After 11 months, and almost a year of solo extraboard, I began teaming with another driver from my terminal. A new company order, which states they are trying to cut back on contractor teams by 25% each year, allowed openings for more teams within the company.
We run out of the South West region, and couldn’t be happier. Still working only 5 days per week, with an occasional 6th day, and still on the extraboard. We average 5,800 miles, some weeks being 6,900+ and some being 5,400+.
I’ve been teaming for 9 months, and we’ve only had two weeks that were less than 5,200 miles. The Winter months of 2020 didn’t slow us down nearly as much as we had anticipated. Being solo, I was use to the 1/3 pay cut through the winter, but not this year. Not on our team truck.
The current top-out for teams is 76.5 CPM. At 18-months, working toward the top-out rate, I’m at 72.25 CPM. I cannot complain about the money, nor the company.
I’ve heard that my company doesn’t know how to run a team, but this comment has come from two different drivers based out of the Northeast Region. For the Southwest Region, however, it’s a completely different story.
If you’re thinking about teaming, I highly recommend Estes, or any LTL Carrier. We started with an older KW T680, but after two or three months, we were given a brand new International LT with only 10k miles on the odometer. No major problems yet @ just over 100k miles.
This post is not meant to be boastful or bragging in any way. I am hoping to just share the information that one may be searching for...
Estes Team Driving
Discussion in 'Discuss Your Favorite Trucking Company Here' started by cjbrents, Mar 12, 2020.
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Fatboy49, Seabass521, Trucking_Surfer and 5 others Thank this.
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I’m glad you guys are seeing a fruitful tenure out there as a team. That region you speak of is Texas area correct ? The region you’re domiciled in plays a huge roll in how successful you are at the E so count your blessings you’re in the region you are. Safe travels.
cjbrents Thanks this. -
Estes will pay man. Team extraboard makes more and has priority over everyone.
RussianBearTruckeR and cjbrents Thank this. -
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Didn't you lose your seniority running solo by switching to teams? Is it really worth it (your health) being on a truck so long for teams with the small pay increase over solo? Not exactly UPS premium.
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When you break it down for the year:
A solo driver usually runs 140,000 miles @ 72 cents-per-mile. That’s $100,800 (not counting drop/hooks or holiday/vacation/sick pay).
A team driver usually run 150,000 miles @ 76.5 cents-per-mile. That’s $114,750 (not counting drop/hooks or holiday/vacation/sick pay).
Also, the chance for you to run more miles increases when you volunteer to stay out longer than 5 days.
In any case, it’s approximately $10-15,000 more than the solo driver.Trucking_Surfer and Muskie Thank this.
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