Student interested in teaming.

No teaming unless teammate is from same house or same town. When u need to go home where does he go?

 

Many try teaming and very, very few last more than a couple months. Make sure you choose a company that will allow you to switch to solo if teaming fails. And make sure you get that condition in writing.

 

Yes you can make very, very good money teaming! Its better if you are doing it with your spouse or significant other but nonetheless you will still make good money. Its very important to find the right person to team with. Keep in mind that you will be essentially stuck to each for months on end. Teams typically stay out longer than solo drivers, so plan on about two month stints. With that being said though there are some unique gigs out there in which you can run as a team and only be gone for 3-5 days at a time. I work for a company, team driving out of Miami, Fl and we do 3 trips to Texas a week (technically 9 days) Leave out Saturday afternoon deliver in Dallas, grab a back haul and are back Tuesday morning. I go home take a shower and then go back out Tuesday afternoon. Once again, we leave out of Miami and deliver in Dallas and are back Friday morning early. I then have the rest of the day off and we do one more trip the next day (Saturday). Leave out Saturday afternoon, Miami-Dallas and are back early Tuesday morning. We then have off Tuesday morning through Saturday afternoon! During those few days off we can run local or do a short trip if we want extra money. I get paid $.24 a mile, hub miles (every mile the truck rolls) and we do roughly 9300 miles give or take a few miles every 9 days. I make roughly $2200.00 for my 9 day run.

Like I said, there are many unique gigs out there you just have to find them. I would highly advise you stay away from the mega-carriers! You don't have to work for a bottom feeder company just because you are new drivers! If Crete will take you I would highly recommend them! Crete is a very good company, especially if you are going to run team!

You don't have to haul regular freight either. There are driving jobs out there like concert tours, sports venues, NASCAR etc... in which you drive them around event to event. These jobs require you stay out for 8-10 months or whatever schedule their tour runs. However its not like regular driving in that a lot of these driving jobs will put you up in fancy hotels and treat you very well! On the down side, these runs are very demanding in that no matter what, the truck must roll! If the weather is bad or the roads are closed you must find a way around it. If you're sick or have family problems that will have to be put to the side. Unless you are dying, that truck must roll!

Hauling animals is also another good team gig. My wife and I hauled very expensive horses in a custom tractor-trailer and were paid a very good salary and treated pretty good! We would get to spend a lot of time at the races and horse shows and were allotted hotel rooms, food and per diem on top of our salary pay. Once again though, the downside was that we would be gone from home for 3-4 months at a time. That allowed for our bank account to really build up though!

Air freight companies are also a good gig! So is expedite.

Take the time to do your home work because if you are going to team there are a lot of good opportunities out there you just have to find them. Good opportunities don't usually advertise. I knew a driver who got a job team driving for a NASCAR team straight out of school! He was in the right place at the right time and didn't listen to the "naysayers" who said he had to work for a bottom feeder company for the first year of his driving career!

To answer some of your other questions...

Yes teams get pushed hard! If you are going to run as a team you better be prepared to hustle! On average, for example, if you were to just drive for a regular freight company the usually expect you to average 1000 miles a day or 7000 miles a week. Ultimately that's what you should be shooting for. You aren't going to do that your first few months out there though, it will take some time to build up to that. You have to be very proficient in your trip planning to run those big miles!

Your deadlines will not be more looser. They will be tighter! Teams are often given the "hot" loads and these are loads that must get to their destination asap no matter what! Teams are expected to get that load there no matter what!

Yes teams typically run longer runs and are utilized more often to run coast to coast loads.

There are many benefits to teaming.... One of my favorite is that you can go to sleep and when you wake up you are few states away from where you went to bed when you wake up. Its often like being in a time machine! Once you get out there you can establish a schedule that will best fit your driving personalities. I like driving at night because there's no traffic and it, to me, is a lot less stressful. Therefore I drive the night shift and my partner drives the day shift. You can break it up however you want or whatever works best for you guys. Don't get me wrong, it will take some getting used to trying to sleep in a moving truck! Even at that, there are roads out there in this fine country that will throw you three feet out of the bunk while you are trying to sleep!

The most important thing in teaming is finding someone who not only is compatible and a safe driver but someone who also has the same goals in driving. You don't want to team with someone who has to stop and eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner! You won't make any money! As a team you really have to hustle and if your partner is willing to do so, then you will be dead in the water! Your team mate has to be able to drive their shift. Not drive for 4 hours and take a nap because their tired! You really have limit your stops and make them count when you do stop. When you stop to switch drivers is when you bathroom break, grab food, drink, brush your teeth etc... you also want to try to do this during a fuel stop. This lessens your stops. You really want to try and match your bathroom stops. Two guys on different bathroom schedules will have that truck stopping every hour! Every time you stop or leave that interstate you are loosing at least 20-30 minutes. Doesn't sound too bad but over a week or a month that ads up to be a lot of money!!!

The "bad companies" question we covered..... stay away from the mega-carriers (ie. Swift, Werner, England, USX etc...) Like I said before, take the time to find yourselves a good gig from the get-go. Put it in your head now... there will be no sacrificing for a year just because you guys are new drivers! Don't let anyone try to tell you differently!

You had a question about trucks for teams... teams are usually issued the better trucks. You will run a lot of miles so they typically give the teams the new trucks and recycle them every year or so. Yes they also TRY to get you a good size truck for teaming though they are all pretty comparable. Right now the best trucks for teams would be like a Cascadia, Volvo, Prostar etc... The new Pete's and Prostars are very good trucks and have very roomy sleepers but the driving part of the cabs is stepped in and there isn't a lot of room if you are both riding up front. Of course the Classics, Western Stars, International 9900's, Volvo 780-880, studio W900 etc... are probably some of the biggest and roomiest but not always chosen by companies do to cost. You can go online to some of their websites and see picts and virtual tour videos of the insides of the trucks.

I'll leave you with that to mull over.....

Don't want to bore other readers! If you have questions just "pm" me and I'll be happy to help you out.

Good luck man...

 

Try teaming in a t660...tight. Seriously think it through I cannot add anything that these folks haven't and they are 100% correct.

 

Ya, the 660 also steps in on the cab and not only that but has a step down to get into the back with little floor space in the sleeper!

 

LOL ....yeah sure was lol

 

I'd rather take a nap in the middle of 285 in Atlanta than team or train.

I became a trainer, and my first student lasted 3 days before he was on a bus back to the terminal. It takes a special person to train or team drive. A lot of patience, counting to ten while holding breath, and trust.