New Husband and Wife team seeks opinions...

Hi all - -

My wife and I are hot to team drive, we both have CDL’s with Tanker / Hazmat / Doubles & Triples endorsements. We are green, newbies. We have a few friends that are in the industry; 2 O/O, the others company drivers, and they have been a wealth of information about lifestyle, expenses, insurance and such, and in the last 4 months talked to about 7 companies face-to-face, and probably 10 more on the phone about team driving.

We are within 2 weeks of committing with a company that is basically 8-10 on, 2 off. (PDS) They do offer (or say they offer) full 48-hour time off, vs. 36 hrs. like many we talked to. The terminal is 5 minutes from our house.

Our goal is to eventually get our own truck, (assuming we like it and all) say after at least a year OTR with the company we have chosen, then contract back to them, or whoever at that time. Joined OOIDA, and a couple of the other people at the truck stop had some pretty skank attitudes about everything, and us. Told us we need our head examined. One rep in the trailer offered that we were being too optimistic when we described our ideas - - Said that since we have not “grown up” in a trucking family, we would be eaten alive.

Weird, because our friends are all excited for us and feel we will do OK out there. But now, I find myself second-guessing the whole idea.

We are both in our early 50’s, loners of sorts, and have no issues at home other than our 2 Dobermans that are our like children to us. We know about the company rules and such for pets, so have lined up help here at home for them until we can get our own truck in about a year or so. Meantime, we are trying to gather as much information as we can from drivers, dealers, companies, learn learn learn. Our finances are in order. But we know we have to get out and try this for a while first…The negativity is almost overwhelming though.

Sorry for the long read - any thoughts out there? I hope we are not walking (driving) into a hellfire, like we are being told we are by some naysayers lately!!

Thanks - Mike

 

Brickman, 379 Peterbilt, thanks.



You are both right of course, and I know better. Over the years one learns to believe half of what you see and none of what you hear...LOL

But it IS intimidating to us, even given our backgrounds. Thankfully, my wife is a tomboy to the core; raising horses, dogs, running our farm tractors, changing hydraulic fluid, pruning trees delicately - - with my chain saw. Me? 20 years in construction (mostly jobsite management). My CDL is a direct reflection of that career, but I only shuttled occasionally from job to job, that's it.

Anyway, here's what our "too optimistic" picture in a nutshell is:

Training, a month or so. (Again, we already have our CDL's). Then we get our own truck assigned, work up to about 4000 - 4500 miles a week at 32 cpm. (total team) After a while, we will know if this is right for us. If it is, we go where the new path takes us. Our own truck, O/O, maybe just stay on with a company, who knows. The flip to that is either hating OTR and taking more local/ regional stuff after 6 months to a year, or throwing in the towel on the whole driving concept.

Lifestyle? Don't know until we get out there. I don't know how anyone considering this could sit in his or her armchair and picture how tough the road might be. I did it in my 20's as a musician in Nashville, but it is a whole different world riding a bus than being responsible for driving a tractor-trailer!

Also, we both have worked warehouses, so understand all to well about the driver sitting and waiting for the P.O.S receiving supervisor forgetting him for 6 hours while he counts bolts at the scenic view dock plate. 2 showers in 6 days, or baby wipe baths. Again, our friends are trying to get us "somewhat" of a glimpse.

I don't think that we are looking at this with a fairy tale outlook at all. Or can you shoot us full of holes? We are committed to trying hard to make this work!! As far as seeing the USA, it is work. That's why it's called a job, me thinks...


Mike

 

...YIKES!!!!

Well, I "was" exaggerating just a bit to prove a point LOL!!!

Grunge can happen, that's all I meant. It's the road!! We used to take showers at venues sometimes with cold water right from the well and have to pump for each other. SHEESH! The poor "stars" could not afford rooms for us lowly musicians, so it was that or nothing...


Will look into W&S. We also have a Transport America terminal right down the road. They have some interesting things to offer too, and we have been told the are great to work with. Time will tell.

So far, the recruiters all sing the same song, and many of the songs are pretty bad, I might add. So we wade through the BS and talk around to confirm.

One guy tried to entice me that I could be a "trainer" in 6 months making "big bucks". So I asked him if "my" trainer would only have 6 months experience? That ended that particular discussion!! He told me it sounded like I was not interested in making money. I just laughed and we walked right out the door.

honor roll - go for it! We have been planning this for about 8 months now with the farm and all, so I can definitely relate to the ducks in a row! It's been alot of work, but we'll only get out what we put in...

Thanks for the support - means a lot to us!

Mike