Another newbie interested in Husban/Wife Teaming

I am closing in on retirement in a couple of years, and it happens to be right as my youngest will be getting out of school. Since I don't feel like retiring at the age of 46 (and won't be able to afford to), my wife and I are thinking of alternate sources of income.

I know this forum is full of newbies who have asked the same questions over and over again, but hopefully, at least some of these will be new. Also, I realize that right now is a difficult time to get into trucking. This plan would be taking hold in a couple of years, hopefully by the time the economy gets better.

By the time I retire, I will have saved enough money to pay for the wife and I both to get our CDL's outright, and have around 25-30k left over in cash. Our kids will be gone (from the house), and neither of us has any attachment to any particular area of the country. Neither of us has a problem with literally living on the road. Hometime will not be a concern for us. Neither of us has any arrests, accidents, medical concerns, or tickets.

Although O/O sounds appealing for the advantage of being our own boss, we will not be pursuing that until we have at least 2 years OTR experience. Nor will we be leasing.

Reading through this site, and many others, the process of finding a company that is decent sounds pretty daunting. One of the major concerns I have read is that companies screw over drivers on their hometime. Like I said, we don't care about hometime. As it stands now, if we could keep rolling 24/7 we would be all for it. I realize that this will likely change fairly quickly, and we will probably realize that breaks are indeed necessary. Consider our desire to roll continuously to be newbie starry-eyedness (is that even a word?)

So, onto the questions:

If hometime is NOT a concern, are companies like Covenant and CRE really as bad as they sound? Our goal is to drive as a team, and from what I have read, they are the only companies that allow you to train together. This is of particular concern to my wife. Are there other companies that will train you together if you come in already holding a CDL, but no experience?

We both understand the high tempers, and aggravation of being confined in a small space for days, weeks, months on end. We have our arguments, but in 18 years, we are pretty civilized about it. Neither of us is smart enough to walk away, so we pretty much go until it is resolved, without taking advantage of the escape mechanism that is available outside of a truck. I may be wrong, but I am confident we can get along just fine, in terms of with each other. That being said, for those that have done the Husband/Wife Team thing, do you enjoy it?

Before the economy tanked, was there good money to be made teaming? I know Husband/Wife Teams have the advantage of all of the money going into the same pot, so to speak, but is that pot a decent sized one, or is it tiny? I read about how teams can make 100k+ as company teams...was this or is this still the case? Or are those the exceptions?

Both of us understand that we know nothing about the industry. Neither of us has a history of being a know-it-all, and we have both always believed that if you don't know something, it's best to ask those who do.

For the female drivers out there, are there any concerns that you would bring up to female family members if they were going to get into trucking? Safety concerns, etc. My wife is far from a wuss. She's a tough chick, who did 4 years in the Marine Corps, so cussing is not going to offend her.

I guess the bottom line I am asking of the Husband/Wife Teams out there is this:

If you were just getting ready to get started in this industry, where would you look to work. Are there any mistakes you made, specific to teaming that you wish someone would have given you a heads-up about when you were starting?

Thanks in advance for all the replies.

 

Thanks a ton for the reply. I plan to continue researching until the day I go to CDL school, and then some. Of course, like anything else, all the research in the world isn't worth real-world experience, which is why I am here to pick everyone's brain.

 

Thanks, Rick appreciate the heads up!

 

Gashauler - Community College is actually the route we were considering. We have several of the mills in the area (Indianapolis), but have read nothing positive about any of them. I found that Vincennes has an 8 week truck driving program that sounds like it might be our best option locally.

Doubledragon - Lease option is not even on the table as far as we are concerned. The only one that seems like they might hold you after screwing you is JCT, and I'm not much of a cuddler.

Thanks to both of you for the replies. Expediting seems to be the way to go, if all of you are recommending it. Does anyone know if there are any expediting companies that will even look at newbies? My wife and I had basically resigned ourselves to having to go someplace less-than-ideal for the first year, to at least get the newb year out of the way, and be able to apply at a better company. Is that not the case? Are there any non-bottomfeeder companies that hire drivers with no experience?

And I understand that now is not the best time to be looking, with all of the experienced drivers looking for jobs. Before the economy tanked were companies less stringent? I am crossing my fingers that things will be better by the time we are ready to apply, but if the requirements were similar before the recession, we can suck it up, and do a year anywhere to get the experience,

 

LOL! That was one of the first things we discussed. She hates driving at night, while I am a nightowl (worked lateshift for 12 years). Easy decision to make
Are you an O/O, or company driver, Bully? And is that running all the time, or do you guys take a lot of hometime? Either way, that is certainly a good number, especially considering I will have my pension on top of whatever I make.

Thanks for all the answers, and keep 'em coming!