Question About Team Driving - Is This Possible???
Topic 3987 | Page 1
It will depend on the team, the tractor, whether it is drop & hook, and the weight of the load. I've seen coast to coast teams get it done in 3 days. They ran legal logs and took proper breaks. They had good time management. they took their 34 hour breaks. even after the 2 cons days rule. They sat still for 24 hours that is it. It took them a few weeks to figure it out. but fuel breaks were shower breaks the guy on duty would get fuel the other would shower they switched back and forth. They didn't eat in the truck stops they grocery shopped filled their fridge and used their microwave. they only sat still each day about 3 hours. That was the drop and hook time fuel time and average restroom visits. It will depend on your own needs. And how well you manage your time. but these guys got 7200 miles a week. I hope this helps but the six months could be all they require you to team as for 240000 miles even a great team will take 7.5 months for that kind of miles. Ask your driver manager if it is 6 months or miles or whichever comes first. as for if it is possible or not. In my opinion no not legal. 240000 miles = 9,231 miles per week for 26 weeks. Another thing to consider is how much time at home will you be spending. These guys i'm talking about went home once per month for 4 days. And one other thing i would ask is the miles buy hub or dispatched miles. You will run more miles then are dispatched no way around that sorry. i hope this helps.
Driver Manager:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
When my trainer and I ran as a team we had one week we ran 7400 miles. I can tell you first hand. That was a long rough week for us.
They say that you must drive 240,000 miles team before you can go solo and that it should take about 6 months
It will take 6 months......to get half way to that goal! A team that's running hard can maintain 6,000 miles per week, but like Mongo mentioned, anything above that and you're probably not going to be able to sustain it. 240,000 miles will take a full year for a team.
It will depend on the team, the tractor, whether it is drop & hook, and the weight of the load. I've seen coast to coast teams get it done in 3 days. They ran legal logs and took proper breaks. They had good time management. they took their 34 hour breaks. even after the 2 cons days rule. They sat still for 24 hours that is it. It took them a few weeks to figure it out. but fuel breaks were shower breaks the guy on duty would get fuel the other would shower they switched back and forth. They didn't eat in the truck stops they grocery shopped filled their fridge and used their microwave. they only sat still each day about 3 hours. That was the drop and hook time fuel time and average restroom visits. It will depend on your own needs. And how well you manage your time. but these guys got 7200 miles a week. I hope this helps but the six months could be all they require you to team as for 240000 miles even a great team will take 7.5 months for that kind of miles. Ask your driver manager if it is 6 months or miles or whichever comes first. as for if it is possible or not. In my opinion no not legal. 240000 miles = 9,231 miles per week for 26 weeks. Another thing to consider is how much time at home will you be spending. These guys i'm talking about went home once per month for 4 days. And one other thing i would ask is the miles buy hub or dispatched miles. You will run more miles then are dispatched no way around that sorry. i hope this helps.
Tony,
I am a U.S. Marine on my last active duty tour, and I'm thinking about entering the trucking profession once I retire from the service. I am also from southeast PA and plan on moving back to start my second career. Did you go to CDL school in PA or attend a company training program.
Dave
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
Driver Manager:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
I run an experienced team truck. I have 16 years driving and my brother has 5 years driving. We average 23k to 24k every month. Though did break 27k in the last 30 days due to everything going just right. That's 230k to 240k in 10 months and it's only that much because not only do we know how to be efficient but we also to alot of drop and hook with no waiting around at all.
And since you will be running with another inexperienced driver there is no way in hell ya will come close to that.
Drop And Hook:
Drop and hook means the driver will drop one trailer and hook to another one.
In order to speed up the pickup and delivery process a driver may be instructed to drop their empty trailer and hook to one that is already loaded, or drop their loaded trailer and hook to one that is already empty. That way the driver will not have to wait for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.
Thanks for all of the replies everyone. I had a feeling they were way off on their "estimate" of how long it would take to reach 240,000 miles. They should definitely remove that lie from their website! ha
New Reply:
New! Check out our help videos for a better understanding of our forum features
Preview:
Why Join Trucking Truth?
- The High Road Training Program
- The High Road Article Series
- The Friendliest Trucker's Forum Ever!
- Email Updates When New Articles Are Posted
Apply For Paid CDL Training Through TruckingTruth
Did you know you can fill out one quick form here on TruckingTruth and apply to several companies at once for paid CDL training? Seriously! The application only takes one minute. You will speak with recruiters today. There is no obligation whatsoever. Learn more and apply here:
TT On Facebook
Well I have started researching trucking companies again due to my recent setback. One company that really stands out to me is Celadon. It seems like they have a great training program and a good company to drive for. The only thing I don't care for is that they make you team drive after graduation. They say that you must drive 240,000 miles team before you can go solo and that it should take about 6 months. For some reason this just does not add up to me though. If you do 240,000 miles in 6 months that would have you doing 40,000 miles per month which is 10,000 miles a week. Is this even possible? From what I have heard that most team drivers can barely get 5,000 miles per week which at that rate would take about 12 months to do a combined 240,000 miles.