Driving a truck for a career has numerous advantages, including the freedom of the open road and the opportunity to travel throughout the country. However, there are also disadvantages to the profession, such as loneliness, monotony, and exhaustion. It can also strain a marriage since partners may go weeks or even months without spending time together. One solution to these issues is to create a husband and wife-trucking partnership. What does it look like to work as a husband and wife team truck driving? Let’s take a look at this article!

 

cdl husband and wife team trucking
How do husband and wife team trucking?

 

1. What is the husband and wife team trucking? 

Team truckers are two persons who drive one truck alternately. While one is driving, the other is sleeping. This permits the drivers to go twice as far as lonely truckers and earn twice as much money. In general, husband and wife team trucking shares the same definition as team truckers. However, because they are married so the function of each other and their responsibilities can differ. 

>> Read more: 4 Helpful Tips On Developing Team Truck Driving Relationships?

 

2. What are the benefits and drawbacks of husband and wife team trucking? 

 

2.1. Benefits

Better salary: The most obvious benefit of husband and wife team trucking is the opportunity to travel more kilometers and so earn more money. A husband and wife team trucking may drive twice as much as a single person on the same day, while the other drives, you can take a nap. This alone makes the option appealing to many couples.

 

Avoid loneliness: When you have someone with you, loneliness vanishes. It also offers up possibilities for additional enjoyable activities along the road, such as picnicking together in attractive locations. Family members back home will appreciate seeing photos of the two of you having fun on the trip.

 

Decrease team-truck problems: It can help to avoid some of the issues that can arise in other team-driving scenarios, such as dealing with sleeping quarters and personality clashes. After all, if you’re going to spend the rest of your life together, you should be compatible enough in temperaments, personal habits, and so on to get along while driving.

 

Reduce stress: Husband and wife team truck driving can be a good decision since it eliminates many of the physical and emotional difficulties that single drivers sometimes face. Due to the rigors of the road, truckers are frequently troubled with issues such as melancholy, sleep apnea, diabetes, and obesity. While we don’t want to promote nagging, having a spouse who cares about you and your physical and emotional well-being strikes us as a plus. 

 

2.2. Drawbacks 

Obviously, nothing is perfect for everyone. There are also problems that you might face up with while working as a husband and wife team trucking: 

Less speaking time: You may really spend less time together. This may seem strange, but if one of you sleeps while the other drives, you will be separated (if only by a few feet) most of the time unless you properly plan your routine.

 

Togetherness: While most spouses really love other, others find it difficult to spend all of their time together. Working apart allows some spouses and couples to appreciate one other more. The time apart allows them to pursue their own hobbies and interests while also allowing them to miss each other. However, being together all the time may drive you insane. You may realize that your partner has annoying habits, becomes unhappy at work, or has personality traits that you were previously unaware of. If only one spouse had taken up professional driving, a husband and wife trucking partnership that ends up in divorce court would have done better.

 

Lack of passion: When both drivers like their jobs, team trucking may be a terrific experience. However, in many circumstances, one spouse may live on the road, while the other cannot tolerate sitting in a cab day after day. Furthermore, driving an 18-wheeler requires a great deal of talent, and if one spouse is better at it than the other, disputes may erupt rapidly. We don’t like backseat drivers; picture having someone alongside you all day critiquing how you pass vehicles, reverse into loading docks or swap gears! This might result in squabbles or more serious conflicts between spouses.

 

husband and wife team trucking
Benefits of the husband and wife team trucking

 

3. Realife stories of husband and wife team trucking 

 

3.1. Stephanie & Frank 

Stephanie and Frank Rebelo have visited 40 countries in the last nine years. Their united Instagram account includes selfies from Dubai’s sand dunes and the Brazilian shore. The Rebelos, on the other hand, are truck drivers, not influencers or vacation photographers.

Frank and Stephanie, better known as The Trucking Couple by their combined 30,000 Instagram and YouTube followers and subscribers, are part of a group of truckers that drive with their spouses. Team drivers can go twice as far as alone drivers and earn more than $100,000 per year.

Trucking crews have always been in great demand. They’re in higher demand than ever now, as the national driver shortage and port bottlenecks continue to wreak havoc on the supply chain.

 

3.2. Carla & Robert

Showers and sinks are considered luxuries. Carla enjoys truck-stop toilets, where she puts on mascara if she can, while Robert Holmes washes his teeth outside the driver’s seat window with a water bottle.

 

3.3. Deb & Del

Deb and Del LaBree, veteran truckers turned owner-operators, offer one piece of advice for couples looking to start trucking together: First, spend a three-day weekend inside a walk-in closet.

“Even inmates have larger cells than a truck,” Deb said “You have a fair chance of trucking together if you don’t murder each other after that three-day weekend.” All three teams agreed that the first six months of driving as a pair was a high learning curve. Couples must navigate an entirely new form of relationship in addition to honing the art of driving an 18-wheeler for 12 hours straight. The sole barrier between work and home on a truck is a small curtain between the front seats and the sleeper. “You can’t slam the curtain”  “You get into a little bit of a fight and you’re packing all your things,” Deb LaBree said of the couple’s early trucking days to Insider. “You want to get off the highway right there.”

 

couple trucking
Trucking life isn’t easy

 

4. Advice and suggestions for husband and wife team trucking 

For couples who decided to work as a team truck, there are a few things that you should keep in mind:

 

4.1. Learn to work as a real husband and wife team trucking

Sharing a confined area with another person is one of the most difficult components of team driving. While you’re driving, your co-driver will be in the sleeper behind you, attempting to sleep, or simply relaxing. When it comes to driving, getting used to a team takes time. However, you must get acquainted with it as soon as possible to make trucking life be easier.  

 

4.2. Divide responsibilities and set a schedule 

As a team driver, one of the most crucial things you must do is determine who is responsible for what. This involves making a plan for who drives and when. Many team drivers divide the day in half, with one driver driving during the day and the other driving at night.

 

Frank – the couple that we mentioned above – said “Stephanie and I have a really strict routine in which I’m up from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM — those are my driving hours — and she drives from 8:00 PM to 8:00 AM, she tries to stick to our timetable so that her sleep cycle isn’t disrupted. Sometimes, like right now, we’re down for a weekend and get to spend time in San Francisco and do stuff like that. But it throws her off schedule a little bit, so that’s something you have to be aware of.” 

You can follow the schedule of Frank and Stephanie, or build your own schedule. 

 

4.3. Be empathetic

Being away from home and missing friends, loved ones, and activities is one of the most stressful elements of being a trucker. Husband and wife team trucking drivers typically travel for longer periods of time than solo drivers, frequently for two to six weeks at a time, and may average 6,000 miles per week or more. Thus, it’s important to be a good listener when your partner doesn’t feel fine. That is a key element of marriage as well. 

 

5. How to be a husband and wife team truck driving? 

Step 1: In order to work as a couple of trucking team, the very first qualification is obtaining a CDL. Both of you must pass the CDL exam and gain the appropriate endorsements if possible. You may need to read a CDL Study guide to know exactly what you have to do as well as the steps to achieve it! 

 

Step 2: You need to find an authorized company that allows husband and wife team trucking. 

 

Step 3: You should prepare for both mental and physical health to start your husband and wife team trucking career.

 

That’s all the information of the husband and wife team trucking for couples wishing to be together in working conditions. We hope that this article provided all the information you need, as well as give you helpful advice for your decision. Besides, don’t forget to take some free CDL practice tests before obtaining a CDL!