Co-DRIVER Needed For A TEAM Out Of AZ (Seeking A “needle In A Haystack” Here At The T.T. “magnet”)

Is anyone reading this who's living in Arizona, interested and ready soon to be half of a mutually considerate, relatively good-paying-to-start teaming situation? Some experience preferred but not necessary.

I was supposed to be in orientation in Phoenix now, but that deal fell apart. Now I’ve got a couple other companies interested in me, with my determination to start out teaming. (Yes I’ve studied the pros and cons vs solo a lot here and elsewhere and really believe it’d be an overall plus in my case… At least for the first year or so, with “the money” being the least of my concerns.)

Naturally “last minute” like this is far from ideal, but am running out of options if I want to team and find someone myself. I have a buddy from “private” CDL school who’s already team driving with the company that owns the school, but he needs more home time with his girlfriend and a more compatible co-driver, so he was considering joining me if I found a worthy enough gig for us. But of course that’s like changing horses in the middle of a river, and he’s just let me know that he and the girlfriend are now planning on teaming together, so she’s going to the school… Sure hope it works out for them…he’d told me awhile back that she hates to drive...hmm... Thinking ahead several months back, I did send out a probe to a national team trucking matching service, but am pretty sure it was defunct or barely functioning. Too bad, such a site would be great if it were run well and used enough!

I realize many companies “help” with matching co-drivers, but that’s gotta be a mixed bag when you don’t get much say in the matter and it’s so random. Clearly it can turn into a nightmare pretty quick if you don’t “click”. (It’s enough of a crap shoot with a trainer, but in theory that shouldn’t matter as much, right?) At first it’d be pretty random here too, but we’d get to screen each other instead of just being assigned to each other without much choice but to give up and go solo or go elsewhere.

My preferred company (as of today) is based in Atlanta; but they make tons of west coast reefer runs and the recruiter says, “We’d love to have ya’ll” working from Arizona, IF teaming. So it’s a team-only position, and it’s gotta be one I’ve already lined up, because they can’t help with that so far away. And they do prefer I find someone with a few months experience; it'd shorten the training time, etc.

Of course the odds are against finding anyone here on fairly short notice, but if you’re reading this maybe you know someone? Or somewhere else I should try? Might the Craigslists be a worthwhile effort? Should I try to keep this “magnetic” post bumped up for a few days to see if the right “needle” happens by?.. With the number of visitors to this forum being SO many times greater than those who generally post...we'll see…………..

I'm just putting in my two cents, and I realize that's probably all it's worth to you.

I think team driving is a terrible idea for rookies. In fact, most cases I've seen where two rookies are teaming are a disaster. Why on earth do you want to start out driving as a team? It's really a gig for folks who have experience.

Are you thinking it will help you ease into this career or that it will be nice to have someone there to help you out at times? I think just the opposite occurs. Truck driving has a steep learning curve. It is best done alone. That way you actually have to learn how to handle yourself and take care of your own business out here. Aren't you already beginning to see the problems you are having? You can't even put together a compatible team yet.

J.D.E.Z. R., I'm only trying to be helpful. One of the biggest problems with newbies coming into trucking is that they don't know enough to know what they don't know. This is like no other job you have ever done before. It is a total change to your lifestyle. There is no way you can predict what will work best for you. I highly recommend you get one year in as a solo driver and learn how this whole thing works. You will still be quite green, but you might be ready for the rigorous demands of a team truck at that point. For now you need to be able to rest and sleep in a truck that is parked for a while. You have no idea how exhausted you are going to be after driving a rig 600 miles a day. Teaming is a huge commitment, much more that just beginning as solo driver. Team trucks have teams in them for a reason. They are required to do the heavy lifting. They don't stop - they are coast to coast movers and shakers. It's not for the faint of heart or the beginners.

I am kind of curious....imagine you hunt for the perfect Co driver. And even if that person agrees to go to the company of your choice....not necessarily that persons' choice. What if that person doesn't get accepted to the company?

Then you.mentioned training .. So the person has to endure training at a company they didn't choose? What if that person has to do more or less training than you?

Believe it or not....companies who want teams want you to be happy and productive. Here at Prime you can choose your own team mate and swap out when you need to. You can exchange phone numbers and talk before hand. My fleet manager knows our personalities and who is more likely to get along than others. The last thing he wants is a team fighting so often he needs to play referee. We also have Prime Facebook groups where drivers meet up. Perhaps join some groups of companies you want to consider and see if you meet anyone.

If you truly want to team, I would find the right company. You already assume you wont find that perfect needle...so why not allow them to help you. Take it from someone who teamed with someone I previously dated.. You dont know someone until you live with them. He lasted 3 months before I kicked him from the truck and I knew him almost a year. Going insane to find the perfect person can backfire when you move in together. Then you could feel frustrated and resentful if you made any compromises to agree to a company or pay for that person.

Thank you for the quick-on-the-draw counterpoint, Old School. You never need doubt that your “two cents” is in fact worth a whole helluva lot more than that to me! Yes, even if “discouraging” about my chosen course of action. Seriously, I’m glad you provided your own reality check right off the bat, because if it discourages anyone enough to prevent them from replying that they’re actually interested in maybe joining me on the teaming adventure, well they wouldn’t be “The One” for me to risk it with anyway… “And I mean that most sin-cerely.” I’d hope that all those who aren’t sure would at least join the debate before giving up on teaming, if they “have a strong feeling” that it’s for them as a way to begin their trucking career.

So, O.S., I see yours (and a very few others) as always a worthwhile perspective, no matter what, and I’m sure that’s the majority opinion here. I actually wrote this thinking more of you than anyone, cuz I recall your similar critique of the whole teaming concept elsewhere on TT as posted in the past. And I admit I did just come away from what you wrote above feeling a little less certain about my “gotta do this!” attitude toward teaming right off the bat…

…But only a little. I want to respond to your question, but first should state what sort of input I’m ALSO hoping for: Are there ANY experienced drivers here who DID team as a rookie and would go out on the limb and recommend it for the “right” sort of person? Someone here it actually worked well for, someone who’s glad they did it, or who knows for sure of any true “success story” of someone in such a position? I’m thinking there must be, or else, well, yeah I’d find that to be further persuasion against the concept, and that’s ok too. If anyone’s done it this way and regrets it, I’d be appreciative of that feedback as well.

Though I actually didn’t post this intending to stir up debate, I figured it probably would and it’s good to have it, as I’d hope it’ll only serve to further clarify the real-world differences between team and solo driving. After all, those of us with no experience OTR can only imagine what it’s gonna actually be like out there. Old School has helped many of us understand that actuality as well as anyone. I think also of Kearsey’s previous advice on why teaming is generally not a good way to go. So yeah Rainy, feel free to rain on my parade more, and I mean that. I recall you saying in an old post to not expect meaningful help or unselfishness from your co-driver, etc., and I read all that with open-minded interest. Even if others of us might have a different orientation.

(I wrote that in my journal draft before she had posted her reply above, which wasn’t ALL advising against it. BTW, anyone else finding It’s a good habit to draft their posts elsewhere and paste ‘em in? I find it so, cuz at least on my Macbook it’s way too easy to have a post-in-progress suddenly vanish into cyberspace for some unknown reason. Which is a very frustrating waste of time…though maybe that tendency has changed with the new server?)

So…I’ll ruminate on the feedback so far, avoid this wordy reply running a lot longer, and see if anyone else has a take. And if someone might, against the odds, actually be interested in maybe driving with me. Then will try to come back tomorrow to answer why I still think (assuming I still do) that this controversial team thing is a worthwhile option to start with, for SOME rookies, at least a small subset of us. I do see this as an important topic that’s clearly among the top few most controversial issues I’ve come across here, as far as I’m concerned anyway…Along with whether leasing and O/O are worth the risk these days. (Though not controversial to me personally—that one’s a clear “No way!” In my mind, thanx to the expert TT advice.) As for teaming, well, there ARE some very powerful factors in the “Pros” column to counter the “Cons”.

As for teaming, well, there ARE some very powerful factors in the “Pros” column to counter the “Cons”.

I'd love to see you explain what those factors are. I'm not sure how you would even know what they are unless they are just personality traits of yours. You sure can't learn them from YouTube or internet wannabe truckers. I'm not trying to be argumentative, I'm genuinely interested. I did team driving with my trainer from basically day one. I could barely even sleep while he was driving, which was the only time I had to sleep. We ran coast to coast repeatedly. I was literally exhausted and there were several times that I almost fell asleep at the wheel. I just had to push myself until I could get through with that whole part of my journey into trucking. Once I got past the training I actually began to learn how things really work.

We've got a few drivers here who started out teaming, and I hope they will respond. I told you that this was really just an opinion of mine, but it is based on my experience teaming with my trainer, and also the many disaster stories I have read in our forum. Even when a person like yourself seems to insist on this being the best way for them they almost always have lots of problems keeping a partner for any more than a 2 or 3 month stretch, then they have to go through all that hassle again of finding another team partner.

. I think also of Kearsey’s previous advice on why teaming is generally not a good way to go. So yeah Rainy, feel free to rain on my parade more, and I mean that. I recall you saying in an old post to not expect meaningful help or unselfishness from your co-driver, etc., and I read all that with open-minded interest. Even if others of us might have a different orientation

Many factors play in here so i am not sure what you mean by "orientation". It isn't about a codriver being selfish. You are getting paid equally and each are entitled to your 10 hour break. Expecting someone to give up sleep to help you is selfish if that is your goal. Also, what if you are the experienced one and the person looks to you for answers?

What if the driver who drives nights and get 600 miles a shift while the day person does 400? Each resents the other. The 400 is dealing with docking, customers and traffic while the night guy just drives. That could cause animosity.

Personally I think it stunts learning. As a solo you truly learn trip planning and time management. You make mistakes you need to figure out. Even if that other person helps you, relying on them as a safety net can cause bigger headaches down the line should you go solo. You will then have the attitude of an experienced driver will the skill set of a rookie. Hard rocks to be between.

Sure HOS and parking are less of an issue. But conflicts, lack of space and privacy as well as sleep are constant. The hardest is trusting someone while you sleep.

Most rookie teams I know fight over routing, home time, where to stop, amd who gets the better bed/space. When they split they argue over who takes what like a married couple. It is weird.

Good luck

Jeez, guys, quite the budding buffet of food for thought! Thanx always. I'll write up them Pros and Cons and get back here with that, tomorrow hopefully.

Meantime, hoping to get some back-up counterpoint to the counterpoint...IF it exists here. Anyone in AZ, or elsewhere, interested in the teaming adventure discussion, especially if considering it as an actual career choice? "Failure stories" welcome too! --J.D./E.Z.

Jeez, guys, quite the budding buffet of food for thought! Thanx always. I'll write up them Pros and Cons and get back here with that, tomorrow hopefully.

Meantime, hoping to get some back-up counterpoint to the counterpoint...IF it exists here. Anyone in AZ, or elsewhere, interested in the teaming adventure discussion, especially if considering it as an actual career choice? "Failure stories" welcome too! --J.D./E.Z.

Have you spoken to Laura? How far IS Idaho from AZ, anyway ?!?!? ;) J/K, IDMtnGal ~!!

Seriously . . . she may KNOW people. The next person she actually TEAMS with, however.. might just be me . . . ~!!! (We can all dream, right? Hubby's one and done, haha!)

I'm with the others; not understanding your desire to 'team.' . . . but whadda I know? Can't stand my hubby for 3 days in cab, max, haha!

Wish you well, JD Ez (do you have a simpler name?)

~ Anne ~

OK, so plenty of definite disadvantages, potential “Cons”, scary possibilities have already been described (worst of which to me being the lack of personal space for extended periods)… All of which I appreciate being plunked down on this virtual table... So now I gotta start laying out some of what I believe would be the “Pros”, at least in the presumed case of myself and other atypical weirdos like me… Starting with the general and getting more specific… And of course I want to reply to the reply-ers, probably ask some follow-up Qs… Reader attention time and interest in the topic being limited, guess I’ll continue to roll out what I have to say in a few more installments. Also cuz I’d ideally like to keep this thread on page 1 here for a little longer, in case anyone else besides me considering team driving DOES somehow make it past the persuasive discouragements already cited above... Let's talk about it!

So…first of all, I want to be completely clear that in order to make it work with a co-driver, it’d have to be a very conditional agreement with the company and any such teammate— Meaning the projected success would be utterly dependent on “the BIG IF”— I’ll have to get with a roughly compatible co-driver who is at least for the most part the same kind of person I am in the key ways. We’ve got to get along well enough in all that entails, actually like each other, have optimistically oriented brains that are able to work in a complementary fashion, etc. If that doesn’t happen, I have no doubt and no problem agreeing that it’d be likely to be a big fat “FAIL!” which I may regret as a major mistake in retrospect. Definitely a pretty big risk. But on the other hand, I see opting to go solo right out of the gate as big-risky too.

For sure to maximize the odds of it working, we’d have to be able to screen each other and actually spend a little time together, ideally do a test run and such, then only proceed if we both get a strong enough positive inner sense of “It’s a go”, the right sort of hunch, backed by enough practical evidence that it’d be worth giving teaming a shot. So we’d need to have our post-training deployment set up such that whether it ends up being solo or team would depend on that "big IF". Whether or not I feel I’ve found someone acceptable and he or she’s found me. Otherwise, it’ll have to be a no go, so we’d have to have that agreement in place to even proceed. Or at least the ability to easily enough opt out if it fails. If the co-driver's coming from another company, is already OTR there, or whatever, having the flexibility would be important. And no doubt a few weeks basically teaming with an OTR mentor will tell me/us a lot about whether I'm/we’re still wanting to do it. [More soon friends.]

scary possibilities have already been described (worst of which to me being the lack of personal space for extended periods)

The scariest is having an unsafe codriver whose driving terrifies you and you can't sleep at all. You constantly expect to have an accident. Have you considered this?

As a trainer I have dealt with students tailgating, flying down mountains, running red lights, and taking exit ramps way too fast. Some followed the GPS blindly and wound up in horrible circumstances

As a trainer I can correct them.as it is my job. As a codriver....different story.

Have you considered how badly some people drive? Even ones who think they are safe can be terrifying. And honestly...someone may find you terrifying.