Team Drivers

Hi, this topics is for team drivers or previous team drivers. Obviously it’s easy to regulate hours if you’re the only logged driver but how do teams here run their schedule and keep the truck moving 24 hours? I’ve been to companies where drivers would just run a log to the max regardless who was driving and I thought that strange since you can split sleeper berth and log yourself in. With newer drivers I want to show them the best and most proper way to manage their time. Just looking for ideas on what works best for you folks. Thanks.

Welcome to the forum.

I am preparing for school, so I'll let the experienced drivers answer your substantive question.

Tell us a little about yourself so that we can understand your question in context.

We have a few team drivers here that will hopefully chime in. It seems the way they've found works best is each driver has a 12 hour block of work. They may spend a majority of that time driving, or maybe they're stuck waiting at shipper/receiver for most of it.

When I was tnt/team we drove 9 hour shifts with the 30 minute break 9 1/2 . That gave u time to eat while the other person gets ready to drive. Also saves enough hours that one can drive 7 days. It sort of rotates the night/ day driving. The second truck I was on, she wanted to run 3 to 3 shifts. I hated that.

Probably easiest on folks to run in the same twelve hour period all the time, so their body is accustomed to being awake at the same hours every day. That's not how my wife and I ran though.

Generally she would run during the day and I would be the vampire, but we would get off kilter all the time.

If we ever got loads that had time to do rolling resets we would do that (I drive a full shift, take a ten hour break, I drive another full shift, now my wife has been in the sleeper berth for 34 hours).

Also if we were slow for whatever reason, our sleep schedules would start to synchronize and it would turn in to whoever was less tired would drive.

Also managing hours so that you keep your hours somewhat even. You may run loads that require more day or night driving for a few days, you don't want one driver with ten hours and the other with forty hours on their seventy hour clocks.

It's chaotic, and one of the main reasons teaming is much harder on people than solo driving. I don't sleep well on a moving truck, and I've been teaming for several years. There are times where I'd be driving and have only slept maybe four hours in the last two or three days. My wife sleeps better when the truck is moving, so she's always well rested at least, lol.

But any team wanting top miles is going to have to do some of those things where they get off their "set" hours, outside of a dedicated route.