Husband & Wife teams: O/O vs Company Teaming

^^^^ I'm at my rcvr and don't type well on this phone (my son gave me a stylus but it takes forever but at least i try sorry)

People to tag, flag, and ask would be @blairandgretchen ... wish you the best, be safe!

 

I too am considering this would love to hear more about it, my wife said she wants to drive with me. We have no kids at home so we can go anywhere, it sounds highly likely that this will be a profitable option cause the team driver money is going to one household.

 

Life is short, my friend, do it now before you lose her!

 

To all interested, my wife and I drive team and absolutely love it! It is the best job that either of us have ever had.

I won't go into extensive detail (you can read my prior posts discussing it) but, to make a loong story short, I drove OTR and local/regional as a young man but gave it up once we started a family. I moved up through the insurance business and my wife and I ended up running our own agency until our kids a grew up and moved off.

At that time, we both wanted a change and were tired of being chained to a business so we sold the agency and started driving trucks again, this time together.

We chose Werner because they have a husband-wife training option called "two plus one" that allowed us to train together on the same truck. It was, honestly, pretty rough having three people on one truck moving 24hrs a day but the training flew by quickly and the training pay was decent, about $750 a week, each, if I recall.

Soon after, we had our own truck and off we went, running coast-to-coast and using up our 70 clocks like crazy.

During the time we were company drivers, we averaged 6000-7000 miles a week and brought home around $1500 a week, each.

Within a few months, the grind of moving constantly started getting to us both. We made great money but, as all carriers will do, we were run ragged. If our truck broke down, they would immediately put us in a different truck to prevent us from any downtime. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing and it got bad.

So, we decided to buy our own truck and go owner/operator. BEST DECISION EVER!!

We found a carrier that allows us to book our own loads and pays a good percentage of the rate, 90%.

This was a game changer.

Now, we run as hard as we want, whenever and wherever we want to go.

That means we can visit our kids who live in Kentucky, Florida, and Texas anytime we want. We take days off when we feel like it and we NEVER drive North in winter. In fact, we take off at Christmas and don't come back (except for maybe a fun load or two) until April. It's like being on permanent vacation.

When we get tired, we will either book a load home for a few days or, usually, just get a hotel with truck parking, rent a car, and go exploring.

We spent last Easter in New York City, stayed in Times Square, and went to St. Patrick's Cathedral for Easter Service. We rented a Jeep for a couple of days at Moab (which they usually won't do... except that we are CDL PROFESSIONAL drivers, haha) and cruised the canyons and mesas. We stopped for a baseball game in Milwaukee, rode the Bremerton Ferry into Seattle and ate the best yogurt in the world at Pike Place Market, drank Cuban coffee and danced with the balliadores in Little Havana, Miami, and cruised downtown Nashville listening to the bands.

I'm forgetting at least a dozen other "vacations" we've taken in the last 12 months and, with all that said, we are making a great income, about $150k a year after expenses. (BTW, hotels and rental cars are deductible) Basically, we have about the same income as company team drivers but with half the miles and all the fun!

So, if you want to know any more, just ask me... or my wife.

Not to rub it in the solo driver's faces, because I've been there, but owner/op husband/wife team trucking is a completely different job. The worst to parts of solo trucking, IMO, the constant running to make ends meet and the loneliness that the job requires are both eliminated when running team with your spouse.

Just remember to read and study other owner/op posts regarding the importance of preparing for breakdowns and their expenses. It is critical, I cannot emphasize it enough, to have ready cash to repair your truck and to pay your bills while you are down because YOU WILL BREAK DOWN. You make money twice as fast as everyone else so your truck breaks down twice as often, your tires run out twice as quickly, and your personal bills all depend on one income.

So, don't have too much fun until you've got your nest egg, haha.

Hope this will help.

 

Very nice thank you for taking the time to write such a long and descriptive message. I am super excited to show my lady what you wrote she is going to enjoy this cause she’s nervous about it a lot of people have a lot of bad to say about it

 

I'm happy to help. Also, if your wife would like a woman's perspective, feel free to pm me. Women do have unique challenges in the job (e.g. suitable bathroom facilities) but there are also advantages like never having to fuel in the rain or walk across a muddy parking lot for a Coke... Yes, she will wake you up for that.

 

My Fiance is currently training for her CDL to team with me. How do you coordinate your driving schedules, etc.? Thanks.

 

And no elog problems cus 2 drivers

 

Look up super solo, it’s less hardcore than team driving and you guys can sleep together