Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/15908
Butch and Dora Colvin drove team for 18 years before retiring this year. Dora says treating co-drivers kindly is the first step in fostering a successful team relationship. “All of us are short tempered every now and then, but you have to just stop and think about what you’re saying,” she says. “A quick apology sure beats having someone upset with you.” and other teams are cashing in on growing driver demand and increasing rates. While the McNeelys specialize in transporting service- sensitive government freight, they are often called on to move time-sensitive dedicated loads that pay top dollar, even as the work sometimes disrupts sleeping and eating habits. “But when a load is hot,” Michael McNeely 24 OVERDRIVE SEPTEMBER 2010 Double time T Owner-operator teams are in demand as fleets dangle top rates and sign-on bonuses to move high-value, time-sensitive loads. BY JAMES JAILLET eam owner-operators Michael McNeely and his wife Cheryl are riding high. As freight heats up, they says, “the numbers can escalate quickly,” and driving team is usually the only way to get these high-dollar loads to their destination. Fleets are offering premium mileage rates and sign-on bonuses of up to $6,000 per team for new team operations, says Gordon Klemp, president of the National Transport Institute, which surveys fleets quarterly to measure com- pensation packages. Among fleets hiring owner-operator teams, Klemp says 32 percent are offering sign-on Bruce W. Smith