What's a day in the life of a Team driver?

If I were professionally driving a truck, I would POSITIVELY PREFER SOLO. There is enough stress dealing with traffic, law enforcement, dispatchers, shippers and receivers, employers, and other truck drivers. I personally would need "breathing" room to wind down and and get geared up for the following day. It is one thing to have a trainer or safety inspector with you, however, a permanent team driver can seriously cut down on your freedom of movement, personal space and privacy, or ability to unwind, especially during the tightest of times.

 

The other side of the coin is you'd have someone there for emotional support. Sometimes having someone to listen to you or a shoulder to cry on is priceless.

 

I have been driving team for my wife for the last couple of years. At first it was hard to sleep in a moving vehicle, but you get used to it quick enough. Especially if your co-driver knows how to drive. Get the points cards offered at the truck stops when you fuel you swipe them at the pumps and you get shower credits. To start, you wont have any shower credits so have your co-driver get a team shower when he is redeeming one of his credits and they will give you a shower. The hours are odd and rotate depending on your logs. For us I drive the day and the wife drives the nights we do this and have fairly consistent hours either are behind the wheel. A couple bits of friendly advice. Carry baby wipes they will become your best friend. Also try not eating at the truck stops because crap there is fairly expensive and not very healthy.

All that said there is no real typical day other than hurry up and wait

 

hi dloving8915. What company do you'll drive for? I'm in Fort Worth. Also, did you go to a private school to get your CDL?

 

When I joined Werner, I initially wanted to go Team.. But after awhile when being with my trainer, I decided that I needed a break and wanted to be on my own when I finished training. My trainer was a nice guy, and we got along pretty well. He had his bad days, and I had mine -- there were a lot of times we had trivial arguments but somehow we managed to get through them. Although, after awhile I did get tired of seeing his face every day -- I was just willing to do whatever to make it work and get through with my training. I had heard of horror stories where a trainer was being abusive to his student, calling them names, etc.. Thankfully I never had that experience, and he was an exceptional guy. The first week or so was observation, but after that we were driving as a team. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot more when he wasn't hovering over me, and was sleeping while I was driving. The hours were irregular, but I would drive my 10 to 11 hours and then he would drive his 11 and we would alternate like that for as long as we needed to.

Learning to sleep on the truck will get easier after awhile, and you will learn to sleep whenever you have down time. I have a local job now, but if I ever went OTR again I would attempt to go at teaming. It always helped me to relax to know that my trainer was spotting for me when I would back, and I wouldn't stress over stuff like that nearly as much. It also helped a lot to have someone there to talk to, even on my bad days -- especially as I was initially getting over the part of being homesick. I had never been away from my family for more than a month before, so it was a huge change for me but everything has gotten easier since day 1.

 

The reason to team is to keep the wheels moving. So many companies that team need the freight there fast. Fed Ex is an excellent example. CRST makes people team. But they don't run fast so I don't know if this would be the same.

For me, we ran auto parts from KC to Houston, Texas. The company ran from one warehouse to their cross dock operation. There they would kick out the auto parts all over the southern part of Texas. We would arrive at 5 PM in Kansas City. The truck would be already hooked up to the trailer. The two of us would jump into the cab and off we would go. I would drive first as I prefer to drive at night. He would close the doors. Before we were out of the parking lot, he would retire to the bunk area. If nothing went wrong, I did not see him until 11 hours and 18 minutes later. We ran Qualcomm. I would enter his idea number to start. At Topeka, Kansas 1 hour and 15 minutes into the run, I would fuel. When I re-entered the Cab, I would change the Qualcomm to show me as driver and him in the sleeper. Then, I drove to Houston. Normally, I did not need a break as it is all Interstate. Once in Houston, I would back into the dock and he would take it from there. He would stop at Huntsville, Texas on the way back and get something to eat and change over from my id to his own and then finish the drive to Kansas City. We would get back to KC by 6PM and then had until 5 PM the next day off. Two runs one week and three the next. .45 per mile split. Full benefits. It was a great job. He was a great partner. We did not spend lots of time talking in the truck but we got to socialize outside of work. We had horses in common. He raised them, I bet on them.

Showers were not an issue as the runs didn't last that long.

I was out as a team with Transport America (for 3 days) and the guy I was paired with liked to shower daily. When you fuel at most places, they give you TWO free showers as a team. He was a racist, sexist, lying, chain smoking, pig, so it was not a good experience but I was able to last the 3 days it took.

What I am saying is that you can make it work. It is different sleeping in a moving truck and most likely you have to both use the same bunk. Respect each other and keep your area clean and you will most likely be successful. Don't let little things get under your skin and speak up if your partner is doing something that drives you nuts. The slow simmering burn can ruin a relationship.

Avoid talking about women, politics, the company, and other things until you are sure of your partner. Little things can get gossiped about and cost you a career.

 

With being in a truck so long and eating different sorts of food, how do you hold back farts?

 

you gotta hold it for 500 miles, then let er' rip at the fuel island.

 

Let er rip lol.

 

Yeah, the music thing definitely crossed my mind at some point. I have a few friends whom have gone into OTR, but are scattered amongst different companies. I'm not even sure of the policy on team driving. I'd think companies would maybe let you pick your team member? I imagine if you had a choice, given the correct situation, it would help keep a stable steady working relation.