Pros and Cons of TEAMING, for Newbies

Best part of teaming with the wife is ________ whenever I want it.

 

What if she doesnt? Just like being at home....

 

Well, Davezilla, what you said is true. Money, miles, equipment, loads, routes. Yep, yep and yep. But I think to give newbies a chance to make a good decision, the good should be mentioned with the bad. I've been out here teaming for 8 years.

Exercise: none. A moving truck doesn't allow you to get any exercise - like all other drivers we're trapped in a box, but at least the park-a-night solos can get out and walk around or take a jog. You really have to watch what you eat and if you have health problems this alone can stop you from teaming. DOT physical doctors and even your own personal physician simply will not understand the lifestyle. Use the word astronaut. It might help.

Sleep stinks. It's really hard to sleep in a moving vehicle. Let alone when the engine break comes on, the door opens and closes, or you knock wagons or bump docks. If you don't know your co-driver very well, you're not going to sleep at all before you trust him behind the wheel.

Downtime: As a team most every load you get will be JIT (just-in-time) freight, airport, rescues, and stuff that should have been somewhere yesterday. Forced dispatch on a company team can be hellish without enough time to prepare meals or shower. You have to put your foot down to get clean, get laundry done, and get some uninterrupted sleep.

Resets and time off: 'rolling resets' are the typical way of recouping hours for in-demand teams. This means the truck sits still a maximum of 24 hours. The person who pulled in to park gets to do the last 10 hours of his reset in the sleeper rolling down the road. Despite doing double the work, a team also accrues time off at the same rate as solo drivers - giving them less rest per day worked than any other kind of driver. Add that to the 'we'll get you home when we get you home' mentality of most dispatchers... and you see the problem.

Equipment: New equipment is nice, sure, but with teams it is a necessity. A hard running team on steady freight can rack up 6500- 7000 miles a week in the right circumstances. We eat trucks. By the time we're in a truck long enough to like it and call it home, it's clapped out. Looking at buying a truck is a joke - everything used is a temporary solution. And keeping a truck sitting in the shop costs thousands upon thousands in missed revenue every day. Sure, we can afford a new truck - but if it needs an overhead in 3 years or less, why would I?

Pay: it may sound like a lot. 52-70cpm for teams! Sign on bonus! pffft. the TRUCK makes 52 cents per mile. The driver makes half that. The checks are always split down the middle. So if you have Captain Underachiever as your co-driver... well, you're doing most of the work only to give the money to him. I can honestly say I'd laugh in the face of anyone who offered me 26 cpm for solo work with my endorsements and experience and expected me to live in a box my whole life.

You CAN make a bucket of money teaming. You can. But running hard as a team means you're doing little else. You're trading time and quality of life for money. And no matter how broke you start out - at some point a thousand dollars just doesn't seem like enough money to motivate you to 'rescue one more' or make one more airport run. You're tired, hungry, dirty, you're out of clean clothes and you've had to poo for two hours.

Don't get me wrong. I love what I do. But teaming is a lot tougher than stuffing two drivers in a truck.

On the upside:

I get to work with my hubby. Which means we get to plan our work and life decisions together. And I don't have to go for weeks without a *ahem* love life. It also means every penny that truck makes is ours.

You have a built-in spotter: we carry walkie-talkies. One driver runs in to the shipping office and radios out the dock number, the other sets up at the proper dock. If its tight - we use the walkies to guide each other in.

You have built in real-time human navigation: GPS have tried to run us off cliffs, into low bridges... you guys know the drill. We use satellite overhead pictures to know which entrance to use, where the guard shacks are, which roads are big enough for heavy trucks - even how to get in and out of the grocery store when it comes time to restock the truck. VERY handy. (Don't get me wrong, we don't wake each other up, but if you'll see the no sleep notes above - mostly we're awake. This won't work for people who could sleep through a nuclear bomb)

We each have our strengths, and we can play them to our benefit. I handle all the paperwork, audit settlements and paychecks, do all the taxes, forms and paperwork stupid. I'm also very good at dealing with office politics, shippers and receivers and I'm a mean portable cook. I have more stamina for night driving and have been doing the night shift for years. I'm also really good at chasing off lot lizards, lol. Hubby, meanwhile, is strong, mechanically gifted and can back into the eye of a needle with 17 wheels tied behind his back. He can wrangle stupid broken tandem slides and jury-rig just about anything to keep us rolling. He can also deal with the aggressive daytime drivers without wanting to stab them in the eye with a rusty spoon.

So, should a hubby and wife team? Only you can answer that. Try locking yourself in the bathroom for two days with a hot plate and no wi-fi. If you don't kill each other, you just might make it.

To any and all who team, I salute you. I understand how very hard you work and I respect the heck out of you.

To those who don't but are thinking about it - keep the things above in mind. It's hard to turn down the money and none of us wants to work for peanuts. But there is most definitely a cost.

Peace,
Elvee

 

Then find yourself a lot lizard. Just don't go to the one at the Pilot in Indianapolis.

 

@Davezilla
Don't get me wrong. We're happy. We found an owner that gives us the freedom of running our own gambit. We make him a bucket of money, we make a bucket of money and he doesn't have to micro-manage anyone. We did our time as a company team - were used and abused as is normal and then found a real home - both running our own gambit, then working for the company I work for now. And we're making better money than ever.

We make time to get out and walk and horse around with the dog- but that's not available to most teams trapped as a company driver with a mega. That was my point.

Eating? Egg white omelets, lots of chicken and fish in the summer (when we can open the windows to get the smell out ) Fresh veggies, salad. Fruit, yogurt. Oatmeal, soup and hot open faced sandwiches on the cold days. Crock pots for hard runs. We manage quite well, and it sounds like you do, too. It gets tricky when you're over 40 and your metabolism goes through the floor - like ours has. It can be done, but folks who are considering this particular trucking lifestyle should know a food-in-a-bag lifestyle isn't sustainable.

I'm glad you're happy. Heck, I'm glad we're happy. It was a long road and a ton of adjustments, but we've got the kinks worked out now and this is our living. And it's a good one as long as you take time to stop and smell the roses every few weeks.

 

I did it years ago and the trucks were much different back then. But the problems were pretty much the same. The OP has painted a good picture of team driving and I guess it can be like that but I also believe it might be a nightmare too. I could never sleep good in a moving truck. Plus you have to trust the other driver and like them. If you dislike the person it can make a very uncomfortable trip or trips. You just really have to be careful when selecting who you are going out with. If the company signs the team together you might have a real problem getting a different partner or going solo.

 

Nothing much to add to that @miss elvee - well explained in your situation.

As some allready know, the wife and I finished 9 years teaming in February, the last 7.5 of it LTL - so @mountaingote - consider that side. There was no backing into docks, showers, laundry and fuel was at the terminals, 6000 miles a week, home every week for 2 days, easy $180k gross to the same household, could have been over $210k if we'd worked more weeks.

When we left they paid .6853cpm - is now over .70 - 6000 miles a week times .70 times 50 weeks . . . .

But everything @miss elvee said is true - it ain't for everyone, it's hard work, and most people aren't cut out for it - basically can't handle it. I've watched teams try it, and fail. The excuses will be just that.

@Davezilla - no offense, I'm not familiar with you, but why would you wind up at Werner after all that experience hauling OD, explosives etc . . . ? I don't know what you want in a career, but there's lot more money out there teaming than Werner. There must be a motive I'm missing.

 

@Davezilla - no offense, I'm not familiar with you, but why would you wind up at Werner after all that experience hauling OD, explosives etc . . . ? I don't know what you want in a career, but there's lot more money out there teaming than Werner. There must be a motive I'm missing.[/QUOTE]

A Werner recruiter perhaps?

 

A Werner recruiter perhaps?[/QUOTE]
Good post. In my opinion if you want home every weekend but not make as much money go local or someone like Averitt. If you don't mind staying out and make a good bit more money than team. The only thing I would not recommend is going OTR for a pay of. 28-.30CPM.