 350 mile load today at 8 AM with a delivery appointment tomorrow at 5 PM. Lots of wasted time and you only get paid for 350 miles for 2 days work. No advanced planning for loads. They wait until you are empty before you get your next assignment so you almost never know where you are going next. Maintenance is good, except when something nonoperational on the truck breaks down, like your bunk heater or your AC power supply go out. Then you have to wait to get it fixed.
