Solo Vs Team As A New Driver

#1 I remember reading Brett's piece about being a solo driver over being a team driver your first year and why? Thanks for great site oh yeah one more thing totally off subject who's had to break it to there wife that they wanted to be a truck driver. :)

I could not imagine teaming with a stranger my first year. There are people who do it and it works. But think about it, you will be living in a small box with someone. Husband-Wife teams, Sibling-Sibling, and so on, those may work well. But strangers in a box, sleeping in a moving truck, very long runs, that all seems to spell disaster to me.

Teams are great for the company. The truck keeps moving and the freight gets to the destination faster. But it may not work well for the drivers. Make sure you consider every pro and con you can think of about teaming before going with it.

Just my opinion.

I went with CRST and went to their driving school, got my CDL , and have jest worked through the 8 month contract to pay for that school. CRST Expedited is team. I met a guy on the bus trip up from Florida, and we roomed together and then worked out the contract together. He is still with CRST, but plans to move to US Express after the first of the year and will team with his brother in law there.\

OK, Teaming is tough. We had both great times and bad times. My co driver, who is single and never been married, had some boundary ideas that did not match mine and a couple of times, he got into my business where he should not have done it, and caused me to react in a bad way. Once involved actual business issues with the company where I inquired about a position with my FM , and he actually contacted the FM while I was asleep and then informed me I did not qualify for the position. I did not react well to that. And it got to a big argument, and he started screaming at mne to shut up, and I told him to pull the truck over and shut me up. Sounds fun doesn't it. We both cooled down and talked it out, and he came to understand how he had over stepped. He apologized, and I apologized and we went on. The bottom line is, we probably got along better than most team drivers did, be cause....... we were both serious about wanting to work and make money. We were both over 50 and around the same age and had lots of work experience in other fields both good and bad. And we were both mostly flexible and willing to go into the team situation knowing it would not be perfect. We also both went into working knowing within a certain time period, we would be doing something else.

You can make some good money with a good team. Expediting in airfreight requires some long miles in short times, and solo is never going to get it done. Personally, I could put up with it to fulfill what I had to do, but, going solo is what I always had in mind, and the type of driving I want to do. I did my time with the teams and now, I have the choice to go solo.