Looking For A Good Company For Teams Or A Legit Lease Purchase Program For A Team

My son began driving in September 2021. I began driving in February of 2022. We began team driving in April of 2022, with the same company my son began driving at. Our company has been ok, but recently we ran into a major issue with them (pushed to take an unsafe/illegal load - overweight on the steers, that should have just been given to another truck), and there have been some smaller ones such as micro-managing until it's absolutely maddening, too much already late freight with unrealistic eta's, and ok miles but not enough pay for us to make progress. We both have some health issues that require us to get our physical done yearly, but we pass muster and are capable of doing our jobs. However, due to these issues no touch freight is the best option for us. He could probably do flatbed and load/unload, but I definitely wouldn't be capable. I still don't know how to check my DAC , and don't know if it would be on there, but in May of 2022 I was backing parallel to a curb (super slow and easy), got up on said curb, and ended up with the front bumper cover of a new KW on the ground. I was absolutely floored that it came off (after seeing how the damn thing is attached I wasn't so surprised anymore). I should have gone forward off instead of continuing back. Lesson learned, lost a year of safe miles and got a stern hand slap. My son got pulled over for speeding around the same time, as he was leaving a construction zone. He didn't get a ticket, but a level one inspection with the speeding noted on it. Our licenses are otherwise pristine. We're looking for a company who will give us the miles and pay, along with concessions for being human beings who need more than one shower a week, time weekly to do laundry, and time every other week to get groceries and supplies. We run 7 to 8 weeks at a time and take a week off. We have 2 home bases, one in Olympia, WA and one in Phoenix, AZ, and otherwise live on the truck. Also, we have a Miniature Schnauzer truck boss. We originally planned to stay with this company until we are ready to go Owner op (at about the 5 year mark). However, we just aren't making the progress we need to to get there, recent situations with this company are untenable, and frankly I think we can do a lot better. Any and all suggestions and ideas will be appreciated.

Covenant is almost exclusively teams based. They have a good reputation for taking care of their drivers.

Click on this link to learn more about team driving with them.

Good luck, I will never team drive lol

I would say stay company in this market. It has been horrible. Lease programs are all a bit different, but share one commonality. Built to make the company money!!! I can elaborate in very detailed depth, but I think you get the point.

I read daily about the industry. Even the smart experts all are at odds regarding the health of the industry currently.

Friday the most recent numbers show reefer is doing slightly better as of last week anyway. Reefer companies tend to have more team freight. Flatbed doesn’t do much in that area.

Covenant does have a reefer division since they bought Southern refrigerated a few years ago. They currently have a run from ca to nc that are team only. 11 loads a week. They messaged me last week about it for some strange reason.

You might want to check with Schneider. It’s not very well known for team driving for some reason, but they do hire teams for dry van. I’m not sure how your geographical area fits in with what they have, but all it costs to find out is a phone call to a recruiter.

One thing with Schneider, they are maniacal about safety and running legal in every way, especially HOS.

Thank you for your replies. We ended up going with Skelton Truck Lines. They take superb care of their trucks, seem to really take care of their drivers, and are a much smaller company. We really like it so far.