Retailers and parcel carriers have been turning this season more than ever to teams, in which drivers pair up to keep trucks rolling for hundreds of miles over 20 or more hours a day, according to The Wall Street Journal. They are trying to meet the demands of holiday shopping that has swung hard toward online sales, pressing retailers and their delivery companies to move goods rapidly, and cheaply, across long distances.
That has raised the profile of the small subset of truck drivers who spend weeks or even months away from home, crisscrossing the country, taking turns sleeping in cramped compartments at the rear of the truck cab and then taking the wheel, and stopping only for showers or short breaks. The drivers are brought together by companies looking to get the most mileage out of every truck, and some are even married couples that stake their livelihoods, and their marriages, to the road.
By swapping drivers at the end of each shift, teams can carry goods more than double the distance that their solo counterparts travel in a day.
To read more, click here.
