Question:
March 3, 2004
I have the option to drive double with CRST or solo with Schneider. Is there any general consensus out there about whether is better to drive solo or double?
Also, which company is better, Schneider or CRST?
Thanks

Answer:
If you're thinking of running team with someone, you'd better make damn sure that you can get along with that person 150%!
A truck suddenly becomes an extremely small space once an arguement starts.
As much as I love my wife, there is no way I could run team with her. She rides along with me about 3 times a year for at least a week at a time. By the time the trip is over, we are BOTH ready to get out of the truck and away from each other for a while.

Answer:
I ran team with a guy when I first drove with Schneider.
We both got a long well and were around the same age.
We made pit stops in Vagas, among other places, and generally had a good time................at first lol
After 4 months we were screaming to get our own trucks lol
Now mind you that was in a small cab over, maybe things would have been a bit different if we had one of these big fancy 77 inch sleepers.
But Hoss is right; it can get awfully small in that cab, and very quickly.

Answer:
Stay away from teams. I tried Crst and had all I wanted. Also remember, when you are sleeping, your team mate is driving. Do you trust your life to him?

Answer:
Find the person you think you want to team with and then lock yourselves in a small bathroom for two weeks and at the end of that time period you are still getting along then you are probably cut out for team operation.
I personally had enough during my training period and will never do it again.
Answer:
Keep in mind that "Teaming"leaves little space for all the cooking untensils and foodstuffs. I'll never understand how the Trainers can sleep.
Answer:
I am strictly a solo driver. Wife can only stand riding with me a couple times a year.
Ditto on the cab of a truck being too small for two. Also, there are only two people in the world that I trust to sleep while they drive. They don't like teaming either.
Sometimes you have to dig through a lot horsesh#t to find the pony.

Answer:
The problem with starting out with a company like CRST is that if you don't like running team you're stuck looking for another job because that's all they do. If you want to try both I would suggest starting with a company that runs both.
I've done team and solo and I much prefer solo. I'm currently running team withg my other half and both of us are wondering how much longer we can take it this time. Love each other more than anything in the world, but it's crowded. Our record length of time teaming is 8 months. We much prefer to drive our own trucks and run together sometimes than share a truck, and that's what we'll be doing again in the near future.
Answer:
Don't be bashful about asking the company about your potential teamate(s). And don't be shy about asking your potential teamates seemingly personal questions to try to get to know them a bit better.
Why?
This situation happened to Chad about 3 years ago:
I ran team in small doses. In this case we arrived at the consignee at night . They were closed for the evening but would unload us first thing in the morning. This was just outside of hotlanta----marrietta. It's about 11:30 PM and we are getting ready to sleep. I'm in the top bunk and teamate is in the bottom bunk. (He never even offered to let me have the bottom bunk.) The consignee is gone, so the place is pretty much deserted.
Here is the actual dialog:
(I will call the teamate, Joe Teamate to protect his privacy.)
JT: "They sure are sending us all over the place."
Chad: "Yeah."
JT: " I think I've been everywhere this company runs."
Chad: "Yeah." (mind you, I'm very tired at this point.)
JT: "This company runs every state east of the mississippi."
Chad: "Yeah, they used to run Canada too."
JT: "I'm glad they're not sending us to Canada."
Chad: "Why's that?"
JT: "I have a felony on my criminal record, so they won't let me in."
Chad: "What was the felony for?"
JT: "Assault."
Now, remember I'm in the top bunk, he's in the bottom. Do you think, after hearing that, I was able to close my eyes that night?!?
This is why you gotta be nosey about any potential teamate(s). Be polite of course, but do ask more personal type questions so as to better achieve a harmonious match to increase chances of sucess out on the highway.
It turns out the guy, after getting severely drunk one night, beat his brother up and smacked his mother a few times. The part about wailing on the brother normally would not be a big deal, except in this case his brother was 7 meanwhile he was 23 when it happened. HIs mother's boyfriend called the cops and thus he ended up with the felony charge and conviction.
He was actually one of the coolest people I have ever met and we still keep in touch every now and then.
And, yes I did fall asleep.

Answer:
I drive team. And its great I would not change for anything. We have been together for 5 years.

Answer:
Great thread!!!!

Answer:
There have been a lot of great points brought up here. Too many to quote, but I must agree on several points.
Firstly, I would not work for a company that ONLY runs team. You will never have the opportunity to do it on your own. Plus you may have to go through a plethora of co-drivers until you find the right one.
Finding the right one is a chore in itself. I mean, the point that was brought up about the guy that had the record for assault? Um, no thanks. There is space issues, privacy issues, hygene issues, (as a former trainer, I had several hygenically challenged students...where's that puking emoticon?) male-female issues, and many, many more. I ran team ONCE, (as a co-driver) and quite a bit as a trainer. I knew the person relatively well, and he was a perfect gentleman, no sexual issues, thank God, but the man was a lazy driver. We burned up the road, and I ended up running most of the miles, because the man could not drive IMHO. You have to pick someone that can run as hard or harder than you. I gave it two weeks on a sweet dedicated run between L.A. and Memphis, and I had HAD it after doing nearly all the driving. After the company had starved me for my first few months out, I had learned to run HARD, so I saw teaming as a great opportunity to make a lot of money, but my teammate saw the opportunity to rest.
JMHO.

Answer:
I would only run team....but then my husband and I team drive, so it's hugely different than team driving with any old body. And boy oh boy, if either of us would have had a clue about that first month together on the road... ...Well, in eight years of marriage, that was the closest we've ever come to the big D, and no, I don't mean Dallas!
Teams are expected to run (at least) double what solos run, so one sleeps, or tries to, while the other drives. Either you learn to nap or you don't, if you aren't a napper by nature then you're going to get exhausted fast.
A big misconception is that teams make more money. That's true if the money all goes into one pot but not if it's going to two families. You run double the miles of a solo but you get paid for half of all miles.
Really consider whether you want to run team. Training will probably break you of the idea. Personally, I'd never want to be forced to run a truck with someone I didn't know. Works for a very few people.

Answer:
Teaming is an OK way to start out if your learning the the trade for the skills. Fact being that, you only will learn so much in school, you learn most out there doing it, and you have the experience of a good seasoned driver ( I hope for your sake) with you to advise you on qeastionable judgement decisions that you must make, outside of their bad driving habits that you might pick up. Along with all others have said, and stressing the point, " you must be able to trust the other driver with your life. " It is no fun, trying to sleep in the bunk, when you know that the other driver is " pushing it " especially on bad roads and/or adverse driving conditions. If you get sick out there, its can be a hell of alot worse, ( with chills and aches, laying down in a bunk going down a bumpy road ) which is when its definately better to be solo. Teaming, you can cover alot of ground fast.
Solo= as everyone else has said, and if your proficient with your driving to make sound decisions, followed by actions, in any given circumstances that may arise. Schneider would in my opinion be your better choice, because you can start out team, and then become solo or the opposite depending on your experience.

Answer:

And i am the other extreme, in that there isn't enough money in the world to make me run team ever again.