Swift Team Driver Pay

Alright. As promised, I'm sharing the information about team pay. I had questions about team pay a few months ago, and I'm here to tell you all what it's really about at Swift.

Teams: 25 cpm Solo: 36 cpm

So why team? What are the perks?

Give a solo driver a 2,000 mile trip. It takes the driver approximately 40 hours/4 days to make the delivery. In other words, it takes that driver 4 days to make $720.

Give a team the same load. It takes them approximately 2 days/40 hours to make the delivery. And, once they've made that delivery, they're given another 2,000 mile load. It will take another 2 days/40 hours.

In other words, the team drivers will make $2,000 (each driver will make $1,000) in the same amount of time that it took the solo driver to make $720.

Swift pays their teams by the total miles that were driven rather than basing individual pay on actual miles each team mate has driven. For example, if I drive 500 miles today, and my teammate only drives 300, we will both be paid for 800 miles.

So now you know. Y'all stay safe

CJ, I'm glad you are enjoying team driving, but it is hard to take seriously what you say about the earnings potential. You'r scenario about miles is not going to be true anywhere near all the time unless you are a proven trustworthy team. I have never hady problems as a solo driver having 2,000 mile loads given to me back to back. You dropped out of the solo position way before you even got a chance to prove yourself capable of handling big loads consistently.

if I drive 500 miles today, and my teammate only drives 300, we will both be paid for 800 miles.

Does that really sound good to you? I guess it might sound good to the driver who drove the 300 miles.

I just like being a solo driver. It is obvious you enjoy teaming, and I'm glad for you.

One of the major problems I've observed with teams is that, for the most part, unless they are married they just can't seem to stay together for very long. I mean, think about it CJ, you just joined up with another driver who was looking for a team partner - why was he looking for someone?

Teams are definitely a needed commodity in this business and they do tend to get longer runs, that is what they are for, getting it there fast. I wish you every success, but don't want your posts to mislead newbies into thinking they can make a lot more money as team drivers, because it just is not true. A good dependable solo driver who has taken the time to prove himself as a good solid performer will always do very well in this business.

don't want your posts to mislead newbies into thinking they can make a lot more money as team drivers, because it just is not true

That's the key point right there. You're not likely to make more as a team driver and if you did it wouldn't be nearly enough to make teaming worth it if you didn't enjoy it. I agree with Old School that if you enjoy teaming then that's great. There's certainly nothing wrong with that. But to anyone out there that's wondering if teaming is worth trying because you'll make more money - the answer is certainly no.

I'm a team driver and I work for Swift. I just finished school back in January. We are on Dole dedicated. So far our highest check has been $4,023 for one week. However, that was a Great week. We drove 6,000 miles to make that. We average 4,000-5,000 miles a week. As team company drivers you will make way less. The best way of getting consistent miles is on a Dedicated fleet. If you aren't on dedicated you will have to relay on your driver manager to get you loads. Which is up to otr planners to give the loads to the DM. So basically Theresa so many hands in the process of getting loads. It will never be steady. You will have good weeks, okay weeks and very bad weeks. A lot of times they will give you loads that are for a solo. Which at that point you will have to stay proactive and demand the delivery/appt date to be changed. So you can get the load delivered within a shorter time frame and be available to get your next load right after.

I went solo in Feb and classmate went team. I think because they were both rookies... combined as a team they were getting 4000 per week....my friend got 20 cpm for $800 and solo I got 39.5 cpm for 2500 miles.. $987. So after 3 mos he just went solo and is making more.

Many teams are led by lease ops too and it depends on how good they are at their business.

They are not the only new team I heard of that avg 4200 ish. Most of them have broken up now.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I'm still a new driver, and I did post the best outcome in the first post, but I know that isn't always the case.

We've gotten solo loads, and they really don't pay that much. Our DM is so hard to get in touch with, and the after hours dispatchers go from really polite, to really snobby. Depending on who answers their phone.

Maybe we will luck out and get something dedicated before too long, but as the veteran's have said, you've got to prove yourself before you get better loads and more miles.

So far everything has been on time, and the DM says we are doing great. Hopefully that's the truth.

Do not want to rain on a parade or anything but this was my gross from last week. It is not a normal week by any means but it shows what you can do when you work you butt off.

I am a solo driver BTW

I've pulled $2,000 weekly checks both solo and teaming at Prime, but it doesn't mean much.

You will make more money teaming if the truck is moving twice the miles of a solo, that's the incentive for putting up with all the crap that comes with teaming. Sleeping on a moving truck, living in a closet with someone else, etc... You wake up in the middle of the night and really have to use the restroom? On a team truck you might be rolling down the highway in the middle of nowhere.

For example, the incentive at Prime is that you get your scheduled cpm + 5 cpm for teaming, split in half for all miles the truck gets. For all miles the truck gets in a week over 3500 you will split a 10 cpm bonus with your teammate.

So, ignoring the lightweight truck bonus you get 5 cpm more than a solo driver on the first 3500 miles of the week and 10 cpm more for the rest, given double the miles.

Against a lightweight truck, you get 5 cpm more for all miles over 3500, given double the miles.

So a 3,000 mile week in my lightweight payed me about $1,500 before taxes, benefits, etc. A 6,000 week teaming pays me about $1,625.

I consistently hit 3,000 mile weeks solo. So far we have not consistently hit 6,000 miles teaming. It depends on your company and routes and freight. There are teams that drive 7,000 miles a week every week.

I have not made more money for myself teaming. Our family has made much more because I team with my wife.

Eckoh, that's a really nice weekly check. Hope you keep getting them miles.

Matt, that sounds really good, too. I've tried talking my wife into getting her CDL so we could team, but we've got kids. And someone has to take care of them lol.

Teaming isn't that bad. As long as I make $850/week and up, I'll be satisfied. Again, I'm hoping for a team dedicated route with consistent miles every week, but it may be another five months before that becomes a possibility since we are new hires.