Another Team Driving Thread...

Hello all, I’m new to the forum. I read it a lot but just joined like last night.

Anyway...

So Idk if I’m blind and overlooking it but i can’t find anything on team driving with Knight. Do they offer team?

If not, I was thinking Prime maybe. My heart is with Roehl but I don’t want to be stuck on the east coast. (Read Roehl is almost all over east).

Another thing, IF I try the team thing and I absolutely cannot stand it, is it possible to go back solo? Or is team like a contract type thing?

Prime might be your best shot. You will team for several weeks with a trainer. And if you hate it, they could easily put you solo. Keep in mind team trucks don't stop. Trucks get small when there are two people on them. As, I said, the TNT portion of Prime's training is teaming. That will give you a good taste of it. Good luck.

AFAIK Knight does do teams, but they're not very common. Most of the ones I've seen tend to be husband/wife combos.

But Prime's a good company, they were second on my list if Knight hadn't picked me up.

That’s cool. I meant like I have a friend that wants to team w me after talking about going into trucking. And if I start with them after the trainer or whatever, and they become a nuisance... 😶 can I like let my manager or whoever know like “heyyyy it’s noy working out. Can I just drive alone?”

Idk. I’m still researching researching researching. Just haven’t seen anything on “ teams gone bad “ type stuff.

I just don’t want to start as a team and not be allowed to go solo in whatever company if it doesn’t work.

Prime might be your best shot. You will team for several weeks with a trainer. And if you hate it, they could easily put you solo. Keep in mind team trucks don't stop. Trucks get small when there are two people on them. As, I said, the TNT portion of Prime's training is teaming. That will give you a good taste of it. Good luck.

As long as you're not at a team company, like CRST, you can easily switch back to being a solo driver.

Here's a tip...

Don't wear yourself out doing all that research - dive right in, the water's good!

Companies like Prime, CFI and others that have teams and like teams will let you go solo if things don't work out. If you and your friend live close to each other it makes home time easier. Could you and your friend live together in a large closet? Hopefully some of the team drivers on here will chime in. With teaming you get paid truck miles, you get paid while you sleep. There are many very successful and happy teams out there. We are happy to help.

You and your friend should be on here. Have you seen our starter pack?

• Truck Driver's Career Guide
• Brett's Book: The Raw Truth About Trucking (free online version)
• High Road CDL Training Program
• CDL Practice Tests

Then look at Paid CDL Training Programs. Unfortunately CFI and a few others are not listed there. CFI will train you. With CFI, while out with a trainer you are dispatched as a solo truck. That means you drive and the trainer is in the passenger seat. You both sleep at the same time. You can check our Training Diaries to see diaries from people who went through different companies training. Good luck.

Prime will allow you to team and put you solo whenever you wish. the best teams are spouses or family members. that is my opinion. living with a stranger or acquaintance can be hard.

Teaming is very hard, especially for new drivers. you sleep while the truck is rolling, you need to schedule showers and food, sometimes during your sleep time, and most importantly, you need to trust the other driver with your life. The constant change of time zones can be confusing. In addition, the pay is often close to being the same as solo, at least at my company. i can often make as much if not more than a team because newer teams will get fewer miles in the beginning and prove their worth. sleeping in a rolling truck is hard and when a new driver brakes hard or has jerky shifting you feel every bounce.

However, you dont have to worry as much about trip planning and hours of service. someone usually has hours. you have a spotter available for backing, but that person must give up some of their break time to help you. two heads are sometimes better than one (unless you team with a moron). you wont feel all alone as a newbie the way solos do. at prime we have APUs and the teams often get higher fuel bonuses because solos have their APUs running during their breaks. teams run most of the time, so not using the apu so better net fuel costs.

As far as nasty team stories... one that sticks out is a team man and woman who were both married to other people. they were just friends but were teaming for five years. when she wanted a cat, all hell broke loose and they decided to split. i saw with my own two eyes one of our managers acting as a judge in a divorce "you get the fridge, and the other gets the microwave. you get the chains and the other the load locks and toolbox" etc.

as stated earlier, primes TnT team training phase of 30,000 miles is a good sample of team training for you to decide if it is for you. but remember, it would still be much different with two newbies than with one newbie amd one experienced driver.

TNT:

Trainer-N-Trainee

Prime Inc has their own CDL training program and it's divided into two phases - PSD and TNT.

The PSD (Prime Student Driver) phase is where you'll get your permit and then go on the road for 10,000 miles with a trainer. When you come back you'll get your CDL license and enter the TNT phase.

The TNT phase is the second phase of training where you'll go on the road with an experienced driver for 30,000 miles of team driving. You'll receive 14¢ per mile ($700 per week guaranteed) during this phase. Once you're finished with TNT training you will be assigned a truck to run solo.

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

APUs:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I speak to 2 brothers that team & for them it works. They accommodate one another’s needs. Like Rainy said, 2 newbies in a team situation is not the most ideal. You have to sacrifice plenty. Running solo I listen to my own news & music. As a team operation, if you’re considerate, you can’t. The other driver is in the bunk sleeping. Since the truck is always rolling, you can’t enjoy down time in certain places you’d like to explore unless you have a load with lots of time on it. Which isn’t practical since if your not rollin your not earnin.

I just ran out of hours in Chicago & was able to do a 34 reset at a Hindu temple an hour west of Chicago. Your chances of running out of hours is less likely, especially when you learn to do rolling 34’s.

If they start preaching about leasing? Don’t do it. Learn the industry first. I met a rookie who went lease that didn’t really start earning until about 3* months in the road. So now he had to dig himself out of the hole. According to the settlements my rookie peers are making as lease ops? I’m not that far behind them when you deduct healthcare costs & tax deductions.

Good luck with whatever route you choose. Research is good but as Old School said, sometimes you just gotta take the plunge.

Thank you guys for all these responses and links. Tbh I have been thinking of more solo lately. For peace, less stress, alone time.

The thing w team was for a little more money and so I’m not stuck figuring things out alone too, I guess.

I can’t lie I’m nervous about being alone after training bc for some reason I feel like I’m going to forget everything and get stuck out somewhere not knowing what to do. Right now this is kind of like all I have going for me. Dropped out of college (long story). Lost my fam. Lost everything.

I’m going thru a lot right now and trying not to let my depression show. 🙈 apologies.

I just really really wanna do this. Overthinking everything I guess.

I been actually traveling for the past 30+ days going nowhere and exploring the US - driving nearly 12 hour days. Lost in thought and Just kind of on a sabbatical type thing. 🤷🏽‍♀️

.....Rambling. 🤦🏽‍♀️ Thank you guys.

If you werent nervous about going solo you would be stupid and i wouldnt want you on the road lol.

I just wrote an article about this. one life saver for me was having phone numbers of experienced drivers from my company and noting what times they usually drive. we have a lot of husband wife teams here so i befriended quite a few wives but would get their spouses number too. 24/7 i had support. dispatch and road assist at my company are 24/7 and even our repair shops. have a problem with a trailer? call the trailer shop at 2am. Not all.companies shops are open 24/7, but at prime we do.and it is a resource we have so use it lol

Nervous About Going Solo? You are Not Alone