Flatbed Team Truck

There's team freight for flats, but it's a very small niche. Not near the volume of freight that you'll find with a van or reefer.

 

The vast majority of SPD is team drivers? This actually really surprises me.

 

About 40%. We have over 250 trucks, about 100 teams.

 

Not sure where your getting work from but flatbed teams are basically a super solo. As long as your not hauling anything requiring a crane you maybe can squeeze in a extra load per week and maybe a actual team load once a month. Not sure if that little bit of extra income would be enough to support two families. But if we're talking two cousins, brothers or best friends that's maybe roommates or neither have any real bills then it may work in the long run.

 

Crackinwise, I noticed you are from Florida. May I suggest that instead of picking the kind of trailer to pull and then going team, you find the route FIRST and then go team. Here's what I mean:

We pull flatbeds and haul hay in the summer and oilfield sand in the winter. (Sand on a flatbed comes in bags that look like a giant purse). Most of our time is spend loading and unloading, so a team wouldn't make any more money than a solo driver.

The reefer that you see in my Avatar hauled a dedicated route from Southern California to Canada. It was a produce haul, so they paid extra for a team truck because freshness mattered. Plus, with that long haul, team drivers made more miles than one driver so revenue increased for the truck.

So you may be happier to work backwords-- find the route that needs a team rather than set up a team looking for the right loads.

 

Husband and wife team????

 

Got that right. Seems (At least in flatbed right now) that anything going over 800 - 900 mi is paying low rate and is usually heavy. I mean $1.84 mi for 45k lbs??? Oh.. and tarped!!

Where I've been bouncing around like a bunny doing 175 - 350mi runs all week.. I hate to brag so I wont. But no tarp.. easy 15k - 35k lb loads paying very well.

I like the leisurely pace of long hauls.. but I think I've lost 20 lbs this week alone hustling my fool tail off. No time to eat.. by the time you pick up and deliver.. you hustle over to the next load... sleep... get loaded and haul butt to get empty to make the next p/u.

Gaurantee I've made more money than any team operation could doing it like this.

Team operations better suited for coast to coast seafood and produce.

Hurst